Tornado threat in Tornado Alley can be eliminated by building walls: scientists

Calculations show that the chance to produce tornadoes depends on the wind speeds during the clashes. For example, if both cold wind and warm wind have speed 30 miles/h (13.3m/s), the chance to develop tornados from the clash is very high. On the other hand, if the both winds have speed below 15 miles/h, there is almost no chance for the clash to develop into tornadoes. Hence reducing the wind speed and eliminating the violent air mass clashes are the key to prevent tornado formation in Tornado Alley. Nature teaches us how to do so.

United States and China have similar geographic locations. In particular, the Northern China Plain and the Eastern China Plain is also in the zone of mixing, similar to Tornado Alley.

Very few violent tornadoes, however, occur in this region of China because there are three east-west mountain ranges to protect these plains from tornado threat. The first one is 300km long Yan Mountain which lies at the northern boundary of these plains. The second one is 600km long Nanling (Nan Mountains) at the south boundary of these plains. The third one is 800km long Jiang-Huai Hills through the middle of the plains. Especially, Jiang-Huai Hills are only about 300 meters above sea level, but effectively eliminate the major tornado threat for the areas. This is evidenced by the following fact.

Jiang-Huai Hills do not extend to Pacific ocean, leaving a small plain area, north part of Jiangsu province, unprotected. This small area, similar to U.S. Tornado Alley, has annually recurring tornado outbreaks. For example, the city Gaoyou in this area has a nickname “Tornado hometown,” which has tornado outbreaks once in two years on average. It is thus clear that Jiang-Huai Hills are extremely effectively in eliminating tornadoes formation. Without Jiang-Huai Hills, a quite big area in China would become “Tornado Hometown.”

While there are no mountains in Tornado Alley to play the same role as Jiang-Huai Hills in China, there are two small mountains, Ozarks Mountains and Shawnee Hills, which significantly reduce tornado risk for some local areas.

Ozark Mountain consists of high and deeply dissected plateaus; the mountain hills are south-north ranged. Most parts of these north-south hills cannot block or weaken air mass flow between north and south. Therefore, for example, Joplin, Missouri has very high tornado risk as it faces the north-south deeps and valleys formed by these hills, the winds get more strength as they pass these valleys and deeps. On the other hand, some small sections of St. Francois Mountains and Boston Mountains have the hills east-west connected. Therefore, for example, Rolla, Missouri has very low tornado risk, as analyzed by http://www.homefact.com/tornadoes/.

The devastating tornado outbreak in Washington County, Illinois on 17 November 17 2013 also reminds us about Shawnee Hills, which is a small mountain, sixty miles east from Washington County. Most Shawnee Hills are along the south-north direction, but some sections are east-west connected, located at the south border of Gallatin County, Illinois. Therefore, Gallatin County has very low tornado risk, although the most land in Gallatin County is flat farm land, same as Washington county.

According to Dr. Tao, the above information learned from Nature is encouraging. Although there are no east-west mountains in Tornado Alley, some east-west great walls can be built to play the same role. Also learned from Jiang-Huai Hills and Shawnee Hills, the wall needs to be about 300 meter high and 50 meter wide.

The release notes that to eliminate the tornado threat for the entire Tornado Alley, there may be a need to build three great walls. The first one should be close to the northern boundary of the Tornado Alley, maybe in North Dakota. The second one should be in the middle, maybe in the middle of Oklahoma and going to east. The third one can be in the south of Texas and Louisiana.

Such great walls may affect the weather, but their effect on the weather will be minor, as evidenced by Shawnee Hills in Illinois. In fact, with scientific design, these walls may also be used to improve the local climate.

In Philadelphia, there is one skyscraper building, Comcast Center, about 300 meter high. From the cost of Comcast Center, it can be estimated that it would cost about $160 million to build such a wall. On the other hand, the damages caused by single tornado attack in Moore, Oklahoma on 20 May 2013 alone were in the multibillion dollars range. Therefore, it seems that the cost for building such a wall is affordable.

While building the three great walls will eventually eliminate major tornadoes in the entire Tornado Alley, we do not expect to start such a huge project in the near future. It is more realistic to build such great walls locally at high tornado risk areas first, then connect them piece by piece. To do so locally, it should be remembered that from air fluid dynamics, the area protected by the wall is roughly a circle with the wall as its diameter.

Also in developing any new city in Tornado Alley in future, the planners may consider building east-west skyscraper buildings first, then allocate the other parts of the city surrounding the skyscraper buildings. In such a way, the skyscraper buildings will serve as a wall, eliminating major tornado formation in their surroundings to protect the whole city.

This research is supported in part by a grant from US Naval Research Lab.

— Read more in Rongjia Tao, “Eliminating the major tornado threat in Tornado Alley,” International Journal of Modern Physics B (9 June 2014)) (doi: 10.1142/S0217979214501756)