News - Blogs - Leap Day Tornado Outbreak 2012 is rare and deadly

Leap Day Tornado Outbreak 2012 is rare and deadly
Published: 2/29/2012 2:41 PM
Last Modified: 2/29/2012 3:16 PM

Margaret Shimkus, 61, talks with an emergency responder about her condition Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, at her home in Harrisburg, Ill., after an early morning tornado ripped through the town. Shimkus, who took refuge in her bathtub, sustained a minor cut from the early morning storm, but Dorothy Hill, her neighbor in the duplex home, was taken to a hospital with injuries. (AP Photo/Stephen Lance Dennee)

Paul Johnson with Larry's Electric, works on the electrical system at Harrisburg Medical Center after an early morning tornado damaged the hospital Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, in Harrisburg, Ill. At least six people died in Harrisburg in the pre-dawn tornado. (AP Photo/Stephen Lance Dennee)

Cathy Riggs looks for her belongings after a tornado struck Harry Owen Trucking Company Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 in Elizabethtown, KY. Waves of strong storms ripped roofs off homes, apartment buildings and a bank and destroyed several buildings in north-central Kentucky. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Since most weather records began about the turn of the last century, there have been about 29 leap days, give or take depending on the record.

That’s only 29 days of record keeping. That’s just a long February, really.

What’s even less than that is the number of leap days since good tornado records began in 1950. That data would include the previous Leap Day Outbreak of 1952, when eight tornadoes hit Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Now, it’s probably fair to say we have a new Leap Day Outbreak: Feb. 29, 2012.

It’s just preliminary data right now, but there have been 14 reports of possible tornadoes since midnight. And looking at how the atmosphere is shaping up for the rest of today, it will likely be extremely violent in the Tennessee and Kentucky area.

Tornado warnings have been ongoing most of the day there. And this is after tornadoes have already killed at least 9 today, as of 2 p.m.

Branson, Mo., was hit hard early this morning. Illinois is where most of the fatalities have occurred.

That gigantic low pressure system spinning in Iowa right now is at least partially to blame for the storms in the south and blizzard conditions in the north. Lots of people are being affected. So, if you know anyone in those areas, give them a call and tell them to keep an eye to the sky.

But what about this historic day we only see every four years? Here are the tornadoes from every Leap Day since 1950:

Feb. 29, 1952 outbreak:
F1, Marshall Co. Tennessee, 3 fatal, 166 injuries
F4, Lincoln Co. Tennessee, 2 fatal, 150 injuries
F2, Warren Co. Tennessee, no injuries
F3, DeKalb Co. Alabama, 12 injuries
F2, McMinn Co. Tennessee, no injuries
F2, Franklin Co. Georgia, no injuries
F2, Banks Co. Georgia, 3 injuries
F2, Jackson Co. Georgia, 5 injuries

Feb. 29, 1972: F3, West Baton Rouge Parish, 3 injuries

Feb. 29, 1980: F1, Williamson and Travis counties, Texas, no injuries

Feb. 29, 2000:
F0, Callaway County, Missouri, no injuries
F0, Pike County Missouri, no injuries.

As far as sheer numbers go, this outbreak is already bigger. Deaths this year are also higher than all of the other Leap Day tornadoes in the past 60 years.

What about our Leap Day records? The record high and low was 82 in 1972 and 15 in 1960. Those aren’t that odd for this time of year, actually. The record low is a little warmer than the rest of the monthly records, but it’s not crazy.

The record rainfall is significantly lower than the other records for the month, however. The record is 0.31 inches, from 2004. I mean, we had 0.25 yesterday; not far off. But, when you only have 29 days to make those records, rather than a rich, 120-year history, you won’t have those same extremes.

--Jerry Wofford

(Also, you should totally like me on Facebook. I post all kinds of fun stuff about criminals, soldiers and thunderstorms. Never a dull moment. www.facebook.com/jerrywoffordTW

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

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Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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