Too many tornados to count- what causes them?

The violent twisters have come and gone leaving a trail of destruction and death in their path. So far, since the beginning of 2011 more than 1,000 tornados were counted and nearly 500 people died. The EF5 tornado that hit Joplin killed 122 people and injured thousands, becoming the deadliest tornado to hit the US since 1950. In April 600 tornados raged on the American continent bringing forth destruction! People are worried and confused, not understanding what causes all these monsters of nature to be born: climate change or something else?

Are tornados affected by the global warming? There is no answer yet as scientist haven’t found an answer to this question. We may believe that the climatic changes have an important role when tornados are formed, but so far the observational data have not given any clues whether either frequency, strength, or regions tornados typically strike have been affected.

Jeff Masters at Weather Underground gave a brief summary of his studies, explaining the reason behind the unnatural number of tornados:

“In summary, this year’s incredibly violent tornado season is not part of a trend. It is either a fluke, the start of a new trend, or an early warning symptom that the climate is growing unstable and is transitioning to a new, higher energy state with the potential to create unprecedented weather and climate events. All are reasonable explanations, but we don’t have a long enough history of good tornado data to judge which is most likely to be correct.”

While scientists try to link the number of tornados to climatic events, we can already be sure that there is one factor that needs to be taken into account and that is Bad Luck. If we think about it logically, it is clear that the more tornados take place the more populated areas will be affected and there is nothing scientists can do to prevent it.

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