No tornadoes in February 2010

No tornadoes in February 2010

There were no tornadoes reported in the United States in February 2010. Assuming that no late reports are received, it will be the first time in the National Weather Service’s database that starts in 1950 that there has been a February without a tornado. If we include Tom Grazulis’s database of F2 and stronger tornadoes, the last time it’s possible there wasn’t a February tornado was 1947. The last tornado reported in the US was on 24 January, in north-central Tennessee. The last calendar month without a tornado was January 2003.

What does this tell us about the rest of the 2010 tornado season? Somewhere between a little and nothing at all. Most years that have started out with few tornadoes have ended up average or below. However, there have been big exceptions. Most notably, in 2003, we started out with no tornadoes in the first 45 days of the year. Even as late as 29 April, it was the slowest start in the database (after adjusting for report inflation, as discussed here.) By the 11th of May, however, 2003 was well above normal following a remarkably active week. So, even though it’s been a slow start to the season, people still need to be aware of the threats that may happen later on.

What does it tell us about long-term trends? Again, essentially nothing. The large-scale atmospheric pattern that persisted over the US for the month of February was unfavorable for tornadoes. There’s nothing in the scientific literature that provides information on any changes to expect with tornadoes in the future, so the no-tornado February can’t be interpreted in that light.

Interesting anomaly.

(Please resist the urge to convert this thread into yet another AGW discussion.)

It does strike me, however, that our inability to fully understand and therefore accurately forecast such weather phenomena is a costly predicament.

While the article dismisses the significance of no tornadoes in this last month, it's still impressive in the context of the last fifty years.


[edit on 2-3-2010 by loam]

I live near tornado ally.

My weather prediction for March and April:

There will be a tornado. I predict more than one.

There may not have been any tornadoes, but I have seen some clouds spinning where I though one may appear in all the storms we had. On Sat, there was a lot of circular motion with the clouds that had me a little nervous.