Tornado outbreaks dramatically accelerate 2025 season; one state stands out
After three major tornado outbreaks, the 2025 season is far ahead of historical average, but there's one state that stands out.
We’ve seen nearly double the average number of tornadoes so far this year, and quite a few of them have been destructive.
Tornado activity across the United States is running well above normal in 2025, with more than 470 tornadoes reported through early April — nearly double the historical average for this point in the year.
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has received 473 preliminary tornado reports, as of April 7. That’s 1.8 times higher than both the 16-year average of 266 and last year’s total of 264 for the same date.
The only years in the 16-year record that had more tornadoes than this year are 2023 with 530 and 2017 with 536.
As AccuWeather predicted, the Southeast and Mississippi Valley have seen the bulk of the tornadic activity. Through the end of March, Mississippi was leading the nation for tornado reports, with 92 twisters reported. Through March 31 last year, Mississippi had had only seven tornadoes, and Florida led with 30.
A series of tornado outbreaks this year has driven an unusually high number of storms across the Midwest, with Missouri and Illinois among the hardest-hit states.
Missouri has recorded 57 tornado reports so far in 2025, while Illinois has tallied 55.
Three significant outbreaks in the past month alone have fueled the spike in activity.
March 14-16 tornado outbreak
The first was from March 14 to 16, 2025, when 191 areas of tornado damage were reported and 115 twisters were confirmed in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. This outbreak included three monster EF4 twisters and 12 EF3s.
On Saturday April 12, the NWS announced that three tornado tracks in Arkansas and Missouri were connected to form one tornado that tracked 117.15 miles from Stone County, Arkansas to Butler County, Missouri. TornadoArchive.com says that only 48 tornadoes on record have longer paths than that, and only 2 in Arkansas have tracked longer than the 93.57-mile portion of the track through that state.
March 30-31 tornado outbreak
The March 30–31 outbreak added another surge in tornado activity, with 53 preliminary reports and 71 confirmed tornadoes. These tornadoes were generally shorter-lived and weaker compared to the more intense outbreak that occurred earlier in the month.
April 2-3 tornado outbreak
The next big storm on April 2 into April 3 caused 84 tornado reports. So far, 82 tornadoes have been confirmed from that storm, including three EF3s. The total number will likely continue to rise as storm surveys are completed.
This severe weather outbreak ranked third for the most tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) in one day, since records began in 1986.
April 4-7 tornado outbreak
The April 2-3 outbreak was followed by four more days of severe weather. Between April 4 and 7, a total of 45 tornadoes have been confirmed across the South so far, from 34 reports.
12 days of tornadoes
Even outside of the major outbreaks, tornado activity has been persistent. At least one tornado was reported each day from March 26 through April 7 — a stretch of 12 consecutive days. While such a streak might be typical in May, the peak of tornado season, it’s uncommon for March or early April. Weather World at Penn State says this is the earliest 10-day streak on record.
A corridor of storms heading into the Plains and strong high pressure in the Southeast bringing up moisture from the Gulf conspired to create the tornadoes, AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok said.
"Severe weather will go kind of quiet for this week into most of next week," Pastelok added, "but another outbreak will be possible again around Easter weekend, April 19 to 20."
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