March 31 Central U.S. Tornado Outbreak

4/2 Update | Summary
Posting Date: April 2, 2023, 11:00:00 AM

A severe weather outbreak has impacted parts of the central and midwestern United States over the weekend.  The event started on Friday afternoon, as an extratropical cyclone set up over Nebraska, leading to rare “high” risk warnings from the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center (SPC) for parts of six states, the first time such a dire warning for severe weather had been issued since 2021.  By the end of the day Friday, more than 80 reports of tornadoes had reached the SPC, along with 500 additional reports of damaging straight-line winds and hail.  Saturday saw only two reports of tornadoes, both in Delaware, but over 300 damaging wind reports were still registered across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and western New York.

Multiple areas were severely impacted by the tornados on Friday.  The first and most destructive of these was an estimated EF3 which touched down northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas late Friday afternoon.  This tornado traveled east-northeast across its path, starting at Breckenridge, then striking Cammack Village as it trekked across North Little Rock.  The storm then caused additional damage in Sherwood and Jacksonville before dissipating.  Overall, this tornado is estimated to have traveled nearly 30 miles with a peak width more than one mile, per preliminary damage survey information from the National Weather Service Little Rock office.  According to Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., an estimated 2,648 structures were impacted by this long track tornado. 

The Little Rock tornado was not the only major impact to the state of Arkansas.  A tornado struck the town of Wynne directly, heavily damaging or destroying several homes and effectively splitting the town of 8,000 in half.  Elsewhere, in Mississippi, significant wind damage was reported in P​ontotoc County, near Tupelo, as well as in Desoto, Lee, and Tishomingo Counties.  In Belvidere, IL, northwest of Chicago, one person was killed and dozens injured when a theater roof collapsed prior to a scheduled concert. 

An estimated EF3 tornado tore through the small town of Sullivan, Indiana.  Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said more than 200 homes were severely damaged from the event and that parts of the area were “unrecognizable”.  Several communities across Cannon, Lewis, Macon, Marshall, Rutherford, and Wayne Counties in Tennessee reported significant damage Friday night, primarily from suspected or confirmed tornadoes.  Three tornadoes of estimated EF3 strength or greater were reported in Iowa, with the strongest of those, likely a low end EF4, causing significant damage in Coralville and Hills in Johnson County, and the small town of Keota in Iowa also say several homes severely damaged or destroyed.

Severe weather remains in the forecast for Sunday; the main threat appears to be the potential for large hail and locally damaging winds, primarily in northern Texas.  The Convective Outlook for Tuesday, April 4^, however, shows the potential for another significant widespread outbreak of severe weather across Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa.

Near real-time footprints for hail, straight-line wind, and tornado perils are available through Verisk Weather Solutions Respond analytics.  The Verisk ALERT team continues to monitor the severe weather impacts across the U.S. and will provide further updates as events warrant. 

4/2 Update | Downloads
Posting Date: April 2, 2023, 11:00:00 AM

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