An anticyclonic tornado is a tornado which rotates in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and a counterclockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere. The term is a naming convention denoting the anomaly from normal rotation which is cyclonic in upwards of 98 percent of tornadoes. Many anticyclonic tornadoes are smaller and weaker than cyclonic tornadoes, forming from a different process, as either companion/satellite tornadoes or nonmesocyclonic tornadoes.
The tornado outbreak of October 17–19, 2007 was a widespread tornado outbreak that took place across much of the eastern half of North America starting on October 17, 2007, and continuing into the early hours of October 19. The outbreak was also responsible for five deaths; three in Michigan and two in Missouri, plus many injuries. At least 64 tornadoes were confirmed including 16 on October 17 across six states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri with wind damage reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas and Mississippi. On October 18, at least 48 tornadoes were confirmed across eight states including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, plus widespread straight line wind damage. Until 2010, this event held the record for largest tornado outbreak ever recorded in the month of October according to NOAA.
An unseasonably strong tornado outbreak began on January 7, 2008, and continued for nearly four days across the Central and Southern United States, with the hardest hit area being southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and the surrounding area. In addition, a strong supercell in northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin produced that region's first January tornadoes since 1967.
A satellite tornado is a tornado that revolves around a larger, primary tornado and interacts with the same mesocyclone. Satellite tornadoes occur apart from the primary tornado and are not considered subvortices; the primary tornado and satellite tornadoes are considered to be separate tornadoes. The cause of satellite tornadoes is not known. Such tornadoes are more often anticyclonic than are typical tornadoes and these pairs may be referred to as tornado couplets. Satellite tornadoes commonly occur in association with very powerful, large, and destructive tornadoes, indicative also of the strength and severity of the parent supercell thunderstorm.
The 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak was a destructive and deadly tornado outbreak that affected the Southeastern United States on March 14–15, 2008. The most infamous tornado of the outbreak occurred on March 14 when an isolated but strong EF2 tornado caused widespread damage across Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, including to the CNN Center and to the Georgia Dome, which was hosting the 2008 SEC men's basketball tournament. Other buildings that were damaged include the Georgia World Congress Center, Philips Arena during an Atlanta Hawks game, and the Omni Hotel, which was evacuated after many windows were blown out. The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel suffered major window damage. The image of the building with all its windows blown out became famous and for a time was a symbol of the tornado. Centennial Olympic Park, SunTrust Plaza and historic Oakland Cemetery were also damaged.
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.
An extended period of significant tornado activity affected the Midwest and Southern United States from April 19 to April 24, 2011, with 134 tornadoes being spawned across six days. The outbreak sequence produced an EF4 tornado that tore through the St. Louis metropolitan area on April 22, while other tornadoes caused damage in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, and other parts of Missouri during the period. No fatalities were reported in this outbreak sequence. This event was directly followed by the largest tornado outbreak in the history of the United States.
A significant early season tornadic event affected portions of the Midwestern and Southern United States at the end of January 2013. The first signs of the outbreak came on January 23 as the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) detailed the eastward progression of a shortwave trough into an increasingly unstable air mass across portions of the lower Mississippi Valley; however, considerable uncertainty in the placement of severe thunderstorms caused the SPC to remove their threat outline. Succeeding many changes in the forecast, a Day 1 Moderate risk was issued for January 29, warning of the potential for widespread/significant damaging winds and a few strong tornadoes. The threat shifted eastward on January 30, encompassing a large section of the Southeastern United States. By late that day, the shortwave trough tracked northeastward into New England, ending the severe weather threat.
Preceded by more than a week of heavy rain, a slow-moving storm system dropped tremendous precipitation across much of Texas and Oklahoma during the nights of May 24–26, 2015, triggering record-breaking floods. Additionally, many areas reported tornado activity and lightning. Particularly hard hit were areas along the Blanco River in Hays County, Texas, where entire blocks of homes were leveled. On the morning of May 26, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for southwest Harris County and northeast Fort Bend County. The system also produced deadly tornadoes in parts of Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. This flood significantly contributed to the wettest month ever for Texas and Oklahoma.
