2024 US Tornadoes

• The first half of the year wrapped up with 1,250 tornadoes, but July’s storms have increased that total to 1,480 preliminary tornadoes as of July 22, second only to 2010.
• CDP often uses preliminary NWS or NOAA/NCEI data because final numbers take significant time. NOAA says, “Historically, for every 100 preliminary tornado reports, at least 65 tornadoes are confirmed.”
• Of the 20 billion-dollar disasters that have been confirmed this year as of Sept. 18, 2024, at least 13 include confirmed tornado outbreaks.
• NOAA has confirmed 44 tornado-related deaths in 2024, as of Sept. 18, 2024. Of these deaths, eight were in Oklahoma, eight in Texas, six in Iowa, five in Arkansas, three in Ohio, two in Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina, and one death each in Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Tennessee. 22 of these deaths occurred in a manufactured home, 10 inside a traditionally built home, three inside a vehicle, three outside, one inside a building, and five locations are unknown. Other deaths may be under investigation.
• The United States has not experienced an EF-5 twister since the Moore Tornado in 2013. While most tornadoes (90%) are rated EF-0 or EF-1, they can still damage homes and cause severe damage to mobile homes and manufactured housing.
• Since 1880, the percentage of fatalities during daytime tornadoes has decreased by 20%, while the percentage of deaths during nighttime tornadoes has increased by the same amount. Nighttime tornadoes kill twice as many people as daytime tornadoes annually.

An EF-1 tornado struck New York on Sept. 6, causing extensive tree damage. It was the the 29^th tornado in New York this year, breaking the record for the most twisters in a single year.

Preliminary data indicates there were 91 confirmed tornadoes in August, which is above the 1991-2020 average of 81 tornadoes.

The most intense day for tornadoes was Aug. 5, when 29 tornadoes hit southern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, coastal South Carolina and Buffalo, New York, with no injuries or fatalities.

Tropical Storm Debby caused tornadoes as it moved inland, leading to significant damage in North Carolina. These included an EF-2 in Sampson County and an EF-3 in Wilson County, resulting in one fatality. On Aug. 8, Debby spawned 11 tornadoes across several other states, causing damage but no injuries or fatalities.

Preliminary data from the NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center indicates there were 210 tornadoes reported for July. Over 60 of those tornadoes were connected with the path of Hurricane Beryl as it traveled across the U.S., from Texas to Vermont, and on to Canada.

Several of the outbreaks also set records. For example, New York typically sees nine tornadoes in July. This year, 20 of their 22 twisters have occurred in July (the highest was 13 in 1992).

NCEI does not confirm the final numbers for several days after the end of the month, so July numbers should all be considered preliminary. 

Hurricane Beryl-related July 8-10

The ArkLaTex region (Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas) saw at least 43 tornadoes as Beryl moved through the area after making landfall in southern Texas on July 8.

At least one woman died, several were injured, and multiple homes were damaged or destroyed in Louisiana. The strongest tornado was an EF-3 on July 9 in Posey County, Indiana. On the ground for just six miles and 10-11 minutes, the twister damaged a handful of homes, knocked over rail cars and ripped the roof off a Kenco warehouse.

New York was hit with seven tornadoes connected to Hurricane Beryl on July 10, and 13 more between then and July 23.

July 14-15

July 14-15, saw 33 tornadoes across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. This included rare back-to-back nights of twisters in both the Chicago area and within the city boundaries. Illinois has had 100 tornadoes already in 2024.

A derecho on July 15 was responsible for the 27 tornadoes across the three states. This beats the single-day records of 22 from 2014 and 2023. All but one of the twisters was an EF-U, EF-0 or EF-1.

An EF-2 tornado traveled from Channahon to Matteson in Will and Cook counties, Illinois. Interstate 55 was shut down for days because of abandoned cars and debris. There were more than 7,000 reports of fallen trees recorded.

July 16

An EF-2 tornado was confirmed in Rome, New York and brought significant devastation to the town. At least 22 non-residential structures were damaged or destroyed, some dating to the 1800s. It was the strongest of 10 tornadoes to hit the state that night.

A $1.2 million fund is being distributed by the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties to help people who were affected by the tornadoes.

While there was at least one tornado on all but three days in the month, there were no big outbreaks. June saw 131 tornadoes, with only June 5 exceeding 20 twisters. The severe weather on June 12-13 in the central part of the country is under investigation as a potential billion-dollar disaster.

