A rash of tornadoes devastating multiple states is targeting the South, an area traditionally outside of ‘Tornado Alley,” with a particular vengeance.

Catastrophic weekend tornadoes and storms that started Friday killed 28 people in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia, with the majority of deaths, 19, occurring in the Blue Grass state where 42 twisters have been reported this year.

Tornadoes continued to cut a path across the South, as Weather Channel videos of violent rotating columns of air tossing trees in the air near Athens, Alabama, May 20 and shredding a roof in Tennesseedemonstrate.

Northeastern Global News spoke to Northeastern climatologist Chengfei He about why tornadoes are increasingly occurring in Southern states outside the traditional bounds of the area known as“Tornado Alley,” which roughly includes parts or all of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

He also explains why tornadoes typically move in a counterclockwise direction and why spring is a peak time for twisters to form.

Read more from Northeastern Global News. 

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