A gigantic tornado in Edmond / Piedmont Oklahoma City is captured live by a local television camera. The super size, multi vortex tornado cell was at at least half a mile wide. The tornado was part of a cluster that affected the entire Midwest for more than two weeks.
The 2011 tornado season is not the most destructive on record. According to the weather service, the statistics indicate that short of a major tornado incident by the end of the week, we still have to catch up withe some record years and their destructive effects:
TORNADO COUNT MAY 2011
— Tornadoes until May 24, 2011: >100.
— Average number of tornadoes in May during the past decade: 298.
— Record for tornados in May: 542, in 2003.
— Tornadoes so far in 2011: Approximately 1,000.
— Average number of tornadoes in a single year during the past decade: 1,274.
— Highest recorded number of tornadoes in a single year: 1,817, in 2004 .
DEATH TOLL FROM TORNADOES MAY 2011
— People killed in 2011 : 487.
— Highest recorded death toll in a single year: 519, in 1953.
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Map of Piedmont, OK and surrounding areas affected by tornadoes in May 2011
United Sates areas most likely to be impacted by tornadoes (probability map of tornado occurrence derived from 60 consecutive tornado seasons)
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