Updated 10 May 2013 to add new information from April 2013 Updated 2 May 2013 to correct typo on date of previous low tornado count The 12-month period from May 2012 to April 2013 was remarkable for the absence of tornado activity and tornado impacts in the United States. We can start by looking at [...]
UPDATE (14-Aug-2012): Graph corrected to indicate 2006 as previous 15 Apr-31 Jul minimum. The 2012 tornado season in the United States got off to a quick start with well-above average numbers in January, February, and March. Later, over 80 tornadoes occurred on 14 April. Since then, the number of tornadoes in the US has been [...]
In May 2012, there were no tornado deaths in the United States. How unusual was that? We can look at the record of tornado deaths, discussed here, dating back to 1875. The last time there were no deaths in the month of May was in 2005. Prior to that, it was 1994. Overall, there have [...]
Information on the 10 May 2010 tornado outbreak in Oklahoma and Kansas
The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment – 2 data collection began its second year of data collection on May 1 and will be in the field through June 15. VORTEX2 is the largest tornado research project in history to explore how, when and why tornadoes form.
Preliminary information on the long-track tornado that went from eastern Louisiana across much of Mississippi. 1. It had a path length of at least 97 miles. Over the last 40 years, we’ve averaged about one 100 mile path length tornado every 2 years. Update (27 April): The path length is now given as 149 miles, [...]
Short answer: apparently not! Longer answer follows. Few tornadoes have occurred to date in 2010, especially when compared to very active recent years such as 2008. The adjusted annual tornado trend shown below indicates that 2010, with 79 tornadoes (adjusted) through April 15, is rapidly approaching the minimum number of tornadoes expected through this time [...]
A late tornado report has been received, so there’s now 1 tornado in the database for February 2010.
One of the interesting questions that comes up every year is how to compare a tornado season with previous seasons. In 2009, that question has come up particularly in light of the quiet conditions lately. One way to do this is to start by adjusting historical reports for the long-term “inflation” in reports. If we [...]
We frequently get asked, “how many…” occur each year. One of the most common of those questions involves tornado deaths. Here’s the raw data.