Dorothy Gale might need to update her address.
The Kansas farmgirl, and her little dog too, literally rose to fame by riding a cyclone to Munchkin Country in the magical Land of Oz, killing the Wicked Witch of the East along the way.
L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” initially rolled off the press 125 years ago in May 1900, and the author assembled the first copy himself.
Writing for The New York Review of Books in October 1977, Gore Vidal suggested that the author, who had only visited Kansas once, made the state the location for his story because “newspaper accounts of recent cyclones had obviously impressed Baum.”
After all, Kansas is in the heart of Tornado Alley.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski explained that “Tornado Alley is an area of the U.S. where there is a high potential for tornado development. This area encompasses much of northern Texas northward through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and parts of Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Colorado.”
However, the best setting for a story relying on tornadoes may no longer be the windswept prairies of the Sunflower State.
According to Mark Fischetti, Matthew Twombly and Daniel P. Huffman writing for Scientific American, Tornado Alley “has shifted eastward by 400 to 500 miles.”
Climate change might be part of the reason a new Tornado Alley is forming.
Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science at Purdue University Ernest Agee argued that the dry line — “a boundary for convection – the rising of warm air and sinking of colder air that can fuel storms” — has been shifting eastward since the 1800s.
Because of this relocation, Mark Fischetti explained that the new Tornado Alley now includes northeastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, Missouri, western Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and Alabama.
Understanding this shift is important.
As researchers Niloufar Nouri and Naresh Devineni highlighted, “Tornadoes are one of the most devastating severe weather events in the United States that have posed a risk to human life.”
It’s the risk to human life that is warrants attention, especially since “tornado shelters are common in Texas and Oklahoma but less so elsewhere,” as Fischetti pointed out.
However, even if an area is relatively prepared for twisters, people die, and Kansas has numerous examples of this happening.
Just a couple of months ago, the Harvey County town of Hesston recognized the 35th anniversary of the F-5 tornado that killed two people on March 13, 1990.
This month marks 70 years since the rural Kansas town of Udall faced death on May 25, 1955, when, from an article by Wichita Eagle reporter Stan Finger, “a massive tornado obliterated the small farming community 20 miles south of Wichita in a matter of seconds, killing 77 people and injuring nearly 400 others, three-fourths of the town’s population.”
On the 50th anniversary, the Wichita Eagle’s Stan Finger wrote that the “Fujita scale measuring the strength of tornadoes hadn’t been created yet, but meteorologists have determined in hindsight that the Udall tornado hit F-5, the highest rating on the scale.”
To date, it remains the state’s deadliest tornado.
Tornado season spans March, April, May, and June, so we are in the thick of it. Based on 25-year averages, Kansas is near the top of the list of states with the most tornadoes.
So be weather aware this year. Don’t try to be Pecos Bill and attempt to lasso a tornado, whether with a snake or anything else.
Stay safe, and remember, there’s no place like home, even if Dorothy does need to move to Dixieland to catch the next cyclone to Oz.
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is a native of Canton, a resident of McPherson County, and an assistant professor of media at Sterling College. He can be contacted with questions or comments via his website at www.toddvogts.com.
