Tornado outbreak of May 21-25, 2021

The Tornado outbreak of May 22-25 is the deadliest and costliest tornado outbreak since the Tornado outbreak of May 21-26, 2011. Several tornadoes touched down across 14 states in the American South and Great Plains, with Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas being the worst affected. The jet stream's position over the Great Plains combined with warm wet humid air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold dry air from the Rockies after a relatively cool spring lead to the perfect conditions for supercell development. Isolated supercells produced several weak tornadoes across the western plains by May 20, but squall-line storms and other non-rotating storm modes dominated the scene in light of a lack of wind shear. However, on May 22, a low-level jet entered this region of enhanced cape, and several powerful supercell thunderstorms popped up.