Oklahoma - Kansas Border Tornadoes

On May 16th, 2023 a very significant severe weather event took place over the Great Plains, with two extremely violent tornadoes over the Oklahoma - Kansas border area. Five towns got struck and completely wiped out.

Meteorological Synopsis
On May 15th, a Mesoscale Convective Complex passed over northern Kansas and southern Nebraska, causing widespread and extensive wind damage, especially in the Topeka and Kansas City areas. The system left an outflow boundary, which was oriented form the east-northeast to the west-southwest. Meteorologists at the Storm Prediction Center recognized the similarity of this setup withe 1997 Jarrell, Texas one and issued a Moderate Risk for tornadoes as the boundary stalled over the Oklahoma - Kansas border. As the hours progressed, the air became very unstable, with about 4000 J/Kg in CAPE and with about 350 m2/s2 in 0-1 km SRH, the environment was prime for a potentially violent tornado outbreak.

Surprisingly, only one supercell managed to develop due to the strong CAP. The storm put down two violent tornadoes and a satellite over its 3 hours duration. The supercell followed a ENE-WSW path, riding along the boundary, at an extremely slow pace, about 20 mph. Both tornadoes were rated EF5 and the satellite EF0. Five towns were struck, one in Kansas and four in Oklahoma. The two tornadoes caused massive damage, wiping out numerous homes, farms, fields and roads, killing 99 people and injuring 87. Storm chasers and meteorologists, due to the similarities with the 1997 Texas event, called the tornadoes "Jarrell Relatives".