Tornadoes, severe weather carve path of damage across Midwest
Officials report at least half of the buildings in one Indiana town were damaged by a tornado in last week's storms.
The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed multiple tornadoes touched down during a severe storm outbreak that swept across the Midwest last week – killing three people and causing a large swath of destruction in parts of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. At least two of these tornadoes – one that touched down in Winchester, Indiana and another that struck Logan County, Ohio – were EF3s, meaning they registered wind gusts between 136 and 165 mph.
In total, the NWS received over 400 reports of severe weather from Thursday, March 14 to Friday, March 15 – the highest number of reports since August 2023. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear both declared states of emergency for the parts of their states that were affected by the tornadoes.
The hardest-hit town in Kentucky was Milton, and Governor Beshear told the Courier Journal that he believes there are over 100 structures in the tiny town (with a population fewer than 600 people) that received damage.
The hardest-hit area in Indiana was Selma, in Delaware County. On March 14, the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency released a statement reporting that initial estimates of damage in the county indicate around 50% of the structures in Selma were damaged by the storms.
These tornadoes come just as the United States has entered peak tornado season, from March to June, when 70% of tornadoes occur. AccuWeather predicts the U.S. will see somewhere between 1,250 to 1,375 tornadoes in 2024. This is above the historical average of 1,225 per year, but still fewer than the 1,423 that were confirmed in 2023.
Tornadoes can occur anywhere in the United States, but an area that extends from Northern Texas north through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and into South Dakota is colloquially known as “Tornado Alley” because of the frequency and intensity of tornadoes that have hit the area. However, changes in climate have led to a shift eastward, and new regions are being hit hardest by these storms, including Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama, where severe weather has become more concentrated.