News Climate

Tornado intensity climbs in the United States

Since 1994, twisters have left bigger paths of destruction

DAMAGE PATH  By analyzing the length and width of tornadoes' destructive paths, scientists have found that the intensity of twisters in the United States has gone up since 1994. 

Todd Shoemake/Shutterstock

By Meghan Rosen

- More than 2 years ago

SAN FRANCISCO —Tornadoes are getting stronger.

Over the last two decades, the intensity of twisters pummeling the United States has crept up, geographer James Elsner of Florida State University in Tallahassee reported at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting on December 10.