U.S. sets new record with 410 tornados through first 3 months of 2023
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The 22 tornados that touched down in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana on March 31 helped the U.S. set a new record for the number of tornados in the first three months of the year.
According to the National Weather Service, preliminary data for January through March shows at least 410 tornados touched down in the U.S. in the first three months of 2023. That's the most ever since the National Weather Service began tracking those figures in 1950.
The previous record was in 2017, when 398 tornados hit the U.S. between January and March.
A total of 22 tornados touched down in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana during a series of severe storms on March 31, tied for the most ever in a calendar day in that area. The National Weather Service said it is still investigating a handful of additional locations of possible tornados, so that number could grow.
The National Weather Service released the following list of locations for the March 31 tornados, including the strength of each tornado on the EF scale:
- EF-U north of Pontiac, IL
- EF-1 near Deer Grove, IL (started in NWS Quad Cities' forecast area)
- EF-1 near Baileyville, IL (started and ended in NWS Quad Cities' forecast area)
- EF-2 near Amboy, IL
- EF-1 from Sublette to West Brooklyn, IL
- EF-1 from Davis Junction to Belvidere, IL
- EF-1 in Rockford, IL
- EF-1 from Machesney Park to Roscoe, IL
- EF-1 from Caledonia, IL to Delavan Lake, WI (ended in NWS Milwaukee's forecast area)
- EF-0 from Montgomery to Aurora, IL
- EF-1 near Wellington, IL (started in NWS Lincoln's forecast area)
- EF-0 in Batavia, IL
- EF-0 in St. Charles, IL
- EF-0 in Joliet, IL
- EF-0 in Plainfield, IL
- EF-1 from Lombard to Addison, IL
- EF-1 near Stockland, IL
- EF-2 near Oxford, IN (ended in NWS Northern Indiana forecast area)
- EF-2 near Fowler, IN
- EF-1 near Remington, IN
- EF-1 in Merrillville, IN
- EF-0 near Shorewood Forest, IN
