By Paul Homewood
Just a few updates on the weekend’s tornado outbreak:
NWS Kentucky have confirmed three EF-3 tornadoes in the state, including the one which hit Mayfield:
https://www.weather.gov/lmk/dec11_2021_tornado_survey_results
Meteorologist Chris Martz has tweeted, confirming that EF-3+ tornado activity has halved since the 1950s:
The Edwardsville, Illinois tornado, which destroyed the Amazon warehouse there, has also been categorised as EF-3. The Illinois State Climatologist’s map below shows that tornadoes in the state during December are not unheard of, including several EF-3s, as well as EF-4s and one EF-5:
https://stateclimatologist.web.illinois.edu/tornado-maps-for-illinois/
The EF-5 occurred in December 1957. It was part of a 3-day outbreak, mainly affecting Missouri and Illinois, bringing 9 EF-3s, 3 EF-4s, as well as the EF5 which hit Sunfield. [These figures include tornadoes elsewhere in the Midwest – the map below shows just Illinois and Missouri]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_sequence_of_December_18%E2%80%9320%2C_1957.
Finally, I’ll leave the last word to HH Lamb, who explains why spring is the peak time of the year for tornadoes:
It is the cold, Arctic air that is key, not warm Gulf air. And the notorious tornadoes of the 1970s followed severely cold winters, something global warming is supposed to diminish.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
December 13, 2021 at 01:18PM
Iowa Climate Science Education 