This follows a pattern previously predicted by long-range forecasters at AccuWeather, which warned of an eastward-shift in tornado risk this year. Tornadoes form when different temperatures and humidity meet. In the United States, warm, wet winds travel north from the Gulf of Mexico in the spring and summer, where they meet cold, dry, south-moving Canadian fronts. Cooler weather across much of the Great Lakes and Northeast is expected to limit the severity of thunderstorms and tornados in the Northern states through early spring. Listen to your local meteorologists so you will know when your region is facing a tornado risk. And if you hear sirens or are under a tornado warning, immediately go to your safe space.

If a tornado strikes and you are inside a sturdy building, go to the lowest floor, such as the basement or storm cellar. If the building has no rooms beneath the ground, get to the lowest level possible and find an interior room, putting as many walls as possible between you and the tornado. Don’t bother opening windows to equalize pressure; this will accomplish nothing except to allow more debris inside.

Latest about tornadoes

And 9 p.m., but again, they can occur at any time in the day or night. The region lying between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains — known informally as Tornado Alley — has the highest number of tornadoes in the United States each year; however, no place is safe. Tornadoes can occur anywhere in the United States, as well as in other countries. In fact, the United Kingdom reports the most tornadoes by land area. An average of 800 tornadoes are reported each year, resulting in 80 deaths and 1,500 injuries.

• Between 75 and 150 tornadoes have been forecast for March, 200 to 300 in April and 250 to 350 in May.
• On Friday (March 14) and Saturday, a particularly powerful storm system tore through many Central and Southern states, with 52 confirmed tornadoes whipping up expansive dust storms and wildfires.
• Oklahoma, northwest Texas and the Texas panhandle are bracing for a day of extreme weather, including dangerous tornadoes, flooding and thunderstorms.
• Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that stretch between the ground and the base of storm clouds.
• A devastating, nearly mile-wide “wedge tornado” has killed at least 26 people and battered Mississippi with golf ball-size hail and winds up to 200 mph.
• Violent tornado outbreaks, like the storms that tore through parts of St. Louis and London, Kentucky, on May 16, have made 2025 seem like an especially active, deadly and destructive year for tornadoes.

‘You certainly don’t see this every day’: Ultra-rare backward-spinning tornado formed over Oklahoma

Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. After the caver noticed a giant gash across a barren landscape, scientists discovered it was created by a ferocious  tornado that no-one knew had occurred. “This area encompasses much of northern Texas northward through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and parts of Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Colorado,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said in a statement.

However, a relatively small percentage of Florida’s tornadoes are considered high intensity. They vary, depending on the criteria used — frequency, intensity, or events per unit area. If your television or radio announces a tornado watch, this means that conditions are favorable for a tornado to form. If a tornado warning is announced, it means a tornado has been sighted or indicated by radar. Moisture emitted by a single leaf provides clues to imminent thunderstorms and tornadoes. In the U.S., tornado season usually begins in early March when cold air from Canada clashes with warm, moist air from the Gulf.

Tornado Alley: Where Twisters Form

Their strength is measured using the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which estimates the tornado’s strength based on the damage it causes. The highest ranking on the scale is EF5, indicating “incredible” damage. The shift toward more winter tornadoes has also left people more vulnerable. Since they may not expect tornadoes at that time of year, they are likely to be less prepared. Tornado detection and forecasting is rapidly improving and has saved thousands of lives over the past 50-plus years, but forecasts can save lives only if people are able to receive them.

Scientist Reading the Leaves to Predict Violent Weather

A pair of odd twisters spun out from a supercell thunderstorm in Oklahoma Tuesday (April 30). Her work can also be found in Business News Daily and KM World. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Glassboro State College (now known as Rowan University) in New Jersey.

Tornado Facts: Causes, Formation & Safety

• Kansas and Oklahoma are second and third respectively when it comes to the number of tornadoes reported, but those states report more tornadoes per land area than Texas.
• And if you hear sirens or are under a tornado warning, immediately go to your safe space.
• Exceptionally warm sea water in the Gulf is also expected to significantly influence severe weather in Southeastern states.
• Between 1,300 and 1,450 tornadoes are predicted to occur across the U.S. in total in 2025, according to AccuWeather.

Tornado wind and debris cause most of the structural damage suffered, but nearly half of the injuries from such disasters occur after the tornado has left, during rescue work and cleanup. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a third of these injuries come from stepping on nails. As such, it is important to remember to exercise caution even after the danger appears to have passed.

Exceptionally warm sea water in the Gulf is also expected to significantly influence severe weather in Southeastern states. According to the tornado web server National Weather Service (NWS), two EF4-strength tornadoes — indicative of “devastating” damage — ripped through Arkansas on Friday. This was the first time in over 25 years that two EF4-strength tornadoes hit the state in a single day.

Air Force meteorologists Major Ernest J. Fawbush and Captain Robert C. Miller. They coined the term as part of their study of extreme weather events in an area from Lubbock, Texas, to Colorado and Nebraska. Fawbush and Miller were no strangers to the study of twisters, as they have been credited with making the first successful tornado forecast in 1948 and setting off the first official tornado warning in modern times. Florida’s almost daily thunderstorms spawn a large number of tornadoes, designating it as the state with the with the highest number of tornadoes per square mile.

A tornado may already be on the ground, and you may have only seconds to protect yourself. Winter tornadoes have become more frequent over the eastern U.S., from the southeast, dubbed Dixie Alley for its tornado activity in recent years, to the Midwest, particularly Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. Violent tornado outbreaks, like the storms that tore through parts of St. Louis and London, Kentucky, on May 16, have made 2025 seem like an especially active, deadly and destructive year for tornadoes. A storm scientist explains what’s been driving deadly tornado outbreaks and how tornado season has been changing. Tornados were once ranked by wind speed on the Fujita scale.

Tornadoes

The weak La Niña ended and the Gulf waters were closer to normal. Nola Taylor Tillman is a contributing writer for Live Science and Space.com. She loves all things space and astronomy-related, and enjoys the opportunity to learn more.

Watch for flying debris, which causes the most fatalities and injuries while the tornado is in process. If you are in a mobile home or trailer, leave immediately. Find the lowest floor of a sturdy shelter, or a ditch or depression. Tornadoes forming over warm water are known as waterspouts, and are most common in southern states and along the Gulf Coast. Twenty-two are dead, more are missing, and many more are injured after a supercell storm spawned a series of tornadoes early Tuesday morning, including one that struck downtown Nashville.

Kansas and Oklahoma are second and third respectively when it comes to the number of tornadoes reported, but those states report more tornadoes per land area than Texas. Tornado Alley is term that it is typically used to describe a wide swath of tornado-prone areas between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains that frequently experience tornadoes. It is not an official weather term; it was primarily a phrase popularized by the media. A destructive tornado moved through the outskirts of Kansas City on Tuesday, injuring at least a dozen people and killing one. Between 1,300 and 1,450 tornadoes are predicted to occur across the U.S. in total in 2025, according to AccuWeather. Between 75 and 150 tornadoes have been forecast for March, 200 to 300 in April and 250 to 350 in May.

It was upgraded to the Enhanced Fujita scale in 2007 and ranges from EF0 to EF5. An EF0 tornado may damage trees but not buildings, with winds ranging up to 85 mph (137 km/h). An EF5 tornado is devastating; winds exceed 200 mph (322 km/h), and buildings can be annihilated. Tornadoes can occur at any time during the year, but they form most frequently in the spring and summer, depending upon your location.