Was that a record storm outbreak?

We might never know if the outbreak of severe weather late Monday and Tuesday was a record, but several meteorologists I've read indicate it could have been.

At the least, the number of severe weather reports is among the biggest in history.

Take a look at the graphic on this post -- a graphic of reports received by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., between 7 a.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday. The reports show locations of tornadoes, winds of 70 mph or more, or large hail.

First, a couple of caveats:

1. I noticed in a couple stories that the Storm Prediction Center recently changed its report policy. It now lists reports from nearby areas as separate incidents, so that might increase the overall number.

2. The storm outbreak happened in an area with a lot of populated cities, rather than in the Great Plains. More people = more reports.

3. While the storm outbreak was significant, let's remember that the death toll, fortunately, was far below that of many past outbreaks. From what I saw, there were six deaths from this week's storms.

Still, it was quite an outbreak.

The Storm Prediction Center says there were 1,377 reports between 7 a.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday, plus another 52 after 7 a.m. Tuesday. Of those, 43 were tornadoes. There were another 1,290 or so of strong winds.

There was one tornado in North Carolina -- a twister which struck about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday in Surry County, near the Virginia border. That storm damaged about 35 to 40 homes.