Tornado rips through Texas. (Washington Post)
Tornado season in the United States usually lasts from March to June. However, this year, meteorologists believe that the 2022 season will be especially dangerous. February saw one lethal tornado, March saw five, and April has seen one. This tornado season will likely be exacerbated by La Niña, a weather pattern that can cause severe weather conditions.
Victor Gensini, tornado expert and associate professor at Northern Illinois University, explained that “Our future projections of how severe weather may change in the future are really showing two things. They kind of show an earlier start to the severe weather season – so more severe weather in February, more severe weather in March – and then also sort of this eastward increase.”
There were at least 219 tornadoes reported in March, which is the highest since 1950. This was an increase from 2021, which saw 191 tornadoes. Since 2015, the number of tornadoes have been increasing, as only 13 tornadoes were reported that year in March.
The most damaging tornado in March was the EF4 tornado in Iowa, which began on March 5. Based on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, an EF4 level tornado is rated the second most intense. These tornadoes have wind speeds of 116-200 mph and cause serious destruction. This tornado was the deadliest since 2008, killing seven people and destroying multiple homes and structures.
The next lethal tornadoes occurred in late March in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Florida. These were deemed tornado outbreaks, the most severe of which was an EF3 tornado. Similar to the tornado in Iowa, these storms caused serious damage to structures.
The most recent lethal tornado took place in Georgia in early April. The EF4 tornado in Georgia was the strongest of the year, leaving one woman dead. The storm resulted in massive damage, especially to vegetation and heavy flooding. This tornado was surprising as Georgia is not near the Tornado Alley, a region of multiple Midwestern states where tornadoes are frequent.
La Niña is likely the reason for tornadoes in unusual places like Georgia this year. La Niña is a weather pattern that changes ocean temperatures. In 2022, La Niña will be “slightly weaker” than it was last year. However, it will still impact the climate, as it will raise temperatures in the south and cool them in the north. Since tornadoes form when warm, humid air collides with cold, dry air, La Niña could have helped create the weather conditions necessary for a tornado to form in southeastern states.
Another factor that could be causing these severe storms is climate change. Climate change can exacerbate the effects of La Niña and disrupt the weather patterns we are used to.
It is predicted that the number of tornadoes for 2022 is anywhere from 1350 to 1475. Although tornadoes are also expected to become more common in southeastern states, residents of Kansas and Missouri should still be prepared for these storms, as they are in Tornado Alley. Hopefully the affected states are able to recover and rebuild quickly.
