Joplin, Missouri Tornado: What's Causing the Rise in Deadly Storms?

Residents salvage items from their home, which was severely damaged by a tornado in Joplin, Mo., as another storm passes overhead Monday, May 23, 2011. A large tornado decimated the city Sunday. (Charlie Riedel/AP Photo)

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By BEN FORER

May 23, 2011

Nearly 500 people have died so far as a result of tornadoes in 2011, and Sunday evening's tornado in Joplin, Missouri, has caused the highest death toll from a single tornado in more than 50 years. In 1953, a tornado in Flint, Mich., killed 116 people.
ABC News spoke with lead forecaster Greg Carbin of the National Weather Service's National Severe Storm Laboratory and asked him why the 2011 tornado season has been so extraordinarily devastating.
Is the death toll in 2011 significantly higher than previous years?
Short Answer: Yes. The average death toll is normally 60 to 70.
Meteorologist Greg Carbin: "In the past decade the average annual death toll from tornadoes has been around 60 to 70 people. The average killer tornado claims about two lives and so what's going on this year is something well above that. ... We're now approaching about 500 fatalities for the year to date, just under that. That is something we have not experienced in this country in over 35 years and it still looks like we're still around the number nine as far as the deadliest year on record. So there have been many years in the past over the past couple of generations in which we've exceeded 500 fatalities in a year, it's just that they haven't occurred recently."