'I Believe It's Over 30 Right Now': Tornado Warnings Way Up This Year In Delaware Valley

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's been wild weather around the Delaware Valley recently as tornado warnings have gone way up in the past several months. Just this past weekend, a tornado in Mount Laurel, New Jersey flipped a car.

Flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder seem to be the weather trend this spring and summer and our cellphones blaring with severe weather alerts are now a frequent occurrence. Tornado warnings, which are issued by the National Weather Service, are way up this year in the Delaware Valley.

"I believe it's over 30 right now, and that's just a lot for us. And severe thunderstorm warnings too, we've had over 200, almost 220. I think last year it was 160 and last year was an active year as well," Trent Davis, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said.

Four tornadoes have been confirmed in New Jersey in just the last two months, which is double the yearly average. The most recent was this past Saturday, when an EF-0 tornado touched down, flipping over a car in Mount Laurel, Burlington county.

So why has this season been so atypically active? Because the weather ingredients are coming together just right to cook up these severe storms.

"The jet stream has been a little bit farther south, and so we've had a stationary front through the region and so that's led to the instability in the atmosphere that's been present has been able to be tapped into a little bit better. It varies year to year and this year we've seen things really come to fruition really well.'

Pennsylvania has 33 confirmed tornadoes this year, already more than double the yearly average. Three of those occurred in our area – Bucks, Berks and Lehigh Counties.