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. 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.