Tornado threat actually much more widespread than 'Tornado Alley'

Yes, Oklahoma is smack-dab in the middle of the so-called "Tornado Alley," but now nearly a dozen other states are facing the same moniker.

A new report suggests the traditional Tornado Alley boundaries, which includes Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, should be expanded.

The report by CoreLogic , a private research and consulting company, says much of the Midwest, the Deep South and Florida should be included in Tornado Alley because of the frequency and severity of tornadoes in those areas.

See the full report here (http:// bit.ly/ J2yN3U)

According to the report, only Kansas was among the top five states for most tornadoes from 1980 to 2009. Florida, Iowa, Louisiana and Mississippi rounded out the top five.

CoreLogic launched the study after the deadly 2011 tornado season, which claimed hundreds of lives and caused more than $7 billion in damages.

CoreLogic says last year's was the most expensive tornado outbreak ever recorded.

The report says parts of at least 26 states face extreme tornado risk.

Other experts found the CoreLogic report flawed.

"If the report is trying to identify where the most tornadoes are, then it's broader than the Plains, and we've known that for decades," said Harold Brooks, research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

Brooks said the traditional boundaries of Tornado Alley consistently have active seasons whereas the southeast may only have active seasons sporadically.

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Information from USA Today (http://usat.ly/I0UUd4)