Big Picture

Midwest Tornado

‘We’re not in Kansas anymore,’ said Dorothy to Toto. And if you saw this Kansas monster barrelling in your direction, you’d be clicking your heels to get the hell out, too. Irresistibly photogenic from afar, this rotating thunderstorm – known as a supercell – threatens unmitigated terror as it sweeps across the prairies at the height of tornado season. Kansas is part of “Tornado Alley”, a region that takes the brunt of about 1 200 tornadoes that hit the US on average each year. Peak tornado season strikes the southern Great Plains of Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma in May and June, before moving to the northern Plains and upper Midwest in June and July. There truly is no place like home.