NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Updated: 9 July 2012
The values in this report are preliminary, and the final counts and results will change as tornado events are investigated and confirmed. This month’s report will not be updated with final statistics. For final information please visit the following sites:
- The NCDC Storm Events Database
- NOAA's Storm Prediction Center’s Data Page
- NOAA's Storm Prediction Center’s Preliminary Report Page
June 2012 Tornado Occurrences
Source: SPC
According to data from the Storm Prediction Center, the count of preliminary tornado reports during June — 114 — was much below the 1991-2010 average of 243. June is typically one of the most active tornado months during the year. In terms of the number of tornadoes, this marks the least active June since 2002, when 97 tornadoes were confirmed. Once the final tornado count is confirmed, it is likely the June 2012 count will be revised lower. There were four tornado-related fatalities reported during the month — three due to a single EF-2 tornado in Missouri on June 4th and a single fatality from a tornado spawned by Tropical Storm Debby on June 24th in Florida.
A storm system moving through the Mid-Atlantic on June 1st, spawned numerous severe thunderstorms from western Pennsylvania, through the Washington D.C. metro area, and into southeastern Virginia. There were 28 preliminary tornado reports, with 12 tornadoes confirmed in and around Washington and Baltimore. The tornadoes were weak in nature, rated as EF-0 and EF-1, causing only minimal damage. The largest impact from the storms was flash flooding, with 2-4 inches of rainfall being observed. No fatalities were reported with the severe weather outbreak.
An extremely violent line of storms, called a derecho, moved through the Ohio Valley into the Mid-Atlantic on June 29th causing significant damage from Illinois to Virginia. The storm system travelled over 600 miles in 10 hours, generating winds in excess of 70 miles per hour. According to the SPC, there were over 600 reports of wind damage associated with the storm, which brought down trees, cutting power to over 3.4 million people in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and the D.C. metro area. The power outage, which lasted nearly a week in some locations, was exacerbated by record breaking heat across the region following the event. The governors of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio declared states of emergency to allow the state to fund emergency shelters from the heat and to clean up debris from the storms. At least 18 fatalities were blamed on the storms.