Tomorrow will be the first day of what many think is one of the loveliest months of the year, April.
But as Carolina in Nederland might say, hold your horses.
T.S. Eliot once said, “April is the cruellest month” (and a bunch of other stuff as well). He could have been talking about tornadoes. (Actually he wasn’t, but he could have been.)
April is the month when the most rare and gigantic F5 tornadoes happen in the United States. April also has the highest average number of deaths from tornadoes.
According to one study, May is the most dangerous month for tornadoes in the United States, with an average of 329, while February’s average is the safest with only three. In another study the months December and January were usually the safest, and the months having the greatest number of tornadoes were April, May, and June. In February, tornado frequency begins to increase. February tornadoes tend to occur in the central Gulf states; in March the center of activity moves eastward to the southeastern Atlantic states, where tornado activity peaks in April [emphasis mine --RWP]. In May the center of activity is in the southern Plains states; in June this moves to the northern Plains and Great Lakes area (into western New York). The most costly outbreak of tornadoes occurred in May 1999, when at least 74 tornadoes touched down in less than 48 hours in Oklahoma and Kansas, including an F5 on the outskirts of Oklahoma City that caused $$1.1 billion in damage.
According to Wikipedia, the United States has the most tornadoes of any country, as well as the strongest and most violent tornadoes. The United States averaged 1,274 tornadoes per year in the last decade.
On a website called ask.com I learned that May is the month with the most tornadoes and that the peak months are April, May, and June. May is the most common month for tornadoes, but the most powerful tornadoes seem to occur earlier in the year, in April [emphasis mine --RWP].
Although tornadoes can happen any time of the year if conditions are right, I am now officially depressed that April begins tomorrow.
However, a certain young lady named Dorothy was caught up in a tornado (and her little dog, Toto, too) and deposited in a land called Oz (4:12) with no ill effect. In fact, if Hollywood is to be believed, she had a wonderful time.
I’ve heard that Oz has that effect on people.
Perhaps one day I will go on a pilgrimage there. Maybe even in April.
