Severe Weather Outbreak, Mid-March (RECAP)

Drone: Trail Of Damage In Massive Tornado's Wake

A powerful, multiday severe weather outbreak hit the Central and Eastern US from March 9 through March 12, bringing deadly tornadoes, very large hail and gusty winds. This happened less than a week after an outbreak of 26 tornadoes swarmed over many of the same areas.

In all, 100 tornadoes were confirmed during this outbreak. There were also 680 reports of thunderstorm high winds, wind damage and large hail from March 9-12.

What Happened March 10

A moderate risk, or a level 4 of 5, was issued primarily for northern Illinois and northern Indiana. This was the first moderate risk since July 2025.

304 reports of severe weather were received by the National Weather Service from the morning of March 10 through early morning on March 11, the most of any 24-hour period in the U.S. since July 2025.

(News: As It Happened March 10)

Conditions were favorable for long-duration tornadoes across northern Illinois and northern Indiana due to a stationary front that formed just south of Chicago. This caused plenty of lift for hundreds of miles, which set the stage for major impacts.

The most heavily damaged areas were from one supercell thunderstorm which tracked over 120 miles in almost 4.5 hours from northeast Illinois into northern Indiana. That supercell spawned 12 tornadoes, including destructive tornadoes in Kankakee, Illinois; Lake Village and Wheatfield, Indiana, according to the National Weather Service.

EF3 level damage consistent with winds of 160 mph was surveyed by the NWS in the area of Aroma Park, Illinois. This tornado was up to just over a half-mile wide and was on the ground for 35.62 miles and for one hour and 18 minutes, according to the NWS survey.

Farther east, an EF1 tornado was confirmed near Wheatfield, Indiana, with winds of around 110 mph. There were three people injured.

There was also an EF2 tornado reported in Knox, Indiana, with estimated peak winds of 115 mph. There was a tornado emergency issued for Knox as well.

A brief tornado was sighted by spotters near the supercell's start north of Pontiac, Illinois. Four separate "satellite tornadoes" rotating around the Kankakee EF3 tornado, were also documented in northeast Illinois.

This supercell also dumped giant hail over 6 inches in diameter in or near Buckingham, Campus and Kankakee, Illinois. This is likely to have set a state hail record, something an ad hoc committee of meteorologists will confirm at a later date.

North of the boundary, in the cooler air, no tornadoes were able to develop and only large hail was reported, which you can see on the graphic below.

A second supercell thunderstorm tracked into Chicagoland, dumping 3 to 5-inch diameter hail in the far southwest suburbs of Bolingbrook and Darien, then half-dollar size hail downtown at the Loop.

An EF1 tornado also moved through Moro and Midway, Illinois, early on March 11 with winds of 95 mph. There was one injury reported.

Elsewhere, hail up to baseball size pelted the western Oklahoma City metro area from a tornado-warned supercell thunderstorm. Several severe thunderstorms pelted the Kansas City metro with hail up to 2 inches in diameter.

At least two tornadoes touched down in western Texas, one just southeast of Abilene and the other just east of Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio.

There were also three EF1 tornadoes in southeastern Iowa in Lee County.

There were 110 thunderstorm wind damage reports, with the greatest wind speed being an 85 mph gust in Anderson County, Kansas.

Flash flooding stranded vehicles in Grand Rapids and near Holland, Michigan.

What Happened March 11-12

The low-pressure system and its associated cold front shifted east on March 11, and as they did so, it produced a slew of both wind damage and mainly weak tornadoes from Arkansas and Louisiana to the Carolinas and Maryland.

(News: As It Happened March 11)

The strongest of these was an EF2 in Macon County, Georgia. According to the damage survey from the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia, one person was "thrown approximately 40 feet" by the tornado, and two were injured "as a result of the home being flipped over and destroyed."

21 tornadoes were confirmed in Mississippi, another 13 in Alabama, eight in Louisiana, 11 in Georgia, and five each in South Carolina and North Carolina, according to NWS surveys. All of these, except for the aforementioned Macon County, Georgia, twister, were rated either EF0 or EF1.

A brief EF1 tornado was confirmed in Howard County, Maryland, in Cooksville, about 20 miles west of Baltimore.

Notable wind gusts to 70 mph were reported in Madison County, Indiana, and Laurel County, Kentucky.

There were even seven hail reports: three in Tennessee and four in Pennsylvania.