Note: Tornadoes are very dangerous and potentially deadly. Always take tornado warnings seriously and immediately seek shelter.

The Tornadoes Portal

A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1999
Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that are in contact with the Earth and either a cumulonimbus or a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes are often referred to as twisters, whirlwinds, or cyclones. While most tornadoes attain winds of less than 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers), the wind speeds in the most intense tornadoes can reach 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), are more than two miles (3 km) in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km). Various types of tornadoes include the multiple vortex tornado, landspout, and waterspout. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirl, and steam devil. Most tornadoes occur in North America (in the United States and Canada), concentrated in a region nicknamed the Tornado Alley. Tornadoes also occur in South America, South Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
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The logo of the Storm Prediction Center.

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States Department of Commerce (DoC).

Headquartered at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center is tasked with forecasting the risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the contiguous United States. It issues convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions, and watches as a part of this process. Convective outlooks are issued for the following eight days (issued separately for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Days 4–8), and detail the risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes during the given forecast period, although tornado, hail and wind details are only available for Days 1 and 2. Day 3, as well as 4–8 use a probabilistic scale, determining the probability for a severe weather event in percentage categories (15%/yellow and 30%/orange). (Full article...)
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House reduced to its basement by an EF5 tornado in Parkersburg, Iowa.
The tornado outbreak of May 22–27, 2008 affected much of the central United States and parts of Canada. A total of 173 tornadoes touched down as a result of the outbreak. Several large and destructive tornadoes occurred, including in Windsor, Colorado, Quinter, Kansas, Hugo, Minnesota and Parkersburg, Iowa. The Parkersburg tornado was rated an EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale with winds of 205 mph. Nine people were killed in Iowa, two in Kansas and one in each Minnesota and Colorado. (Full article...)
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An F2 tornado damaging Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on July 6, 2001.

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Tracks of all US tornadoes in 1979.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1979, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes. (Full article...)
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2024 tornado activity

A destroyed structure in Gallia County, Ohio on April 2
From April 1 to 3, 2024, a significant tornado outbreak, which also included a derecho, affected much of the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The National Weather Service issued dozens of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings across West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri during the event. A total of 32 million people were estimated to be under watches or warnings, and over 150,000 people were estimated to be without power. and 15 people were injured. The event was given an outbreak intensity score of 28 points, ranking it as a significant tornado outbreak, and five people were killed by non-tornadic events as well. (Full article...)

Tornado anniversaries

June 16

  • 1942 – A tornado struck southern Brazil, destroying many buildings including two hotels and a church. Reports from the day after indicate that more than 20 people were killed and hundreds were injured.
  • 1992 – An F5 tornado moved through Chandler, Minnesota, destroying 75 homes and damaging more than 90 other structures. One person was killed and 40 were injured.
  • 2014 – A strong supercell spawned a complex family of six tornadoes in northeastern Nebraska, four of which were rated EF4. The most destructive of these destroyed about half of Pilger and killed one person. A simultaneous EF4 tornado east of the town killed another person. Video of these twin tornadoes was widely shown in news media and online.

June 17

June 18

  • 1939 – An F4 tornado moved through the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, destroying 40 homes in Anoka, Maple Grove, and Champlin, killing nine people and injuring 222. Some homes were swept away. Four people died in a car that was thrown 300 yards.
  • 2001 – An F3 tornado damaged or destroyed 240 buildings in Siren, Wisconsin, killing two people and inuring 16.

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A cumulative map of all tornadoes and tornado warnings throughout the outbreak

Accompanying Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic coastal impacts was a moderate tornado outbreak spawned by the cyclone's outer bands. The event spanned August 26–31, 2005, with 57 tornadoes touching down across 8 states. One person died and numerous communities suffered damage of varying degrees from central Mississippi to Pennsylvania, with Georgia sustaining record monetary damage for the month of August. Due to extreme devastation in coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, multiple tornadoes may have been overlooked—overshadowed by the effects of storm surge and large-scale wind—and thus the full extent of the hurricane's tornado outbreak is uncertain. Furthermore, an indeterminate number of waterspouts likely formed throughout the life cycle of Hurricane Katrina.

The outbreak began with an isolated F2 over the Florida Keys on August 26; no tornadoes were recorded the following day as the storm traversed the Gulf of Mexico. Four weak tornadoes were observed on August 28 as the hurricane approached land, each causing little damage. Coincident with Katrina's landfall, activity began in earnest on August 29 with numerous tornadoes touching down across Gulf Coast states. Georgia suffered the greatest impact on this day, with multiple F1 and F2 tornadoes causing significant damage; one person died in Carroll County, marking the first known instance of a tornado-related death in the state during August. A record 18 tornadoes touched down across Georgia on August 29, far exceeding the previous daily record of just 2 tornadoes for the month throughout the state. Activity diminished over the subsequent two days as the former hurricane moved northward. Several more tornadoes touched down across the Mid-Atlantic states before the cessation of the outbreak just after midnight local time on August 31. (Full article...)
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Related WikiProjects

The scope of WikiProject Severe weather is to write articles about severe weather, namely thunderstorms and tornadoes. Their talk page is located here.

WikiProject Weather is the main hub for all articles that are weather-related. WikiProject Weather strives to improve articles in a variety of weather topics, including Tropical Cyclones, Severe Weather, General meteorology, Non-tropical Storms, Climate, Floods, Droughts and wildfires, Meteorological instruments and data, Meteorological Biographies, and Space Weather. If you would like to help, please visit the project talk page.

WikiProject Meteorology is a collaborative effort by dozens of Wikipedians to improve the quality of meteorology- and weather-related articles. If you would like to help, visit the project talk page, and see what needs doing. The project is currently being merged into WikiProject Weather.

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is a daughter project of WikiProject meteorology. The dozens of semi-active members and several full-time members focus on improving Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones.

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