A strong storm system that moved into the Central United States generated a line of thunderstorms that moved across North Texas Tuesday morning. While severe weather was expected, the amount of tornadoes was a surprise. So, why were there so many tornadoes?
For severe thunderstorms and tornadoes to occur there needs to be wind shear and instability. The instability usually comes from daytime heating and humidity. But in this case, the storms occurred very early in the day without access to daytime heating. The forecast assumed that the instability would be limited, therefore the tornado threat would be minimized.
What happened is that both the humidity and temperature increased through the night Monday night into Tuesday morning. This increase was not expected. This lead to higher amounts of instability that the thunderstorms were able to tap into. The strong wind shear combined with the higher instability helped create an environment more favorable for tornadoes.
While the majority of our North Texas tornadoes occur in April and May, December tornadoes can occur. Since 1950, there have been three Decembers that produced double-digit tornadoes. It’s possible that 2022 joins that list after the National Weather Service completes its damage survey in the coming days.
It’s good to keep in mind that even though December tornadoes are not common, they can occur. In fact tornadoes can occur anytime throughout the year if the proper severe weather ingredients are in place.
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