It has been quite a spring for twisters in the United States. So far this year, the preliminary tally from the Storm Prediction Center has reached 1,035 tornadoes, with 872 of them occurring in April and May.
And we've still got another peak month of activity left to go.
One of the most destructive of this season's tornadoes spun up on Tuesday, May 21 in southwestern Iowa. It then carved a destructive 44-mile path to the northeast, ultimately rampaging through tiny Greenfield, population 2,062. Spinning at 185 miles per hour, the EF-4 twister reached a terrifying maximum extent of more than a half mile wide.
Tragically, it killed five people in Greenfield.
The gash it cut through the town is seen in the satellite image above, and also in this one released by NASA today:
The path of destruction across Greenfield, Iowa is visible in this image, acquired on May ...
