The National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center have now compiled and released the official counts of the actual number of tornadoes that occurred in April 2011. Until now there had only been preliminary counts, which often include duplicate reports of multiple sightings of the same tornado.
The actual number of tornadoes in April 2011 is a staggering 753! This is 2.8 times the old April record of 267 set in 1974 (which included the April 3-4 "Superoutbreak"). It's over 200 more than the previous record for ANY month, which was 542 in May 2003.
The table below shows additional statistics from the incredible April. There were 364 fatalities. That's the most for any month since April 1936 when there were 509 tornado deaths. There were four tornadoes rated EF5 (all on April 27). That's the most for any month (and any day) since 1974 when there were seven rated F5 on April 3 (by NWS; Fujita rated six of them F5).
April 27th brought the most tornadoes. The National Weather Service keeps records for calendar days using Central Standard Time (CST), and there were 202 on April 27, the most on record for any such day. There were 320 fatalities on that day, third deadliest in United States history and deadliest since March 21, 1932.
These new statistics update those from previous blogs, including one from June 13 and one on April 29. Stu Ostro also wrote blogs on May 2 and on April 18 about some of these tornadoes.
May 2011 was also an active tornado month, including the tragic Joplin, Missouri tornado on May 22. Then National Weather Service now lists 157 direct deaths from that tornado, plus additional indirect fatalities.
In all, 55 killer tornadoes have brought 546 direct deaths so far in 2011. My preliminary tornado count (including the actual tornado counts through April and my best estimates subsequently) is 1476 tornadoes through July 31. That's the most on record for the first seven months of the year, beating out 2008 which had 1397 in that period.
So we're still on a record tornado pace for the year, but the pace has fortunately slowed over the past two months. In an average year 348 tornadoes (27% of the yearly total) occur during the months from August through December. A substantial number of them typically come from tropical cyclones. Others come from frontal systems in the fall and early winter. No month is safe from tornadoes. Hopefully none will be as bad as what we've already seen this year!
