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2011 has a low novel place in the record book books : the deadliest year for tornadoes in more than five tenner , with 482 hoi polloi killed by the storms as of this writing .
It ’s the high number of fatalities from crack since 1953 , when twisters killed 519 people , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) , the home authority of the National Weather Service . [ Related : Why Tornado Forecasting is Tough ]
As of Tuesday aurora , the death toll from the crushing tornado that smashed through Joplin , Mo. on Sunday ( May 22 ) had surface to 117 , and could continue to uprise as official sort through the wreckage of the town , home to almost 50,000 multitude .
The Joplin tornado is also the deadliest single tornado to strike the United States since 1953 , when a twister killed 116 people in Flint , Michigan .
In direct contrast to this year ’s horrific new record , in 2010 tornado kill 45 people in the United States , and 21 the great unwashed in 2009 .
The modal annual death toll from tornadoes has dropped steady since 1925 , according to NOAA , most likely due to improved forecasting and good warning systems , but the bit appear to have leveled off in the last decade .
Sunday’stornado in Joplin , estimated to have been three - quarter - of - a - mile across and packing lead of up to 198 miles per hour ( 318 kph ) , compound remarkably quickly , accord to conditions trackers , morphing from a bare funnel swarm into a monstrous and powerful tornado in under 10 minutes .
" It ’s something that I ’ve not seen in person , and certainly it ’s a rare thing to see , " said Andy Boxell , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield , Mo.
The tempest follow on the heels of an alreadyrecord - breaking year for twistersin the United States .
April find out 875 twister , the high ever commemorate in that calendar month , and 361 crack - related deaths .
In totality , there have been roughly 1,000 tornado so far this twelvemonth , according to NOAA . However , the number of tornadoes alone does n’t necessarily relate to the figure of mass kill by the storm . Chance can play a big part : a tornado that hit a intemperately populated area , or one that comes with niggling warning .
In 2004 , 1,817 tornadoes were record — the highest bit ever — yet those storm killed only 36 people all year .
And2011 ’s wild weatherstreak may not be over yet . May is typically the most alive calendar month for tornadoes .
As of Monday evening , crack cocaine warnings were in effect for counties in Virginia , Ohio , Kentucky , Kansas , Oklahoma and New Jersey .
