Data: Storm Prediction Center; Note: "Preliminary" reports are eyewitness storm reports issued shortly after an event before being verified. Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios
More than 500 tornadoes have been spotted in the U.S. since April, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.
State of play: The 2024 tornado season is charting a path to become among the most prolific of recent years, per the NWS. It's still behind 2019, which recorded more than 800 in April and all of May.
Yes, but: Both years are far behind the 2011 record of nearly 1,200 recorded tornadoes during the same time period.
Zoom in: Iowa has been hit particularly hard this year with a record 41 tornadoes in April, KCRG reports.
- Of those, multiple have touched down in the metro, damaging at least 18 homes and a cemetery in Pleasant Hill.
The intrigue: Some scientists believe climate change may be pushing "tornado alley" eastward, away from the Midwest.
- But others say tornadoes are a relatively small-scale weather phenomena, making precise climate assessments difficult, Axios' Rebecca Falconer and Andrew Freedman report.
