Another Deadly Spate Of Tornadoes In Midwest

Large tornado in Kankakee, Illinois yesterday. The same
supercell that produced this twister created additional
ones in Indiana, leading to two deaths. Photo via
Facebook, Storm Chaser Adam Lucio

 Less than a week after deadly tornadoes struck Michigan, more dangerous twisters swept through Illinois and Indiana last night, killing at least two people. 

The worst of it was in Kankakee County in Illinois and adjacent areas of Indiana. Two people have been confirmed dead in Lake Village, Indiana, where several other people were seriously hurt. 

As ABC 7 in Chicago reported, Lake City Fire Department Chief Rob Churchill said:"Total devastation, there were houses that were collapsed. There werre people trapped in  houses. There is livestock loose. Pretty much anything that you have seen before on newscast and on videos

He said the tornado trampled through 3.5 miles of town. Four firefighters and their own homes badly damaged. 

In Kankakee County, Illinois, nobody was killed by the tornado but nine were injured. Drone video from Kankakee showed houses completely leveled and trees turned into poles, completely stripped of any branches. 

The supercell also created havoc outside the path of the tornado. People in Kankakee said the hail was as big as their hands. One photo taken in the area showed a five to six inch diameter hailstone, which might end up establishing a record for largest hailstone on record for the state of Illinois.

Elsewhere, torrents of rain and hail hit parts of Michigan. In Grand Rapids. the hail fell so heavily that it clogged storm drains, leading to flooding.  Video showed vehicles in water at least up to the windows, with clumps of hail floating on the water. 

Other video from Grand Rapids show large piles of hail left over after being washed down hills. 

Oklahoma City and surrounding towns were under a tornado warning last evening. It's unclear if any tornadoes touched down, but there was wind damage in the metro area. 

Overall, there were 23 reports of tornadoes across the Plains and Midwest on Tuesday. 

The Washington Post is reporting that one reason for the rough start of the 2026 tornado season ins a marine heat wave in the Gulf of Mexico.

Water there has become much warmer than normal. Because the water is so warm, humid southerly winds coming off the Gulf carry more heat and moisture than they usually do. Heat and humidity are key ingredients for a tornado outbreak.

If any of the ingredients are stronger than usual, the severe storms and tornadoes can also become stronger.  

The bad weather had moved east by today. This afternoon, tornado watches are in effect for parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and in eastern Texas and western Louisiana. 

After that, severe weather looks like it will become more subdues. There is a threat of some strong storms and maybe a few tornadoes in the South Sunday, but that's about it for the next week or so. 

The warmer Gulf waters, brought on by climate change,  have probably in recent years increased the severity of some severe weather outbreaks. That water has also worsened some hurricanes. 

Nation's Flash Flood Season Off To A Bad Start

The remains of a vehicle are wrapped
around a San Antonio bridge abutment
 after it  was swept away by intense
 flash flooding early Thursday. 

 Deadly flash floods can happen anywhere in the United States at any time of year.

But the humid days of summer tend to bring these tragedies on most frequent. As we in Vermont have seen in the last two summers. 

Hot, humid air can hold a lot of water, and even a small weather disturbance under the right conditions can release torrents, creating flash floods almost in an instant.

Climate change has made this whole situation worse. The hotter, often more humid air brought to his by a warmer atmosphere can store more water in the air than ever before. Which in general leads to more intense rains than we are used to seeing.

It's only mid-June, and we're already starting in with the local, but deadly flash floods in different parts of the natiom

The worst of it so far was in and around San Antonio early Thursday. 

Slow moving thunderstorms settled over the San Antonio area, dumping eight inches of rain in just a few hours, with four inches of rain in just one hour between 3 and 4 a.m. Thursday. 

The flash flood killed 13 people, mostly in cars abruptly swept off a highway into raging waters.  

NBC News reports that at least 15 vehicles were swept into rapidly rising and rapidly flowing water on or near Perrin Beitel Road in San Antonio. At least 10 people from those vehicles were rescued. But other cars were found far downstream, their wreckage sometimes wrapped around bridge abutments or other debris. 

At least 70 water rescues were performed throughout the city. 

San Antonio lies just east of a an escarpment that sometimes helps trap Gulf of Mexico moisture in the region, which can sometimes get dumped in intense thunderstorms. San Antonio is the nation's seventh largest city.

Miles of concrete and asphalt and development gives no place for water to soak in, so downpours rush off in great gushes through parts of the city. Plus, of course, those more intense climate-change driven downpours make things worse.   

