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The Most Violent Tornadoes Are Rare, But Deadly | Weather.com
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Tornado Safety and Preparedness

A Tiny Fraction of Violent Tornadoes Claim The Most Lives, As The Recent Mississippi Tornado Illustrated

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At a Glance

  • F/EF4 and F/EF5 tornadoes make up a small fraction of all tornadoes.
  • Yet they're responsible for a majority of the nation's tornado deaths.
  • Such was the case on March 24, 2023, in Mississippi.
  • Spring is the peak time for violent tornadoes, but they've occurred in every month.
  • At least one violent tornado has been documented in two-thirds of U.S. states.

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A deadly Mississippi tornado last Friday proved once again that while the most violent tornadoes make up a tiny fraction of all U.S. twisters, they also claim the most lives.

A National Weather Service damage survey team rated a tornado that raked through parts of Issaquena, Sharkey, Humphreys and Holmes Counties on March 24 an EF4 tornado with estimated peak winds of 170 mph.

This single tornado claimed 16 lives. A pair of EF3 tornadoes also in northern Mississippi claimed a combined five more lives that same night.

While all tornadoes are capable of damage, meteorologists use the term "violent tornadoes" to refer to those rated EF4 or EF5, the highest two ratings on the Enhanced-Fujita scale.

What makes these most intense tornadoes — with estimated winds of 166 mph or more — so dangerous is their capability of devastating damage: tossing and crushing vehicles, leveling well-constructed homes and even sweeping foundations clean. (Note: The Fujita (F) scale was replaced by the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale in February 2007. Wind speeds associated with each category were reduced, but the general type of damage expected was not changed.)

T​he March 24, 2023, EF4 tornado in Mississippi demolished some homes, leaving just piles of debris on concrete slabs, mangled and debarked trees, and scoured the ground, leaving utility poles snapped near the ground covered in 1 to 2 inches of mud, according to the National Weather Service damage survey.

From 2000 through 2021, the most recent year in which finalized tornado counts are available from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, violent tornadoes were responsible for roughly half of all U.S. tornado deaths.

Violent (EF4 or EF5) tornadoes were responsible for half the tornado-related deaths in the U.S. from 2000 to 2021.
(Data: NOAA/NWS/SPC; Graphic: Infogram)

But these tornadoes are, thankfully, relatively rare. In that same period, violent tornadoes made up only 0.5% of the nation's tornadoes.

The death toll from these 122 violent tornadoes (843 lives) exceeded the death toll from the other 26,317 tornadoes combined (804 lives). Put another way, each F/EF4 tornado killed an average of four or five people, while F/EF5 tornadoes killed an average of 37.

Almost 90% of tornadoes from 2000 through 2021 were weak — rated F/EF0 or F/EF1 — but they're still capable of light to moderate damage to trees and homes, and significant damage to mobile homes.

Violent (EF4 or EF5) tornadoes made up just 0.5% of all tornadoes in the U.S. from 2000 through 2021.
(Data: NOAA/NWS/SPC; Graphic: Infogram)

Since 1950, the U.S. has averaged nine violent tornadoes per year, according to NOAA.

The four violent tornadoes in 2022 included one near Winterset, Iowa, on March 5; Black Creek, Georgia, on April 5; and a pair of northeast Texas tornadoes in Lamar and Red River counties on Nov. 4 — all rated EF4. The Iowa tornado claimed six lives.

There were three violent tornadoes in 2021 – Newnan, Georgia, on March 25; and a pair of long-track tornadoes from Arkansas into southeast Missouri, northwest Tennessee and Kentucky, including Mayfield, on Dec. 10 — all rated EF4. The Mayfield tornado claimed 57 lives, according to the National Weather Service.

But some years have few, if any, violent tornadoes.

In 2018, there were no EF4 or EF5 tornadoes anywhere in the U.S. It was the only year without a single violent tornado dating to 1950.

There hasn't been an EF5 in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City/Moore tornado on May 20, 2013.

Spring Is Peak Time Of Year

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We examined the 640 violent tornadoes in NOAA's database from 1950 through 2021 to see if there was a peak time of year.

We found a broad peak from April through early June, during which 59% of violent tornadoes occurred.

Timeline of violent U.S. tornadoes from 1950 through 2021, illustrating the general spring peak in these intense tornadoes.
(Data: NOAA/NWS/SPC; Graphic: Infogram)

Multiple violent tornadoes can often cluster in higher-end outbreaks, accounting for some of this spring peak. Among these historic outbreaks include:

  • April 2011 Super Outbreak: 15 violent tornadoes on April 27 alone, including four rated EF5
  • May 3, 1999, Plains Outbreak: First F5 on record to hit Oklahoma City metro; F4 strikes southern side of Wichita, Kansas
  • April 1974 Super Outbreak: 30 violent tornadoes, including six rated F5
  • April 1965 Palm Sunday Outbreak: 22 violent tornadoes

The 25 deadliest tornadoes on record in the U.S. all occurred from mid-March through June.

The remains of a Ford Explorer in Smithville, Mississippi. The April 27, 2011 tornado hurled the SUV about one-half mile, into the town's water tower (in the picture background) and continued on another one-quarter mile until impact. (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency/NWS-Memphis, Tennessee)
The remains of a Ford Explorer in Smithville, Mississippi, after an April 27, 2011, tornado.
(Mississippi Emergency Management Agency/NWS-Memphis, Tennessee)

Spring typically provides a prime overlap of ingredients in the southern and central U.S. needed to generate the intense, rotating supercell thunderstorms that can spawn violent tornadoes.

Increasingly warm, humid air streaming northward out of the Gulf of Mexico is topped by cold, dry air aloft and a powerful jet stream pivoting out of the West. This provides the instability needed to generate thunderstorms.

In these cases, wind shear — the change in wind speed and direction with height — is intense. This allows supercells to form and provides the spin needed to stretch and tilt into tornadoes.

image
An example of a prime setup for severe thunderstorms in the Plains states, particularly in spring.

Violent tornadoes are much less common from midsummer through fall and winter, but they can happen any time of year if the volatile setup is in place. They have occurred in every month, including winter.

For example, Christmas Eve F4 tornadoes tore through parts of Arkansas and Missouri in 1982 and Tennessee in 1988.

The Top Violent Tornado States

It should come as no surprise where violent tornadoes occur most often.

From 1950 through March 24, 2023, the conventional Plains "Tornado Alley" states of Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa and Kansas had the biggest number of violent tornadoes.

Elevated violent tornado counts also extend eastward into the Ohio Valley and a southern corridor that includes Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The number of violent (F/EF4 and F/EF5) tornadoes per state from 1950 through March 24, 2023.
(Data: NOAA/SPC)

Damage from at least one violent tornado has been observed in 33 of 50 states.

Violent tornadoes are less common east of the Appalachians but have occurred as far north as Massachusetts and upstate New York and as far south as Florida.

Just one violent tornado has been documented from the Rockies to the West Coast.

On July 21, 1987, an F4 tornado reportedly uprooted 1 million trees as it ripped a path across the Teton and Yellowstone areas of northwestern Wyoming. The tornado affected elevations between 8,500 and 10,000 feet, making it the highest altitude that a violent tornado has been documented.

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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