Severe Weather Season Starts Slow

With only 27 (SPC) tornadoes through March 12th, some might say we are off to a slow severe weather start. Does this mean we are in for a weak severe weather season? Not necessarily. The cold weather across the country has definitely had an impact on the amount of severe weather we have seen so far, but there is plenty of time left for severe weather to catch up. So does this mean the rest of the season is going to be really bad? Not necessarily true either. This season may indeed end up being well below normal as far as severe weather reports, but just like the two large snows that hit Kentucky late in the winter, it only takes a few outbreaks to really ramp up the numbers.

Here is a look at the tornado count through March 13th.

How does this stack up with years prior? This graph shows 2015 running near the record low for this time of year. In fact we are at the lowest tornado count as of March 12th in over  decade. But keep in mind, severe weather season hasn’t even got close to it’s peak and a lot can change quickly with the right pattern.

Here is the comparison with the most active seasons and least active seasons, as well as with the average tornado count for this time of year.