Even as we push deeper into the heart of spring tornado season, 2014 has so far completely spared Americans the agony and grief of tornado-related deaths. The year's long early safe streak has put 2014 in rare territory, historically. The modern era of tornado records began in 1950 with the advent of the storm database maintained by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. In that era, only one year has gone on longer without a tornado death than the current one (as of April 20, 2014).
It is likely also true that modern technology – with powerful Doppler radar systems and instant communication – have helped to keep this year's relatively weaker tornadoes from turning deadly. While we are in impressive company when looking at calendar years – resetting the count at January 1, so to speak – we are nowhere near the longest streak of consecutive days without a killer tornado. That record was just broken in 2012-13, when a string of 219 consecutive days passed without a killer tornado. That streak ended with the Adairsville, Ga., tornado on Jan. 30, 2013. Like the other streak-ending twisters mentioned above, it rated a 3 – in this case, an EF3. Currently, the most recent killer tornado is an EF2 that killed one person on Dec. 21, 2013, in Coahoma County, Miss. That means there have been 119 consecutive days without a tornado death through and including April 19, 2014 – 100 days shy of the modern record.
http://www.weather.com/safety/tornadoes/no-tornado-deaths-safety-streak-record-20140420
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