NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
This analysis is based on preliminary data available from the Storm Prediction Center. Final tornado counts published by the Storm Prediction Center and NCEI's Storm Events Database might differ from this report. For a more detailed climatology, please visit our tornado climatology page.
According to data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, during January, there were 20 preliminary tornado reports. This is below the 1991-2010 average of 35 for the month. Tornado activity during January is highly variable with some Januaries being very active and others having few or no observed tornadoes. Since reliable records began in 1950, there have been seven times that no tornadoes were reported during January, The most active January was in 1999 when there were over 200 tornadoes reported. During January 2016, most of the tornado activity occurred across the Southeast with a few in the West. All of the reported tornadoes were weak in nature with no reported injuries or fatalities.