June 2

Severe thunderstorms led to 11 tornadoes reported in the Dakotas and Texas. An EF-3 and EF-1 tornado hit Sanderson, Texas causing significant damage to homes and a mobile home, and injuring 12 people. An EF-2 tornado snapped power lines and uprooted trees in Maurine, South Dakota.

June 5-6

One EF-2, 10 EF-1, nine EF-0 and several EF-U tornadoes struck Michigan, Maryland, West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Mississippi, and Alabama. Although these were small twisters, several homes, businesses, vehicles and infrastructure were damaged in several towns in Maryland. The tornado in Michigan developed so quickly there was no advance notice or warning sirens.

June 25-26

At least 20 tornadoes roared through Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and  Rhode Island at the end of the month. While most were small, there was an EF-3 in Whitman, Nebraska. Rhode Island saw its first tornado in June since 1950 on June 26.

NOAA/NCEI states that there were 570 tornadoes in May, which is a significant increase from the 1991-2020 average of 268.4 tornadoes and the highest count ever recorded in May.

Twisters have been reported in almost half the states in the country, and there were only two days in the month without at least one tornado. Out of the six billion-dollar weather and climate disasters were confirmed in May, three of them included tornadoes.

May 6-10

Multiple tornadoes spawned from violent storms across the U.S., resulting in multiple casualties and injuries. There were 1,400 severe weather reports and 165 tornadoes confirmed across several states from May 6 to May 10.

NCEI said that: “This multi-day tornado outbreak produced at least 61 EF-0, 79 EF-1, 13 EF-2, three EF-3, one EF-4 tornado and dozens of EF-U (unknown/unrated) tornadoes, causing widespread damage to many homes, businesses, vehicles, agriculture and other infrastructure. The towns of Barnsdall and Bartlesville, Oklahoma were impacted by a violet EF-4 tornado that caused extensive damage. This was the second tornado in five weeks to hit the town of just over 1,000 people located in Osage County.

There were four tornadoes in Southwest Michigan on May 7. One of the two EF-2 twisters, a tornado in Portage damaged two mobile home parks, and several apartment buildings and tore a hole through the middle of a new FedEx building. These were the first tornado emergencies ever issued in the state.

At least three tornadoes struck Florida’s capital city, including two that converged at the Capital City Country Club, leading to the worst damage in Tallahassee since Hurricane Kate in 2021.

May 19-26

According to NOAA/NCEI, “220 preliminary tornadoes were reported across many midwestern states over this continuous tornado-producing period. These tornadoes were rated as: 65 EF-0, 105 EF-1, 20 EF-2, 12 EF-3, one EF-4 and more than one dozen EF-U (unknown or unconfirmed) tornadoes. The states most affected included Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Kentucky. These states experienced damage to many homes, businesses, vehicles, agriculture and other infrastructure. For the full multi-day episode, there were 21 tornado-related fatalities and more than 150 injuries were reported.”

With nearly 400 tornadoes confirmed in April, the month brought more than double the average of 182.4 tornadoes. including at least 27 EFUs, 84 EF-0s, 161 EF-1s, 35 EF-2s, nine EF-3s and one EF-4. At least seven direct tornado deaths and several related fatalities were recorded, with fatalities spread across several of the outbreaks.

NOAA/NCEI said: “The preliminary tornado count for the January-April year-to-date period was 547, which is similar to the total from the last couple of years and above the 1991-2020 average of 337.9 tornadoes. It was also the third highest count for this period on record.”

Three of April’s tornado outbreaks produced billion-dollar disasters: April 1-3 at $2.5 billion, April 8-11 at $2.2 billion and April 26-28 at $1.2 billion in economic losses.

The worst tornado outbreak of the year, with more than 140 tornadoes, occurred between April 25 and April 28 in the Midwest and Great Plains, including Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Alaska experienced its fifth-ever tornado on April 19; the first since 2005.

April 1-3

A powerful line of storms passed through the Midwest and into much of the Central and Southeast U.S., causing severe thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes. There were more than 85 twisters in this outbreak stretching from Oklahoma to West Virginia, including 14 EF-2 tornadoes. West Virginia saw 10 tornadoes.

NCEI said, “Southern Indiana, southern Ohio, northern Kentucky and western region of West Virginia were most impacted. These tornadoes and associated severe weather caused extensive impacts to homes, businesses, vehicles and other infrastructure.”

