On Sunday, it was another deadly round of severe weather for the nation’s mid-section. This time the carnage occurred further north with tornadoes and severe thunderstorms occurring in Minnesota and Iowa as well as Missouri, which has seen more than its fair share of severe and deadly weather in 2008. According to an article written by the Associated Press, there were 8 people killed in Minnesota and Iowa. Coming into Sunday, there had been at least 100 people killed by tornadoes this year in the United States, which is one of the highest death tolls in years from twisters.

According to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, there were a total of 543 storm reports issued in 11 different states from Minnesota in the north to Texas in the south. Making up the 543 storm reports were: 50 tornadoes, 202 high wind incidents, and 291 hail episodes. Since Thursday, there have been a total of 1020 reports of severe weather including: 174 tornadoes, 335 with high winds, and 511 with hail. Looking at the Weather Channel maps on Sunday, there was a very large swath of strong to severe weather expected over the Central United States from the U.S. border with Canada in the north to the Gulf Coast in the south.

While this has been a very brutal year in the Midwest with tornadoes as far back as January and February this year coupled with flooding in the Missouri Valley, this latest weather outbreak is not really unusual in the sense the spring is a very active time for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms since there is such a strong clash between the cold air coming out of Canada, and the warm, moist air flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico. May, in particular, is the most active month of the year in terms of twisters. More severe weather was expected on Monday in the Midwestern states of Indiana, Illinois, and parts of the Ohio Valley.