These statistics are just incredible

We mentioned it several times in May how weird it was that we weren't having severe storms. It wasn't until May 14th that Kansas recorded its first tornado. It was the fourth latest start to tornado season in Kansas. I'll be the first to admit, I didn't see this slow season coming. The warm Gulf of Mexico waters we thought would be the trigger to an active season, but as it turns out, it has been quite the opposite.

So take a look at these monumental stats that we achieved by not having very many severe storms (keep in mind, these are national stats):

• May 2020 - no "moderate" or "high" risk outlooks issued from Storm Prediction Center
• May 2020 - fewest number of tornado watches in recorded history (only 10)
• May 2020 - fewest severe weather reports since May 2014
• Fewest recorded tornadoes since 1970
• Fewest number of EF2+ tornadoes (ONLY 2) since 1950

It is VERY unusual for Kansas to get through May and have so few tornado watches(click on the image to enlarge it). You'll see how Kansas has virtually no red, indicating how quiet it has been around here. Only northwest and southeast Kansas have had tornado watches this year in our state.

We have had our share of thunderstorm watches (shown below).

2020 storm reports count for Kansas:

How about these numbers?

• Just 11 tornado reports
• 147 hail reports
• 83 wind reports

The average number of tornadoes for Kansas in a year is about 80-100. 

Why so few severe weather reports? May was cooler than normal for many areas east of the Rockies. And the upper level winds were a little weaker across the Plains this year, limiting the number of rotating storms. 

I don't know if we will ever see this lack of tornadoes in May again, but at least for now (with all that is going on in the world) it is nice not having to clean up after a bunch of destructive storms.