Tornadoes??

Question

Can tornadoes happen in mountainous areas? We've had one before, but can they really be bad in areas with mountains? Like a lot of damage & really hight wind speeds?

Answer 1

Not as likely as usual. if their ever was to occur it wouldnt last long considering all the slopes. Theirs a 20% chance of it causing really bad damage.

Answer 2

While tornadoes in mountainous terrain are not as common and often not nearly as violent as some of the tornadoes on the plains, they do happen and some can be very violent.

The strongest known tornado in Wyoming struck Teton County and parts of Yellowstone National Park on July 21, 1987.  It was rated at F4 on the Fujita Scale. The tornado downed over 1 million trees across 15,000 acres and occurred at elevations over 10,000 feet and at one point crossed the continental divide.  In some areas the tornado caused damage at the top of ridges and in the bottom of the valley several thousand feet below the ridge.

You might look up Fujita's article on this storm in the AMS journal. Interesting.