Tornadoes of 2009

This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2009. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Tornadic events are often accompanied by other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail. In the U.S., there were 1,304 reports of tornadoes received by the Storm Prediction Center, and 1,159 tornadoes were confirmed to have taken place. Worldwide, 73 fatalities were caused by tornadoes; 22 in the United States, 20 in India, 11 in Argentina, eight in the Philippines, four each in Canada and Brazil, two in Greece and one each in Serbia and Russia.

Tornadic activity in 2009 began with the development an EF1 tornado near Stringer, Mississippi on January 3 and ended with the dissipation of an EF0 tornado near Vancleave, Mississippi on December 24. During the year the two strongest tornadoes were both assessed as an EF4 – one occurred in Oklahoma on February 10 and the second occurred in Tennessee on April 10. During the early months of the year tornadic activity remained mostly below average in contrast to an active trend of tornadoes in 2008. Activity peaked in April and May as a result of destabilizing atmospheric conditions and featured a bulk of the year's tornadoes. However, the number of developing tornadoes subsequently began to wane and remained generally inactive for the latter half of 2009.