The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. It was also the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded, with 30 violent tornadoes confirmed. From April 3–4, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario. In the United States, tornadoes struck Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York. The outbreak caused roughly $600 million USD in damage. The outbreak extensively damaged approximately 900 sq mi (2,331 km2) along a total combined path length of 2,600 mi (4,184 km). At one point, as many as 15 separate tornadoes were occurring simultaneously.
On April 10–12, 1965, a historic severe weather event affected the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The tornado outbreak produced 55 confirmed tornadoes in one day and 16 hours. The worst part of the outbreak occurred during the afternoon hours of April 11 into the overnight hours going into April 12. The second-largest tornado outbreak on record at the time, this deadly series of tornadoes, which became known as the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, inflicted a swath of destruction from Cedar County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a swath 450 miles long (724 km) from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The main part of the outbreak lasted 16 hours and 35 minutes and is among the most intense outbreaks, in terms of tornado strength, ever recorded, including at least four "double/twin funnel" tornadoes. In all, the outbreak killed 266 people, injured 3,662 others, and caused $1.217 billion in damage. In 2023, tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis created the outbreak intensity score (OIS) as a way to rank various tornado outbreaks. The 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak received an OIS of 238, making it the third worst tornado outbreak in recorded history.
The tornado outbreak sequence of May 2004 was a series of tornado outbreaks that affected much of southern Ontario, the Central and Southern United States from east of the Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic States from May 21 to May 31, 2004. Particularly hard hit were the central Plains from Missouri to Iowa and the Ohio Valley. The Central Plains were hit by two significant outbreaks on May 22 and May 24, the first outbreak of which produced a very large and violent tornado in Hallam, Nebraska. The Ohio Valley was affected by one of the largest tornado outbreaks ever during the Memorial Day weekend on May 29–30.
A destructive tornado outbreak impacted the Midwestern United States and Tennessee River Valley on November 15, 2005. It occurred along a cold front separating warm, humid air from the southeast from cold Arctic air to the north and northwest. 49 tornadoes were confirmed in the central United States in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee over that afternoon and evening. Strong winds and large hail caused additional damage throughout the region.
The tornado outbreak of January 1–2, 2006, was one of the largest tornado outbreaks ever recorded in the month of January. The outbreak affected much of the Central and Southern United States and produced 20 tornadoes. The tornadoes caused considerable damage in the states of Kentucky and Georgia. There were no tornado related fatalities and only minor injuries were reported.
The Marion, Illinois tornado outbreak was a small, severe tornado outbreak that affected southern portions of the Midwestern United States on May 29, 1982.
The Tornado outbreak of June 7–8, 1984 was a significant severe weather and tornado event that took place across the central United States from North Dakota to Kansas on June 7–8, 1984. The tornado outbreak produced several significant tornadoes including an F5 tornado which traveled through Barneveld, Wisconsin, in the early hours of June 8, 1984. The entire outbreak killed at least 13 people across three states including 9 in Barneveld alone.
A destructive and deadly tornado outbreak that took place across the Southern and Central United States from May 1 to May 3, 2008. The outbreak was responsible for at least seven fatalities and 23 injuries in Arkansas. There were at least 29 tornado reports from Iowa to Oklahoma on May 1 and 67 more in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas on May 2. A total of 60 tornadoes were confirmed by weather authorities.
The March 1990 Central United States tornado outbreak affected portions of the United States Great Plains and Midwest regions from Iowa to Texas from March 11 to March 13, 1990. The outbreak produced at least 64 tornadoes across the region, including four violent tornadoes; two tornadoes, which touched down north and west of Wichita, Kansas, were both rated F5, including the tornado that struck Hesston. In Nebraska, several strong tornadoes touched down across the southern and central portion of the state, including an F4 tornado that traveled for 131 miles (211 km) making it the longest tracked tornado in the outbreak. Two people were killed in the outbreak, one each by the two F5 tornadoes in Kansas.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2009. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Tornadic events are often accompanied by other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail. In the U.S., there were 1,304 reports of tornadoes received by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), and 1,159 tornadoes were confirmed to have taken place. Worldwide, 73 fatalities were caused by tornadoes; 22 in the United States, 20 in India, 11 in Argentina, eight in the Philippines, four each in Canada and Brazil, two in Greece and one each in Serbia and Russia.
The tornado outbreak of April 9–11, 2009 was a tornado outbreak that affected large portions of the Southern United States on April 9–11, 2009. At least 5 people were killed by tornadoes including three in Mena, Arkansas and two in Murfreesboro, Tennessee just south of Nashville. A total of 85 tornadoes were confirmed over the two days. Three people were killed in Texas due to wildfires caused by strong winds stemming from the same storm system. This event is sometimes referred to as the Good Friday tornado outbreak of 2009.
