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Yellowstone Tornado
10/30/2002
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Think of tornadoes, and you probably think of
places like the midwest. Funnel clouds are most common on the generally flat terrain of
America's Heartland, often called "tornado alley". But twisters can strike just about
anywhere. Even in the mountains. Jeff Rice reports from Wyoming.
That's right. We're not in Kansas anymore. We're in Yellowstone National
Park. Follow the yellow *stone* road and you might expect to see some amazing
sights. Like Old Faithful. Or some truly outstanding wildlife.
Park Visitor: Animals everywhere, like you're in a zoo. Oh Yea. We had... A buffalo went right
in the road.
But a tornado? In the mountains? That's exactly what scientists measured
here in 1987 near the park's remote south side. A big one. An f-4 tornado--
the second most powerful type on the tornado scale-- went right over the
continental divide. Scientists documented the telltale swirling pattern in
the downed timber, which was scattered by the massive winds.
LD: They do occur. Even in very mountainous terrain.
Larry Dunne is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
LD: I think that they're more common in the midwest. The flat terrain does let
you get conditions that are favorable more often, but it is a myth that you
can't have tornadoes in the mountains. There's plenty of evidence that there
have been some very, very big tornadoes in the mountains.
In fact, tornadoes can occur almost anywhere, and have struck on varied
terrain in every state in the union.
Even in major cities. Recent years have seen tornadoes hit downtown Miami, and Salt Lake City.
Thanks to Jeff Rice for that report. The Weather Notebook is supported by grants from Subaru,
and The National Science Foundation.
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