NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Visit:NCEI U.S. Tornadoes
June 2020 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 June, there were 108 preliminary tornado reports. This is well below the 1991-2010 average of 243 tornadoes for the month of June. Also, the year-to-date values are currently below the 1991-2010 average, as noted in the top chart. The majority of the June tornadoes occurred in counts of 10 or fewer tornadoes per day. The most notable tornado events of the month occurred June 6-8 across several North Central states and during June 24 across several Southern states.
The most prolific tornado-producing days were June 6-8 in which 34 tornadoes developed across North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Florida. These were weaker tornadoes (EF-0 and EF-1) that produced light damage to agricultural structures and residences. There were no reported deaths for this event. A second notable event for the month was June 24, in which 13 tornadoes impacted eastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Alabama. These were also relatively weak tornadoes (EF-0 and EF-1) that produced sporadic, light damage to forest, agriculture and residences. There were also no deaths reported.
Did You Know?
Tornado Count
Final monthly tornado counts are typically less than the preliminary count. This can be due to some phenomena being inaccurately reported as tornadic activity or a single tornado being reported multiple times. Tornado accounts are reported to the local National Weather Service forecast offices who are responsible for going into the field and verifying each tornado reported. This process often takes several months to complete. Once all reports have been investigated, the final count is published by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
The Tornado Monthly Climate Reports are written using the preliminary numbers because the final data is not available at the time of production. Historically, for every 100 preliminary tornado reports, at least 65 tornadoes are confirmed. An error bar is depicted on the tornado count graphic representing this uncertainty in the preliminary tornado count.
The following U.S. studies performed by SPC meteorologists offer deeper context and discussion regarding the frequency and distribution of tornado intensity climatologies:
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Edwards, R., H. E. Brooks, and H. Cohn, 2021: Changes in tornado climatology accompanying the Enhanced
Fujita scale. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 60, 1465-1482
DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-21-0058.1. - Mccarthy, Daniel & Schaefer, Joseph. (2004). Tornado trends over the past thirty years. paper presented at 14th Conference on Applied Meteorology.