Record low number of tornado fatalities so far this year!

[Craig Maire II]

This year so far the US has seen a number of tornados but "only" 5 tornado related deaths! January had 4 deaths, April 1 and May and June had 0!! In the link I will post the reason given was that most of the tornados that have struck so far this year have stayed out of major cities but could there also be another reason, the number of well educated, excellent storm chasers that have been flocking to "tornado alley" etc. in increasingly large numbers every year, giving timely reports/warnings?!Here is a link to a MSNBC article discussing this years below normal tornado fatality situation (a very good situation I may add!):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8474944/

 

[David Draun]

Hasn't there been a record low number of tornadoes this year as well? I remember you guys talking about having NO Oklahoma tornadoes in May! :shock:

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Originally posted by David Draun
Hasn't there been a record low number of tornadoes this year as well? I remember you guys talking about having NO Oklahoma tornadoes in May! :shock:

Not a record low number of tornadoes... Actually, it looks like we're right on the 30-year average. That said, I'd believe the 10-year average to be more of a "true" average than the 30-year average, given that I'm pretty sure many fewer tornadoes weren't accounted for back in the 70s and 80s (before the WSR-88D deployment). If you look at annual tornado counts for the past 30-50 years, you'd see that there has been a general upward trend in tornado reports. I highly doubt that this marks an actual increase in tornado frequency; rather, I'm pretty confident that it marks an increase in tornado reporting and accounting. So, what I'm trying to say is that, while this year falls on the 30-year average, I'd still consider it a "below average" year since it's a ways below the 10-year average... Additionally, many of the early-season tornadoes were associated with cold-core lows, not the more typical warm-sector cases.