Tornadoes in the United States
The Midwestern states are very prone to tornado activity, as they are part of "Tornado Alley." States included in the area that are hit by tornadoes the most are Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. The Midwestern States are often hit by tornadoes during the late spring and early summer months, especially the months of May and June. This is due to the aforementioned air mass moving northward into the Midwest and combining with another air mass that move southward from Canada. This creates unstable air, creating the potential for storms to strike the most during these months. The frequency begins to decrease in the middle of the summer, as the air mass moves northward into the Great Lakes states.
Tornado outbreak of April 2, 2006
The Tornado outbreak of April 2, 2006 was a series of tornadoes that occurred during the late afternoon and evening of April 2, 2006, in the central United States. It was the second major outbreak of 2006, in the same area that suffered considerable destruction in a previous outbreak on March 11 and March 12, as well as an outbreak on November 15, 2005. The most notable tornadoes of the outbreak struck northeastern Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, and West Tennessee, where several communitiesincluding Marmaduke, Arkansas, Caruthersville, Missouri, and Newbern, Tennessee suffered devastating damage. In total, 66 tornadoes touched down across seven states, which is the most in a single day in 2006. In addition, there were over 850 total severe weather reports, including many reports of straight-line winds exceeding hurricane force and hail as large as softballs, which caused significant additional damage in a nine-state region.