2020 already the deadliest year for U.S. tornadoes since 2011
Fourteen deadly tornadoes touched down in April, the fifth most in National Weather Service-recorded history.
The year 2020 has not been particularly favourable for the United States so far, whether it's the COVID-19 pandemic or last month's series of deadly tornadoes. In fact, this year is already the deadliest since 2011.
April's multiple severe weather outbreaks more than doubled the country's tornado death toll from the first three months in 2020, making it the deadliest year of twisters in nine years.
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As of April 24, tornadoes have claimed the lives of 73 people this year, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. All the fatalities are from eight southern states, with most deaths occurring in Tennessee and Mississippi.
APRIL STORMS SPIKE DEATH TOLL
There were already 33 deaths attributed to tornadoes prior to April 12. That number jumped by 40 in an 11-day period from April 12-22, mainly because of a major tornado outbreak in the South Easter Sunday into Monday morning.
Why this year has been so deadly already is that there have been a numerous strong tornadoes, which account for a larger number of related fatalities. Nearly 95 per cent of tornado deaths from 2000 to 2019 were from strong (EF-2/EF-3) or violent tornadoes (EF-4/EF-5), according to a U.S. media outlet.
All but four of this year's 73 deaths have been from EF-2 to EF-4-ranked tornadoes. There have been no EF-5 twisters this year, yet.
Another contributing factor to the high death toll is the timing of the tornadoes, as some of them struck at night as people were sleeping. Tornadoes at night are more than twice as likely to be deadly as those occurring during the day, according to a study.
SECOND-MOST ACTIVE APRIL ON RECORD FOR TORNADOES
In addition to 2020 featuring a high death toll, a preliminary count indicated there were 351 tornadoes last month - the second most for any April on record, according to the Storm Prediction Center. All but three days in the month had official reports of severe weather.
Included among the statistics is that 14 separate deadly tornadoes touched down, the fifth most in National Weather Service-recorded history. 40 lives were lost in April, the most tornado fatalities in a month since May 2013, when there were 41. The highest number of deadly tornadoes reported in the U.S. was 43 in April 2011, the worst month of tornadic activity in its history.
From Easter Sunday, April 12, to Monday, April 13, there were 114 confirmed tornadoes with 32 deaths. Twelve people were killed in Mississippi, nine in South Carolina, eight in Georgia and three in Tennessee. The National Weather Service says these were the most fatalities in a 24-hour period since 41 deaths on March 2, 2012.
MAY IS TYPICALLY THE PEAK OF TORNADO ACTIVITY
To make a bad situation possibly even worse, May is normally the worst month for twisters in the United States. While April typically averages 258 tornadoes, an average of 287 occurs in May, according to the Storm Prediction Center, which tallied the figures on data compiled from 2010-2019.
Thumbnail courtesy of USA Today via Reuters.
Sources: The Weather Channel | CNN
