NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
For the month of December there were no tornado-related fatalities reported in the U.S. The January-December fatality total stands at 125.
Important: The graph above-left represents the final number of tornadoes from January-October and preliminary tornado reports from November-December 2008. Final numbers from November-December are not yet available and may reflect a small change, as represented by the error-bar above. Data current as of January 13, 2009.
Severe weather during the month of December was limited, but active enough to produce 50 preliminary tornadoes. The most active day was on 9th when 37 preliminary tornadoes were reported. Most of these occurred in the deep south as a strong low pressure system dug far into the region triggering numerous thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced tornadoes across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. At least one injury occurred in the La Salle Parrish of Louisiana when several modular homes were completely destroyed. The stronger tornadoes were limited to Mississippi and Alabama where several EF2 rated tornadoes were reported. These were spotted in Rankin County Mississippi and Walker County Alabama. Tornado statistics for December 2008 have yet to be finalized.
More information on severe weather can also be found on NCDC's Hazards page.