Tornadoes seemed to be everywhere in March bringing attention to the start of spring’s severe weather season. Looking back at March’s preliminary storm tracks show near record-breaking numbers of severe weather across the nation.
According to the Storm Prediction Center preliminary reports, the nation saw 1,498 total storm reports, 259 tornado reports, 157 hail reports and 1,081 wind reports.
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Locally the Florida preliminary report shows 123 total storm reports, 28 tornado reports, 7 hail reports and 74 winds reports for the month of March.
Georgia shows 63 total reports, 4 tornado reports, 13 hail reports and 44 wind reports for March.
When it comes to Florida rain it was in no shortage. Gainesville’s eight thunderstorms in March set a record number and Jacksonville tied a record of nine thunderstorms in March.
The frequency of rain resulted in a whopping 9.95 inches of rain for the month compared to a typical normal sitting at 3.35 inches. This was just a couple of inches short of the record set at 12.52 back in 1948.
The wetter springtime we’ve seen fits a trend of tornados shifting eastward away from tornado alley. The classic storm corridor from Texas and western Oklahoma has shifted east due to the dry air causing drought conditions out west.
The western ridge helped shift moist air that triggers the tornadoes closer to Dixie Alley which is a secondary area of tornado frequency targeting northern Gulf states from the Alley shifts east.
Ernest Agee, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Purdue University found a notable decrease in both the total number of tornadoes and days with tornadoes in the traditional Tornado Alley in the central plains. While at the same time, an increase in tornado numbers in what’s been dubbed Dixie Alley, extending from Mississippi through Tennessee and Kentucky into southern Indiana.