For the month of June, six tornado-related fatalities in the U.S. were reported. This brings the January-June fatality total to 118, the eighth highest since records began in 1953.
Important: The graph above-left represents the final number of tornadoes from January-March and preliminary tornado reports from April-June 2008. Final numbers are not yet available and may reflect a significant change, as represented by the error-bar above. Data current as of July 3, 2008.
Following the active pattern of the first five months of 2008, June brought 377 preliminary reports of tornadoes across the United States and six reported fatalities. The most deadly incident occurred the evening of June 11, when a tornado struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, killing 4 and injuring nearly 50. Two others were also killed in Kansas the same night, one by an EF3 in Chapman and the other near Soldier. Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS also suffered major damage from the storms. On June 11, 64 preliminary reports of tornadoes were received across an area from central Kansas north-northeastward through southern Minnesota. Tornado counts for June 2008 have not yet been finalized.
More information on severe weather can also be found on NCDC's Hazards page.