Tornado Year Off To Not Good Start, Season Just Starting. Also, Meteorologist Phones Kids

The U.S. tornado count so far this year is above average,
(dark red line is this year, black line is average), but
at least we aren't at a record pace. Most U.S. tornadoes
happen in April, May and June. 

 This year in the United States has been on the busy side for tornadoes, and forecasts aren't exactly encouraging.  

The preliminary count of tornadoes in the United States through March 31 is 297. That's 78 above what we usually see by this time of year, and the most through March 31 since 2017.

The tornado count will have to be adjusted as more data comes in. Other counts of tornadoes through March 31 bring this year's total to 317.

A busy March for tornadoes does not necessarily mean the entire season will have lots of tornadoes.  For instance, March 2012 was among the busiest for tornadoes on record, but the overall season had below normal activity. 

However, in March, 2008 there were lots of tornadoes, and the overall season was very active. Tornadoes can happen any time of year in the United States, but they are most frequent in April, May and June. 

At least what we can say for this year, if you're looking at the bright side, is we haven't had a record number of tornadoes so far. It's above average, but it could have been worse.

Most of this year's tornadoes so far have occurred in the Deep South, from eastern Texas, through parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

That's normal. Most tornadoes in the winter and early spring happen fairly close to the Gulf Coast.  Twisters start to spread north through the rest of the spring. 

What wasn't normal is some tornadoes occurred awfully far north for March.  The earliest  EF-4 tornado in Iowa swept through parts of the state in early March.  A couple tornadoes were reported as far north as Pennsylvania on Thursday. 

The immediate forecast for severe weather isn't exact great. A new outbreak of severe weather and possible tornadoes is forecast to sweep through the South again Monday through Thursday. 

Although long range forecasts tend to be iffy.  However, many forecasts hint at storminess in the middle of the nation mid-month, which would have the potential to spin up some more tornadoes.