Mississippi Tornadoes: Unusual Outbreak, or Warning for Spring?

April 26, 2010 — -- Sixty-one tornadoes reported hitting the Southeast U.S. in a single weekend. Sixty-one. In terms of people killed and damage done -- at least according to the preliminary count -- it appears to be the worst U.S. tornado outbreak in two years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Ten people were reported killed in Mississippi, the most there from a natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Two more were reported dead in tornado-related accidents in Alabama.

Does it tell us anything about the tornado season to come? Not necessarily, say meteorologists.

"It's all over the map," said Greg Carbin, lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma. "We can't make a strong connection between what's occurred and what's coming."

So far, the 2010 tornado season has been quiet by historic standards, said Carbin, and even if the preliminary count of tornadoes for this weekend holds up, it will still be below average compared to the last three years.

"Remember that the storms just happened," said Carbin. "We had 30 preliminary reports for what may be one tornado."

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People were cleaning up today in the nine-state region where tornadoes were reported to have touched down, looking at what remained of their homes.

"It was just kind of like the world had come to an end," said Jean Oswalt of Weir, Miss., right in the path of the worst destruction.

"We just prayed the whole way through," said Regina Weeks of Chatawa, Miss., who survived by huddling into a small bathroom with four of her relatives.

"The tub area is the only place in our home where there is a ceiling on top of us," she said. "Only place in house that didn't have ceiling ripped off from on top of us."