Historic Tornado Outbreak

It all started on Thursday afternoon as storms broke out across Oklahoma and Kansas.  Friday took the storms into Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, plus smaller outbreaks further north.  Saturday the Carolinas and Virginia were hammered.  All-in-all, an outbreak that broke the previous record. From Severe Weather Updates::

#tornado history has happened. The #superoutbreak of Apr 15-16 2011.. Over 200 #tornadoes in 2 days. In 1974.. 148 in 2 days. #severewx Wow!

The 1974 outbreak is probably best known for the Xenia, OH tornado that killed 33 people. Altogether 319 people died in that outbreak, many times the number from this year's storms. So far it appears the death toll is still less than 25 from 200 tornadoes. It's clear the better forecasting and warning systems we have today paid off.

UPDATE:  Death toll now up to 37.