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O​ver 100 January tornadoes were confirmed in the United States in 2023, a tally that has been exceeded only twice in 74 years of records.

A preliminary count of 124 tornadoes were confirmed in January, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center tweeted on Feb. 1.

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That total includes the most recent round of tornadoes that ripped through parts of Gulf Coast Jan. 24 and 25, including parts of the Houston metro area.

Only two other Januaries since 1950 had as many as 100 tornadoes – 2017 (137 tornadoes) and 1999 (212). T​his was over three times the average for the entire month, more than an average July.

Not Just In The South

The majority of January 2023's tornadoes were in the South, as the map below shows.

T​he largest outbreaks in the month were from Jan. 2-4 (58 tornadoes) and Jan. 12 (39). An EF3 tornado on Jan. 12 claimed seven lives in Alabama.

B​ut not all of the month's tornadoes were in the South.

Two tornadoes in Iowa on Jan. 16 were the state's first January tornadoes since 1967.

N​ine tornadoes touched down in central Illinois on Jan. 3, the most single-day January tornadoes in the state in 34 years, according to the National Weather Service.

W​hy So Many In January?

A​s we alluded to earlier, it's typical to have at least a few tornadoes in the U.S. each January.

U​sually, January tornadoes are confined to the Deep South and Gulf Coast. That's because Arctic cold air is typically dominant and expansive over at least the northern U.S., and occasionally plunges deep into the South, pushing any warm and humid air out.

January 2023, however, was one of the warmest on record over much of the South, Northeast and Midwest, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center.

Typical for winter, t​he jet stream was active and strong, often pivoting out of the Desert Southwest into the central and southern U.S.

W​hen that happened, more humid air from the Gulf of Mexico quickly rushed north. You then had the combination of wind shear and instability needed to generate severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

It's a reminder that tornadoes can happen any time of the year in the U.S. when conditions are in place, even during a month more notorious for snow and cold.

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