It looks like portions of the Tri-State are now officially moving into "Tornado Alley"; for some reason I always thought we were already part of it, but new research finally confirms it. 

A new study from Northern Illinois University shows that over the past four decades, tornadoes have increased over a large part of the Midwest and Southeast. They call it "Dixie Alley" down south.

Tornadoes have actually decreased where they've always been the most numerous, in the central and southern Plains which includes large parts of both Oklahoma and Texas. Areas to the east of the original "Tornado Alley" now includes Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Overall, 1,200 tornadoes hit the country every year. Those that occur in the Southeast tend to be more deadly than the storms in Texas and Oklahoma which is due to several factors including wider storm paths, nighttime tornadoes, and more mobile homes. Alabama tallies the highest average death toll from tornadoes at 14, while an average of 10 people die per year in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas combined.

The research doesn't completely clarify why "Tornado Alley" is shifting east; the cause could be natural or human-induced climate change.

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