Why dont tornadoes hit cities

See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Read more from this special report: The Science of Tornadoes. Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter. Sign Up. Support science journalism. Knowledge awaits. See Subscription Options Already a subscriber?

Create Account See Subscription Options. Continue reading with a Scientific American subscription. Subscribe Now You may cancel at any time. They are simply unpredictable. Let's cut to the chase. Tornadoes don't avoid big cities. They don't avoid tall buildings, and they aren't skittish around big city rats, either. Public transportation systems don't intimidate them.

Tornadoes have the ability to destroy just about anything. However, it does seem a little strange we so rarely hear about cities ravaged by twisters, especially in dense urban areas. First, it's important to note that tornadoes have indeed hit cities and the damage has been truly terrible. The city was hit again in May , when 25 people were killed after a tornado struck the city and suburbs [source: Weather Channel ].

As you see, big cities — and the people who live there — are not safe from tornadoes. But while 80 percent of the population does live in urban centers, this doesn't mean that urban areas take up the majority of the land in the United States [source: Census Bureau]. And that might be the key to why we don't see urban areas hit as often.

Cities are specks on the map compared with the sprawling rural land surrounding them. It stands to reason there's a much smaller chance of a tornado winding its way through a city. See more experiments from Science With Samantha by clicking here.

Science with Samantha Oct 20, Science with Samantha Oct 13, This article tagged under: Science with Samantha weather. Back to Article. Close Menu. Search for:.