Breakdown of tornadoes so far this year

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — In Alabama, tornadoes can occur any time of year, but the spring and fall seasons are the most common.

So far this year, the counties covered by the National Weather Service (NWS) Office in Huntsville have seen 25 tornadoes. NWS Huntsville issues warnings for Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan, Cullman, Marshall, Jackson and DeKalb Counties in Alabama and Lincoln, Moore and Franklin Counties in Tennessee. The majority of the tornadoes occurred during the May 8 and 9 outbreak. The May outbreak produced 80 percent of the year’s tornadoes so far.

The Enhanced Fujita scale is a damage scale used to rank a tornado based on the type of destruction it causes. The rankings start at EF0, with damage consistent with winds of 65 to 85 mph, and end at EF5, with winds at 200 mph or greater.

Normally, the area sees tornadoes ranked between EF0 and EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. This year there have been 6 EF0s, 16 EF1s, 1 EF2, and 2 EF3 tornadoes.

When looking at the breakdown of tornadoes between Alabama and Tennessee counties, there were 20 in Alabama compared to the five in Tennessee.

The two EF3 tornadoes both occurred in Alabama during the May tornado outbreak. The EF3 that tore through the Henagar community has been the strongest we’ve seen so far this year, with estimated peak winds of 140 mph. Seven people were injured including two people inside a camper that flipped.

For the nearly 17 minutes the tornado was on the ground, it traveled a little more than 12 miles.

The weather for the region has been fairly quiet as of late, but we can’t let our guard down. As we head closer to the fall season, the threat of severe weather and tornadoes will steadily increase. The months that have the highest tornado count are April, March and November; which are the spring and fall seasons.

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U.S Tornado Count For 2024 So Far:

This year the Continental United States (CONUS) has experienced multiple tornado outbreaks leading to an above-average count for this time of year. So far in 2024, the CONUS preliminary tornado count is 1,559. The annual 10-year average (2005-2015) to date is 1,137.

Two memorable tornado outbreaks so far this year occurred in the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. In April, eastern Nebraska and southern Iowa saw some of the strongest tornadoes in 10 years when 24 tornadoes tore through the region. The strongest was an EF4 with peak winds of 170 mph.

New York State averages eight tornadoes, whereas so far this year they have seen more than 20. The majority of the tornadoes were produced as the remnants of Beryl tracked through the Northeast.

On average, the CONUS sees a few more than 1,400 tornadoes a year when looking at the 10-year average (2005-2015). With how active the year has been so far, 2024 has the chance to see the most tornadoes since 2019 when 1,676 were recorded.

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