This page documents the tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

es and tornado outbreak

Tornado outbreak

While there is no single agreed upon definition, generally at least 6-10 tornadoes produced by the same synoptic scale weather system is considered a tornado outbreak. The tornadoes usually occur within the same day, or continue into the early morning hours of the succeeding day, and within the...

s of 1983, primarily in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.

Synopsis

The 1983 season saw a relatively average number of tornadoes, but just four "violent" tornadoes (all F4, no F5's) and the number killed by tornadoes was lower than average at just 34, and no tornado killed more than three people. Two notable outbreaks took place in May, but it was generally a much less destructive tornado season, particularly in the main tornado alley, which saw no tornadoes stronger than F3.

Events

Confirmed tornado total for the entire year 1983 in the United States.

January

There was 13 tornadoes confirmed in the US in January. Two people were killed in Louisiana in separate F3 tornadoes on January 31.

February

There were 41 tornadoes confirmed in the US in February. One person was killed by an F2 tornado in Florida.

April

There were 65 tornadoes confirmed in the US in April. Six people were killed. Two were killed and 20 injured on April 1 by an F4 tornado in Louisiana. Three people were killed by an F3 tornado on April 9 in Florida, and one was killed on April 29 by an F3 tornado in Missouri.

May

There were 249 tornadoes confirmed in the US in May, resulting in 14 fatalities. Two were killed by an F0 tornado in Illinois on May 1. On May 2, five were killed by tornadoes in Ohio and New York. On May 20, five were killed in Texas from five separate tornadoes.

June

There were 178 tornadoes confirmed in the US in June and two fatalities, one in Texas, the other in Oklahoma.

July

There were 99 tornadoes confirmed in the US in July. Two were killed by an F2 in Delaware on July 21, the other fatalities were in Michigan and Montana. An outbreak on July 3 in the northern plains resulted in two F4 tornadoes, 26 total tornadoes, but no fatalities.

December

There were 58 tornadoes confirmed in the US in December. On December 3, two were killed and 51 injured by an F3 tornado in Alabama. An active late season continued with additional fatalities December 6 in Alabama, and December 10 in Texas.

External links

• U.S. tornadoes in 1983 - Tornado History Project
• Tornado deaths monthly