for strong tornadoes as well as damaging winds and hail. again, thursday into friday. look at all these big cities affected. if you live in these regions you know we re getting into the season. one of the main ingredients, warm, unstable air. we ve got it in the south. 90s over southern texas, memphis, cold air behind it will produce snow. the good news it s been fairly quiet. the average from january to march, 178 tornadoes. we only had about 57. a tornado drought here but next several days we could see an uptick in the numbers. back to you, elizabeth. thanks, janice. you got it. a 911 operator gets an emergency call about her own father on the first day of the job. she took about 40 calls that day and heard a familiar voice. it was her aunt on the line saying her dad went diabetic
janice deep, meteorologist. it doesn t. we have had a very quiet tornado season. we had an above average tornado count in january, which tells you that we can have tornadoes really any month of the year. but looking at the springtime, below average for april, may, june, july, august, september, about average for october, and now ve average for november. this has been a tornado drought for 2013. the lowest amount of tornadoes since 1998, i believe. taking a look at the imtornado imtornado illinois tornadoes. the think that makes this so remarkable is the amount of tornadoes we saw so far north and the destruction. ef-4 tornadoes two in illinois so far, and the destruction as you can see on your screen. this is washington, one of the most devastated areas. the entire town, parts of it, wiped off the map, and winds in
or prevent some people from going out there? well, chasing either for recreational purposes or scientific like mine is very difficult, almost impossible in an urban area, because basically, everything breaks down. people are trying to evacuate, police are closing off the roads, trying to keep people from getting in, and it becomes quite chaotic. is there anything new to this season s outbreak that you haven t seen before? because there was a tornado drought up until a couple weeks ago, now we ve seen a large number of tornadoes. the number of tornadoes is still well below average. this is one of the calmest tornado seasons in years. however, the tornadoes that have happened have recently been hitting major populated areas and that s what s unusual. that s probably just bad luck. if these kind of tornadoes, the el reno tornado or the moore tornado from several days before had hit rural areas, we wouldn t be hearing about them. that s more typical. so far, we ve just had some very
or prevent some people from going out there? well, chasing either for recreational purposes or scientific like mine is very difficult, almost impossible in an urban area, because basically, everything breaks down. people are trying to evacuate, police are closing off the roads, trying to keep people from getting in, and it becomes quite chaotic. is there anything new to this season s outbreak that you haven t seen before? because there was a tornado drought up until a couple weeks ago, now we ve seen a large number of tornadoes. the number of tornadoes is still well below average. this is one of the calmest tornado seasons in years. however, the tornadoes that have happened have recently been hitting major populated areas and that s what s unusual. that s probably just bad luck. if these kind of tornadoes, the el reno tornado or the moore tornado from several days before had hit rural areas, we wouldn t be hearing about them. that s more typical. so far, we ve just had some very
recreational and just go out on their own and do it. anybody with a car can storm chase. in fact, ben franklin did it with a horse back in the 1700s. but we encourage storm chasers to get some kind of training or to apprentice with some other storm chasers who know the risks and it s not just the tornado. there are lots of other hazardous things out there like traffic and hydroplaning and lightning and just horrendous lightning and hail and rainfall. do you think this may change the way some people chase storms or prevent some people from going out there? well, chasing either for recreational purposes or scientific like mine is very difficult, almost impossible in an urban area, because basically, everything breaks down. people are trying to evacuate, police are closing off the roads, trying to keep people from getting in, and it becomes quite chaotic. is there anything new to this season s outbreak that you haven t seen before? because there was a tornado drought up until a co