U.S. Sees Increase in Days with Multiple Tornadoes

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http://www.aaas.org/news/science-us-sees-increase-days-multiple-tornadoes

Excerpt: ...Since 1954, there has been a decrease in the number of days per year in the U.S. with any tornadoes, but an increase in the number of days with many tornadoes, according to a new study published in the 17 October issue of journal Science. "It was surprising to see," said the study's lead author Harold Brooks, senior research scientist at NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory. "I would naively expect these trends to go in the same direction." ...Brooks and colleagues also observed that despite speculation climate change is causing more tornadoes, the overall number of tornadoes each year since 1954 has remained relatively constant. ...Although the annual number of EF1 or greater tornadoes remained relatively constant over the period evaluated, the researchers did see that tornadoes have been clustering more since the 1970s. A single day in April 2011, for example, featured 211 tornado events....

Source: Meagan Phelan, AAAS
For Investigation:  1.1, 10.3

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