Tornadoes Give U.S. A Break; Fewest Deaths In Over A Century

A large, strong EF4 tornado in Illinois, April 9, 2015. Strong tornadoes
like this were relatively rare in 2015 Photo by Charles Russell.

Unless a really nasty tornado outbreak gets going this month, 2015 might go down in the United States as the year with the fewest tornado-related deaths in more than a century.

As Dr. Jeff Masters' blog notes, there have only been 10 tornado deaths in the United States so far this year, with only three weeks remaining to go before 2016 arrives.

Every year brings a lot of tornadoes to the United States, but the number and severity of tornadoes has generally been subdued since 2012.

Masters says that a persistent ridge on the West Coast for the past three years has created a general northwest air flow over the middle and eastern parts of the nation for most of the past few years.

That weather pattern discourages big tornado outbreaks, so that's why there's been relatively few deaths from tornadoes.

Also, the strongest tornadoes for the most part did not plow through cities and towns and other population centers which helped. That's just dumb luck.

This won't last forever, of course. Deadly years are alwayts possible. Just look back to 2011, with a horrific 553 deaths, the most since 1925.  With El Nino influencing things now, the weather pattern could become more favorable for large, dangerous, deadly tornadoes in 2016.

But we should still at least hope the tornadoes that inevitably come to the United States, especially in the spring and summer, don't get too big, and avoid big towns and cities.