US Tornado season deadliest in years
Pastor Dale Morgan
US Tornado season deadliest in years*
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
The USA has been ravaged through mid-May by a near-record number of
tornadoes that has pushed the death toll — including 47 killer twisters
over the weekend — to a 10-year high.
The deaths of 98 people attributed to tornadoes this year has made 2008
the deadliest year thus far for tornadoes since 1998 and the seventh
deadliest since modern recordkeeping began in 1950, The Weather Channel
said.
Such a rate could make 2008 the year with the most tornadoes since 1950.
"We are on a pace that continues a record number" of twisters, said Greg
Forbes, severe weather expert at The Weather Channel.
Violent storms over the weekend that spawned tornadoes left at least 22
people dead from the southern Plains states eastward to Georgia,
including seven deaths in the tiny town of Picher, Okla., and 10 deaths
in nearby Seneca, Okla.
TWISTERS: Bodies, survivors sought in wake of tornadoes
Forecasters warned that more could strike late Sunday. The storms
remained active into the night as they swept eastward. The National
Weather Service said tornado watches were in effect through 8 p.m. for
southern Georgia into northern Florida, as well as south central
Virginia, much of North Carolina and northern South Carolina.
The National Weather Service takes weeks to confirm actual numbers of
tornadoes but The Weather Channel said it believes there were 47
separate twisters as of May 11 putting the count for the year at 636.
That is second only to the No. 1 year of 1999, when 669 tornadoes hit
through the same date, Forbes said.
As for deaths by tornado, this year has seen the most through May 11
since 115 were killed by tornado in 1998, Forbes said. That year ended
with 130 total deaths because of tornadoes.
Meteorologists say wind conditions and weather patterns have been ideal
for creating twisters this year.
The jet stream, a shifting river of air at high altitudes, has been
moving from the southwestern USA toward the Great Lakes and pulling
moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.
The contrast between the warm southern air and cold air aloft creates
winds that can spin turn into twisters.
"We've had a very strong contrast in temperatures with cold air from the
north, warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, and with that clash of
air masses … (it) produces tornado outbreaks," said Andrew Orrison,
meteorologist at the National Weather Service's national office at Camp
Springs, Md.
Tornado season generally begins late winter and lasts through
mid-summer. May is peak tornado period for the Southeast; the season
then cranks up through July in the upper Midwest and northern Plains states.
Some southern states have been particularly hard hit this year.
Before this weekend's storms, Forbes said Mississippi already had 49
tornadoes, exceeding the average over the past decade of 39 twisters for
the entire year.
Alabama has had 45 twisters, exceeding its yearly average of 42, and
Arkansas has had 49, already above its annual average of 48, Forbes said.
"We have quite a few states already above average for the year, and
obviously the year is not nearly done," Forbes said.
Contributing: Bob Swanson