Are tornadoes getting worse? Here's what we know

[...]

One study published in 2018 looked at tornado observations since 1979 and observed a shift in tornado locations, from slightly west of the Mississippi River to east of the river, in more populated states like Kentucky and Arkansas.

"We think it might be climate change. But it might also be natural variability," said Gensini, an author on the study. "We stepped on the scale, and we know we gained 15 pounds, but we don't know if it's poor diet or lack of exercise."

[...]

"The scary part of this is, in the Southeast [there are] an increasing number of manufactured homes," said Stephen Strader, a geographer studying extreme weather risk at Villanova University. "The odds are stacked against us [there]."

Overall, Americans have made great progress in protecting ourselves against tornadoes: When population increase is taken into account, the tornado fatality rate has declined dramatically over the past century, in large part because of improved weather forecasting and warning systems.

[...]