Feb 24, 2012; 5:00 PM ET
A June 5, 2009 tornado in Goshen County, Wyoming. Image courtesy of Meteorologist Shawn Smith.
We all know about Tornado Alley, but storm chasers are chasing everywhere, even in locations you may not think of in association with twisters.
Florida is known for its hurricanes and tropical storms, but chasers often flock to the Sunshine State for a severe weather outbreak as well.
What Makes Florida Different?
In terms of severe weather, Florida is known for its amazing lightning storms happening between late May and late August.
"Beautiful lightning storms come out of Florida," said Florida Storm Chaser and Videographer Jeff Gammons. "The photography from these storms is amazing."
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The chasing differences between Tornado Alley, which is located throughout the Central states, and Florida begins with geography.
"Tornado Alley consists of vast open land tracts, and visibility is in the hundreds of miles," said Gammons.
Lightning over Sarasota Bay, Fla. Image courtesy of AccuWeather.com Fan beitzdk.
The topography of Florida is also very flat, but some instances of rolling hills and major vegetation can make visibility very tricky for chasers.
Hundreds of the most violent tornadoes touch down in Tornado Alley each year, but Florida, the U.S. state with the highest number of tornadoes per unit area, is hit with tornadoes of the weaker sort.
"Storms in Tornado Alley are long-lived and include massive thunderstorms resulting from low pressure systems," said Gammons. "Some of them can last for miles and miles. They are much more potent."
Florida tornadoes, while also accompanied by thunderstorms, are short-lived.
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"Florida storms are pulsating and not sustained," Gammons said.
However, while Gammons gets a thrill over the occasional Florida tornado, his real passion is hurricanes.
Some of the most intense storms he's come across include Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Charlie.
"The Category 4 winds of Charlie were phenomenal," said Gammons. "White-out conditions and the sound of debris was sobering."
Image courtesy of NOAA.
Other East Coast Chasing
AccuWeather.com Community Director and Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell chases storms in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and although he's never seen a tornado, he said there is still plenty of weather to chase.
"I will jump in the car to 'chase' anything locally--even rainbows, sunsets, or snow squalls," said Ferrell.
Northeast tornadoes have a different meteorological makeup and tend to be less intense than Tornado Alley twisters.
"East Coast storms don't have the clear structure and identifying features of the super storms out West," Ferrell explained. "The terrain can cause storms to quickly flare up or completely disappear."
Ferrell also said the lack of arrangement in the roadway system in the Northeast can make tracking storms and retreating from bad situations more difficult. The mountainous terrain filled with vegetation can also make it challenging to see storms.
Ferrell said research shows that strong storms in Tornado Alley have fewer cloud-to-ground lightning strikes at the location when they unleash the most severe weather, whereas East Coast storms have deadly strikes throughout the storm.
Across the Canadian Border
As many as 80 to 100 tornadoes occur each year across the Canadian border, and like Florida, these twisters are usually much weaker than those occurring in Tornado Alley.
Storms killing dozens have occurred in Canada, with one of the deadliest happening in Edmonton in 1987. Twenty-seven people were killed along the path of the twister.
The differences between chasing in Canada and chasing in the United States are more equipment- and travel-oriented.
"You have to deal with Canadian customs when traveling over the border from the U.S.," said Doug Kiesling, storm chaser and freelance videographer for WeatherPaparazzi.com. "Fuel costs and travel costs in general are higher outside the U.S."
Kiesling also said that relying on the Canadian radar and vast network of roads can be a problem.
A late-evening storm passing by Kenosee Lake in Moose Mountain Park, Saskatchewan on Aug. 5, 2008. Image courtesy of AccuWeather.com Fan subcman.
"It's sparse in comparison to the U.S. radar," Kiesling explained. "Cellular communication is also an issue when chasing in Canada."
Kiesling has been in the line of tornado fire, even finding himself within 50 yards of a twister in the High Plains of the United States.
"Debris like shingles hit me, and debris hurts," said Kiesling. "It came spinning at me like a drill bit."
Storm Chasing Outside North America
While Tornado Alley is the prime tornado hot spot, many tornadoes occur outside the United States.
Although they are known for being much less severe than Tornado Alley storms, the occasional strong tornado has been known to touch down overseas. Five people were killed and over 200 were injured in the Castelo Branco, Portugal tornado of 1954.
A major challenge of chasing in other countries is that weather information isn't as accessible as it is in the United States.
"While there are storm chasers in Brazil, chasing is difficult due to all weather data not being made public," said Alexandre Aguiar of MetSul.com in Brazil. "Weather radar coverage is poor."
Australia is also a popular chasing spot, with the Northern Territory and southeast regions filled with chasers between the dry and monsoon seasons, November and December.
Storm clouds approaching Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, on April 4, 2006. Image courtesy of AccuWeather.com Fan r.culshaw.
The Australian Severe Weather Association has more than 200 members organizing tornado and thunderstorm chases year-round.
Nearly every country has an online blogosphere of chasers and chasing organizations posting images, videos, and hunting storms.
It appears that the fascination people have with severe weather transcends borders, languages and cultural barriers.
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