The trend of the low number of tornado reports this year in the U.S. has continued through mid-November.
No tornadoes had developed in the U.S. this month through Nov. 21. In fact, the last tornado that occurred prior to that date was on Oct. 14, when two tornadoes were reported in Oregon.
However, the streak came to an end on Nov. 22 when one tornado was reported nine miles west-northwest of Manhattan Airport in Riley County, Kansas. An airline pilot reported that a weak funnel contacted the ground for less than two miles, but there was no visible debris or damage.
20-year average number of tornadoes in November, compared to the number of tornadoes through Nov. 22, 2016.(Greg Forbes/ The Weather Channel, NOAA/SPC)
The lack of tornadoes is unusual because this time of year is considered the "second" tornado season.
Record Low Number of Tornadoes Year-to-Date
Dr. Greg Forbes, a severe weather expert at The Weather Channel, has tallied 897 tornadoes so far this year, through Nov. 21. This is about 24 percent below average, or 288 fewer tornadoes, than typically occurs, according to the 20-year average through mid-November.
Only three months in 2016 have experienced an above-average number of tornadoes: February, March and August. August would have also been below average except for an tornado outbreak in Indiana and Ohio.
February was 191 percent above average for tornadoes with 102 confirmed tornadoes compared to the 20-year average of 35. Interestingly, 61 of the 102 tornadoes reported occurred Feb. 23-24 from the South to the mid-Atlantic, making it the second largest outbreak of the year.
May, usually the most active month, had the most tornadoes so far this year. The U.S. experienced 216 tornadoes in May, compared with the average of 276. The largest outbreak of 2016 was May 22-26, with 73 tornadoes.
October saw a total of 20 tornadoes reported, 68 percent lower than average.
No comments:
Post a Comment