Tornado Outbreak of May 30-31, 2018

The Tornado Outbreak of May 30-31, 2018 was a deadly, catastrophic outbreak that killed 877 people, 6,501 injured people and had a confirmed total of 16 EF4/EF5 tornadoes.

The outbreak started at 9:45 AM EST on May 30 and ended at 7:02 PM EST on May 31. A total of 300 tornadoes touched down while causing $54.7 billion (2018 USD) in damages.

In all, states recorded 300 total tornadoes. This is the confirmed 4th large outbreak of May. Over 1,000 tornadoes were confirmed in the month of May, setting a new record.

The strongest tornado was the Woodward EF5 with 304 mph winds. The weakest tornado was an EF0 near Adair, Iowa with 40 mph winds.

Out of the two days, the 30th was the more active day with 173 confirmed tornadoes to the 31st's 127 confirmed tornadoes. With a post tropical cyclone dissipating, the storm formed many strong supercells which ended up forming many large, devastating tornadoes.

Only 3 states recorded fatalities with Oklahoma with the most, 516, followed by Texas with 221 then Kansas with 140.

Synopsis
A total of 111 EF0's, 88 EF1's, 61 EF2's, 24 EF3's, 11 EF4's, and 5 EF5's touched down.

Events
A total of 300 tornadoes touched down.

Woodward, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Woodward, Oklahoma Tornado

The first major tornado of the short outbreak touched down on Day 1 at 3:16 PM CDT. Starting out as an EF2, the tornadoes killed 67 in a neighborhood full of mobile homes as the tornado was gaining EF3 intensity.

At 3:48 PM CDT while reaching peak intensity, the tornado completely destroyed multiple neighborhoods of well built houses, killing 181. With the tornado not dying out anytime soon, a tornado emergency was declared for Woodward and surrounding areas. At 4:09 PM CDT, the tornado briefly weakened to high-end EF4 before regaining strength into an EF5. As the tornado was approaching western Woodward, another person was killed when their house was completely swept away.

At 5:46 PM CDT, the tornado finally started to die out weakening into an EF3. At 5:57 PM CDT, a satellite tornado touched down, causing EF3 damage.

At 6:03 PM CDT, the tornado dissipated 16.9 miles west of Woodward. In all, the EF5 killed 249, injured 428, and caused $9.7 billion in damages. Many have compared this twister to the Woodward F5 back in 1947 that killed 181 people.

Later that evening, over 350 people were found trapped in their houses when the tornado caused their roof to collapse.

The tornado had recorded wind speeds of 304 mph measured by multiple doppler radar trucks. The rating is widely accepted by multiple surveyors and scientists who studied the mean, devastating EF5 rated tornado.

Leedey, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Leedey, Oklahoma Tornado 

During the Woodward EF5, another very large tornado touched down. The tornado was given a high end EF4 rating that killed 81, injured 301 and caused $2.05 billion in damages.

Olney, Texas
Main Article: 2018 Olney, Texas Tornado

Udall, Kansas
Main Article: 2018 Udall, Kansas Tornado

Blackwell, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Blackwell, Oklahoma Tornado

Kiowa, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Kiowa, Oklahoma Tornado

Big Spring, Texas
Main Article: 2018 Big Spring, Texas Tornado

Rocksprings, Kansas
Main Article: 2018 Rocksprings, Kansas Tornado

Oberlin, Kansas
Main Article: 2018 Oberlin, Kansas Tornado

Clyde, Texas
Main Article: 2018 Clyde, Texas Tornado

Broken Bow, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Broken Bow, Oklahoma Tornado

Checotah, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Checotah, Oklahoma Tornado

Lawton, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Lawton, Oklahoma Tornado

Quapaw, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Quapaw, Oklahoma Tornado

Antlers, Oklahoma
Main Article: 2018 Antlers, Oklahoma TornadoTouching down at 6:57 PM CDT east of Darwin. Causing EF0 to EF1 damage, multiple businesses suffered minor damage. Continuing to strengthen, EF2 damage occurred to a mobile home, killing 2.

Undergoing intense intensification, EF4 damage occurred to multiple businesses and a dozen homes, killing 12. A Walmart Supercentre was completely leveled. with damage rated high-end EF4 here. 72 people were killed at the Walmart, while 124 were injured.

Weakening slightly, a few rows of homes were completely swept away, with 10 deaths occurring at this location with 148 more people getting injured. Antlers' historic trainstation was not even hit, much to the gratitude of the citizens.

After leaving a swath of destruction in Antlers, another person was killed, along with 25 injuries after a bowling alley was hit at high-end EF3 strength. 2 miles south of Finley at 8:08 PM CDT, EF2 to EF3 damage occurred to multiple vacant farms.

The tornado continued to weaken as the tornado minorly scoured the ground, while uprooting hundreds of trees. EF1 damage occurred near Cloudy.

Even more EF0 to EF1 damage occurred before the monster tornado died out near Snow after killing 93, injuring 297, and causing $2.15 billion (2018 USD) in damages. The following day, a state of emergency was declared for Pushmataha County.

The NWS sent survey teams to survey the damage. After months of surveys and inspections from top engineers, the final rating was a high-end EF4. The total damage path reached 75.17 miles long and 1.9 miles wide.