La. has third-most tornado touchdowns in U.S., report says

A new tornado and hail risk report out from CoreLogic says Louisiana was home to the third-highest rate of twister touchdowns per 100 square miles in the United States between 1980 and 2009. The report, says CoreLogic, flies in the face of what most people assume about tornadoes: that they occur most often in the middle section of the country known as “Tornado Alley.” That region is typically considered by meteorologists and the media to encompass mainly the Great Plains states and surrounding areas, spanning Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois. Citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, CoreLogic’s report says of the 10 states with the highest number of tornado touchdowns between 1980 and 2009, only three actually fell within the states traditionally included in Tornado Alley. See the complete 13-page report here.