I always heard when I was young that Jefferson County had suffered more killer tornadoes than any other county in the nation. I haven’t researched that claim enough to say whether it is correct or not. Suffice it to say, we have experienced our share. But when it comes to sheer numbers, the city that has a corner on the tornado market is Oklahoma City. The National Weather Service in Norman recently published some amazing statistics about the city’s tornado climatology.
When an F2 tornado hop scotched across the metro area on November 10th, it was the 114th twister to strike the city since 1890, a period of 115 years. There have been only four periods since 1890 where Oklahoma City has gone more than two years without a tornado. Five tornadoes struck in one day on June 8 , 1974. Two or more tornadoes have occurred inside the city on seventeen different days. The deadliest, and costliest tornado was the F5 from May 3, 1999. It killed 36 and caused over one billion dollars in damage. Despite the fact that nine of the tornadoes have been of the violent variety (F4 or higher,) the May 3 tornado was the first F5. The track of that tornado closely paralleled that of an F4 that occurred on April 25, 1893.
Interestingly, the tornado counts are probably low. Obviously, more tornadoes have been reported since the 1950s. There probably have been even more tornadoes than the report indicates.
When an F2 tornado hop scotched across the metro area on November 10th, it was the 114th twister to strike the city since 1890, a period of 115 years. There have been only four periods since 1890 where Oklahoma City has gone more than two years without a tornado. Five tornadoes struck in one day on June 8 , 1974. Two or more tornadoes have occurred inside the city on seventeen different days. The deadliest, and costliest tornado was the F5 from May 3, 1999. It killed 36 and caused over one billion dollars in damage. Despite the fact that nine of the tornadoes have been of the violent variety (F4 or higher,) the May 3 tornado was the first F5. The track of that tornado closely paralleled that of an F4 that occurred on April 25, 1893.
Interestingly, the tornado counts are probably low. Obviously, more tornadoes have been reported since the 1950s. There probably have been even more tornadoes than the report indicates.