Tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2012

March 2–3, 2012 tornado outbreak

GOES 13 image of the storm system on March 2
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	March 2–3, 2012
Tornadoes confirmed	70 confirmed (Record for a continuous outbreak in March)
Max rating1	EF4 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	2 days
Damage	$3.1 billion
1Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

¹Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale

On March 2 and 3, 2012, a deadly tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States into the Ohio Valley region. The storms resulted in 41 tornado-related fatalities, 22 of which occurred in Kentucky. Tornado-related deaths also occurred in Alabama, Indiana, and Ohio. The outbreak was the second deadliest in early March for the U.S. since official records began in 1950; only the 1966 Candlestick Park tornado had a higher death toll for a tornadic system in early March.

February 2012 was more active than normal in terms of the number of tornadoes, with a total of 50 confirmed. While the first three weeks of the month were unusually quiet, the pattern changed abruptly by a major tornado outbreak, which struck the region less than 72 hours prior to this storm, killing 15 people, including 8 in Harrisburg, Illinois alone, the result of an EF4 tornado. A moderate risk of severe weather was issued for March 2 a day in advance for a large area from near Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Dayton, Ohio as an intense storm system tracked across the region in a very high shear environment. Intense tornadoes were possible. On the morning of March 2, it was upgraded and a high risk of severe weather was issued for Middle Tennessee and central Kentucky, later extended into Central and Southern Indiana and southern Ohio. The Storm Prediction Center mentioned the potential for significant tornadoes. Multiple PDS tornado watches were issued shortly thereafter.