Staggering maps show how 'Tornado Alley' has dramatically shifted - are YOU at risk?

America's much feared Tornado Alley has shifted towards the Midwest and Southeast as experts predict a higher number of storms in coming years.

Tornado Alley, a term first used in 1952, describes the areas in central US and Canada where tornadoes are most frequently experienced. 

Until recently, these areas have predominately been the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. 

But a new study released in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology has concluded that major tornado activity has now moved towards Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. 

The scientists noted that between 1951 and 1985, the natural disaster was mostly concentrated in the central plains but between 1986 to 2020, a higher number of tornadoes were recorded in the Midwest and Southeast. 

According to the study, incidents of the whirlwind have dropped by 25 percent in the western part of the country between both the time periods - going from 8,450 to 6,300.

During the same block of time, tornado activity in the eastern United States has increased by 12 percent - rising from 9,400 to 10,500. 

Earlier this week, terrified passengers on a flight trying to leave Chicago O'Hare airport were left stranded and begging for help amid severe storms and a tornado warning. 

A video posted to social media from the inside of a plane showed the aircraft being shaken by the tornado. Lightning strikes could be seen arcing across the night sky as heavy rain poured down. 

Courtney Mares, a journalist for Catholic News Agency who took the video on the plane, said: 'Our plane is sitting on the runway at Chicago O'Hare right now while everyone's phones receive multiple tornado warnings.

'Captain announced that air traffic control and ground control have evacuated.

'Plane is shaking as it is blown back and forth by the wind.' 

As many as ten simultaneous tornadoes were spotted by the National Weather Service in the metropolitan area of the Windy City, with one hurtling towards the international airport. 

The storm was so bad that a shelter-in-place order was issued for the area, with passengers in the terminal building being made to get away from windows, while others were told to head underground. 

But passengers already on outbound flights could do little more than watch and wait in terror. According to FlightAware, more than 60 flights were cancelled and over 400 were delayed at O'Hare alone. 

In May 2023, officials in Virginia Beach were on the streets clearing debris, consisting of large fallen trees and huge parts of people's houses, including entire roofs after a huge tornado destroyed as many as 100 homes.

Powerline workers were also present, clearing roads of fallen pylons and tending to damaged transmission lines to restore power to hundreds of homes.

Virginia Natural Gas was also attending homes with gas leaks and Dominion Power, the local energy company headquartered in Richmond, was responding with crews. 

The tornado hit the Great Neck area of the city and was so severe the city declared a local state of emergency.

The tornado hit the Great Neck area of the city just before 6pm on Sunday and was so severe the city declared a local state of emergency.

The National Weather Service announced that the cyclone was an EF-3 tornado, meaning it carried winds of between 136 and 165 mph. The highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale is an EF-5.

Last June, a tornado ripped through a small town in Mississippi killing one and injuring around 20. 

The twister touched down in Louin in Jasper County - a small town of around 275 people - at around 11.40pm and tore apart houses, trapping residents under their homes and triggering a rescue operation through the night.

Injured residents were seen being loaded from among the rubble onto stretchers and into ambulances to the South Central Regional Medical Center in Jackson.

Aerial footage captured once the sun had risen  showed the extent of the damage to homes and cars.

Fast winds tore out trees and in central and eastern Mississippi as many as 50 percent of residents remained without power.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said at the time that another tornado struck Rankin County, southeast of Florence the same night, though did not result in fatalities.'