Cold weather caused low tornado count, experts say

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Weather experts say Oklahoma’s extremely cold winter last year and earlier this year likely kept the number of tornadoes this past spring at the state’s lowest levels since 1988.

The Tulsa World reports that only 13 tornadoes hit the state through June, which is the latest available data.

Greg Carbin with the Storm Prediction Center says only one of those tornadoes – an April tornado in Quapaw that killed one person – had any significance.

Carbin says researchers have found a correlation between especially cold winters or hot summers and low tornado counts.