NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Visit:NCEI U.S. Tornadoes
According to data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, during October, there were 19 preliminary tornado reports. This is well below, about one-third, of the 1991-2010 average of 61 tornadoes for the month of October.
The majority (14) of these October tornadoes were produced during Hurricane Delta's inland path across the Southeast from October 9-11. The states affected by these tornadoes included Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, there was a cluster of tornadoes in Georgia south and east of the Atlanta metro region. All of these tornadoes from Delta and its remnants were rated as EF-0 or EF-1, with scattered damage to homes, infrastructure and vegetation. There were only a few injuries and no fatalities.
The only other days during October that had reported tornadoes were October 7 and 28. New York and Massachusetts were affected by tornadoes on October 7, which produced isolated damage and no fatalities. Mississippi also experienced a pair of tornadoes on October 28 that also produced minimal damage. There were no fatalities associated with these tornadoes.
Did You Know?
Tornado Count
Final monthly tornado counts are typically less than the preliminary count. This can be due to some phenomena being inaccurately reported as tornadic activity or a single tornado being reported multiple times. Tornado accounts are reported to the local National Weather Service forecast offices who are responsible for going into the field and verifying each tornado reported. This process often takes several months to complete. Once all reports have been investigated, the final count is published by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
The Tornado Monthly Climate Reports are written using the preliminary numbers because the final data is not available at the time of production. Historically, for every 100 preliminary tornado reports, at least 65 tornadoes are confirmed. An error bar is depicted on the tornado count graphic representing this uncertainty in the preliminary tornado count.
The following U.S. studies performed by SPC meteorologists offer deeper context and discussion regarding the frequency and distribution of tornado intensity climatologies:
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Edwards, R., H. E. Brooks, and H. Cohn, 2021: Changes in tornado climatology accompanying the Enhanced
Fujita scale. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 60, 1465-1482
DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-21-0058.1. - Mccarthy, Daniel & Schaefer, Joseph. (2004). Tornado trends over the past thirty years. paper presented at 14th Conference on Applied Meteorology.