Recent Down Seasons = Complacency?
2021 continued a trend in Kansas of lower than normal tornado counts. Compare to our 30-year average of 86 tornadoes reported annually, 2021 saw only 37, with only 19 during the normal severe weather season. October was a big month also, with 13 tornadoes reported. It’s rare for the fall season to have nearly as many tornadoes as the spring season.
The reason? Drought. Kansas has suffered from excessively-dry winters for several years, and that has translated into several odd spring seasons — 2019 saw extensive flooding in late May, the part of Kansas served by the Wichita NWS office went without a reported tornado for 611 days — just over 20 months, and the total still ended up being just over half the average count of the last 10 years.
With the strongest tornado causing EF-2 damage in Haskell & Gray counties on March 13th, the longest path length being under 13 miles (Haskell county, October 12), and only three tornado outbreak days last year many Kansans have not even been under a tornado warning in some time — months or years. We are concerned this is leading to complacency.
For the rest of the article go to: https://ksstorm.info/prepare-2022-tornado-safety/