Recent "extreme" weather was in fact extremely good

When Dr. Greg Forbes, the Weather Channel's Severe Weather Expert, said he uncovered a "good" tornado stat, we knew it was worth noting.

Despite the largest Christmas Day tornado outbreak on record in the U.S., with at least 27 tornadoes confirmed, not a single fatality was linked directly to the Christmas Day tornadoes.

According to Dr. Forbes, the streak of days without a U.S. tornado death has now reached 189 consecutive days, through December 30.

The last tornado death in the U.S. happened on June 24, when Tropical Storm Debby spawned a tornado in Highlands County, Florida. One person was killed.

"We haven't broken the overall record, yet," Dr. Forbes notes. The longest-recorded streak was set in 1987, with a stretch of 197 days without a tornado fatality.

According to Greg Carbin, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, there have been only 3 other streaks that have gone at least 190+ days in records since 1950, in addition to the record 1986-1987 streak above:  late 1981-early 1982 and late 1959-early 1960.

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Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).