Tornado Alley Isn’t Living Up to Its Name

Tornado activity in the region of the US known as Tornado Alley was at near-record low levels in April.

Not even a dozen tornadoes were reported in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska during the month of April. This accounts for just 16% of all April, preliminary tornadoes in the US, instead of the average of 28%.

Only the year 2018 had lower tornado activity since 2000, according to the Storm Prediction Center database.

This part of the country has generally not seen many tornadoes so far this year, either.

Through the second week of May, 60 tornadoes have been reported, compared to the 2012-2021 average of 80 tornadoes. Most of these tornadoes were reported in Texas and produced by just a few storm systems.