If you thought there have been a lot of tornadoes in Alabama lately — you were right.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham released preliminary tornado numbers for 2022 this weekend and has documented 98 twisters across the state.

That puts 2022 at No. 2 on the list for the number of confirmed tornadoes in a given year.

No. 1, of course, is 2011, with 145 tornadoes. (Sixty-two of those came on one day, April 27, 2011.)

And 2023 is off to a record start as well. The weather service said that preliminary data show 28 confirmed tornadoes so far in January, making it the most tornadoes in January on record (which goes back to 1950).

2023 TORNADOES

There have been two big tornado events so far in 2023.

There was the round of severe storms on Jan. 3 and 4, which resulted in 13 confirmed tornadoes statewide.

Then was Jan. 12, which had 14 confirmed tornadoes. One of those was a deadly EF-3 that killed seven people in Autauga County. That tornado had a track of 82.31 miles, which is the sixth-longest documented tornado track on record in the state.

The weather service said the storm that spawned that tornado formed in southwest Mississippi and held together, dropping tornadoes along the way, all the way into into central Georgia.

That same storm also produced the strong EF-2 tornado that hit Selma. That tornado, separate from the Autauga storm, was on the ground for 22 miles, the weather service said.

Eight people have been killed in Alabama in severe weather in 2023.

2022 TORNADOES

Preliminary data shows that 98 tornadoes were confirmed in Alabama in 2022, the second-most on record, according to the weather service.

Three people were killed in severe weather in 2022.

Here are the top five years for tornadoes, according to the weather service:

1. 2011: 145 tornadoes

2. 2022: 98

3. 2008: 94

4. 2019: 82

5. 2009: 80

Some other tornado stats from 2022:

* The weather service said 43 of Alabama’s 67 counties documented at least one tornado in 2022.

* There were also 16 “tornado days.”

* Tornadoes were documented in every month — except June, July, August and September.

* The weather service has records of a tornado every hour of the day except from 7 to 8 a.m.

* There were no EF-4 or EF-5 tornadoes in 2022.

“The sheer volume of documented tornadoes has certainly increased over the past few decades in Alabama,” the weather service said. “There does not seem to be one particular reason for this increase.”

But, the weather service continued, radar upgrades, social media, improved survey techniques, remote sensing “and perhaps climate change” could explain the uptick.

The weather service noted that the number of strong tornadoes (EF-2 and EF-3s) and violent tornadoes (EF-4 and EF-5s) has remained relatively constant.

MORE STORMS POSSIBLE THIS WEEK

More storms will be possible again this week in Alabama. The Storm Prediction Center thinks severe storms, including tornadoes, will be possible in the southern half of the state from Tuesday into Wednesday morning: