# How To Push Tornado Alley Off Northeastern Nebraska



## Jdailey1991 (Aug 13, 2016)

I will not name which city I call home, but all I can tell you is that it is somewhere in northeastern Nebraska.  The only concerning thing about the city in question is that it is set in the middle of a danger zone called Tornado Alley.  (Heaven knows I've had more than enough dealings with the reaper's scythe.)


In my constant changing of planet Earth for my worldbuilding project, my personal goal is to make sure that northeastern Nebraska can be set OUTSIDE Tornado Alley.


Here is what I've got so far:





The Rocky Mountains have been rearranged to the extent that they start in the Canadian city of Churchill, then to Regina, Saskatchewan, then to Rapid City, South Dakota, then to Colorado Springs, then to Carlsbad and then meandering parallel to the Rio Grande River.  They have also become higher--the tallest above sea level is 20,310 feet.

Only the Rockies stand firm--no Coast Range, no Cascades, no Alaska Range, no Sierra Nevada.  Instead, we've got ourselves a plateau covering the following:  Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahulia, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Durango, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi.  This singular plateau varies in elevation above sea level from 3300 feet to 16,000 feet.

The entire Great Lakes Basin has been flooded, turning five Great Lakes into one Great Megalake.  http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/files/2012/05/Great-Lakes-Basin-Map-800w.jpg

The Appalachian Mountains are rearranged to the extent of connecting the following dots--Galveston, TX; Little Rock, AR; Lexington, KY; Woodstock, VA; Glenn Falls, NY; QuÃ©bec, Quebec.  The width varies between 65 and 227.5 miles.  The tallest peak in the Appalachians is now 14,505 feet above sea level.





Are these listed changes ideal to drive Tornado Alley off northeastern Nebraska but still retain the Midwest's prairie fertility in the process?


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Aug 14, 2016)

You keep posting threads about changing the Earth's geography, but none of us are knowledgeable enough about the subject to help you, I don't think. It would be better to look elsewhere, I think.


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## Jdailey1991 (Aug 14, 2016)

Like where?


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Aug 14, 2016)

Jdailey1991 said:


> Like where?



I really don't know. Talk to someone who is knowledgable about it? I just know that we probably won't be able to help you.


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## Jdailey1991 (Aug 14, 2016)

Maybe there is someone in this forum who'd know some geography.


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## CupofJoe (Aug 15, 2016)

Jdailey1991 said:


> Maybe there is someone in this forum who'd know some geography.


But I don't think this is "some geography". This a massive and complex question about the atmosphere, geography and climate with global implications. I can think of PhDs that have had less ambitious scopes.
It might be that if you want to keep the fertile farm land of Nebraska [and the accompanying rain and sun that needs], then Tornadoes are part of the deal. You have to find some way to get the moisture in the air that far inland and those forces might well bring with them the conditions needed for thunderstorms and Tornadoes.


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## Jdailey1991 (Aug 15, 2016)

CupofJoe said:


> But I don't think this is "some geography". This a massive and complex question about the atmosphere, geography and climate with global implications. I can think of PhDs that have had less ambitious scopes.
> It might be that if you want to keep the fertile farm land of Nebraska [and the accompanying rain and sun that needs], then Tornadoes are part of the deal. You have to find some way to get the moisture in the air that far inland and those forces might well bring with them the conditions needed for thunderstorms and Tornadoes.




The point is to enjoy living in the Great Plains WITHOUT having to worry about the reaper's scythe.


Do you know someone in this forum who'd help?


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## CupofJoe (Aug 15, 2016)

Jdailey1991 said:


> The point is to enjoy living in the Great Plains WITHOUT having to worry about the reaper's scythe.


As I said it might be a package deal. You can't have one without the other...
Get rid of the Tornadoes and maybe Nebraska starts to look a lot drier and cooler.
May be look at other similar fertile areas around the world and see how their geography and climate work...


Jdailey1991 said:


> Do you know someone in this forum who'd help?


Sorry. Other than I know it is not me...


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## Geo (Aug 15, 2016)

CupofJoe said:


> This a massive and complex question about the atmosphere, geography and climate with global implications. I can think of PhDs that have had less ambitious scopes.



