From Minnesota to Florida, powerful winter and early spring tornadoes have shattered communities and taken lives. El Nino was blamed for much of the destruction. Forecasters who make a living tracking twisters say as the traditional heart of tornado season approaches, El Nino won't be a player. In terms of the tornado season itself, I really don't think El Nino will have much of an impact. Experts believe tornadoes that struck Florida and Georgia in February and March were produced from storms enhanced by El Nino.
Tornado intensity is measured on a scale of zero to five, with five the strongest.
In Florida, only three F-4, or devastating tornadoes, have ever hit, all formed in El Nino years. But in the Midwest's Tornado Alley, researchers can't find a correlation between El Nino and increased tornado activity. The atmospheric ingredients that come together to form Midwest tornadoes are, the experts say, different from the El Nino-intensified Southeast storms. Meteorologists believe this could be a bad year in Tornado Alley, simply by chance. That's how averages are.