Weather Gabe

On May 4, 2007, one of the most infamous tornado events in storm-chasing history unfolded in Kansas. The small town of Greensburg was devastated by a nearly two-mile-wide tornado, destroying 90% of the town.

This was the first tornado rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. It killed 12 people and injured 63. From a chaser's perspective, the event's most remarkable feature was the sheer number of large, violent tornadoes produced by the parent supercell.

After striking Greensburg, the storm spawned three more massive tornadoes, two of which—the Trousdale and Hopewell wedges—occurred simultaneously. The Trousdale tornado reached 2.2 miles wide, while Hopewell was 1.2 miles wide. For comparison, even the violent Pilger twin tornadoes on June 16, 2014, paled in scale next to this pair. In total, the storm produced at least 22 tornadoes over six hours.

To me, this was one of the greatest supercells of all time. While there may have been larger outbreaks, the Greensburg storm stood u...

On April 2, 2025, a massive outbreak of tornadoes ravaged the middle Mississippi and Ohio Valley regions, impacting at least eight states from Arkansas to Ohio. Storm chaser Brandon Copic captured live video of a strikingly powerful and visible wedge tornado near Lake City in northeast Arkansas, which many viewers witnessed. Tragically, the tornadoes claimed at least six lives across the affected areas.

The evening before the tornado outbreak, many storm chasers doubted a significant event would unfold. High-resolution weather models suggested a widespread squall line with embedded supercells would develop, but few expected its intensity. Surprisingly, Chris Broyles, a veteran forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center, escalated the risk level to High.

What was he seeing? What fueled his confidence? Although I haven’t discussed this with Chris yet, subtle clues hinted at a major event. Let’s explore why this outbreak became so explosive.

The Setup

The weather forecast for April...