Site Guide

Tornado Forecasts

Tornado Threat Forecast
Seasonal Tornado Outlook
Tornado Threat Update

Tornado Forecasting

Three-part introduction series
Identifying and understanding the basic ingredients
Search for boundaries and gradients
Looking for what could go wrong

Tornado Climatology

U.S. climo by month
All: Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
Significant: Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr| May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
Touchdown counts (maps): Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr| May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

General U.S. Tornado Climatology
Monthly tornado averages by state and region
Weather patterns that favor lots of tornadoes during each month of the year
The calendar days with the most and fewest tornadoes
The month with the most tornadoes by county
F0/EF-0 through F5/EF-5 U.S. Tornado Trends
What the top tornado days of each year since 1950 tell us
Total U.S. Tornadoes by Month and by Day
Rethinking how we conceptualize tornado days
A first crack at U.S. tornado days, the 1991-2010 numbers
Significant tornado days, 1981-2010
Key facts about violent tornado season
F5/EF-5 Tornadoes: The 0.1 Percenters that Can’t be Ignored
Violent F4/EF-4 and F5/EF-5 Tornadoes
Long-track tornadoes: Historical clues about intensity, where and when they occur most
U.S. tornadoes that occur outside the U.S. … the continental U.S. that is!

ENSO Tornado Climatology
How does El Nino, La Nina or La Nada impact the following tornado season?

State/Region Specific Tornado Climatology
A tornado’s cost: Living in a tornado alley

Alabama’s tornado-free April 2012
Tornadoes in California: Daily records and other basic climatology for the state
Nebraska is a place for summer tornadoes, especially in June
Killer winter tornadoes: No strangers to Mississippi and the South

Tornado Maps

Annual and monthly tornado averages for each state
The most tornadoes in a calendar day by state
An overview of the modern tornado record, 1950 through present
A look at tornadoes by rating
A look at all the tornado warnings since 2008
U.S. Tornadoes by County, 1950-2011
Watch how tornadoes progress across the United States throughout the year
Strongest tornadoes by state, territory and district in the U.S.
Recent high risk storm outlooks usually foreshadow a major tornado outbreak

April Tornadoes in the United States
May Tornadoes in the United States
June Tornadoes in the United States
July Tornadoes in the United States

40th anniversary of the 1974 Super Tornado Outbreak
North Texas Tornado Track and Intensity Map for April 3, 2012

Tornado Videos

Outbreak Compilations
The Violent EF-4 and EF-5 Tornadoes on April 27, 2011
Historic March 2, 2012 Tornado Outbreak
April 3, 2012 Tornado Outbreak
April 13, April 14 and April 15, 2012 Tornado Outbreak Sequence
Videos from the November 17, 2013 tornado outbreak
Videos from the late April 2014 tornado outbreaks
Videos from the May 6, 2015 Plains tornado outbreak
Videos from the May 9-10, 2015 tornado outbreaks
Videos from the May 19, 2015 tornado outbreak
May 9, 2016 tornado outbreak videos from the Plains and Midwest

Multiple-Event Compilations

Top U.S. tornado videos of 2018
Top U.S. tornado videos of 2017
Top U.S. tornado videos of 2016
Top U.S. tornado videos of 2015
Top U.S. tornado videos of 2014
Top U.S. tornado videos of 2013
Top U.S. tornado videos of 2012
Top 10 tornadoes caught on surveillance camera
Intense home videos of tornadoes in the United States
The early days of storm chasing video

Tornado Outbreak History

The biggest tornado events of 2019
The biggest tornado events of 2018
The largest tornado outbreaks of 2017
The largest tornado outbreaks of 2016
The largest tornado outbreaks of 2015

Largest winter tornado outbreaks in the United States
Top 10 tornado days in the United States
How the top multi-day tornado outbreaks since 2006 occurred

The Natchez, Mississippi tornado of 1840
The Tri-State Tornado of 1925
May 11, 1953 Waco F5: “Monster From the Skies”
Palm Sunday 1965: Southern Great Lakes ravaged by one of the worst tornado outbreaks on record
The Mississippi Valley Outbreak of 1971 and February’s only F5 tornado
Looking back at the April 3-4, 1974
May 31, 1985: A tornado outbreak out of place
The March 13, 1990 Central U.S. Tornado Outbreak and the Hesston/Goessel F5s
The 16 December 2000 Tuscaloosa F4 Tornado
May 4, 2007: The night that changed Greensburg
North Carolina’s largest tornado outbreak – April 16, 2011
The April 2011 Super Outbreak
A Numerical Comparison of the 1974 and 2011 Super Outbreaks
1974 and 2011: Was one more “super” than the other?
The May 22, 2011 Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado
Joplin, Missouri: Five years after the EF5 tornado of May 22, 2011
Radar images from the March 2012 tornado outbreak
March calendar day tornado records and the March 2012 outbreak
How the March 2012 outbreak ranks against other deadly March tornado outbreaks
NWS Fort Worth Discusses What Caused the April 3, 2012 Outbreak
The April 3, 2012 Dallas/Fort Worth Tornado Outbreak Compared to Past Events
Radar examination of the April 14, 2012 outbreak
April 14, 2012 Tornado Outbreak – Debris Ball Radar Loops
April 14, 2012 Outbreak Forecast Verification
April 14, 2012 Tornado Outbreak Regional Radar and Visible Satellite Loops
Map: April 14-15, 2012 Tornado Outbreak
Dissecting the unanticipated tornado outbreak of December 10, 2012
Unusual large twin tornadoes in Nebraska as seen on radar and video – June 16, 2014
Breaking down the Pilger, Nebraska tornadoes of June 16, 2014
The science behind the Oklahoma and Arkansas tornadoes of March 25, 2015
November 2015 High Plains tornado outbreak was rare and historic for the region
This is how the ‘surprise’ Indiana and Ohio tornado outbreak of August 24, 2016 happened

