Joplin, MO, razed by tornado

[Napoleon the Clown]

All missing are now accounted for, death toll at 134.

Meanwhile... today Massachusetts got hit by a major tornado...

I don't know if the twisters are getting more publicity today, or if there are really that many more major tornadoes this year.

For reference, in an average year the US gets about 2,000 tornadoes, but most are relatively mild. They mess up roofs and knock down trees, but aren't major hazards if you have the sense to get inside in bad weather. What is hitting the news are the big ones, the ones where even if you have a basement to duck into there's no guarantee you won't get hurt.

Over 1,000 confirmed tornadoes so far this year, with average being in the neighborhood of 1,500 if Wikipedia is accurate. April alone had something like 673 confirmed tornadoes. It's been a very busy year for tornadoes.

[phongn]

I don't know if the twisters are getting more publicity today, or if there are really that many more major tornadoes this year.

Fortunately, NOAA has many graphs of this information