More than 1,000 tornadoes hit US leaving 21 dead as fears grow over 'astonishing' 2024 storm season

Ultra-warm Gulf of Mexico spurs 'astonishing' U.S. storm season - with 1000 tornadoes WILLIAM BUNTING, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NOAA STORM PREDICTION CENTER, EXPLAINS THE FORCES BEHIND THE HYPERACTIVE 2024 TORNADO SEASON. Tornado-spawning thunderstorms that swept the Southern Plains and the Ozark Mountains over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 21 people across four U.S. states, are following a deadly pattern marking 2024 as one of the worst years for severe weather in more than a decade. William Bunting, deputy director of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, said the “astonishing“ tally of more than 1,000 tornadoes so far this year can be traced in part to particularly warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, which has set the stage for massive, tornadic storms in the nation's midsection. The death toll over the three-day weekend included at least eight fatalities in Arkansas, seven in Texas, four in Kentucky and two in Oklahoma, ac