NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Visit:NCEI U.S. Tornadoes
According to data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, during November, there were 25 preliminary tornado reports. This is well below, less than half, of the 1991-2010 average of 58 tornadoes for the month of November. For this reference period, November has the fourth lowest average number of tornadoes for any month behind December (24), January (35) and February (29).
The first notable day of the month was November 10, as nine tornadoes occurred across northwestern Louisiana, eastern Texas, central Oklahoma. All of these were weaker tornadoes that were rated either EF-0 or EF-1. Several of these EF-0 tornadoes were southwest and east of Tulsa, Oklahoma causing minor damage to vegetation, parks and other infrastructure. Four additional tornadoes also caused impacts near Marshall, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana. There were no fatalities associated with these tornadoes.
There was only one other day during the month that had multiple reported tornadoes. The was on November 13 where a majority of the month's tornadoes (14) occurred across Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York's Long Island. This was a small outbreak of weaker tornadoes that were all rated as EF-0 or EF-1. These tornadoes produced scattered damage to residential and commercial structures, vehicles, vegetation and other infrastructure. There were no fatalities associated with these tornadoes. The tornadoes that were confirmed across Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island were the latest tornadoes on record in the calendar year since record keeping began in 1950.
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.