It’s not uncommon to see scenes like this during tornado season, especially the peak months of April, May and June.
But we’re now in the second severe season.
Just as the transition from winter to spring creates explosive storms, the reverse can do the same. There is an uptick in severe thunderstorms and tornadoes from late October through November. Autumn is considered the “second” tornado season.
October and November’s tornadoes are caused by upper-level troughs (dips in the jet stream) and cold fronts affecting the South and sometimes the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes.
This map shows how many tornadoes have been confirmed by the National Weather Service during the month of November from 1950-2015.
There have been huge November tornado outbreaks in 1989, 2005 and 2015. Those outbreaks saw almost 15-hundred tornadoes between November 15 and 27. 580 of those from the 15th to the 17th.
When cold air invades from Canada and collides with warm and humid air, you can have these outbreaks.
On Nov. 17, 2013, a tornado outbreak impacted Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Including an EF4 tornado in Washington, Illinois, this marked the first recorded occurrence of a violent (EF3-EF5) tornado in the state during November.
A reminder that tornadoes can occur day or night, any time of the year.
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