Approaching Two Hundred Confirmed Tornadoes for 2012

[Sam Sagnella]

~272 Confirmed Tornadoes so far for 2012

As of 05/16z:
Of the 403 preliminary reports of tornadoes received through the first 95 days of 2012, at least 272 have been verified by either trained spotters or post-storm damage assessments by the NWS. The final tally will be calculated by the National Weather Service and released during the coming months. For some perspective, the 20-year average for the first three months of the year (a threshold which we've crossed only five days ago) is 144 tornadoes.

Year-to-Date Summary:
24 Different States have been impacted by tornadoes in 2012.
Texas --> 41
Kentucky --> 40
Alabama --> 28
Louisiana --> 28
Tennessee --> 20
Mississippi --> 19
Missouri --> 13
Indiana --> 11
Georgia --> 10
Arkansas --> 9
Illinois --> 9
Ohio --> 9
Nebraska --> 8
No. Carolina --> 7
Kansas --> 6
Michigan --> 4
Oklahoma --> 4
So. Carolina --> 4
Virginia --> 4
W. Virginia --> 3
California --> 1
Florida --> 1
Hawaii --> 1
So. Dakota --> 1

*note that on at least five occasions this year, tornadoes have crossed state lines. (FL --> AL, MO --> IL, IL --> KY, IN --> KY, KY --> OH)

Full monthly listings can be found below:
Confirmed January Tornadoes --> 79
Confirmed February Tornadoes --> 53
Confirmed March Tornadoes --> approximately 127 -- including ~65 confirmed during the March 2-3 outbreak
Confirmed April Tornadoes --> approximately 14 -- damage surveys ongoing across N TX (FWS)/ NE TX, NW LA (SHV)

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Just updated the state list to include several previous omissions; it should be accurate thru today. The most recent tornado in the US (aside from any that may have potentially impacted ERN TX/LA today) affected the southeastern portion of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It occurred this past Friday in the form of a landfalling tornadic waterspout (EF0) in Lanikai.

Some other notable points:

Kentucky, the state with the most tornadoes thus far by a wide margin, has already seen 176% of its 20-year (1991-2010) annual average of 21 tornadoes. In addition to the high number of tornadoes in Kentucky, the locations of two of the stronger ones were also unusual. The counties of eastern Kentucky that were raked by the long-track E-F3 tornadoes on March 2nd had never seen a tornado of that magnitude in their histories.

Hawaii is on the board with it's first tornado of the year, beating Oklahoma to the punch. This tornado, an EF0, will go down as the 41st since 1950 statewide and the 19th in Honolulu County. Of these 41 tornadoes, all but 12 have occurred during the months of Dec-Mar, so as far as Hawaiian tornadoes go it's timing wasn't unusual. (FWIW, Oklahoma does average 1.1 tornadoes annually during Jan-Feb).

There have been 54 tornado-related fatalities in 2012. Since 1951, there have been 33 years in which at least that many occurred in the USA, but only three during which that number occurred by the 3rd of March.

1966 - F5 tornado killed 57 in Jackson, MS area on 03/03
1971 - 135 killed in a major outbreak that included a long-track F5 across LA, MS on 02/21
2008 - Killer tornadoes on seven different calendar days during January and February resulted in 66 fatalities. The "Super Tuesday" event caused 58 deaths across four states - AL, AR, KY, TN.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Updated the list to include the rest of March's numbers as well as the ~14 confirmed thus far during April.

Texas has reclaimed its traditional position at the top of the nation's tornado list after Tuesday's impact by at least 13 confirmed tornadoes (11+ WFOFWS; 2+ WFOSHV), bringing their year-to-date total to 41.

As listed above, the 20-year average for the first three months of the year (a threshold which we've crossed only five days ago) is 144 tornadoes, and we're already at ~272 for 2012.

 

[Mark Blue]

Hey Sam, thanks for maintaining this list and updating it as the year progresses. It's always good from a climatological perspective to make note of current trends in order to raise awareness and eyebrows when reading something as significant as this appears to be. One of the bright spots among all of the devastation is what you mentioned about Texas reclaiming thier position at the top. The bright spot is they are making headway on the long standing drought that's been dogging them for the last few years, despite having to deal with more tornadoes to realize those gains. Keep up the good work and thanks again.

 

[TJKLECKNER]

I always wonder about the storm reports that I hear both by the NWS and in the news reports. How many events get reported more than once? One week we had 10 reports of hail....all from the same storm.