Outbreak sequence history
Examining outbreak sequences: The building blocks of a multi-round tornado event
Five major tornado events during the second half of May 1896
Eight days of mayhem, late May and early June 1917

Tornado News

Comparing the tornadoes of 2012 to average and to 2011
Near record low July 2012 tornado count only part of a quiet seasonal peak
May 2012 has been a quiet month for tornadoes, but will that trend continue?
10 tremendous tornadoes (photos)
2014′s EF3+ tornado drought: The latest in the year on record without one
The story behind the historic tornado and severe weather drought of early 2015
Through the end of March, 2015’s tornado drought is among the biggest on record
EF3 and stronger tornadoes are running near historic lows in 2015
Early May tends to be feast or famine for tornadoes
Reviewing the 2016 tornado year with the “Ice Station Housman” podcast
2017 is off to a record-breaking start for tornadoes and severe weather. Will it continue?
U.S. Tornadoes on the WeatherBrains podcast!
This is basically an inkblot test for severe weather watchers
Low tornado count set to continue through April, early to call season
ustornadoes.com joins Ice Station Housman to talk about the 2018 tornado year

Tornado Focus

Violent Kansas long-tracker on May 25, 2016
Leoti, Kansas and the stationary mothership of May 21, 2016
Katie, Oklahoma dry line beast of May 9, 2016
A tall and dusty twister near Wray, Colorado on May 7, 2016

Tropical Cyclone Tornadoes

Tornadoes from northern Gulf of Mexico hurricanes and tropical storms
Hurricane Katrina also caused a tornado outbreak
Hurricane Harvey will likely end up among top tropical tornado producers on record
Hurricane Isaac’s tornado production from late August through early September 2012

Tornado Education

Tornadoes don’t happen in mountains. Or do they? Debunking the myth.
Understanding basic tornadic radar signatures
Understanding advanced tornadic radar signatures
To wedge or not to wedge? Tornado types include many shapes and sizes.
Tornado Reports are Reports, Not Tornadoes
Tornado Damage Surveys and Ratings: Why Pictures Don’t Tell the Whole Story
From domestic to international: Tornadoes around the world
Weak tornadoes are deadly, too
Janice Dean on Freddy the Frogcaster, how the books help teach about weather, and more

Tornado Chasing

Best chase ever: Dodge City tornadofest of May 24, 2016
When is the best time of year to schedule a storm chasing vacation?
Tornado Chasing: Mapping the typical peak since 1990, plus longer-term climatology
Ethics of storm chasing, a discussion with ‘The Weather Junkies’
Q&A with Veteran Storm Chaser Amos Magliocco
Chris Kridler, an East Coast Journalist with a Passion for the Plains
Q&A with tornado chasing guru Dick McGowan
5 underrated tornado chasing areas

Chasecation 2016
Chasecation 2015
Chasecation 2014
Chasecation 2013
May 25, 2012 Storm Chase

Holiday Tornado History

Valentine’s Day Tornadoes since 1950
Leap Day Tornadoes 1952-2008
Independence Day tornadoes: A different type of Fourth of July excitement
Halloween tornadoes: The spooky historical facts
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tornado history
Tornadoes have scoured the landscape on Election Day before

Other Assorted History

Spring madness: The most extreme tornadoes of the 1990s
Selected February tornadoes
Selected March tornadoes

Early American Tornadoes

A list of instructions for observing tornadoes during the late 1800s
The Smithsonian Institution’s “Queries Relative to Tornadoes,” circa 1860s
Early American thought presented in textbooks of the 1800s
New Jersey’s deadliest twister and the first scientific tornado study in the United States

Tornadoes on Screen and in Media

The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras
20 Twitter accounts to follow to stay tornado aware
Talking #Twister on Twitter
The Weather Channel’s Weather Geeks (Ep. 1, Storm Chasing)
Into the Storm: 10 best and worst movie moments for a tornado nerd
The 10 best songs with tornado lyrics

Site News

U.S. Tornadoes, the flickr photo group
Happy first birthday… to us

Page last updated: March 13, 2019.