A tornado in January? Did we hear that right?
It’s true.
Sunday evening, a severe weather system spun-off a series of tornadoes which touched down across several states in the Southern US, leaving behind a path of devastation.
In particular, Alabama was hit hard with homes damaged and destroyed, power knocked out, and roads blocked with debris. Our sister society, the American Red Cross has been busy responding on the ground and helping those affected.
While it’s normal to hear about tornadoes during the spring and summer, it’s rare to hear about one happening in the middle of January. Red Crossers tend to be weather junkies and we wondered if this was a normal occurrence. So, I decided to investigate!
Luckily, I didn’t have to do too much digging – the Christian Science Monitor already wrote an article with regards to this question. In the article, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said over the past 60 years there has been anywhere from no tornadoes in January to 109 (that was in 1999) in the US, ranging from F1 to F5 on the Fujita Scale. The spokesperson also said that the US tends to see its first tornado of the year somewhere in the country by the second week of January. So far this year, there have been at least 21 tornadoes in the US.
Here in Canada, tornadoes typically occur in Southern Alberta; Manitoba and Saskatchewan; Southern Ontario; Southern Quebec; the interior of British Columbia; and Western New Brunswick. Canadian tornado season is from April to September with peak months in June and July, but they can occur at any time of year as well.
All of this is a reminder that we can’t always predict the weather, regardless of the time of year, so it’s best to be prepared. For more information and tips, visit www.redcross.ca/ready. You can also learn more about tornado safety here.