A large, major, and deadly tornado outbreak occurred across the Central and Southern United States from May 6–10, 2024, as a result of a slow-moving trough that was moving across the country. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a tornado-driven high risk convective outlook for portions of central Oklahoma and extreme southern Kansas early on May 6. Millions of people were put under a particularly dangerous situation (PDS) tornado watch later that evening, as many tornadoes were reported across the region, particularly in Oklahoma, where a violent EF4 tornado struck the towns of Barnsdall and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Severe and tornadic weather spread eastward over the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys over the next two days, with a nocturnal outbreak occurring in the latter on May 8, as tornadic supercell thunderstorms produced many tornadoes across the states of Tennessee, northern Alabama and western Georgia. The system responsible for the outbreak finally moved offshore by May 10 after producing several more tornadoes across the Southeast, including two EF2 tornadoes and hurricane-strength straight-line winds that moved through Tallahassee. This large outbreak came less than two weeks after a similarly large and deadly outbreak occurred across most of the same regions.
Five fatalities directly linked to the tornadoes were confirmed from the outbreak: two in Oklahoma on May 6, one in Tennessee on May 8, and two in Florida on May 10. Three non-tornadic deaths related to straight-line winds also occurred. In addition, during the outbreak, tornado emergencies were issued for three consecutive days between May 6–8 for damaging tornadoes; the last time that this phenomenon had occurred was exactly 21 years prior, when tornado emergencies were issued for four consecutive days between May 6–9, 2003, during a similarly large outbreak.
Overall, 179 tornadoes were confirmed from the outbreak, most of which were clustered around Oklahoma, Michigan, Tennessee, and Alabama, earning 51 points on the outbreak intensity score. (Full article...)
List of 2024 tornado articles
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