Which country has the most tornadoes?

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FOX Weather Explains: Tornado Safety

FOX Weather meteorologists Britta Merwin and Jason Frazer explain why tornado safety is so important. 

Tornadoes are among the most ferocious types of weather on Earth, and these violently rotating columns of air can happen just about anywhere.

Reliable records of tornadoes are fairly new when compared to the entire meteorological record. Tornado spotting and reporting methods, combined with advances in technology over the past several decades, make it hard to get an average number of tornado occurrences.

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"Indeed, in most of the world, there is no systematic documentation of tornadoes, other than those that happen to cause great damage and death, or that are caught by chance on someone’s camera," wrote Roger Edwards, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.

Where do most tornadoes happen?

North America experiences more tornadoes than any other continent on the planet, and the bulk of those twisters happen in the U.S. According to the SPC, the U.S. experiences about 1,200 tornadoes each year, and most are reported in the state of Texas.

The Prairie Provinces in Canada and northeastern Mexico are also prone to tornadoes, according to the SPC. These tornadoes are usually the results of severe weather systems in the U.S. that span the borders of neighboring countries.

According to Environment Canada, the country sees about 61 tornadoes each year.

José Francisco León Cruz, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, estimates about 50 tornadoes happen each year in Mexico.

This map from Tornado Archive also shows the Caribbean sees its fair share of tornadoes. The western side of Cuba and Puerto Rico have reported dozens of tornadoes over the years.

WHERE ARE TORNADOES MOST COMMON IN THE US?

This map created Nov. 28, 2022, shows the distribution of tornadoes across North America.

(Tornado Archive)

Does Europe have tornadoes?

Tornadoes are a fairly common occurrence in Europe, where twisters have been well documented. A majority of those tornadoes happen in Germany and the United Kingdom, according to 2017 study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

According to the study, more than 1,000 tornadoes were reported in Germany between 1950 and 2015. Western Russia reported 685 tornadoes during that period. The U.K. came in third with 437 tornado reports. Spain (426) and France (396) rounded out the top five.

The U.K. averages about 30 tornadoes a year, according to the country’s Met Office. These are often small and short-lived.

NIGHTTIME TORNADOES FAR MORE LIKELY TO TURN DEADLY THAN DAYTIME ONES

This map created Nov. 28, 2022, shows the distribution of tornadoes across Europe.

(Tornado Archive)

Where do tornadoes happen in Asia?

Destructive tornadoes have been reported in many countries in Southeast Asia, with Bangladesh and India near the top of the list. The deadliest tornado in the world happened in Bangladesh in 1989. It destroyed two towns and killed an estimated 1,300 people.

Tornadoes have also been reported elsewhere in Asia, including China and Japan.

The Philippines is also no stranger to tornadoes. In 2016, a tornado swept through the country’s capital Manila.

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This map created Nov. 28, 2022, shows the distribution of tornadoes across East Asia.

(Tornado Archive)

Do tornadoes happen in the Southern Hemisphere?

Most of the world’s tornadoes happen in the Northern Hemisphere, but twisters have been documented in several countries south of the equator.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa are just some of the countries in the Southern Hemisphere where tornadoes have been reported.

HOW YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR A TORNADO

This map created Nov. 28, 2022, shows the distribution of tornadoes around the world.

(Tornado Archive)