Which United States city has been hit by the most tornadoes as of 2018?

The answer is Oklahoma City, says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. “Oklahoma City is almost in a class by itself when it comes to tornado activity,” he explains. “According to the local National Weather Service office, the capital of Oklahoma has been hit more than 140 times since records began in the early 1890s. There seems to be no explanation other than Oklahoma City is smack in the middle of Tornado Alley, and conditions in and around the town are perfect for tornado formation during the spring months.

Tornado Alley is a colloquial term for the area of the United States (or by some definitions extending into Canada) where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It is largely a media-driven term although tornado climatologists distinguish peaks in activity in certain areas and storm chasers have long recognized the Great Plains tornado belt.