Posted on 01/01/2019 6:11:01 AM PST by Eddie01
In a year that featured catastrophic hurricanes and historic wildfires, 2018 could close out as one of the quietest and least-deadly years for tornadoes in United States history.
“2018 is running near the minimum in terms of number of tornadoes recorded in modern times,” said Dr. Patrick Marsh, a warning coordination meteorologist at NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.
As of Dec. 29, there have been 991 tornadoes across the United States in 2018. This is noticeably lower than the average of 1,287 and only slightly higher than the record low of 897 tornadoes, set in 2014.
One reason behind the near-record low tornado count was the absence of significant severe weather outbreaks during the spring when tornadoes typically frequent the central United States.
“The typical big tornado months were uncharacteristically devoid of tornado outbreaks this year. In particular, April and May were relatively quiet in terms of tornado numbers with May having over 100 fewer tornadoes than the three-year average,” Marsh said.
“Oklahoma did not report a tornado until May -- the latest date for a first tornado [in the state] in the NOAA database,” Marsh said.
Another factor that resulted in a dip in tornado numbers this year is the overall storm track.
"The far-cooler air was a result of a persistent Canadian storm track driving chilly Canadian clipper-type systems into the Plains. The ideal storm track is a more westerly-southwesterly storm track that can lift a more subtropical air mass northward from the Gulf of Mexico," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.
Not only has 2018 had a lower-than-average number of tornadoes, but there has been an absence of incredibly violent twisters.
Tornadoes are ranked on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with an EF0 being the weakest and an EF5 being the most intense.
“I am unaware of any tornado in 2018 being rated an EF4,” Marsh said.
This is the first year since records began in 1950 that there has not been a violent F/EF4 tornado anywhere in the U.S.
“We have to be a little careful with this information as tornado ratings for the entire year are not finalized yet and so it is subject to some change. However, it is reasonable to assume that no tornado has achieved a rating of EF4 in 2018,” Marsh added.
In addition to the lower-than-normal tornado activity, 2018 is also poised to finish as the year with the fewest tornado-related fatalities on record.
As of Dec. 28, there have only been 10 tornado-related fatalities across the United States, the lowest number since records began in 1875. The previous record was 12 tornado-related fatalities in 1910.
This is also significantly lower than the 20-year average of 80 tornado-related fatalities per year, according to Texas Tech University.
The ever-expanding use of weather apps and social media has helped to revolutionize the way that people are alerted about tornado warnings in recent years, helping to save lives when a tornado strikes.
While the past year will go in the record books as one of the least active years for tornadoes, 2018 still featured some notable tornadoes across the country.
In July, a catastrophic EF3 tornado struck Marshalltown, Iowa, leaving at least 17 people injured.
On Oct. 28, a tornado touched down in the city limits of Portland, Oregon, the first tornado to do so since April 6, 1972.
Just over one month later, an EF3 tornado struck Taylorville, Illinois, injuring 20 people and damaging over 100 homes. This was one of the strongest tornadoes during a multi-day severe weather outbreak right before the start of meteorological winter.
Washington also had the state’s strongest tornado since 1986 when an EF2 twister touched down in Port Orchard on Dec. 18.
Statistics and nothing more. To draw any type of conclusion as being part of “climate change” is ridiculous. Even the dumbest scientist knows that.
Perfect, another dang excuse for wacky tree huggers to blame global cooling/warming... geezers. /sar
every night the MSM News has focused on madeup
tornadoes *using old footage* claiming they will
destroy a quarter of the US each night.
EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the last year they have shown
this with footage of floods.
but there was not one EF4 or higher.
MSM should lose their FCC license just for this.
Un-possible, the warmists told us we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Stats Bump!
Yep. We had several years in the recent past where no hurricanes were observed in the Atlantic/Gulf region, and there was a great drought in Texas and neighboring states. Climate changes, it always has, but it is the Sun, cosmic rays and geomagnetic activity behind it.
We recently had 24” of rain in less than 2 months. Our normal annual rainfall is about 25”. And it is Cold in Texas.
It is not fully understood by the best science has to offer, but honest scientists don’t blame it on man. That line of reasoning is pure scam. Global Warming Global Government Scam.
Well...Florida is underwater, all the polar bears are starving/dead and the children of America have never seen snow...
Al Gore can’t get them all right.
Kansas has numerous tornadoes, so we aren’t in Kansas anymore...
Then obviously tornados are climate deniers.
The science is settled, there MUST be more tornados, hurricanes, zombies, and idiot progressive politicians.
Oh, wait.....
“It is not fully understood by the best science has to offer, but honest scientists don’t blame it on man.”
GIGO-Computer models must have all information properly accounted for to “predict” future climate. They don’t...
If they did, there would be a single model, and it would have been correct by now.
And they told us Man-Made Global Warming was a bad thing.
This is different from the year before! Climate Change, we’re all gonna die!
Why are wildfires classified as weather events?
Anything to further their agenda.
No sun spots,flares?, a lot fewer tornadoes......nah that’s crazy talk!
Take any one of their predictive models, run it in reverse and with GREAT accuracy, tell US the weather from any point on the globe day by day, last week, last month, last year, last decade. After all, it's recorded for the most part. How could they miss?
Their models are highly complex garbage, and they know it.
There are so many variables involved, some we don’t truly understand.
Agreed.
Trump, the tornado tamer.
I’m glad the Globull Warming folks warned me about the impending danger. I had my year’s worth of popcorn all ready for the shelter.
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