Severe weather, as measured by the number of Tornado Warnings issued by the National Weather Service, has gotten off to a fast start for the year. The featured chart presents an unofficial tally of such warnings for the 1 through 26 January period each year since 1986. The 2023 total comes in third highest just behind 2017 and a ways behind 1999. The majority of those 1999 warnings came during an outbreak on 21-22 January. You likely recall that Iowa has seen a few tornado warnings already with the tornado near Williamsburg last Monday! This may seem like a distant memory as we are firmly back in winter weather with plenty of cold and snow expected over the coming days.

Voting:
Good = 15
Bad = 2
Abstain = 1