Severe weather outbreak spawns EF3 tornadoes, one of the worst days for storms since 1986
It's been a long week of severe weather with a major tornado outbreak Wednesday night bringing at least 2 EF3 tornadoes.
From April 2-3, tornadoes and floods wreaked havoc in Arkansas, Tennessee and surrounding states, leaving communities in ruins.
Overlapping dangers of tornadoes and historic flooding are targeting the southern United States through the weekend — uncharted territory for storm chasers who have tracked the weather up close for years.
Tornadoes and thunderstorms blitzed the central United States Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night with severe thunderstorms spawning tornadoes from Arkansas to Ohio. A total of 53 tornado reports were filed, and so far 33 twisters have been confirmed by the National Weather Service (NWS) so far, as of Friday afternoon.
At least 3 tornadoes were determined to be EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale— one in Lake City, Arkansas, another in Selmer, Tennessee, and one in Potosi, Missouri. At least seven people were killed by the storms, including flooding deaths.
Storm damaged homes and broken trees are seen Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Selmer, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
At least one tornado was reported each day from March 28 through April 3. A tornado outbreak on Sunday, March 30, produced dozens of tornado reports from Mississippi to Michigan— along with a late-season ice storm in Michigan.
Tornado reports from Wednesday to Friday morning.
The most significant severe weather outbreak occurred Wednesday into Wednesday night. From 8 a.m. EDT Wednesday through the same time Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued 728 severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings — making it the third-busiest severe weather day since records began in 1986.
Severe storms led to extreme flooding across multiple neighborhoods in Nashville on April 3.
Tornadoes weren't the only story — hail and high winds caused damage across a 1,500-mile swath of the nation. During that period, 495 high wind reports and 208 hail reports were filed. On Thursday, just one tornado report was received, but there were another 61 high wind reports and 46 hail reports. In Nashville, water rescues were performed Thursday morning after particularly heavy rainfall.
By Friday morning, hundreds of flood warnings were in effect from Texas to Pennsylvania. Historic, life-threatening flooding is forecast to impact parts of Arkansas, western Tennessee and Kentucky through the weekend.
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