What may be the worst tornado season in the U.S. due to the devastating impact of climate change begins
The United States is already in the midst of the tornado seasontornadoes, an impressive phenomenon of nature, but with terrible consequences. During the last few days, the U.S. has reported at least 26 deaths, a figure that could rise, in the trail of destruction that tornadoes have left in Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
Last week’s in Mississippi and Alabama took the lives of at least 25 people. Of those 21 died in Mississippi where the tornado’s path left a 100-mile trail of destruction.
Tornadoes tear apart homes and infrastructure in their wake, tossing debris into the air. It takes a lot of money to get a county back on its feet because we are facing one of the most violent natural catastrophes.
Why was this tornado so destructive?
That’s why President Joe Biden approved the official disaster declaration for the state of Mississippi.. The measure will facilitate the arrival of federal funds to the four most affected counties: Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey.
For example, 75% of Rolling Fork, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, has been practically wiped out. For example, 75% of Rolling Fork, a town of about 2,000 people, has been virtually wiped out. in the southeastern U.S. there are an enormous number of mobile homeswhich are so fragile and vulnerable to such an intense wind.
Storm chasers and meteorologists have described Friday’s tornado as. a “wedge tornado.” a term meaning that its funnel was as wide on the ground as it was up in the sky. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the maximum width of its trajectory. was 400 meterswhich could explain the magnitude of the damage.
Supercells, a dangerous type of thunderstorm
The tornado originated in California in a type of rotating thunderstorm known as a supercell.. It was earlier in the week and was the most powerful tornado to hit Los Angeles County since 1983.
It then continued its eastward journey, causing deadly flooding in Arizona and the central panhandle and gaining strength along the way. Many states recorded record temperatures during those days.. The air was warmer and more humid than usual for sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. -unusually high. That helped to invigorate the storm, explains The Washington Post.
According to the U.S. Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), only the. 20% of supercells produce tornadoes.. However, when they do occur, they are the most dangerous.
NOAA compares these supercells to the cancer cells of a living organism, because “the rotation of their updraft allows them to overcome self-limiting mechanisms. which cause the death of normal storms,” lasting “an appreciable time” and causing damage at the same time.
April, May and June, the most active months.
Tornadoes are narrow, violently rotating columns of air that extend from a thunderstorm to the groundas defined by NOAA. The wind part is not visible, but tornadoes can form condensation funnels of water droplets, dust, and debris.
In March 2022, there were 236 tornadoes, the most in that month since 1950
Tornadoes can occur anywhere in the U.S. and at any time of the year. But, historically, the months of April, May and June are the most active in terms of extreme weather events and tornadoes. The season peaks in May and June in the southern Plains and later in the northern Plains and upper Midwest.
They have been associated with the Great Plains, but meteorologists remind that. tornado threat is like a moving target.. It moves from the southeast in the cooler months of the year, into the southern and central Plains in May and June, and into the northern Plains and Midwest in early summer.
Why it may be the worst season
All reports point to the fact that the U.S. may be facing the worst tornado season in a long time.Why? The tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama have coincided with a few Gulf of Mexico waters up to several degrees warmer than normal.reaching over 21ºC.
Currently, the water temperatures in this gulf are 1.4°C above average.. At the same time, air temperatures in March in the southeast and south of the country have ranged between 1 and 3ºC above average. Cities such as Atlanta, Montgomery, Jacksonville or Savannah have recorded their warmest temperatures from mid-February to mid-March.
There can be a great deal of variability from year to year, “but it is possible that there are. links between the sea surface temperatures of the gulf and the frequency and intensity of severe weather events, particularly in the U.S. deep south,” explains Matthew Cappuci, a meteorologist with the Washington Post.
There may be links between Gulf sea surface temperatures and the frequency and intensity of severe weather events.”
This is not new. The “strong dynamic link” between the Gulf of Mexico sea surface temperatures in April with the number of tornadoes. in the southern Great Plains was already noted in a 2019 paper published in the journal. ScienceAdvances. Instead, they saw that other factors are involved in May and the role of sea surface temperatures is less important.
In the coming months, in addition to warm Gulf water, other key atmospheric processes could favor a more active tornado season than normal. But it is early because a seasonal prediction cannot yet be made of tornadoes cannot yet be reliably predicted.
More and more tornadoes in March
Although the traditional peak of severe storms in the U.S. occurs in April, May and June.in 11 of the past 13 weeks, severe weather has occurred somewhere in the 48 states, details the CNN. But more severe storms are expected.
There were 178 confirmed tornadoes in January and February, the fourth highest number in historyaccording to preliminary data from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC). March has remained very active and is likely to remain above normal for tornadoes.
Preliminary data shows 296 tornado reports. Through March 26, which is the highest since 2017.. Already, March 2022 was intense: 236 tornadoes were recorded, the most in that month since 1950, according to Weather Channel.
March is when severe thunderstorms and tornadoes usually begin to increase; up to twice as much as in February. The threat from now through the summer is mostly concentrated in the southern states.
