Updated: 02:19 PM EDT
Tornado Numbers Far Below Normal in 2005
By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
(June 2) -- No one died in a tornado in April or May, normally two of
the three busiest months for the storms.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center reported
Wednesday that only 129 tornadoes struck the USA last month. There
were more than 500 in May both last year and in 2003.
Over the past decade, an average of 1,274 tornadoes a year struck the
nation. For the first five months of this year, the count is 365, far
below normal.
In another twist, Oklahoma, in the heart of "Tornado Alley" and home
to the prediction center, had zero tornadoes in May, a new record.
Five people have died in tornadoes since Jan. 1, matching the lowest
total recorded. In 1992, there were five tornado deaths, and none in
April or May.
"It's a pretty unusual, quite a drastic change," said Dan McCarthy,
warning coordination meteorologist at the prediction center in Norman.
Tornadoes have killed an average of 51 people a year since 1990. May
is usually the deadliest month. An average of 19 people were killed in
May each year from 1997 to 2004.
Deaths generally are down and sightings of tornadoes are up over the
past two decades. Factors include better-trained tornado spotters in
the field and better forecasting techniques. Improved warning systems
also have helped.
McCarthy said a key factor in the low number of tornadoes so far this
year has been a large low-pressure system that has persisted over the
Great Lakes and Northeast this spring.
He said the low pressure blocked the usual parade of storms from
forming in the Plains and Midwest. Those weather systems draw moist
air from the Gulf of Mexico to create thunderstorms that can spawn
tornadoes.
But McCarthy cautioned that June, usually as busy for tornadoes as
May, could bring the count back to normal. "By any measure, we're not
out of the woods yet," he said.
He noted that in 1992, the last year with so few deaths early in the
year, 98 tornadoes struck in the first week of June. He said
conditions for possible tornadoes are likely this weekend and again in
the middle of next week.
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