Michael,
The US tornado season in my opinion from a storm chaser's perspective is below average but the last several days has highlighted the season. It is unusual to get significant events on more than two successive days but it did happen in this period. The number of tornadoes is also reasonably high for late May as prolific tornado producing outbreaks are less common. From a number of deaths perspective, this season has been a killer and not one they would want to remember from a emergency management and educational perspective. Obviously a lot of effort has been directed into education of the public with regards to tornado safety. Many deaths have occurred in the overnight hours but still quite a few fatalities have occurred during the daytime as well.
Further, the tornadoes have unfortunately made some direct hits to populated areas and that will always significantly increase the likelihood of casualties. This causes great concern as the population particularly in tornado alley increases over time and the cities expand becoming larger targets.
Locally, yes you are correct, some wierd weather with weak thunderstorms although stronger activity off the coast. Apparently there was a nice lightning show off the coast of Sydney last night and early this morning. I have a picture of this event online