Tornadoes rated EF4 or EF5, with damage-based wind estimates of 166 mph or higher, are typically considered violent in the United States. Prior to 2007, the ratings are F4 and F5. There have been 638 such tornadoes rated since 1950.
In the modern record, the top five states for these meanest of twisters are Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, and Alabama. (note: these counts include EF4/5 that crossed state boundaries once for each state)
So far, there has been one EF4 in 2022. It happened in and around Winterset, Iowa on March 5.
Three violent tornadoes occurred in 2021 — all were EF4. The first was in Georgia on March 25. In December, one crossed from Arkansas through Missouri and into Tennessee. Another struck Kentucky the same day.
The six violent tornadoes that happened in 2020 were all EF4. A violent tornado hit Baxter, Tennessee in the pre-dawn March 3. Two occurred in Mississippi on April 12, as did one in South Carolina during the early morning of April 13. On April 19, another EF4 struck Mississippi in and around Hurricane Creek. Dalton, Minnesota was the sight of the final EF4 of the year on July 8.
From 1995-2021 the average is 6.2 violent tornadoes per year.
Doppler era’s biggest season for violent tornadoes was 2011, when 23 were documented. 2018 became the first year in the modern record to have zero violent tornadoes tallied.
The average of the pre-doppler period is 10.5 violent tornadoes per year. 1974 holds the modern record, with 36 F4 and F5 tornadoes in that year alone.
Through 2019 (the most recent year with full info from SPC), violent tornadoes accounted for 63 percent of tornado fatalities despite making up only one percent of all tornadoes. This is out of a total of 65,162 tornadoes on the books for the period, with total deaths of 5,932.
Four dates have witnessed 10 or more violent tornado touchdowns. 4/3/1974 with 30, 4/11/1965 with 17, 4/27/2011 with 15 and 3/21/1952 with 10. 11 dates have seen five or more violent tornadoes and 23 have had four or more such touchdowns.
Statistics are based off the Storm Prediction Center tornado database. 2021 numbers are preliminary and thus not included in the averages noted even though they are included in the graphics. Preliminary 2022 numbers can be found at Wikipedia. This page is undergoing development, and last updated March 20, 2022.
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SCAREY
Yeah I agree. I heard that tornadoes have wind speeds ranging from 65 miles per hour to 301 miles per hour.
i think it's scary too
You eventually get used to them. Build a decent stom pit and watch weather reports. That’s all you can do if you live in a bad area for large tornadoes.
Cool i want to get to so them!
to see them!*
I heard that the strongest tornado on record, which had maximum wind speeds of 300.5 mph, had killed 24 people. One of the EF 4 tornadoes of 2011 which had wind speeds of 165-200 mph killed 64 people. Isn’t that crazy?
ya i know that is crazy the tornado we had it killed 75 people
I have always hated tornadoes and still do. It’s Dec 2021 and a tornado ripped across 5 -6 states totally destroying some towns along the way and killing a 100 people or more; this tornado has destroyed lives, swallowed and spit up entire towns, shredding everything in its path. I hate tornadoes and other disaster events like earthquakes, hurricanes, fire, floods … waiting for peace - may God have mercy.
I love tornadoes I have a wallpaper on my google search on my chromebook.
Tornadoes are my worst fear! I get scared of the severe thunderstorms. Last night I had a power outage, -Indiana-