Tornado Alley Map
A free printable map of Tornado Alley, shaded from the real record of every tornado in the United States from 1995 to 2024. It shows Tornado Alley, Dixie Alley and all the states by name. It comes in black and white or in color. The blank version gives each state’s tornado count for students to color.
Choose your version
Black and white, color or blank.
All three are free PDFs sized for US Letter paper.
Black and white
Shaded in gray by how often tornadoes touch down, with both alleys outlined and every state named.
downloadBlack and white PDF
Color
The same labeled map with the shading in yellow, orange and red.
downloadColor PDF
Blank
State outlines with each state’s tornadoes per year, to color by a key. Black and white.
downloadBlank PDFWhere is Tornado Alley?
Tornado Alley is the nickname for the part of the Great Plains where tornadoes are most common. It runs north from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska into South Dakota. Many maps also include parts of Iowa, Missouri and eastern Colorado. There is no official border. The name comes from a 1952 research project by two Air Force weather officers, Ernest Fawbush and Robert Miller, and it stuck.
Tornadoes form here because of what meets over the plains. Warm, wet air moves north from the Gulf of Mexico. Dry air comes down off the Rocky Mountains and the deserts, and cold air comes south from Canada. The land between is flat, so nothing keeps them apart. Where they meet, huge spinning thunderstorms grow, mostly in April, May and June.
The United States had about 1,254 tornadoes a year from 1995 to 2024, more than any other country. Texas has the most, about 133 a year, partly because it is so large. Kansas has about 82 and Oklahoma about 69.
The shading on the map shows a second busy area, called Dixie Alley, across Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. Mississippi and Alabama each have about 57 tornadoes a year, which is more for their size than Kansas or Oklahoma. Tornadoes there are more dangerous in some ways: more of them come at night, and hills and trees make them hard to see. Scientists have found that since about 1980 tornadoes have become less common on the southern plains and more common in this region.
Tornadoes in an average year
- Texas: 133
- Kansas: 82
- Oklahoma: 69
- Illinois: 62
- Florida: 57
- Alabama: 57
- Mississippi: 57
- Iowa: 55
- Nebraska: 50
- Missouri: 47
Find it on the map
- Kansas and Oklahoma, the dark center of Tornado Alley
- Dixie Alley, the dashed outline around Mississippi and Alabama
- The states west of the Rocky Mountains, which have almost no shading
Shading and state averages are worked out from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1995 to 2024: 37,619 tornadoes. Each tornado is counted in the state where it first touched down. The Tornado Alley and Dixie Alley outlines are approximate. On the blank map, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island are too small for a number; each has fewer than 10 tornadoes a year.
Frequently asked questions
What states are in Tornado Alley?
Tornado Alley has no official border, so lists differ. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota are on almost every list. Iowa, Missouri and eastern Colorado are often included too.
Which state has the most tornadoes?
Texas, with about 133 a year from 1995 to 2024. Kansas is second with about 82 and Oklahoma third with about 69. For their size, Mississippi and Alabama have the most.
What is Dixie Alley?
Dixie Alley is the nickname for a second area with many tornadoes, in the lower Mississippi Valley and the Deep South. It is centered on Mississippi and Alabama and reaches into Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Is Tornado Alley moving east?
Tornadoes still strike the Great Plains every year, but studies of the records since about 1980 show fewer on the southern plains and more in the Mid-South, in states such as Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas.
How do students use the blank map?
Each state shows its average number of tornadoes a year. Students pick a color for each group in the key, color the states to match, then loop Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, the heart of Tornado Alley. The labeled map works as the answer check.
