A recap of the 2012 tornado season shows some improvements. We started off with some nasty severe outbreaks, but then the rest of the year slipped down to below normal and stayed that way to finish out the year. So how did the year as a whole average out?
The average number of days that had tornadoes last year was 70, which is 8 below normal. Compare that to the record number of tornado days which is 211, set back in 2000. This however is different than total number of tornadoes. That number was 936 for 2012. The record number of tornadoes seen in a year was 1817, set back in 2004
The single deadliest tornado in 2012 was in Henryville, Indiana back on March 2nd when 11 people died. While this was a lot, this is nothing in comparison to the deadliest single tornado in modern U.S. history. That date fell on May 22, 2011 in Joplin, Missouri, when a total of 158 people died from an EF-5 tornado (although 4 more people died from indirect causes).
For many, Christmas Day in 2012 was not a happy one. A total of 28 tornadoes ripped across the southeast that day, hitting four states. While there were no known fatalities, there were several injuries, and the loss of many homes. This broke the record for most number of tornadoes on any Christmas Day in recorded history. It came in 4th place as far as for the most tornadoes on any given December day (1st place was December 18th, 2002).
Below is a map of tornadoes and their paths for every year from 1952-2011:
Sources: NOAA, SPC, NWS Springfield, Joplin Globe
