Tornadoes in March: The Start of Spring's Notorious Reputation

Chris Dolce
Published: February 27,2017
March typically kicks off the annual escalation of the spring tornado season, as the necessary volatile atmospheric ingredients come together more frequently.
(MORE: Your Local Severe Weather Outlook)
Roughly 76 tornadoes touch down annually during March, based on the average for the 20-year period of 1996 through 2015. Statistically speaking, that makes March the fifth-most tornadic month of the year. It should be noted, however, that March's average is virtually on par with August and September, but those two months have historically seen a boost in tornado activity due to tropical storms and hurricanes.
As you would expect, there are extremes in relation to March's tornado average, both lower and higher, and we have several examples in the past five years.
(MORE: Extreme Tornado Facts)

Average monthly U.S. tornadoes from 1996-2015.

On the active end of the spectrum, 2012 was the fourth-most tornadic March on record dating to 1950, with 154 twisters, while 2016 came in above-average, with 86. Sandwiched between those years, we saw a dearth of tornadoes in March 2013, 2014 and 2015. Those three Marches combined had just 49 tornadoes.
The deadliest March in the past few decades also occurred in 2012, when 41 people were killed by tornadoes. All but one of those tornado-related deaths happened during a March 2 outbreak in the Ohio Valley and South. No other March was deadlier since 1984, according to data from Dr. Greg Forbes, severe weather expert with The Weather Channel.
March is also the month when the worst tornado in U.S. history struck. Known as the "Tri-State Tornado," it carved a path from Missouri to Illinois and Indiana on March 18, 1925, killing 695 people.
(MORE: Tornado Central)

Where Tornadoes Occur in March

With jet stream winds still strong as we head into the spring months, and ample moisture returning north at times, the threat of tornadoes creeps a bit farther north, compared to February.
Tornadoes can form during March from the central Great Plains into the southern Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Deep South. Parts of the South, mid-Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley have the highest likelihood of tornadoes, compared to other regions, on average.
This isn't to say tornadoes can't occur outside the red-shaded areas on the March tornado risk map. Extreme warmth in March 2012 assisted in the development of tornadoes as far north as southern Minnesota and northern Michigan. Late-February 2017 provided us another anomalous example, with tornadoes in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

If you don't have one, it's time to review or develop a severe weather plan. For example, do you know where to take shelter if you receive a tornado warning in the middle of the day or night, and how would you receive that warning?
(MORE: Tornado Safety)

MORE: Tornado Outbreak in the South

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.