List of tornadoes in the tornado outbreak of May 4–6, 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In early May 2007, a significant tornado outbreak affected the Central United States. Over a three-day period from May 4–6, a total of 132 tornadoes touched down across seven states. Collectively, the tornadoes killed 14 people, injured 90, and left behind $264.7 million in damage.[1] The most destructive events took place on May 4 when an intense supercell thunderstorm produced a family of 22 tornadoes in central Kansas,[2] one of which inflicted EF5 damage across the small town of Greensburg (with a population of around 1,500).[3] Approximately 95 percent of the town was damaged or destroyed and 11 people died. The scale of destruction led to the near-complete reconstruction of the town.[3][4]
The event was precipitated by a nearly stationary upper-level trough along the Utah–Nevada border with three surface boundaries extending across Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.[4][5] A dry line formed over Kansas, Texas, and the Oklahoma Panhandle late on May 4 and became the focal point for extensive severe thunderstorm development.[4] Conditions the following day remained exceptionally favorable for discrete supercell thunderstorm activity with ample instability and strong wind shear favoring long-lived tornadic storms alongside the potential for large hail. The likelihood of widespread severe weather prompted the issuance of a high-risk convective outlook from the Storm Prediction Center.[5] Activity was as expansive and prolific as forecast, with 92 tornadoes touching down across the country on May 5.[1] Twenty-five tornadoes touched down across South Dakota on May 5, including one EF3 tornado and five EF2 tornadoes.[6] Activity subsided on May 6, with only brief, weak tornadoes over rural areas in the Plains region.[1] This resulted from more resilient caps inhibiting thunderstorm development and from the upper-level trough shifting east and weakening.[7]