Portal:Tornadoes

Storm chasing is broadly defined as the deliberate pursuit of any severe weather phenomenon, regardless of motive, but most commonly for curiosity, adventure, scientific investigation, or for news or media coverage. A person who chases storms is known as a storm chaser or simply a chaser.

This page documents confirmed tornadoes in October, November, and December 2020 via various weather forecast offices of the National Weather Service. Based on the 1991–2010 averaging period, 61 tornadoes occur across the United States throughout October, 58 through November, and 24 through December.

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.

A nocturnal outbreak occurred during the overnight hours of May 25 into May 26. An isolated supercell in northern Texas produced multiple tornadoes, including a low-end EF3 tornado that passed near Valley View, Texas, killing seven people. Another longer-lived supercell moved through northeastern Oklahoma and across northern Arkansas, producing several tornadoes along with straight-line winds of 100 mph (160 km/h). Two fatalities were confirmed from an EF3 tornado that struck Claremore, Oklahoma along with areas near Pryor. Later, it produced a very large EF3 tornado near Decatur, Arkansas, which became the largest tornado ever recorded in Arkansas. Another EF3 tornado killed four people near Olvey and Pyatt while an additional tornadic death occurred with yet another EF3 tornado that passed near Yellville and through Briarcliff. Another supercell in southern Missouri produced a low-end EF3 tornado that passed near Morehouse and through Sikeston, killing one. May 26 would be the most active day of severe weather; several rounds of squall lines and tornadic supercells moved through the Mid-Mississippi and the Ohio Valleys, producing widespread wind damage, large hail, and tornadoes. This included a very destructive, intense high-end EF3 tornado that prompted the issuance of four tornado emergencies across areas that had been previously impacted by the 2021 Western Kentucky tornado. One person was killed by this tornado. Severe weather activity became more isolated and scattered on May 27, marking the end of the outbreak sequence.

June 27

• 1951 – One of the briefest violent tornadoes on record, an F4 tornado touched down in WaKeeney, Kansas, destroying 45 homes, killing five people, and injuring 100. The storm's path was less than a mile long.
• 1955 – A complex tornado family passed near Scottsbluff, Nebraska, including an F4 tornado that killed two people and injured 29. The event was extensively photographed and was the subject of one of the most detailed tornado studies of the time. An attempt to estimated the wind speed of the F4 storm from makings on the ground failed because it had multiple vortices, a phenomenon that was not known until the 1970s.

June 28

• 1865 - A multiple-vortex tornado devastated Viroqua, Wisconsin, killing at least 13 people in town and another 9 at a nearby school. As many as 12 of the injured may have died later.
• 1924 – An F4 tornado devastated parts of Sandusky and Lorain, Ohio, killing at least 85 people. Another 39 people reported missing may have been lost in Lake Erie. Because a large portion on the path was on the lake, it is unknown if this was a single tornado, or a tornado family.

June 29

• 1764 – A violent tornado, estimated at T11 intensity on the TORRO scale or F5 intensity on the Fujita scale, struck Woldegk, Germany. Trees were debarked, a dairy farm was reportedly swept away, and large cobblestones were moved. Detailed information is available due to a detailed series of letters by Gottlob Burchard Genzmer.
• 1904 – A strong tornado hit Moscow, killing at least nine people.
• 1998 – A strong derecho produced tornadoes and widespread damaging winds across Iowa. An F2 tornado or series of tornadoes moved across the Des Moines area, causing extensive damage and injuring 85 people.

• ...that the 2013 Moore tornado that struck Moore and Newcastle, Oklahoma, is the most recent EF5 tornado?
• ...that the 2021 South Moravia tornado, an IF4 tornado with winds between 207–260 mph (333–418 km/h), was the strongest tornado to hit the Czech Republic in modern history?