4 days ago
U.S. notches 1,000 tornadoes in 2025, how does Canada compare?
Tornado season is underway across Canada after a very active start south of the border.
The U.S. has seen more than 1,000 confirmed tornadoes so far in 2025, making this the country's busiest tornado season to date since the historic outbreaks of 2011.
Canada, on the other hand, has only seen 25 confirmed tornadoes through early July—the slowest start to the season in seven years.
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The U.S. Storm Prediction Center (SPC) received about 1,300 preliminary reports of tornadoes this year through July 3, which far outpaces the normal of about 950 tornado reports the country would normally see through this point in the year.
Forecasters conducting ground surveys confirmed at least 1,029 tornadoes by the start of July, which is the highest number of confirmed tornadoes to date since the repeated and historic outbreaks of 2011.
Most of those tornadoes occurred in several large outbreaks. Five especially destructive twisters received high-end EF-4 ratings on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
This year's tornadoes have killed at least 68 people, which already exceeds the 57 tornado fatalities reported across the U.S. in 2024.
Robust low-pressure systems that produce tornadoes across the U.S. in the spring start to move north of the border as the jet stream jogs north with the onset of summer.
The vast majority of Canada's tornadoes touch down during the summer months, with July featuring about 35 per cent of the 65 tornadoes we see across the country in an average year.
Canada has only seen 25 confirmed tornadoes as of July 3, which is the lowest total we've seen by this point in the year since 2018. Nearly half of this year's tornadoes have occurred in Saskatchewan, with the rest touching down from central British Columbia to eastern Quebec.
Despite the slow start to the season, we still have two long months remaining in the peak of Canada's tornado season. Make sure you always know where to go and what to do if a tornado warning is issued—whether you're at home, work, or on the road.
Header image created using graphics and imagery from Canva.
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