The severe weather outbreak this past Sunday, March 3
was the deadliest in the United States since 2013. Nearly three dozen tornadoes have already
been confirmed across the southeastern United States from Alabama to South
Carolina. Sunday’s deadliest tornado
initially touched down in Macon County, Alabama and grew into a rare EF-4
tornado with winds of 170 mph. It caused
23 fatalities in the small town of Beauregard, Alabama about 60 miles east of
Birmingham.
Sunday’s tornado in Beauregard also became Alabama’s
deadliest March tornado since the Palm Sunday outbreak on March 27, 1994. That’s when at least 22 fatalities were
reported in an F4 tornado that passed through the small town of Goshen,
Alabama. It’s important to distinguish
between the EF-4 that occurred this past Sunday and the F4 that was reported 25
years ago. Back in the 1970s, tornado
intensity was measured on the Fujita Scale that went from a F0 tornado with
wind speeds of 40 mph – 72 mph to an F5 tornado (261 mph – 318 mph). However, in 2007 the revised “Enhanced Fujita Scale” ranks a minimal tornado an EF-0 with wind speeds of 65 mph – 85
mph. An EF-5 tornado has wind speeds of
200 mph or greater.
In addition to the more than 30 confirmed tornadoes that
occurred during the March 3, 2019 severe weather outbreak, there were numerous
reports of severe wind gusts (58 mph/+) and severe hail (1”/+ in
diameter). By comparison, the largest
March severe weather outbreak in all of last year occurred on March 19. On that day, there were 28 confirmed
tornadoes in the southeastern United States without any fatalities.
Due to its unique geography, the United States sees
more tornadoes in an average year than any other country in the world. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the United States averages 1,253 tornadoes per year
for the period from 1991-2010. The month
of March is the sixth busiest month of the year for tornadoes, with an annual
average of 80. The months of April
through August all have a higher average number of tornadoes than March.
March is typically when the weather across the central
and southern United States starts to warm up and become more spring-like. Consequently, the average number of tornadoes
increases dramatically from only 29 in February to the March average of
80. Following the fall and winter months
when severe weather and tornadoes are few and far between, the uptick in March
is noteworthy. That’s why it’s vital to
listen to the latest weather forecasts from your favorite local meteorologists.
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