Tornado Outbreak of May 15, 2018

The Tornado Outbreak of May 15 - May 19, 2018 was a huge, catastrophic tornado outbreak that occurred on May 15, 2018. The outbreak formed almost 3 weeks after an also deadly outbreak.

May 15


The National Weather Service gave a tornado warning for most of central Oklahoma after many storm clouds from Hurricane Chris.

Notable Tornadoes
In all, 143 tornadoes touched down. 45 EF0's, 41 EF1's, 34 EF2's, 15 EF3's, 5 EF4's and 3 EF5's touched down.

Binger, Oklahoma
As the storm that started the outbreak was looming over central Oklahoma, many reports of tornadoes were confirmed at the National Weather Center in Norman. The first five tornadoes were all reported in between Binger and Chickasha. All were rated EF0. A large EF2 than touched 5 miles north of Binger at 1:23 PM CDT. The tornadoes caused severe damage to a couple of mobile homes as well as tipping over a train. The tornado only traveled for 8.3 miles before dissipating at 1:39 PM CDT. A large wedged EF4 touched down 2.7 miles southwest of Binger. Following a similar path as the 1981 F4, this EF4 caused high-end EF4 damage that was originally rated as an EF5. As the EF4 was nearing Binger, two additional rope tornadoes touched down followed by an EF1. With the EF4 dying out, another fairly large tornado touched down causing EF3 damage. At 4:02 PM CDT, a violent, large wedged tornado touched down near Chickasha. With the tornado quickly intensifying, the EF4 badly damaged a house, leaving only a wall standing. As the now EF5 entered Binger, it hit 6 houses head-on, completely swweeping away everything as well as 10 people's lives before dissipating at 5:19 PM CDT.

The second EF4 touched down shortly after the EF5 dissipated. This EF4 left major damage to 15 structures, before dying out at around 6 PM CDT.

Medora, North Dakota


2 EF2's as well as an EF1 touched down in downtown Medora, North Dakota at 6:34 PM CDT. A violent EF4 touched down 3 miles west of Medora leaving half the town destroyed. That EF4 died out before any extra damage was done to homes or civilians.

Tescott, Kansas
At 7:12 PM CDT, a fairly large tornado touched down near Tescott, Kansas, becoming an EF2. 2 were perished after the low end EF3 destroyed their mobile home. The now EF4 badly damaged 3 neighborhoods, injuring up to 125. As the EF4 was dying out, 3 extra EF1's touched down as well as an EF0.

With the EF4 now gone, an EF2 touched down causing moderate damage to 3 homes and a gas station.

The last tornado touched down as a large EF3 before dissipating. In all the Tescott tornadoes caused at least 965 million dollars in damage.

Red Rock, Oklahoma
As the storms from Binger were moving, the supercell that produced the tornadoes dropped twisters in and around Red Rock. The first 10 tornadoes touched down right after 7:30. All were rated EF0-EF2(6 EF0, 3EF1, and 1 EF2).

The first large tornado touched down 6.1 miles north of Red Rock as an EF3. The 0.8 mile long tornado caused considerable damage to a neighborhood as another tornado touched down, causing EF1 damage.

The biggest tornado of the Red Rock family, an EF5, touched down at 7:41 PM CDT. The tornado started off as an EF1, snapping trees and damaging 5 mobile homes. The tornado intensified into an EF3, causing a train to tip over a train and cause an accident on I-40. The now EF4 completely destroyed a shopping center, killing 17. As the now monsterous EF5 was moving into Red Rock, a small rope tornado touched down, causing no damage. The EF5 completely destroyed a neighborhood, leaving an additional 22 perished.

Denton, Texas
The last tornado family of this outbreak occurred in Denton, Texas. The first tornadoes touched down just after 8 PM. 16 tornadoes were confirmed, all rated EF0 or EF1. The 17th twister, A17 is an EF5. The damaging tornado causing two EF4 satellites to drop, causing devastating damage all around. The EF5 stayed on the ground for almost 4 hours before lifting at 11:58 PM CDT. As a result, 49 people lost their lives along with 228 people injured while causing $1.1 billion in damages.