From May 3 to May 11, 2003, a prolonged and destructive series of tornado outbreaks affected much of the Great Plains and Eastern United States. Most of the severe activity was concentrated between May 4 and May 10, which saw more tornadoes than any other week-long span in recorded history; 335 tornadoes occurred during this period, concentrated in the Ozarks and central Mississippi River Valley. Additional tornadoes were produced by the same storm systems from May 3 to May 11, producing 363 tornadoes overall, of which 62 were significant. Six of the tornadoes were rated F4, and of these four occurred on May 4, the most prolific day of the tornado outbreak sequence; these were the outbreak's strongest tornadoes. Damage caused by the severe weather and associated flooding amounted to US$4.1 billion, making it the costliest U.S. tornado outbreak of the 2000s. A total of 50 deaths and 713 injuries were caused by the severe weather, with a majority caused by tornadoes; the deadliest tornado was an F4 that struck Madison and Henderson counties in Tennessee, killing 11. In 2023, tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis created the outbreak intensity score (OIS) as a way to rank various tornado outbreaks. The tornado outbreak sequence of May 2003 received an OIS of 232, making it the fourth worst tornado outbreak in recorded history.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2011. Extremely destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also appear regularly in neighboring southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season, and somewhat regularly in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2012. Extremely destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil and eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also appear regularly in neighboring southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season, and somewhat regularly in Europe, Asia, Argentina, and Australia.
A significant and destructive tornado outbreak that affected parts of the Midwestern United States and lower Great Plains in mid-May 2013. This event occurred just days after a deadly outbreak struck Texas and surrounding southern states on May 15. On May 16, a slow moving trough crossed the Rockies and traversed the western Great Plains. Initially, activity was limited to scattered severe storms; however, by May 18, the threat for organized severe thunderstorms and tornadoes greatly increased. A few tornadoes touched down that day in Kansas and Nebraska, including an EF4 tornado near Rozel, Kansas. Maintaining its slow eastward movement, the system produced another round of severe weather nearby. Activity significantly increased on May 19, with tornadoes confirmed in Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. In Oklahoma, two strong tornadoes, one rated EF4, caused significant damage in rural areas of the eastern Oklahoma City metropolitan area; two people lost their lives near Shawnee. The most dramatic events unfolded on May 20 as a large EF5 tornado devastated parts of Moore, Oklahoma, killing 24 people. Thousands of structures were destroyed, with many being completely flattened. Several other tornadoes occurred during the day in areas further eastward, though the majority were weak and caused little damage.
The following is a glossary of tornado terms. It includes scientific as well as selected informal terminology.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2017. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina and Australia. Tornadic events are often accompanied with other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail. There were 1,522 reports of tornadoes in the United States in 2017, of which 1,418 were confirmed. Worldwide, 43 fatalities were confirmed in 2017: 35 in the United States, five in China, two in Paraguay, and one in Brazil.
The tornado outbreak sequence of May 2019 was a prolonged series of destructive tornadoes and tornado outbreaks affecting the United States over the course of nearly two weeks, producing a total of 400 tornadoes, including 53 significant events (EF2+). Eighteen of these were EF3 tornadoes, spanning over multiple states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio, with additional tornadoes confirmed across a region extending from California to New Jersey. Two EF4 tornadoes occurred, one in Dayton, Ohio, and the other in Linwood, Kansas. Four tornadoes during this outbreak were fatal, causing a total of eight fatalities. The deadliest of these occurred on May 22 near Golden City, Missouri, where an EF3 tornado took three lives, including an elderly couple in their eighties. The damaging series of tornadoes that occurred in Indiana and Ohio on the evening of May 27 during this event is sometimes locally referred to as the Memorial Day tornado outbreak of 2019, which became the fourth costliest weather event in Ohio history. The near continuous stream of systems also produced to widespread flash and river flooding, along with damaging winds and large hail.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2020. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Tornadic events are often accompanied by other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail. There were 1,243 preliminary filtered reported tornadoes in 2020 in the United States in 2020, and 1,086 confirmed tornadoes in the United States in 2020. Worldwide, at least 93 tornado-related deaths were confirmed with 78 in the United States, eight in Vietnam, two each in Canada, Indonesia, and Mexico, and one in South Africa.
A multi-day period of significant tornado activity along with significant derechos occurred across the Midwestern United States and the Mississippi Valley as well as an additional tornado in the Canadian province of Quebec. From May 19–27, 2024, two derechos occurred and tornadoes were reported across large portions of the Central United States, with multiple Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) watches issued across the sequence. On May 19, strong tornadoes occurred with isolated supercells in Colorado and Oklahoma while a derecho produced widespread wind damage and weak tornadoes across Kansas into the early morning hours of May 20. Limited tornadic activity took place on May 20, but another outbreak along with widespread damage struck mainly Iowa and Wisconsin on May 21. Five fatalities were confirmed with a large, violent, long-tracked EF4 tornado that went through Greenfield, Iowa. Scattered to widespread severe weather and tornadoes occurred over the next two days, including an EF2 tornado that injured 30 people on the west side of Temple, Texas. Another derecho formed in southwestern Nebraska late on May 23 and moved eastward, producing widespread wind damage and weak tornadoes through Nebraska and Iowa and northwestern Illinois before withering away in the northern part of the state during the morning hours of May 24.
