NWS: It's our third-busiest tornado season so far

The National Weather Service in Paducah has compiled a look at tornadoes we've seen so far this year, and how they stack up to previous years.

For the period leading up to Memorial Day, our region has experienced 54 tornadoes. That's the third most on record for the same period, behind 2011 with 79, and 59 occurring last year.

Southeast Missouri has had the most tornadoes so far this year at 22; southern Illinois has had 16; western Kentucky 11 and southwest Indiana 7.

Nine tornadoes at EF-3 or greater intensity is the most strong tornadoes in a single year since we had 12 in 1957.

This year's tornadoes have also spent more time on the ground. We've had 557 total miles of tornado tracks, shattering the record of 449 miles set in 2011.

One other takeaway from their data: this region had a total of 4 EF-3 tornadoes over ten years from 2014 through 2023. We've already had 13 in just the past 13 months.

A note of caution, though, about a general statement that reported tornadoes here have ramped up since the 60s and 70s: there is an increase from the past, but at least part of the larger numbers now is from our much better detection technology and more thorough survey methods.

The final word is a reminder that the central U.S. is one of the most active corridors in the world for severe weather, and has been for a long time.

You can see our local meteorologists' latest conversations about recent storm activity at the NWS Paducah Facebook page .