Written by DEPKES.ORG March 2023
The USA TODAY Network talked with scientists and experts and examined years of tornado data to understand how millions of Americans living in the South are at an even greater risk for tornadoes than those in the Plains.
More than 60,000 tornadoes were reported across the U.S. from 1950 to 2019. More than half were EF1 or stronger.
This is the area historically known as “Tornado Alley,” spanning from Texas to South Dakota.
When comparing 2000-2019 with the previous two decades, we saw an increase in days with tornado outbreaks, or swarms—events where ten or more tornadoes are spawned by the same weather system within a couple days.
Though tornadoes can form any time of year, most occur from March through June. If you remove tornado data for these months, you can see that significant events have been occurring outside the historical season and more so in recent years.