A look back at May's severe weather: 475 tornado reports

While May is typically the peak of tornado season, this year's activity was well above average.

With one more day left in May, Weather & Radar is taking a look back at a month that was well above average for severe weather. While May is usually quite active, this year was way above average. May 2024 is now the second-most-active May for severe weather coming in second behind May 2011.

The first 28 days of May 2024 brought nearly 5,700 severe weather reports, including 475 tornadoes. Between 1991 and 2020, we have seen an average of 268 tornadoes for May. Severe weather outbreaks on May 6-10, May 19-24, and May 25-27 account for 300 of May 2024's 475 tornado reports.

There were 38 tornado fatalities in total. Oklahoma and Texas both reported 8 tornado fatalities, Iowa had 6, Arkansas 5, and Ohio 3. Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee all had one tornado fatality each.

Notable tornadoes include two EF-4s, one in Barnsdall, Okla., and one in Greenfield, Iowa. There were 16 EF-3 tornadoes, 41 EF-2s, 191 EF-1s, and 145 EF-0s.