April 2010 tornado outbreak

Tornado outbreak of April 22–25, 2010

Tornado damage in central Mississippi caused by one of the tornadoes during the outbreak.
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	April 22–25, 2010
Tornadoes confirmed	88 confirmed
Max rating1	EF4 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	77 hours, 3 minutes
Damage	$425 million
1Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

¹Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale

The tornado outbreak of April 22–25, 2010 was a multi-day tornado outbreak across a large portion of the Southern United States, originally starting in the High Plains on April 22, 2010 and continuing through the Southern Plains on April 23, and the Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys on April 24. The most severe activity was on April 24, particularly in Mississippi. The outbreak was responsible for ten tornado-related fatalities on April 24, all in Mississippi from a single supercell that crossed the entire state.

A complex weather system began to track across the central and southern United States beginning on April 22. Scattered thunderstorms initially developed across the central and eastern Great Plains region late during the afternoon and then moved into the southeast Texas Panhandle and the Osage Plains during the evening and overnight hours. Large hail occurred with the stronger storms, but the most severe storms produced damaging winds and tornadoes. By late evening, new activity developed into a line of storms which swept through the Osage Plains. Many tornadoes were produced in southeastern Colorado, but they occurred over open fields and did not cause a significant amount of damage. However, one tornado in south central Kiowa County destroyed a small (15 foot x 30 foot) barn. In Kansas, numerous tornado-producing storms caused damage across a number of southwest Kansas counties. The public first reported a mile-wide tornado at around 4:40 pm west of Lakin. The storm tracked two miles southwest of Lakin at about 5:10 pm and was spotted again six miles northwest of Deerfield at approximately 5:40 pm. A tornadic storm in Kearny County uprooted trees and caused power outages at residences west of Lakin. No injuries were reported from it. In Finney County, no damage or injuries were reported from tornadic activity that traveled mostly above open farmland. In Scott County, a tornado was spotted four miles south of Scott City at about 7:10 p.m. Grain bins near Scott City were damaged, a barn partially collapsed with part of its roof torn off and some trees and power lines were reported down from it. The strongest tornado in Kansas occurred in Kearny County and was rated EF2. There were numerous tornadoes in the Texas Panhandle and one tornado in the Oklahoma Panhandle, which included one that was rated EF3 in Cottle County, Texas.