April Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

Killer Tornadoes

Here is a list of killer tornadoes by date and number of fatalities since 1950:


4/9/1953: 2
10/11/1954:  2
3/6/1956:  1
3/6/1961:  1
3/19/1963:  2
4/11/1965:  137
5/15/1968:  1
5/6/1971:  1
4/3/1974:  47
3/12/1976:  2
9/26/1976:  2
10/1/1977:  1
4/11/1979:  1
5/30/1980:  1
6/2/1980:  1
6/7/1980:  1
7/9/1980:  2
3/10/1986:  1
6/2/1990:  8
3/27/1991:  1
4/26/1994:  3
5/13/1995:  3
10/24/2001:  2
5/30/2004:  1
11/6/2005:  24
1/29/2008:  3
6/3/2008:  1

Total:  252

If we split this period in half, we find that 200 of the 252 deaths occurred in the 1950's-1970's with 2 outbreaks being responsible for 184 of them.  While there have been fewer fatalities in the past 30 years, the number of "death days" has not changed significantly.  There were 13 death days from the 50's-70's and 14 death days from the 80's-00's.

Here are some other killer tornadoes prior to 1950 (note this is not a complete list):

3/23/1913:  21
3/11/1917:  24
3/23/1917:  46
3/28/1920:  39 (possibly higher)
4/17/1922:  14
3/18/1925:  74
3/26/1948:  20 
5/21/1949:  14

Tornadoes Per 100 Square Miles Per County, 1950-2010

I used the NCDC Storm Events database and Severeplot 3.0 to construct this map. Since each county varies in size, we have to try to level the playing field.  To that end, I did some calculations to find the number of tornadoes per 100 square miles per county from 1950-2010.  Here is what I found:

Not surprisingly, population bias is pretty noticeable.  It's not a perfect relationship but there is a general tendency for higher populated counties to report more tornadoes which makes sense.  More people=greater chance of someone seeing it.

Here are the top 5 counties in terms of tornadoes per 100 square miles:

Marion - 10.35
Tippecanoe - 8.40
Vanderburgh - 7.67
Shelby - 7.03
Elkhart - 6.90


Here are counties ranked by population. Notice that 4 of the above listed counties appear in the top 8 (out of 92) in terms of population. Curiously, Shelby county ranks much farther down on this list.

1. Marion
2. Lake
3. Allen
4. Hamilton
5. St. Joseph
6. Elkhart
7. Vanderburgh
8. Tippecanoe
.
.
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32. Shelby

Introduction

Welcome to the Indianadoes blog.  It's Indiana, it's tornadoes...it's Indianadoes.

This blog will present Indiana tornado climatology and events all the way back to the 1800's with heavy focus on the mid-twentieth century to present. Other types of severe weather will be discussed as well, but much less often. 

I will also try to post when significant severe weather threatens.  So, sit back and enjoy.

-Ryan