Are tornado outbreaks increasing every year?

Question

Please don't fool around.

Answer 1

As technology and general knowledge have advanced, so has the ability to detect and report tornadoes. If there have been more tornadoes reported in the last year than, say, 40 years ago, the increase could be solely due to these advances and have nothing at all to do with the true number of tornadoes. It's impossible to know.

Answer 2

Curtis is basically correct, many meteorologists have already stated that tornadoes are just as frequent as they were several years ago, but with population growth and better instruments more are being detected. If a huge tornado happens in a rural area that no one sees and a radar doesn't pick up, it can't be counted.