On Monday (May 27), Dayton, Ohio was struck by a destructive tornado. By Thursday (May 30), the National Weather Service upgraded that tornado to an EF4 (up from initial reports of it being an EF3). This report makes it the 2nd violent tornado of 2019.
“Violent” tornadoes are defined as either EF 4 or EF 5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
[5:16 PM] The EF3 Tornado from Brookville-Trotwood-Dayton-Riverside in Montgomery, County, OH from May 27, 2019 has been upgraded to an EF4. That is all the information we have at this time. https://t.co/yhhDzpMPvu
— NWS Wilmington OH (@NWSILN) May 30, 2019
The National Weather Service says that the last occurence of an EF4 tornado in Ohio was in 2010 in Millbury.
A violent also tornado wreaked havoc in eastern Kansas on Tuesday evening (May 28). The town of Linwood was hit the hardest, where meteorologists found EF4 damage.
This makes it the 3rd violent tornado to strike the U.S. in the last two years.
The tornado appeared the strongest as it tracked south of Lawrence. This triggered the National Weather Service in Kansas City to issue a “tornado emergency” for parts of the Kansas City metro.
Tornado Emergency continues for Kansas City KS, Shawnee KS, Bonner Springs KS until 7:15 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/C1Hxu2IQQ0
— NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) May 28, 2019
A total of 15 injuries have been reported in Douglas County, 3 of which were serious.
Debris was lofted tens of thousands of feet in the air, traveling over 40 miles from Linwood, Kansas to Smithville, Missouri.
This event is part of several rounds of severe storms that have plagued the Midwest, South, and Northeast over the last 2 weeks.
The first occurrence of a violent tornado this year was in Beauregard, Alabama when an EF4 hit on March 3. See the full NWS report here.
Remarkably, in all of 2018, there were zero violent tornadoes in the U.S.
Watch the video (below) to learn more about how tornadoes are classified based on the damage they cause.