Yep I think "terrible two's" is a bit of misnomer actually

My DD started ramping up the tantrums when she was about 16 months old. She's now 2.5 and I think her behaviour is better now than it was then.
We really noticed a shift when her speech improved. When she was better able to communicate what she wanted things got alot better and the tantrums aren't as frequent (that's not saying she doesn't still have them though!). I guess it was around about when she turned two that she started being able to make sentences.
It's very hard at that age because they don't understand time out, they can't communicate well, yet there's so much going on in their little heads.
Unfortunately I don't really have any great advice, we just rode it out with her and eventually it got better. Hang in there.