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300 tornadoes hit U.S. in April, second-most ever
Of those, 24 struck Western and Central Iowa on just one day
Washington Post
May. 3, 2024 2:32 pm, Updated: May. 15, 2024 9:23 am
Following a chaotic swarm of twisting storms in its final week, April’s tornado count in the United States climbed to at least 300, the second-highest in the month on record.
Although April is often a busy time for tornadoes, the 300-plus twisters this year dwarfed the average of 182 and trails only the unbelievable total of 757 in April 2011 in modern records, according to a preliminary analysis by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.
Tornadoes were most numerous in the central states rather than in parts of the country that often record the highest number in April, such as Mississippi and Alabama. The month also produced the strongest tornado in the nation in over a year, several damaging and deadly events and a twister atop a mountain in Alaska, of all places.
Key numbers
The month opened with dozens of tornadoes in the Midwest, Ohio Valley and into the Mid-Atlantic. Another round swept the Gulf Coast and Southeast around April 10, before a few small events later.
Repeated rounds of violent thunderstorms erupted in the central states during the month’s final six days. Outbreaks on the 26th, 27th, 28th and 30th produced more than 100 tornadoes.
In a letter seeking federal assistance, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds wrote that 24 twisters struck Iowa on April 26 alone.
Here are some of the most significant statistics from the month:
- Tornadoes were reported on 18 days of the month, according to the weather service.
- At least six people died in tornadoes, all in April’s final week. Three tornadoes in Oklahoma took four lives, while Kansas and Iowa each recorded one death.
- Long-track, intense tornadoes crossed Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa during an outbreak April 26. The Omaha-area tornadoes were the strongest to strike the area in a decade, the weather service said. Several were rated EF3 — or severe — on a 0-5 scale. The most severe in Iowa hit the small town of Minden, reaching a width of nearly a mile wide and cutting an astonishing path of 40.9 miles through Pottawattamie and Shelby counties.
- This year’s first violent tornado, rated EF4, struck April 27 after dark, southeast of Ardmore, near Marietta, Okla. It was the first confirmed EF4 or stronger twister in over a year.
- A tornado occurred April 19 in Alaska on a mountaintop near Anchorage. While it was a landspout — which forms through different processes than typical twisters in the Plains — it was rare. It joins only three or four others documented in Alaska since 1950 and was the earliest to form.
- The weather service issued 625 tornado warnings nationwide during the month. While a huge number, it’s only about half the count during April 2011, when there were just shy of 1,200 warnings.
- Despite the exceptional April for tornadoes, the weather service received an average number of severe thunderstorm reports overall — including instances of large hail and damaging straight-line winds. It received 2,421 such reports compared with the average of 2,184.
Count in perspective
April is the third-most active severe weather and tornado month of the year as streams of cold and dry and warm and moist air clash. Its average of 182 tornadoes trails May’s 268 and June’s 213.
While May and June tend to have higher totals, April is known for its violent outbreaks, including infamous events in 2011 and 1974.
Still, it can be fickle. When chilly air dominates, storminess is suppressed. But during periods in which warm, humid air surges north from the Gulf of Mexico and collides with the leftover chill from winter, explosive storms can develop.
Last month brought frequent surges of humid air northward from the gulf, especially in the month’s final week.
More tornadoes ahead
Every day from April 25 to May 2 has featured tornadoes, and there’s a legitimate chance this streak will continue for another week or so.
Lower-end tornado threats are predicted in the southern and central Plains through the weekend. Then another large system, with the potential to be a major tornado producer, is poised to spill into the central United States early next week.
Beyond that, the forecast is less clear, partly because predictions are less reliable so far into the future and partly because the pattern projected by computer models appears less favorable.
But given the season thus far and the tendency for the central states to be a frequent battleground between cold and warm air, more storminess seems probable well past early next week.