The tornado outbreak series of May 1896 killed almost 500 people, when the population was MUCH lower. One storm that hit St. Louis + East St. Louis killed 255 people on its own.
Yes, but you can’t compare because todays warning system is obviously much better and also better construction of buildings
We may have reached the “average” tornado fatality minimum because warning times can’t get much better and like you pointed out population is increasing
also Tornado alley seems to have shifted east in recent decades (not from climate change likely just natural cycles) over higher population centers then the central plains
in 2011 all of this lined up perfectly in AL with that huge outbreak and then again in Joplin MO
The Plainfield IL F5 tornado in 1990 killed 28 people but much of the area it hit was just farm fields . Today those same farm fields are miles and miles of homes due to growth in the southwest burbs of Chicago the past 30 years
"The latest estimates place the death count from last week’s tornado event at 88, a figure that may still rise. The number of fatalities indicates tragedy without very much modern precedent, a stark deviation from recent tornado outbreaks in which there was considerably less loss of life." - Washington Post - 12/17/2021
Tornado fatalities by year.
2021 - 104 to date
2020 - 76
2019 - 41
2018 - 10
2017 - 35
2016 - 18
2015 - 36
2014 - 47
2013 - 55
2012 - 68
2011 - 553
2010 - 45
2009 - 21
2008 -126
"In general, making generalizations is always a mistake..." :^D