More evidence that Dixie Alley is a dangerous place to be for tornadoes

We've blogged before about the dangers of tornadoes in Dixie Alley.  As shown above, the frequency of killer tornado events is at a maximum in the Mid-South.  Now another source lends credence to the danger of Dixie Alley tornadoes.

Recently, The Weather Channel published a ranking of the Top 10 Tornado Cities.  The ranking was based on track length and path width of tornadoes within 75 miles of the city between 1962-2011. They describe the cities on this list as places "where homes are most likely to get hit".

Despite the fact that the stats used in this compilation very likely don't take into account that path widths change as a tornado travels along the ground (resulting in an overestimate of the area affected), that probably has little overall effect on rankings.  The list includes only 3 cities from the traditional Tornado Alley, while 7 cities are in the southeast and the top 5 are all in Dixie Alley.

The list of "Top 10 Tornado Cities" as selected by The Weather Channel are as follows:

1. Huntsville, AL
2. Jackson, MS
3. Birmingham, AL
4. Tuscaloosa, AL
5. Little Rock, AR
6. Tulsa, OK
7. Oklahoma City, OK
8. Atlanta, GA
9. Wichita, KS
10. Nashville, TN

While Memphis is not on the list (no complaints right?), Little Rock, Nashville and Jackson, MS are, as are 3 cities in Alabama.  What do you think? Are there any surprises?

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