I thought this was a very interesting list of statistics; I want to be clear that I value life, and I don’t just trivialize tornado deaths as simple numbers.
These were compiled from Greg Carbin, who is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. These are the preliminary statistics for the U.S. for 2008.
2008 Total U.S. Tornadoes: 1691 (preliminary)
2008 Tornado Fatalities: 126 from 37 killer tornadoes
1999-2008 (10y annual average): 63
2008
Male 69 (55%)
Female 57 (45%)
2008 Circumstances (M=mobile home, H=home, V=vehicle/car, OU=outside, P=permanent structure/building):
55M (44%)
42H (34%)
15V (12%)
10P (8%)
3OU (2%)
51% of 2008 tornado fatalities occurred after sunset.
49% of 2008 fatalities occurred during daylight hours.
2008 Tornado Fatality Age Breakdown:
0-9 4 (3%)
10-19 12 (10%)
20-29 11 (9%)
30-39 9 (7%)
40-49 19 (15%)
50-59 25 (20%)
60-69 14 (11%)
70-79 18 (14%)
80-89 12 (10%)
90+ 2 (2%)
Drew Michaels
Do you consider Arkansas part of tornado alley? From every show that I have seen, they only mention the great plains, yet I have seen Arkansas included on a couple of web sites. Thanks for the help.
This is the answer from the National Severe Storms Laboratory; however, I do consider our area to be in tornado alley. Our proximity to the dryline during spring keeps us in the danger zone!
“Tornado Alley is a nickname for an area that consistently experiences a high frequency of tornadoes each year. The area that has the most strong and violent tornadoes includes eastern SD, NE, KS, OK. Northern TX, and eastern Colorado. The relatively flat land in the Great Plains allows cold dry polar air from Canada to meet warm moist tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. A large number of tornadoes form when these two air masses meet, along a phenomenon known as a dryline.”
Drew Michaels