Can tornadoes do that?

Absolutely. Tornadoes have crossed the Mississippi (many times), Missouri, Ohio, Cumberland, Red, Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee — every major US river. Rivers do not stop or turn tornadoes. The Tri-State tornado of 1925 crossed both the Mississippi and the Wabash.

Yes. The 1974 Super Outbreak included tornadoes that crossed the Appalachians. The 1987 Teton-Yellowstone tornado tracked over the 10,000-foot Continental Divide in Wyoming. Terrain has minor effects on tornado behavior but doesn't stop a strong supercell.

Yes — and nighttime tornadoes are about 2.5 times more likely to be fatal than daytime ones. People are asleep, can't see the tornado approaching, and rely on alarms to be warned. Dixie Alley has a high proportion of nocturnal tornadoes.

Downtown Dallas (2019), St. Louis (many times), Nashville (2020), Atlanta (2008), Salt Lake City (1999), Miami (1997) and many others have all been hit. The "heat island" myth is nonsense — cities cover a tiny fraction of tornado zones, so the statistical odds are lower, but never zero.

EF2+ tornadoes routinely lift vehicles. The Elie, Manitoba F5 threw a semi-truck a quarter mile. Debris video from Bridge Creek-Moore 1999 shows cars tossed 100+ meters.

F3+ tornadoes have overturned freight trains. The 1953 Waco F5 flipped a train. The 2004 Roanoke tornado in Illinois derailed cars on the CN line.

Yes, though most livestock aren't lifted — they're killed by debris or building collapse. Documented cases of cattle being carried hundreds of meters in strong tornadoes do exist. The Twister movie's flying cow scene was exaggerated but not physically impossible.

Yes, and it's been documented on radar and video. Sometimes a satellite tornado orbits a larger primary tornado and merges. Sometimes two tornadoes from adjacent supercells briefly cross paths. Multi-vortex tornadoes are technically several vortices coexisting.

Tornadoes don't skip in the classic sense. When one appears to lift and drop again, it's usually two separate tornadoes from the same parent mesocyclone. The old idea of a tornado bouncing along like a skipping rock is not physically accurate.

Yes. December 2021 saw the Mayfield, KY EF4 that killed 89. Southeast US tornadoes are common in December, January and February when cold fronts meet Gulf moisture.

Alaska averages less than one tornado per year, mostly landspouts and weak QLCS spin-ups. The far north's cold temperatures don't support the CAPE needed for strong tornadoes.

Every tornado is attached to a cumulonimbus cloud. If it's not connected to a thunderstorm, it's a dust devil, gustnado, or steam devil — related phenomena but not true tornadoes.

Both. Tornadoes track wherever the parent mesocyclone moves, which is dictated by the supercell's motion, not local terrain. Uphill motion can cause temporary tornado weakening or strengthening depending on the specifics.

The parent supercell produces near-continuous lightning throughout the tornado's lifecycle. Whether the tornado vortex itself makes lightning is separately debated — some observers report "tornadic lightning" in the funnel, but it's rare and hard to verify.

Above EF3 (winds >136 mph), well-built homes can be lifted off foundations. EF5 tornadoes sweep frame homes clean from slabs. Documented photos of intact roofs deposited miles away are common.

Yes — hail up to several inches is often lofted by the storm and swirled around by the tornado. Hailstones have been documented embedded in trees miles from the tornado's origin.

Most Northern Hemisphere tornadoes rotate counterclockwise, but rare "anticyclonic tornadoes" spinning clockwise do occur. They're usually satellite tornadoes to a larger cyclonic parent.

A tornado passing over water becomes a waterspout — which does lift water into the vortex, but only near the surface. Full "sucking the lake dry" is a Hollywood invention.

Moore, Oklahoma has been hit by two F5/EF5 tornadoes (1999 and 2013). The old belief that "tornadoes don't strike twice" is a myth. Every tornado hits its location for the first time until it doesn't.

Yes. Europe averages about 300 tornadoes per year across all countries. The June 2021 Czech Republic F4 killed 6 people. See our world tornado guide.