Is severe weather in January unusual?

 

Hail in southern Maryland (Photo Credit: Kristen Leitch)

The atmospheric ingredients required for severe weather are most common during the spring and summer months. NOAA defines a “severe” thunderstorm as one that has one or more of the following: wind gusts of at least 58 mph; hail 1”/+ in diameter; or a tornado. Although isolated cases of severe weather are possible in January, they are rare. However, several notable January severe weather outbreaks have occurred in recent years:

2025: A severe weather outbreak occurred across the Deep South last January 5. Although over a dozen tornadoes were confirmed by NOAA, no fatalities or injuries were reported. When severe weather does occur in January, it’s most likely to happen in the Deep South or along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

2024: A widespread two-day severe weather outbreak occurred on January 8 – 9 with over 400 confirmed severe weather reports. Severe wind gusts were common and there were a total of three fatalities on January 9. This outbreak stretched from Texas to New York. Damaging wind gusts were observed in parts of the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) on January 9. Daily record rainfall also occurred at the three major DC Area airports on January 9. 

2023: An extensive severe weather outbreak occurred on January 11 – 12 with over 300 confirmed severe weather reports. On January 12, there were over 60 confirmed tornadoes from Mississippi to North Carolina. These tornadoes produced dozens of injuries with four fatalities.

2022: Eight confirmed tornadoes, along with 26 reports of severe wind gusts, occurred on January 15 - 16. Three injuries were reported but there were no fatalities. Most of the tornadoes developed in Florida, with the strongest being an EF-2 that had estimated winds of 111-135 mph on January 16.

2020: A massive severe weather outbreak occurred on January 10 – 11 with nearly 1,200 severe weather reports. Almost all of those reports were for severe wind gusts from Texas to Virginia, along with 87 confirmed tornadoes. Dozens of injuries were reported to NOAA along with 11 confirmed fatalities. This would be a significant severe weather outbreak for any month, but it stands out during the month of January for two reasons. Not only did a significant amount of severe weather occur, but it happened over an unusually large geographic area. 

2017: There were more than 500 reports of severe weather, including more than 70 tornadoes, across the southeastern United States from January 19 – 22. Unfortunately, these tornadoes caused 27 fatalities, according to NOAA.  

Some at-risk communities don’t have tornado sirens.  So, a good investment for your family would be a NOAA weather radio that can alert you to looming danger – day or night.