March Tornado Counts
*2016 count preliminary

March 2016 Tornado Occurrences
Source: SPC

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 March, there were 67 preliminary tornado reports. This is less than the 1991-2010 average of 80 for the month. Tornado activity during March is highly variable with some Marches very active and others having few observed tornadoes. The most active March was in 1976 when there were over confirmed 180 tornadoes reported, while the least active March was in 1951 when only six tornadoes occurred. During the most recent three years, tornado activity during March has been much below average and the tornado count of March 2016 is the highest since 2012. During March 2016, most of the tornado activity occurred across the South and Midwest with no large-scale tornado outbreaks and no tornado-related fatalities.