Tornadoes of 2023

This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2023. 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 thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.

There were 1,423 preliminary filtered reported tornadoes and 1,308 confirmed tornadoes in the United States in 2023. At least 125 other tornadoes have touched down outside of the United States as well. Worldwide, 116 tornado-related deaths have been confirmed, 83 of them in the United States, 12 in China, nine in Indonesia, eight in Myanmar, three in Turkey, and one in Saudi Arabia.

January saw the third-highest number of tornado watches and confirmed tornadoes of any January on record in the United States. Additionally, the first two months of the year saw the fourth-highest number of confirmed tornadoes for the first 59 days of any year on record. In addition, the year has been deadlier than average, with multiple fatal tornadoes. By April 5, 63 deaths from tornadoes had been recorded in the United States; this was almost three times higher than 2022's total of 23 deaths and approaching the annual average of roughly 70 deaths. Although below average tornadic activity occurred in May, active weather patterns consistently spawned damaging tornado outbreaks throughout the summer, causing 12 additional fatalities. Multiple damaging tornadoes also affected portions of Canada during that time, including the first violent tornado in the country since 2018. However, tornadic activity decreased dramatically in September and was almost non-existent through a large portion of the autumn months. This was mostly due to most Atlantic tropical cyclones missing the United States during the peak of hurricane season and few early-season frontal systems; but an intense outbreak in December produced 18 tornadoes killing 7.

Notably this year, several organizations across Europe including the European Severe Storms Laboratory and Deutscher Wetterdienst published and began using the new International Fujita scale, starting in August 2023. The first major tornado outbreak to use that scale occurred three months later when European windstorm Storm Ciarán affected a large portion of Europe.