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Is Kansas losing its place in Tornado Alley?

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People watch from the Liberty Memorial as a severe storm that dropped several tornadoes earlier approaches downtown Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday, shortly before striking Douglas County, Kansas.
Charlie Riedel
/
Associated Press
People watch from the Liberty Memorial as a severe storm that dropped several tornadoes earlier approaches downtown Kansas City, Mo., shortly before striking Douglas County, Kansas.

Kansas has been seeing fewer tornadoes in recent years, but is that a permanent change? One reporter explains the lull and why experts are more worried about other extreme weather threats in the region — like flooding.

Kansas has seenfewer tornadoes in the last decade, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Once a central part of "Tornado Alley," Kansas has been overshadowed by places to the east and southeast.

The below-average numbers has some wondering if the notorious pathway for twisters has shifted.

"There are a lot of debate about that," says Stan Finger, a freelance writer and author, who wrote about the trend for The Journal.

Finger spoke with weather experts about the downward trend in twisters, and said it's not the first time that weather patterns have shifted — right now the southeast is in peak season.

"It rotates every seven years or so, and sooner or later is going to get back to us," Finger told KCUR's Up To date.

Although tornadoes remain dangerous in the land of Oz, Finger says that flooding kills more people each year.

  • Stan Finger, freelance writer and author
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