how often are there tornadoes in Topeka Kansas?
602650
not to often. The last one or at least major one was June 8, 1966
515568
Yep it all depends on if the  warm air current is rising up to meet a cold one that is coming down and they clash enough to make a vortex. Tornado's can happen pretty much anywhere.
51152
Natural disaster...tornado, earthquake, etc.
141934
Tornadoes are associated with severe thunderstorms. The strongest of severe thunderstorms, known as supercells, sometimes form mesocyclones. At the base of a mesocyclone can be a wall cloud. If the wall cloud starts to rotate, a funnel cloud and eventually a tornado can form and drop to the ground from the wall cloud.
481590
Tornadoes are created from severe Thunderstorms. They occur when a high pressure front meets head on with a low pressure front. No where is this more evident than in our mid-west, otherwise known as tornado alley, from the Canadian provinces to the Gulf of Mexico. Here, the Siberian express from Canada meets the warm tropical front from the Gulf of Mexico.
447138
The U.S. is definitely the tornado capital of the world.\n\nhttp://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wtorwhat/wtorwhat.htm
109227
A tornado is basically like a giant vacuum cleaner.  They are frightening and amazing all at the same time!\n\nEverything you ever wanted to know about them can be found in this excellent resource from NOAA.
283899
An outbreak of strong convection occurred on 29 March 1998 across southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin. These storms produced several tornadoes, most notably at Lismore/Wilmont/Leota F2) in southwestern Minnesota and at Comfrey/Hanska/Courtland (F3/F4, 1 fatality) and at Nicollet/St. Peter/Le Center (F3, 1 fatality) in southcentral Minnesota. This marked one of only seven occurrences of tornadoes in Minnesota during the month of March. A tornado was also reported near Maxville, Wisconsin. In addition, large hail was reported with these particular storms (hailstone diameters up to 4.5 inches in Minnesota and 1.75 inches in Wisconsin). \n\nSynoptic conditions: A surface low was deepening in extreme southeastern South Dakota, with a warm front extending eastward across southern Minnesota into central Wisconsin. The air mass within the warm sector to the south of this front was very unstable, as surface temperatures reached around 80 F along with dewpoints in the low 60's F. The warm front served as the low-level focus for convective activity. \n\nStrong middle and upper-level winds were also advancing over the region -- wind profiler data at Wood Lake, MN and Blue River, WI showed 50 knot winds as low as 2.5 - 3.0 km, as well as strong low to mid-level wind shear (veering and increasing speed with height) that aided in the development of supercell convection. \n\nNear St. Peter, Minnesota, a 6-year-old boy was killed when the van he was in was thrown off the road and he was tossed 150 yards. In St. Peter, bricks littered the streets, storefronts were smashed, and the remains of one store was spread throughout a 6 block area. Debris from there was dropped onto St. Paul, 55 miles away. Many buildings at Gustavus Adolphus College were damaged. At a Le Center trailer park, the manager, Bob Bock, ran from trailer to trailer, alerting the residents, and directing them to the trailer park's concrete storm shelter. About half the trailers were destroyed, but none of the residents were seriously injured. At least 36 other people were injured during a rash of 7 tornadoes that swept through southern Minnesota. The towns of St. Peter, Le Center, and Comfrey were hardest hit.
164145
In the U.S., it is due to cold dry air from over the Rocky Mountains mixing with warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.  Most tornadoes occur in the summer, which is when the air from the Gulf of Mexico is hottest, so it provides the most energy at that time of the year.  And "Tornado Alley" consists primarily of those states positioned between the Gulf and the Rockies.
194439
The Hallam Nebraska F4 tornado of May 22, 2004 was the biggest on record.\n\nhttp://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/\n\nhttp://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/hallamap.jpg
47429
Go here http://www.fema.gov/hazards/tornadoes/\nand here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes
92110
Tornadoes are formed by the clashing of drasticlaly different masses of air known as fronts.  A high pressure front meets with a low pressure front and the difference in their temperatures and pressures creates a strong wind that can form into the funnel clouds known as tornadoes.  This is not to say that all colliding fronts will yield tornadoes, but there are certain elements that can increase the likeliness of a tornado forming.  The swath of the mid-west United States from N. Texas / Oklahoma through Kansas / Nebraska and into Iowa / Missouri is known as "Tornado Alley" because there are more tornados per year in this area than anywhere else in the world.
587200
!!!!!!TORNADOES!!!!!!\n\nur siting right next 2 me hahahahaha!!!!
615131
I have. I took pictures of this one that came right by my house. This tornado was in Tennesse so it was big for us down here. Also a few years ago a twister came through part of my town and destroyed the school i was going to. Since my town is so small and my school is so small we had class in our courthouse.
256868
Not at all true. Not only can they move west, there are sometimes tornadoes which don't spin counterclockwise.
343523
Tornadoes have been reported in many other countries.  The U.S. just gets more of them than anywhere else; as already mentioned, formation conditions are the most favorable in the world in Tornado Alley.\n\nFor instance, Australia is another country that's believed to be a (distant) second in tornado activity; however, what tornadoes do form are probably underreported because of the sparse population.
395422
I don't know.. it's weird though.  I lived in the midwest for years and we always had tornado warnings starting in the evening.  The Wautoma, Wisconsin tornado was in the evening.  Maybe it has something to do with the cooling air on land.