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2019 Was An Incredibly Active Year For Tornadoes

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This was a stressful year for folks who are prone to severe weather. Tornado activity in 2019 was among the highest all decade, with the year’s tornado count ranking in the 75th percentile compared to normal. While this year’s bouts of severe weather were more of a marathon than sudden splashes like we’ve seen in the past, it was still a noteworthy and tumultuous year.

1) 2019 likely saw the most tornadoes since 2011.

The Storm Prediction Center received 1,673 tornado reports between January 1 and December 31 this year, which is the highest count since the historic outbreaks of 2011. It’s likely that several hundred of those reports are duplicate reports for the same tornadoes; the agency’s inflation-adjusted count for the year stands at 1,422 tornadoes. The most active period for tornadoes this year occurred during the second half of May, which saw persistent waves of severe thunderstorms sweep across the center of the country.

2) 2019 saw the deadliest tornadoes in 5 years.

This year saw the highest tornado-related fatality count since 2014. 41 people lost their lives in 12 tornadoes across the United States in 2019, which is up dramatically from 2018’s record-low fatality count of 10. Most of this year’s tornado deaths occurred in just one tornado in Alabama.

3) A single tornado killed 23 people.

The year’s deadliest single tornado touched down just south of Auburn, Alabama, on March 3. A supercell thunderstorm produced an EF-4 tornado that tracked along a path more than 25 miles long. The storm killed 23 people in Lee County, Alabama, the majority of whom died when the storm destroyed their mobile homes.

The tornado tested the limits of advanced warnings. Forecasters issued a tornado warning for the affected area 45 minutes before the tornado ripped through. Unfortunately, the warning wasn’t enough for folks who were in structures that couldn’t stand up to the tornado’s intense winds.

4) Tornadoes happened in almost every state.

No state is immune to tornadoes. A small tornado hit Ventura Harbor, California, during a storm on Christmas Day. The EF-0 tornado produced minor damage to trees and roofs along a path that lasted for less than a mile. Emergency alerts triggered by the tornado warning were unsettling for some local residents who didn’t expect to see a tornado alert in southern California.

While tornadoes are nowhere near as common in California as they are in the rest of the country, the Christmas Day tornado touched down right about where you’d expect to see one in late December, and it was one of about a dozen tornadoes reported in the Golden State in 2019.

The only two states that escaped 2019 without any tornado reports were Utah, which averages about 3 tornadoes each year, and Rhode Island, which is small enough that it routinely makes it through an entire year without seeing any tornadoes.

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