It hasn't just been San Antonio lately.   

 Severe flooding hit in and near Wheeling, West Virginia Saturday. At least three people were killed in this flooding and others are missing. Authorities performed numerous water rescues.  Some areas around Wheeling received 2.5 to 4 inches of rain within a half hour. 

On Friday, a flash flood emergency and particularly dangerous situation was declared around Evansville, Indiana. Three to six inches of rain fell within a couple hours there, instantly flooding streets. Numerous people had to be rescued from stranded cars. 

Also on Friday and Saturday, flash floods hit scattered parts of the central Appalachians.

Sunday morning, Oklahoma City was under a flash flood warning for the second time this month. Meteorologists were deeply concerned Sunday about a risk of flooding today in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.   

Even before summer started, it's been a bad year for flooding in the U.S. Extreme flooding hit areas in and around Kentucky back in February and again in April. 

So far, we in Vermont have been spared the worst of the flooding, but we've already had our share of problems in 2025.  Flash flooding on May 17 damaged roads and homes in Waitsfield, Warren, Hartford, White River Junction and other towns, 

Roads in southeastern Vermont were damaged in flash flooding on June 6-7.   

Looking ahead at the nation's upcoming flash flood prospects, a humid, sluggish airmass is forecast to linger over much of the eastern and southern United States for the next several days.  At least scattered instances of flash flooding are possible daily in various parts of the eastern two thirds of the U.S.

For us in Vermont, the next chance of any flood problems would be this Thursday. It's possible downpours expected Thursday could be intense enough to create isolated instances of flash flooding. However, it's too soon to know for sure.  

Potentially Deadly Severe Weather/Tornado Outbreak Looms Today In Midwest, East

Areas in yellow, orange and especially red are at risk
for tornadoes today. Some tornadoes might be strong,
long lasting and have a fast forward motion. 

The same complex storm system that has us set up for a winter storm here in Vermont this week is causing plenty of even more dangerous weather in much of the nation.  

This will probably be another storm that causes more than $1 billion in damage. That's because it's hitting so many areas with such a wide variety of dangerous weather. 

Between the giant hailstones in populated areas, the tornadoes, the high winds in severe thunderstorms, the flooding, the power outages and tree damage expected in the interior Northeast and coastal flooding along the East Coast, this one will be expensive.

Already, no fewer than three tornadoes hit parts of the Midwest and Plains Monday, though certain other twisters will be confirmed as meteorologists examine the damage today. 

Perhaps worse, big hailstones hit a number of busy towns and cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and other states. One storm in Texas produced grapefruit sized hail. Many other communities saw hail the size of tennis balls or baseballs. 

Winds in some storms gusted as high as 88 mph 

Today, severe weather forecasters are especially worried about Ohio and Kentucky. Ohio has already been hit by destructive tornadoes this year, and it's early in the storm season.

The set up today looks potentially extra dangerous. 

An initial wave of severe storms swept through southern Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky early this morning, producing several tornado warnings and possible actual tornadoes.

Quite a bit of damage was reported with this initial band of storms, and more problems were cropping up before noon as this line swept into West Virginia.  

Famous photograph of a huge tornado in Xenia, Ohio
back in 1974.  Forecasters fear large tornadoes 
could once again hit Ohio today. 

Those storms will clear out by this afternoon, setting the stage for what could be even more powerful supercells this afternoon. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center says there's a risk of strong, long-lived tornadoes in Ohio and Kentucky this afternoon and evening.

It's usually time to worry when they start throwing words like that around. 

The numerous intense storms are also expected to have a fast forward motion, meaning they might not be a lot of time for residents to take cover if they are warned about an approaching tornado.

The area around the Ohio River Valley under that tornado threat today is no stranger to big tornado outbreaks during March and April.  The area around Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky suffered through massive, deadly tornado outbreaks during the Palm Sunday Outbreak of 1965, the famous "Super Outbreak" in 1974 and a big swarm of tornadoes in March, 2012,

Worst Tornado Outbreak So Far This Year In Midwest, South

Serious destruction in Indian Lake, Ohio. Photo from 
From Above Aerial LLC

Thursday and Thursday night's severe weather outbreak in the Midwest hit with unexpected fury, spinning off tornadoes that killed at least three  people and left dozens injured.  

The tornadoes on Thursday seemed to concentrate their fury on Indiana and Ohio, where several strong tornadoes were reported.

