A tornado hit an RV park yesterday, killing two campers and leaving one in critical condition. It left a path of downed trees and overturned RVs in the Cherrystone Family RV Resort in Cape Charles, Virginia.
We know, or should know, that tornadoes can strike anywhere, but I never thought of Virginia – particularly the Atlantic Coastal Area of Virginia – as a tornado prone area. Tornadoes usually bring to mind the “Tornado Alley” that stretches from the Panhandle of Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and maybe Arkansas and Illinois.
But Virginia does get tornadoes. NOAA records show the state averages about seven tornadoes a year, most of them in July. The death toll from Virginia tornadoes since records began is about seventy.
What county in Texas do you think has the most tornadoes?
Logic might tell you it would be somewhere on a line from Wichita Falls to Dallas, but according to the Insurance Council of Texas, it’s Harris County!
Harris County has recorded 210 tornadoes in the past 58 years. In a distant second was Hale County located just north of Lubbock with 118. The next three counties reporting the most tornadoes were Texas coastal counties. Galveston County has had 108 confirmed tornadoes, Jefferson County has had 99 and Nueces County has had 93.
Of course, tornadoes are only recorded if they are reported, and a lot of tornadoes probably touched down in unpopulated areas. And a lot of the coastal tornadoes were spun off during Hurricanes.
Still, it’s something to think about.
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