Tornado outbreak of May 22, 2020

A powerful trough moved from the west coast towards the central United States, and set the stage for a large severe weather outbreak. The event was forecast days in advance by the SPC, with a risk area outlined with the day 6 outlook. On the day of the event, the SPC upgraded the moderate risk they had in place the day before to a high risk for north Oklahoma, central Kansas, and south Nebraska. A strong surface low had formed and was positioned in northwest Kansas. The dryline extended from the surface low down into southwest Oklahoma, and a warm front was draped across much of the southern half of Nebraska. Given the impressive dynamics, with a 110+ knot jet streak nosing into the risk area, as well as a very strong low level jet, shear was not going to be an issue. 0-1 km SRH values were up to 300m2/s2 and 0-3km SRH values reached 700m2/s2 in some spots. Hodographs were textbook; they were very curved and exhibited the strong shear and potential for violent tornadoes nicely. Temperatures soared to 90 degrees, with dew points in the low 70's throughout the warm sector. The cap eroded by noon, and storms developed around 2:00 PM CDT. A PDS tornado watch was issued for much of the high risk area, with >95% chance of 2+ tornadoes, and a 90% of a significant tornado. There were two main areas where supercells with tornadoes developed: the dryline from central Kansas into central Oklahoma, and the warm front in Nebraska. By 3:00 PM numerous tornadoes were down, and the outbreak continued until just before midnight. The outbreak produced six violent tornadoes (4 EF4, 2 EF5), and is just the fourth day in recorded history with multiple EF5 tornadoes. 39 people died, and the damages totaled almost $4 billion.

Tornado Statistics
 

May 22 Event
{| class="wikitable toccolours collapsible" width="100%" ! colspan="6" |List of confirmed tornadoes - May 22, 2018
 *   EF# || Location || County || Time of Origin (UTC) || Path length || Damage
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Nebraska
 * bgcolor="#" | EF0
 * N of Red Cloud
 * Webster
 * 1956
 * 6.8 mi
 * Short-lived tornado went through farmland north of Red Cloud. Only damage was to crops and an outbuilding was destroyed.
 * bgcolor="#" | EF2
 * Amboy
 * Webster
 * 1959
 * 14.8 mi
 * Strong tornado occured simulataneosly with the EF0 tornado north of Red Cloud. The tornado touched down north of the Kansas/Nebraska border at 2:59 PM, and proceeded northeast. The very small community of Amboy took a direct hit, with four buildings in town taking EF2 damage.  The tornado dissipated just west of Highway 78 in a cornfield.
 * bgcolor="#" | EF2
 * Hardy to Ruskin
 * Nuckolls
 * 2024
 * 10.3 mi
 * This large wedge tornado achieved high-end EF2 strength on its 10 mile path. The tornado touched down on the northern side of Hardy, and moved north-northeast through mainly open farmland. The tornado did EF1 damage to a few farm buildings before entering Ruskin, where high-end EF2 damage was noted to several buildings on Main Street.  The tornado lifted just north of town, with a peak width of half a mile.
 * bgcolor="#" | EF1
 * N of Hardy
 * Nuckolls
 * 2029
 * 5.6 mi
 * Satellite tornado to the Hardy-Ruskin wedge. EF1 damage was noted to a farmhouse.
 * bgcolor="#" |
 * E of Oak
 * Nuc
 * E of Oak
 * Nuckolls, Thayer
 * 2048
 * 2 mi
 * Weak needle-shaped tornado remained in open fields, spawned from the same supercell that produced the Hardy-Ruskin EF2 tornado. Crossed from Nuckolls County into Thayer County before dissapating.
 * bgcolor="#" | |'''W of Odell to Pi
 * W of Odell to Pickrell
 * Gage
 * 2125
 * 27.6 mi
 * 1 death - This intense tornado began just west of Odell in southwest Sage County. It rapidly gained size, turning into a multi-vortex wedge tornado as it turned north and moved through farmland.  The tornado killed one person in their car as it followed Route 77 up to Beatrice.  The city took a direct hit from the tornado at high-end EF3 strength.  Numerous homes in the Beatrice Country Club area were flattened or had only interior walls standing, and a few buildings in the downtown area of Beatrice demonstrated EF3 damage, as well.  Fortunately, no one was killed in the city.  The tornado did widespread EF2 damage on the north side of Neatrice, and narrowly missed the airport.  The twister became narrow and meandered through open country before weakening near Pickrell.
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Kansas
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Oklahoma
 * - |}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}
 * W of Odell to Pickrell
 * Gage
 * 2125
 * 27.6 mi
 * 1 death - This intense tornado began just west of Odell in southwest Sage County. It rapidly gained size, turning into a multi-vortex wedge tornado as it turned north and moved through farmland.  The tornado killed one person in their car as it followed Route 77 up to Beatrice.  The city took a direct hit from the tornado at high-end EF3 strength.  Numerous homes in the Beatrice Country Club area were flattened or had only interior walls standing, and a few buildings in the downtown area of Beatrice demonstrated EF3 damage, as well.  Fortunately, no one was killed in the city.  The tornado did widespread EF2 damage on the north side of Neatrice, and narrowly missed the airport.  The twister became narrow and meandered through open country before weakening near Pickrell.
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Kansas
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Oklahoma
 * - |}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Oklahoma
 * - |}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |Oklahoma
 * - |}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}