"Super Tuesday" Tornado Outbreak

Written by: Brian Neudorff

The "Super Tuesday" outbreak of tornadoes through parts of the south through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky is very rare this time of year. It's not that tornadoes can't or don't occur in winter, but they typically take place in the deep south near and along the Gulf Coast.

Tuesday's storms resulted in at least 68 tornadoes, claimed at least 50 lives, injuring nearly 200 people and destroying thousands of buildings in their paths. These tornadoes were made so deadly and devastating because of the time of day they hit, in the wee hours of Tuesday Night/ Wednesday morning, and the fact that these tornadoes were “long-track” tornadoes, which stay on the ground for distances of 30 to 50 miles.

All ingredients were in place for this historic tornadic outbreak. There was a clash of record breaking warmth in the south, 97 weather stations broke or tied records highs on Tuesday in the states most impacted by the storms, and cold air coming out of the plains. Along with the colliding air masses there was support from the upper level winds from the jet stream which help produced wind shear, which is the change of wind speed and direction as you change altitude. Wind shear causes rotation or spin in the atmosphere which influences storms to rotate and then can lead to the development of tornadoes.

Tuesday's tornado outbreak was more of a response to the La Niña winter we're experiencing than climate change. La Niña doesn't specifically cause tornadoes but, like its counter-part El Niño, it changes the pattern of the jet stream which is responsible for steering storms as well as air masses across the globe.

Some other notable February tornado outbreaks:
The "Enigma Tornado Outbreak" February 19 - 20, 1884. Roughly 60 tornadoes across Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, and estimated 420 deaths, (but ranges from 182 to 1200 thus the enigma)

The "Mississippi Delta Outbreak" February 21, 1971. 10 tornadoes across Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, 121 deaths, 1524 injuries.