The New Tornado Alley Part 2

Regional climate experts say the February 5-th tornadoes that killed 31 people across the state is further proof of a decade-long shift in the weather pattern.

They say we're living in a new tornado alley, even more deadly than the one in the great plains.

One of the unfortunate facts of life in this new tornado "hot zone" is that tornadoes here often strike in the middle of the night when our guard is down.

Examples include the January 2005 tornado in Evansville, Indiana that struck at 2a.m. and the Clarksville, Tennessee tornado that struck at 4a.m. in January of 1999.

Scientist Rick Shanklin with the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky says middle Tennessee is on the eastern edge of this new tornado alley.

While Tennessee's primary tornado season is in the Spring, there's not a month in the year where we aren't susceptible to a deadly storm.

What forecasters don't know is whether this apparent shift is temporary or permanent.The New Tornado Alley Part 2