Fall Tornado Season: A Hidden Danger in the Autumn
There is a second tornado season in the fall that can have some pretty strong fall tornadoes. Learn more here…
Almost everyone in the United States knows about the main tornado season in Tornado and Dixie Alley, but there is also another lesser-known season in the fall. Even though this tornado season isn’t normally as intense, it still punishes the affected areas. In this post, we will dive into the statistics, the causes and effects, and more!
This post is all about the fall tornado season.
Fall Tornado Season
When is Fall Tornado Season?
The first post of this section will describe the fall tornado season. According to the NWS, it occurs mainly from November to mid-December. There have been several notable fall outbreaks, like November 4th, 2022, and even bigger, December 10th, 2021. If you see graphs of the month-by-month tornado count, there is obviously a huge spike in the regular tornado season, but also a small one in November and maybe even December, too. Winter tornado outbreaks happen a bit later than fall ones, like most of December through February.
How Do Fall Tornado Outbreaks Occur?
One reason that the fall tornado season is present is because the jet stream migrates south during that time, which means that there is better shear and triggers for storms to form and stay strong. The ingredients being abundant in the right geographical place makes it a smaller but impactful tornado season.
Where do Fall Tornadoes Occur?
Fall tornadoes occur in most tornado-prone hotspots, like Tornado Alley, the Mid-west, and Dixie Alley. These are the three regions that really feel the increased tornado activity, like in the spring. The fall tornado season affects these areas significantly.
The December 10 Tornado Outbreak
The last section of this post will be about the December 10-11, 2021 tornado outbreak. This tornado outbreak was the worst one in over a decade, with the tornadoes killing 89 people, making it the deadliest December tornado outbreak in recorded history. The most notable storm of the day was a supercell that traveled over 200 miles from central Arkansas through central Kentucky. Even though this was the biggest tornado producer, there are many other very devastating tornadoes from that day.
