We cannot identify the underlying social and scientific reasons behind the decline in tornado deaths, but we can at least attempt to describe from a statistical perspective how the decrease has occurred. First, the number of killer tornadoes is, in general, less than it was 75 yr ago. The median number of killer tornadoes per year from 1976 to 2000 was 17 and the maximum was 33. In contrast, the median from 1912 to 1936 was 39 and the minimum was 17. Arguably more important than the number of killer tornadoes, the number of deaths from individual ‘‘highdeath’’ tornadoes has decreased. This fact can be seen in at least two different ways.