Why central Ohio is seeing fewer tornadoes in 2025 than a year ago
COLUMBUS (WCMH) — After an active early spring, no tornadoes were reported in Ohio during May, which has only happened seven times in the past 30 years.
The drop-off was related to a southward shift of the jet stream, with storms focused across the southern half of the country. Severe storms capable of producing a tornado require heat and moisture (fuel), in addition to a strong jet stream in the vicinity. Columbus had a 16-day stretch of below-normal temperatures in late May through June 2.
All but four of the tornadoes in Ohio this year have been relatively weak EF0 events, and only one touched down in central Ohio–an EF0 tornado (85 mph winds) near Obetz that tracked 2.6 miles on the night of March 30.
Last year, a record 74 tornadoes were confirmed in Ohio, including 23 storms in May. After five tornadoes touched down on June 5, 2024, in eastern Ohio, the 1992 record for a single year (62) was already equaled. The average number of tornadoes in an entire year in the Buckeye State is 22.
Multiple tornado outbreaks impacted central Ohio in 2024, beginning on Feb. 28 and continuing through the spring, before a summer drought curtailed the storm threat. The calendar year was the warmest on record in Ohio, and in Columbus (57.3 degrees), with city records back to 1879.
May averages more tornadoes than any other month in Ohio and the U.S., because of the frequent clash of cool, dry Canadian air and summerlike heat and humidity drawn northward by southerly winds from the Gulf. The other essential ingredient for rotating storms is wind shear — winds shifting direction with height — which causes the air to spin within strong updrafts.
Nationally, 328 tornadoes were reported in May, fewer than in April (358), and comparable to a very active March (300), based on preliminary reports from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
Through the end of May, Missouri and Illinois recorded 105 tornadoes, second only to Texas (109). A total of 1,042 preliminary unfiltered tornado reports were logged as of May 31 in the U.S., with final assessments often taking many months to complete, to remove duplicates of the same event.
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