On May 23–24, 1946, a tornado outbreak occurred across the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

United States. Over two days at least 15 significant tornadoes struck parts of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, killing four people and injuring 42 others. The storm system also caused numerous other impacts including

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

, heavy rains, and damaging

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

strikes.

Confirmed tornadoes

This weather event happened before the invention of an official ratings system for tornadoes in 1950. The events were later assessed by tornado expert

Thomas P. Grazulis Thomas P. Grazulis (born August 17, 1942) is an American meteorologist who has written extensively about tornadoes and is head of ''The Tornado Project''. Biography Early career Thomas Grazulis grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and first c ...

, and rated unofficially on the

Fujita scale The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determ ...

. Grazulis documented 15 significant tornadoes (F2+), but the true number of tornadoes for this outbreak is most likely higher.

May 23 event

May 24 event

Non-tornadic impacts

A hailstorm impacted

York County, Nebraska York County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 13,665. Its county seat is York. In the Nebraska license plate system, York County is represented by the prefix 17 (it had the sevent ...

on May 23, causing $50,000 in damage to wheat crops. An

electrical storm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

struck

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

and surrounding areas which damaged several structures from

strikes. Rainfall led to flooding which caused damage to crops in

Haigler, Nebraska Haigler is a village in southwestern Dundy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 158 at the 2010 census. History Haigler was platted in 1886. It was named for Jacob Haigler, a pioneer settler. Geography Haigler is located at (40. ...

Notes

References

{{reflist 1946 meteorology

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...