Thank you CoJ for saying this. You are correct, 100% correct. I have a PhD in geological sciences and have dedicated 20 years of my life to reconstructing and modelling the climate of certain regions of the planet and I don't think this question, as many others Jdailey1991 has posted, have a unique answer nor have the answers any real meaning for 99.9999% of the people that may read a fantasy book. Not to mention that I know only a handful of people that would theorized on the answer and most of them would tell you that each of such questions represent a complex problem involving regions much larger than those Jdailey1991 is interested on, and time scales beyond what almost every book I've read covers.  

Jdailey1991, I think that you should also considered that while scientists all around the world are working to understand the major mechanisms behind environmental and climate variability most scientists are not looking, nor are they interested, in  punctual questions because, like with everything in nature, trends are much more important that small and specific changes.

Now, writing wise, I think that if what you want is a place where farm soil is rich and there are not tornados, just say it, "Here the soil is rich and there are not tornados," otherwise you will find that understanding all the mechanism controlling the formation of tornados on decadal, centennial and millennial time scales along the great plains is not an easy task. Even more important, you will discover that explaining such mechanisms to somebody that is reading a book and is presumably more interested in the story than the background is pretty much impossible (it's already hard enough to explain some of those concepts to graduate students in a science program, I can't imagine how hard is going to be to explain to somebody that cares little about it).

Anyway, since you are extremely interested in such matters, here I'm leaving you some of the papers I recommend to the students that want to work in climate modeling and reconstruction (which is what all your questions boil to, modelling climate under different circumstances). I'm also including three papers that focus on climate in the Great Plains (i.e., a few of the papers you can get the PDF directly online, but others you may have to visit a University Library to get them or pay for them). Hope they are of help.

McGregor, J. L. (1997). Regional climate modelling. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 63(1-2), 105-117. Regional climate modelling - Springer

SalathÃ©, E. P. (2005). Downscaling simulations of future global climate with application to hydrologic modelling. International Journal of Climatology, 25(4), 419-436.
Downscaling simulations of future global climate with application to hydrologic modelling - SalathÃ© - 2005 - International Journal of Climatology - Wiley Online Library

Murphy, J. M., Sexton, D. M., Barnett, D. N., Jones, G. S., Webb, M. J., Collins, M., & Stainforth, D. A. (2004). Quantification of modelling uncertainties in a large ensemble of climate change simulations. Nature, 430(7001), 768-772.
Quantification of modelling uncertainties in a large ensemble of climate change simulations : Abstract : Nature

Zachos, James, Mark Pagani, Lisa Sloan, Ellen Thomas, and Katharina Billups. Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292, no. 5517 (2001): 686-693.
Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present | Science

Polsky, C., & Easterling, W. E. (2001). Adaptation to climate variability and change in the US Great Plains:: A multi-scale analysis of Ricardian climate sensitivities. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 85(1), 133-144.
Adaptation to climate variability and change in the US Great Plains:: A multi-scale analysis of Ricardian climate sensitivities

Giorgi, F., & Mearns, L. O. (1991). Approaches to the simulation of regional climate change: a review. Reviews of Geophysics, 29(2), 191-216.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/90RG02636/full

Mahmood, R., Hubbard, K. G., & Carlson, C. (2004). Modification of growing-season surface temperature records in the northern Great Plains due to land-use transformation: Verification of modelling results and implication for global climate change. International Journal of Climatology, 24(3), 311-327.

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...ate_change/links/5405cfc30cf2c48563b1b7e4.pdf


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## Jdailey1991 (Aug 15, 2016)

"Answers without meaning"?  What do you mean?


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## X Equestris (Aug 15, 2016)

Jdailey1991 said:


> The point is to enjoy living in the Great Plains WITHOUT having to worry about the reaper's scythe.



I should point out that tornadoes can be quite common even outside the area labelled Tornado Alley.  Mississippi and Alabama aren't really considered part of the Alley, but they've been hit with some absolutely monstrous tornado outbreaks over the years.  So moving Tornado Alley may not be of much help.


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