See also: List of tornadoes in the tornado outbreak of May 20, 2019
The May 20, 2019 tornado outbreak was a sequence of tornadoes that lasted 24 hours in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, and New Mexico. The outbreak overall produced 232 tornadoes, 5 of them were given a catastrophic rating of EF5, the highest tornado had wind speeds over 300 miles per hour in OK City. And the outbreak was mostly a series of small tornadoes at first but then ramped up to EF3 and higher status, this outbreak was costlier than the 2011 and 1974 outbreaks and had more EF5 tornadoes than both of those. 8 EF5 tornadoes devastated parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas on this day. 2 of those 5 EF5's had wind speeds of 300 miles per hour or greater.
Setup[]
On May 14, the SPC began monitoring an area that had a risk of severe weather within the next 6 days, as the days passed a tornado outbreak seemed more and more likely as the levels of moisture and instability increased in the atmosphere. On May 17, the SPC issued a moderate risk for Day 3. The HRRR model runs predicted Supercells would form around 10 am and dissipate at 9 pm. On May 18, the SPC noticed that the wind fields were extremely strong with southerly flow 90 kt with also 60 knots coming from the southerly flow and 845 millibars. It seemed if the atmosphere was going to explode with convective energy on May 20, it was very stable for supercells that could produce large hail, wind and tornadoes. Most meteorologists expected a discrete mode of all severe hazards, including tornadoes. On May 20, at 1200Z a high risk of severe weather was issued for parts of Central Texas and Oklahoma. Ironically this happened 6 years after a EF5 devastated Moore, Oklahoma and killed 23 people. At 1300Z the tornado risk increased from %45 to %60, this was one of the highest risks since April 27, 2011.
Northeast Derecho[]
On the early hours of May 20, a large derecho zoomed through the Northeast US, spawning a EF2 tornado, 80 mph winds and 4" hail, the derecho killed 7 people.
Overview[]
232 tornadoes were confirmed, however only 204 touched down in OK, AR, KS, TX, and NM. 172 fatalities were reported in Oklahoma, 71 in Texas, 21 in Arkansas, 7 in Kansas, and 3 in New Mexico. Overall there were 94 violent tornadoes.
Tornado count by state
| State/Province | Number of Tornadoes |
|---|---|
| Arkansas | 12 |
| Kansas | 32 |
| New Mexico | 4 |
| Oklahoma | 141 |
| Texas | 43 |
| Totals | 232 |
Notable Tornadoes[]
Lawton, Oklahoma EF3 tornado[]
The Lawton Oklahoma EF3 tornado was a short lived EF3 tornado that caused damage in Lawton to a few homes. The tornado injured 3 people and killed no one. It formed around 10:30 am and dissipated at 11 am.
Chickasha, Oklahoma EF4 tornado[]
This tornado leveled 82% of the town of Chickasha and killed 3 people, and it continued into Blanchard, where minimal damage was reported.
Fort Worth, Texas EF5 tornado[]
The Fort Worth, Texas EF5 tornado was an extremely deadly tornado that struck the city with winds of 245 mph, and it killed 56 people.
Arlington, Grand Prairie, Texas EF5 tornado[]
The tornado was considered the twin to the Fort Worth tornado and it killed 43 and had winds of 245 mph also.
El Reno-Piedmont, Oklahoma EF5 tornado[]
103 people lost there lives in a 295 mph tornado that completely destroyed Piedmont.
Tulsa, Oklahoma EF5 tornado[]
A considerable tornado with winds of 300 mph severely damaged buildings and killed 12 people.
Moore, Oklahoma EF5 tornado[]
This tornado was considered the strongest tornado of the year, winds of 315 mph. 142 people lost there lives, many schools were leveled, the devastation was incredible.
| EF5 tornado | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Duration | 0103 – 0206 | ||
| Intensity | 510 km/h (315 mph) (1-min) | ||
Aftermath[]
The aftermath caused Oklahoma's economy to collapse severely, it would take months to get back up again. US President Donald Trump signed a federal disaster declaration for all counties in Oklahoma. More than 6,000 US troops deployed to rescue survivors in Oklahoma. 359 people died, making it one of the deadliest US tornado outbreaks in history.