While recent years have seen an uptick in tornado frequency and intensity in New Jersey, it is not a sign the hotspot known as Tornado Alley is shifting.
As officials survey the damage from this weekend's tornadoes and residents start the clean up, let's consider some takeaways from this significant storm.
Researchers say they've come up with a way to predict the likelihood of tornadoes two or three weeks in advance -- a step toward better warnings of storms that kill an average of 80 Americans each year.
Tornadoes touched down in Mississippi and Alabama as thunderstorms swept through the area Tuesday, while a powerful snowstorm buried parts of Colorado and Nebraska in more than a foot of snow before crawling into the Upper Midwest.
A tornado the size and magnitude of the one that rocked Oklahoma this week has never been seen in New Jersey, according to records and anecdotal accounts, but the Garden State is not immune to twisters.
Two deaths have been blamed on a strong spring storm system that's brought everything from tornadoes to ice and snow to much of the Midwest and parts of the southeast United States.