Chris Dolce
The Great Plains' tornadic reputation went silent in 2020, and that has resulted in arguably one of the strangest weather maps of the year.
Large portions of western Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and eastern Colorado had no tornado watches issued this year. You can see this in the map below. Areas in white areas had zero tornado watches in 2020.
That's unusual because the aforementioned areas reside in the so-called tornado alley region. Even portions of New England and upstate New York had more tornado watches issued in 2020 than parts of those Plains states, as depicted in the lighter red shadings.
See legend to the right for the number of tornado watches issued this year across the U.S.There have been reported tornadoes this year in some of the areas in the Plains where no tornado watches were issued. There was just never a tornado threat widespread enough at any one time in those locations to justify a tornado watch.
A tornado watch is issued by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center when conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms to spawn multiple tornadoes over the course of several hours for a specific area. They can include portions of one or more states.
The South was this year's hot spot for tornado watches. That was driven by one of the most active tornadic Aprils on record for the U.S.
May's Tornado Slumber
One of the reasons for this year's tornado watch oddity is that May, which is typically one of the busiest months for twisters in the Plains, was relatively quiet.
May has averaged 281 tornadoes over the past 20 years across the U.S. This year's preliminary count for the month was about half of that total, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.
Just 10 tornado watches were issued in the U.S. during May this year, the fewest for the month in 50 years of records, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.
The lack of tornadoes in the Plains also contributed to Kansas setting a new preliminary record low for twisters in a year. Only 17 twisters have been confirmed in the Jayhawk State in 2020, the fewest for a year dating back to 1950, according to the Kansas Mesonet.
All 17 of those tornadoes in Kansas were also weak, with 16 rated EF0 and one rated EF1.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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