April 16

On April 16, severe storms moved into the Midwest and spawned twisters in Iowa and Kansas, hurting several people. This included an EF-2 tornado that made landfall in Greenwood County. At least 15 tornadoes touched down across Iowa on April 16, including a 900-feet wide long-track EF-2 tornado that ran for more than 42 miles, with peak wind speeds of 130 mph. It is the longest tornado path in the area since almost exactly a decade ago, April 27, 2014.

April 26–27

Multiple storm systems moved through the Midwest and Central Plains between April 26 and 28, spawning more than two dozen tornadoes. These twisters resulted in at least five fatalities, four of which occurred in Oklahoma, where President Biden approved a major disaster declaration on May 1.

Multiple businesses were damaged or destroyed, including a Dollar Tree distribution center and a Dollar General, which are major sources of household supplies, including groceries. The loss of the distribution center, which serves many smaller towns, could be significant.

In Nebraska, two supercells produced five tornadoes across the southern region. An EF-3 tornado hit Howard County, gaining significant strength when it entered the town of Elba, damaging homes, outbuildings and farmsteads. Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen announced at least 450 homes were “totally destroyed” in Omaha following the twisters.

Two EF-3 tornadoes crossed over from Omaha, Nebraska, into Iowa. One of them reached peak wind speeds of 165 mph, traveled for over 31 miles and, at its widest, was nearly one mile. In a town of 600 people, the tornado damaged 120 homes.

NOAA/NCEI confirmed 66 tornadoes in March, which is below the 30-year average of 80.1 events for the month. Half of the days in the month had no tornadoes, and this is the lowest amount for the month since March 2018. NOAA/NCEI also said that “March 2024 was the 17th-warmest March on record for the nation and precipitation ranked in the wettest third of the historical record for the month.”

A tornado system from March 13 to March 15 is one of the billion-dollar disasters in 2024 at a cost of $5.9 billion. The states affected by tornadoes included Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Ohio.

March 9

About 15 people were displaced after a short (less than 10 minutes) but strong (130 mph winds) EF-2 tornado hit Brantley County, Georgia. At least one mobile home was flattened, several were damaged and five people were reportedly injured. Manufactured homes are especially vulnerable to tornadoes and other hazards and are overlooked during preparation, planning and recovery efforts.

March 13-15

The mid-March outbreak saw more than 41 tornadoes across the Midwest and Ohio River Valley. The primary impacts were in southwestern Illinois, eastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio.

NCEI said, “This cluster of tornadoes included at least ten EF-0, eight EF-1, seven EF-2, two EF-3 and several EF-U (unrated) tornadoes.”

An EF-3 tornado hit the community of Indian Lake, Ohio, traveling 31.2 miles for 47 minutes. Three deaths and 27 injuries were confirmed in Logan County. Packing wind speeds of 155 mph, the tornado struck a manufactured home community near Indian Lake, where most of the fatalities occurred.

FEMA declared a major disaster declaration for Ohio’s tornadoes on March 14 [DR-4777] for  11 counties. There were 442 individual assistance applications approved for nearly $3.6 million in assistance, an average of $7,583.

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center reported 52 preliminary tornadoes during February, below the 1991-2020 average of 75 tornadoes for the month. States affected include California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The month was unseasonably warm and dry.

A severe weather system on Feb. 27 and 28, is one of the nation’s billion-dollar disasters in 2024, at $1.3 billion.

Feb. 27-28

Hail, high winds and more than two dozen confirmed tornadoes hit the Great Lake states, including the suburbs of Chicago, leaving behind a trail of damage, debris and power outages.

A rare set of 12 tornadoes struck northwest Illinois and Indiana on Feb. 27.”

The tornadoes, ranging from EF-U to EF-1, affected 11.1 million people. The storms led to damaged buildings and roofs, uprooted trees, and downed power lines.

Southeast Michigan experienced its second-ever tornado in February since 1974 with two tornadoes reported on Feb. 28, including an EF-2 in Grand Blanc Township near Flint.

Similarly, central Ohio experienced nine confirmed tornadoes – three EF-0, three EF-1 and three EF-2. This is the highest number of February tornadoes in Ohio. Additionally, “The EF2 tornado in southeastern Franklin County was the strongest recorded in February since Feb. 22, 1971.”