Logan County, Ohio was reportedly especially hard hit. 

Videos posted on social media showed intense looking tornadoes sweeping across the late winter landscape of Ohio. 

Another powerful tornado caused severe damage and perhaps dozens of injuries in the adjacent towns of Winchester and Selma, Indiana. 

Indiana and Ohio were not the only states hit. Suspected tornadoes also struck Arkansas and Texas. As of mid-afternoon, fifteen tornadoes had been confirmed. Officials with National Weather Service offices in damaged areas are still doing storm surveys to obtain a full count of the number of twisters. 

The tornado and tornado alerts extended a huge 1,000-mile distance from northern Texas to northern Ohio. And here's an oddity: The line of intense storms extended almost exactly along the path of the upcoming April 8 total solar eclipse. Except of course there was no dangerous weather along the eclipse path in New York, Vermont and beyond. 

Tornado activity as intense as Thursdays is rare for as far north as Ohio this early in the season.  

It's been that kind of early storm season so far. Wisconsin had its first February tornado on record.  Tornadoes in early March were reported as far north as Michigan and southwestern New York.  Ohio was also hit in late February as six tornadoes spread widespread damage in the middle of the state. 

Some tornadoes are possible in the South today, but the activity shouldn't be as intense and tragic as it was Thursday. 

After today and for the next week or so, tornado and severe weather should be fairly low key. However, long range forecasts seem to indicate a weather pattern more conducive toward tornadoes and hail toward the end of this month. 

That long range forecast is not cast in stone, but the U.S. is now in that dangerous season of tornadoes and giant hail. 

Tornado Update: At Least Nine Dead, Dozens Injured In Big Tornado Outbreak

Severe damage from a tornado Friday in Wynne, Arkansas.
Photo by Ray Sharp, via Facebook and CNN

 The death toll from swarms of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms on Friday is at least nine with dozens injured.

The storms caused damage even more widespread than the tornadoes that afflicted Mississippi last week.  

Nine or more deaths is of course terrible news, but the fact that it wasn't worse is a blessing. 

One factor that probably reduced the death toll was the dire tone of the alerts and warnings issued on Friday. A rare "high risk" alert for tornadoes was issued in parts of the South and Midwest.  As the tornadoes developed, it became clear that some of them, as forecast were quite strong and long lasting. 

Warnings for the tornadoes carried "particularly dangerous situation" alerts which tends to wake up people to the danger even more. 

Another, probably somewhat lesser factor in the could-have-been-worse death toll is many of the tornadoes happened during the day.  Even though we're told not to wait for visual cues when a tornado warning is issued, humans are humans. We instinctive need that jolt to take cover when we see that menacing funnel bearing down on us. 

It appears some of the worst damage was around Little Rock Arkansas and points north and east of there.  The report of 600 injured around Little Rock that I saw turned out to be an exaggeration, but dozens of people were sent to hospitals with tornado injuries in the Little Rock metro area. 

The same supercell thunderstorm that unleashed the tornado in the Little Rock area dropped another powerful twister well to the northeast on the city of Wynne, Arkansas. Two deaths were reported there, along with extensive damage to the community. 

Several tornadoes later roamed the area around Memphis, Tennessee, causing more widespread damage. The twisters avoided the center of Memphis, and instead struck its northern and southern suburbs. 

AccuWeather reported two additional deaths from a likely tornado or tornadoes in Sullivan, Indiana. Widespread damage was also reported in this region, as you might expect. 

In Belvidere, Illinois, a tornado or intense thunderstorm caused much of the roof of the Apollo Theater to collapse during a concert. One of the 260 people inside died and 28 others were injured. 

In Iowa, several large tornadoes roared across the flat landscape. One of the tornadoes caused a lot of damage in Coralville, Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

Luckily, though, many of the largest tornadoes threaded the needle and just missed larger Iowa cities such as Ottawa, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Marshalltown and Waterloo. 

Overall, there were 65 preliminary reports of tornadoes in the U.S. on Friday. The number will change as National Weather Service investigators probe the damage swaths. 

Today, the tornado threat is less, but a few twisters could pop up in the Northeast, especially around New Jersey, Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania. 

Signs are pointing toward another possible big tornado and severe weather outbreak early next week in the Midwest and South. 

After that, the weather pattern seems to want to calm down, at least temporarily, so there might be a week or so starting about Wednesday or Thursday in which there won't be many tornadoes, hailstorms or severe thunderstorms. This being April, though, you never know.