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Record Set For Latest Date With No U.S. Tornado Deaths

DENVER (CBS4) - In recent years, when the words tornado and record appeared in the same story, it was often bad news, especially after several incredible tornado events that caused billions of dollars in damage and took hundreds of lives.

But this year, it's just the opposite.

April 22, 2014, sets a new record in the modern U.S. tornado database (1950-present) for the latest date in the year with no tornado deaths reported.

The top 5 latest dates are as follows:

    • April 21, 2002 - an F-3 tornado killed 1 and injured 42 in Illinois

 

    • April 20, 2004 - an F-3 tornado killed 8 and injured 12 in Illinois

 

    • April 12, 1960 - an F-3 tornado killed 3 and injured 32 in Texas

 

    • April 3, 1968 - an F-4 tornado killed 5 and injured 16 in Arkansas

 

  • March 31, 1979 - an F-3 tornado killed 1 and injured 19 in Kentucky

 

Another bit of good news so far in 2014 is the overall number of tornadoes reported across the United States is below average.

    • January 2014 - 4 tornadoes reported compared to the 3-year average of 57 and 20-year average of 35

 

    • February 2014 - 41 tornadoes reported compared to the 3-year average of 53 and 20-year average of 29

 

  • March 2014 - 25 tornadoes reported compared to the 3-year average of 82 and 20-year average of 80

 

For the first 18 days of April 2014, there were 38 tornadoes reported in the United States, which is on pace to end well below average if there are no significant outbreaks over the next week.

The 3-year average number of tornadoes for the entire month of April across the U.S. is 350 and the 20-year average is 155.

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