Categories: Tornado Climatology

February tornado deaths from 1950-2010

As seen in the quick-wrap of February tornado statistics, 435 people were killed by 1,441 tornadoes from 1950-2010. Additionally, an examination of the major Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak showed that over 1/4 of deaths occurred in just two days of February.

Other top years all had outbreaks as well: Super Tuesday 2008; February 12, 1950; 1998 Central Florida Outbreak; 2007 Groundhog Day Outbreak. So, the “norm” for February is low death tolls. The 1981-2010 30-year average is 6 people and the median is zero.

In total, 33 of the 61 (54 percent) Februarys within this sample witnessed no tornado deaths. One reason for the low numbers is simply the fact that February is very early when it comes to tornado season, and hand in hand with that idea, it has many weak tornadoes. Outbreaks often tell the story.

In a prior post we saw that significant tornadoes (F2/EF-2+) caused 97% of all fatalities in February tornadoes during the period. Once getting past four fatalities in a tornado, they were all significant or greater tornadoes. Tornadoes that caused 11 or more fatalities in February were all rated as intense (F3/EF-3) or greater.

The deadly February tornadoes by state count closely matches the intense tornado by state count. The main difference is that Alabama and Tennessee switch spots despite Tennessee holding the advantage for second alone in the intense tornado tally.

Note: Red portions of the graph are tornadoes that crossed a state line and hit somewhere else first. It should not be assumed that these tornadoes caused deaths in the state they are shown in, and are not counted in the overall count, but are meant to provide total data on where tornadoes impacted.

All images can be viewed larger by selecting. SPC tornado data obtained through the Tornado History Project. Get updates on U.S. Tornadoes on Twitter and Facebook.