A significant four-day outbreak of tornadoes impacted areas across the High Plains, central Midwest, and parts of the Ohio Valley in early May. The outbreak also produced the first EF4 tornado of the year in Katie, Oklahoma on May 9, where one death occurred. An EF3 tornado near Connerville, Oklahoma also killed a person that day. Other notable tornadoes included two large EF2 tornadoes in Colorado on May 7, a large EF2 tornado near Catherine, Kansas on May 8, and a destructive EF3 tornado that struck Mayfield, Kentucky on May 10. Overall, 57 tornadoes were confirmed.
An extended period of significant tornado activity affected the Central United States in late May 2016. This outbreak sequence came less than two weeks after another damaging tornado outbreak that affected similar areas. The most prolific day was May 24 when 44 tornadoes touched down with at least 12 of them spawned by an intense, long-tracked supercell near Dodge City, Kansas. The strongest tornado from this outbreak was a violent EF4 tornado on May 25 that caused severe damage near Solomon, Abilene, and Chapman, Kansas, injuring eight. Overall, 98 tornadoes were confirmed.
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.
A small but damaging outbreak of 15 tornadoes impacted the Southeastern United States on February 7, 2017. The most damaging tornado of the outbreak was a large and powerful EF3 tornado. The tornado caused considerable damage along its path and left approximately 10,000 homes without electricity. 33 injuries occurred in the area after the tornado hit near Chef Menteur Highway with hundreds of structures sustaining moderate to significant damage along the ten-mile path. In response to the disaster, Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency.
The tornado outbreak of February 28 – March 1, 2017 was a widespread and significant outbreak of tornadoes and severe weather that affected the Midwestern United States at the end of February 2017 and beginning of March. Fueled by the combination of ample instability, strong wind shear, and rich low-level moisture, the event led to 71 confirmed tornadoes and thousands of other non-tornadic severe weather reports. The most notable aspect of the outbreak was a long-tracked EF4 tornado—the first violent tornado of 2017 and the first violent tornado during the month of February since the 2013 Hattiesburg tornado—that tracked from Perryville, Missouri to near Christopher, Illinois, killing one person. Three EF3 tornadoes were recorded during the event, including one that caused two fatalities in Ottawa, Illinois, one that caused a fatality near Crossville, and one that heavily damaged or destroyed homes in and around Washburn. In addition to the deaths, 38 people were injured by tornadoes and an additional 30 were injured by non-tornadic impacts, mainly by fallen trees.
A significant and deadly severe weather event that affected the Southeastern United States on March 3, 2019. Over the course of 6 hours, a total of 41 tornadoes touched down across portions of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. The strongest of these was an EF4 tornado that devastated rural communities from Beauregard, Alabama, through Smiths Station, Alabama to Talbotton, Georgia, killing 23 people and injuring at least 100 others. Its death toll represented more than twice the number of tornado deaths in the United States in 2018 as well as the deadliest single tornado in the country since the 2013 Moore EF5 tornado. An EF3 tornado also destroyed residences to the east of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, and was only the second tornado of that strength in the county since 1945. Several other strong tornadoes occurred across the region throughout the evening of March 3 and caused significant damage. A large number of EF0 and EF1 tornadoes also touched down.
On April 22, 2020, an outbreak of discrete supercell thunderstorms across portions of Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana led to widespread severe weather, including multiple strong tornadoes. Two people were killed by a high-end EF2 that struck the town of Madill, Oklahoma, and three more were killed by an EF3 wedge tornado that moved through Onalaska, Texas. Dozens of others were injured as well. The event came to fruition as a trough progressed eastward across the United States, interacting with a moist and unstable environment. Tornado activity continued into Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia overnight into the day on April 23. Isolated tornado activity also occurred during the overnight hours on April 21.
A significant late-season tornado outbreak took place on November 4, 2022, across Northeast Texas, southwestern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, and northwestern Louisiana with multiple large, destructive tornadoes occurring over a span of several hours. Major damage was reported in Sulphur Springs, Powderly, Caviness, Paris, Cason, Daingerfield, Athens, New Boston, Texas, and Idabel, Oklahoma, with the latter two communities being placed under tornado emergencies. Two fatalities occurred in Cason, Texas, and Pickens, Oklahoma respectively. Numerous PDS tornado warnings were issued as well. An additional tornado embedded within a narrow, but intense line of showers with damaging winds was also confirmed in Illinois the following morning as the system progressed eastward. Strong winds affected most of the western Great Lakes throughout the day before moving into Canada that evening. Two fatalities and at least 34 injuries were confirmed from tornadoes, and an additional fatality occurred near Stilwell, Oklahoma from drowning.
