New record: 250 days with no tornado deaths
After all the weather disasters across the U.S., there is a glimmer of good news.
It has been 250 days since anyone in the USA was killed by a tornado, the longest such streak since accurate records began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.
That easily beats the previous record-long streak of 220 days set from June 24, 2012, through Jan. 30, 2013, said Patrick Marsh, a meteorologist at the center.
Long stretches without a single tornado death are becoming more common: All streaks of 200 days or longer have occurred within the past five years, Marsh said.
The USA’s most recent deadly tornadoes hit on May 16, 2017, in Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
There really isn’t a reason for the streak besides good luck, said Harold Brooks, a tornado researcher with the NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.
Though fewer tornadoes in recent years is one explanation for the lower death toll, it doesn’t tell the whole story, the National Weather Service says.
“It’s not surprising that the four longest periods on record without a tornado fatality have occurred within the past six years,” said weather service director Louis Uccellini. He said that since the deadly 2011 tornado season — which included the Joplin, Mo., tornado that killed more than 150 people — NOAA has worked to improve America’s tornado preparedness and response.
“We’ve invested in faster supercomputers and better models to improve our forecasts and warnings,” Uccellini said.