Ron Brackett
May, typically the busiest month for tornadoes in the continental United States, saw a slightly above average number of twisters this year.
But for the first time in seven years, none of those tornadoes caused a single death, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.
Most of the deaths during severe weather last month were attributed to falling trees caused by strong winds or to flooding.
Based on preliminary reports, 289 tornadoes were reported last month, according to Matthew Elliott, the Storm Prediction Center’s warning coordination meteorologist. For the past 21 years, May has averaged 283 tornadoes, he said.
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"So even though we're slightly above average in terms of the number of tornadoes, it's still zero fatalities which is obviously a good thing," Elliott told weather.com in an interview Monday.
Location is part of the reason there were no tornado deaths in May.
"A large part of this season, in particular, is the pattern is really set up where a lot of the bigger (tornado) days have been across less populated areas," Elliott said. "Generally, the northern High Plains especially has been fairly active compared to other places that might typically see severe weather, like Central Oklahoma, for example. A lot of the bigger storms have been in relatively unpopulated areas."
The last year that saw no tornado deaths in May was 2014.
May 2020 saw only one fatal tornado out of the 126 that were reported. Seven deaths were reported in May 2019, which saw 510 tornadoes.
Storm intensity also plays a role in tornado fatalities.
Most tornado deaths, more than 86%, are caused by tornadoes rated EF3 or higher on the Enhanced Fujita scale, weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce explained.
Elliott said only eight of this May’s tornadoes were rated EF2, and none were rated EF3 or higher.
He added that many have been assigned EFU ratings, meaning they had "unknown" intensity because damage couldn’t be found. That’s common of tornadoes in less-populated, rural areas where there are no structures to be damaged or trees to be blown over, he said.
Despite May typically being one of the busiest months for tornadoes, there have been a handful of times May ended with no tornado fatalities.
From 1950 to 2020, May saw an average of 18 tornado fatalities, Elliott said, but 11 of those years had no deaths in May at all, and many of them had just one or two deaths.
Since 2009, only two Mays were above average and the rest were well below average, he said.
What makes May look deadlier on average is a few events that have catastrophic fatality rates, Elliott said.
"For example, in 2011, there were several events in May that had very high fatality rates. There were 178 fatalities that year (in May), and then in 1953, 163 fatalities. In 1955, there were 106 fatalities. So it's really those years that are driving the average to that higher number," he said.
"It really just takes one storm in the wrong location to cause tremendous fatalities," Elliott said. "That's always the key to take home: It's not the number of tornadoes. It takes just one, and you always want to be prepared and be ready to take action when a tornado warning is issued."
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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