Abstract
THE recorded annual incidence of tornadoes in the United States has increased steadily and dramatically in the past four decades, by at least a factor of six1. We have examined the thesis that the development of widespread motor vehicle traffic in the United States over the last 40 yr has perturbed atmospheric vorticity in such a way as to exacerbate the tornado incidence, principally by the introduction of cyclonic vorticity. Surprisingly, both the analysis and the evidence support the thesis.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA's Climatological Data, National Summary, 24, no. 13 (1973).
Delury, G. E. (ed.), World Almanac and Book of Facts (Doubleday, New York, 1973).
US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Data tapes, National Severe Storms Forecast Center, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ISAACS, J., STORK, J., GOLDSTEIN, D. et al. Effect of vorticity pollution by motor vehicles on tornadoes. Nature 253, 254–255 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/253254a0
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/253254a0
This article is cited by
-
Tornado forum
Nature (1976)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
