In today's world of science, there are still plenty of surprises. Researchers are always coming up with new twists to accepted theories, and we don't always have the answers to why they occur. One such example is the incredible spurt of tornadoes the United States has experienced in October. A record setting 83 tornadoes have occurred in our country during the first 15 days of this month. During the second week alone, 59 twisters were counted!
October is hardly considered a big month for tornadoes, but recent history has shown differently. The most twisters for any October in the U.S. occurred in 1997 with 100 reported. The second highest number was 86 in October of 1998.
To put these numbers in perspective, consider that the average number of October tornadoes since the National Weather Service began tracking them in 1950 is 29. (Forty-one years of data is not a long time when we consider overall climate.) Nationally, 1998 was a record year with 1,424 tornadoes, causing 130 deaths. The good news for this month's twisters through the first half of October: no fatalities and only 12 minor injuries. That's a testament to the excellent severe storm watch and warning system put in place by the National Weather Service.
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas bore the brunt of October tornadoes this month, and that is no surprise. Nature's nastiest storm needs a huge thunderstorm and plenty of wind shear in order to form. Warm, humid air will lead to the thunderstorms. The wind shear, a change of wind speed and wind direction with height, is courtesy of strong low-level winds moving north from the Gulf of Mexico, and a high altitude jet stream screaming overhead. The southern and central U.S. gets both of those this time of year as the strong core of upper air winds dips south out of Canada.
{INSERT_RELATED}In there anything we can learn from the high number of October twisters in 1997, 1998, and now 2001? Could this be the result of global warming? That's a leap most researchers aren't willing to take. At least not yet. For now we can chalk it up to just one of those things that we can't readily explain. In science, there are usually more questions than answers.
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