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March 31, 2023 tornado outbreak, Mar 31–Apr 1, 2023

1 of 2 · The storm's data
forty°seventy

March 31, 2023 tornado outbreak, Mar 31–Apr 1, 2023

March 31, 2023 tornado outbreak, Mar 31–Apr 1, 2023

Chapter 4 · Into the night

A tornado emergency in the Mid-South.

NWS Memphis, TN declares a tornado emergency. Gusts reach 83 mph near Paw Paw, IL, and outages peak at 109,222 customers in Illinois.

00:39UTC · Sat, Apr 1, 2023 · 7:39 PM CDT Fri

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Replay of past events. For current weather and warnings, see weather.gov. Links are rule-based facts. About and credits

Replay · TO20230331

March 31, 2023 tornado outbreak: the story

Mar 31, 18:00 UTC – Apr 1, 11:00 UTC. Radar, severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, storm reports and ground stops, in order, with 812 links that show their evidence.

  • 810 NWS warnings
  • 1,263 storm reports
  • 4 FAA airport programs
  • 130 surveyed tornado tracks
  • 812 rule-based links
  • 109,222 customers out at the peak, in Illinois
  • 511 radar frames

First warnings

Mar 31

  1. NWS Little Rock, AR issues the first Tornado Warning.Replay from here

Little Rock

Mar 31

  1. NWS Little Rock, AR declares a tornado emergency.Replay from here

The EF4

Mar 31

  1. The strongest tornado, an EF4, touches down: a 20 mi track.Replay from here
  2. The largest hail reported: 3.5 in at 2 NNE Beverly, IL.Replay from here

Into the night

Mar 31–Apr 1

  1. NWS Memphis, TN declares a tornado emergency.Replay from here
  2. The strongest measured gust: 83 mph at 4 SSW Paw Paw, IL.Replay from here
  3. Peak outages: 109,222 customers out of power in Illinois. The most in one county: Pulaski County, AR, 62,194 out (25% of its customers) at 20:45 UTC on Mar 31.Replay from here

How we link records

RuleWhat it checksLinks
R4 solidA storm report inside a warning polygon while it was in effect756
R6 solidA surveyed tornado track that began inside a Tornado Warning, with the warning's lead time46
R2 dashedAn airport program inside a warning that had been in effect for over 60 min (context)5
R1c solidA weather airport program inside a convective warning or watch, within 60 min of issuance3
R1o dashedThe same, for other hazards such as floods2

Solid lines mark rules that passed an independent check; dashed lines are context. Links are rule-based facts: each shows two records that overlap in place and time. How we know

Where this storm's data comes from

Every layer, the provider behind it and the period it covers.

LayerProviderPeriodRecords
MRMS SeamlessHSRNOAA/NSSL via Iowa Environmental MesonetMar 31, 18:00 UTC – Apr 1, 11:00 UTC511
NWS storm-based warning polygonsNOAA National Weather Service via Iowa Environmental MesonetMar 31, 18:00 UTC – Apr 1, 11:00 UTC810
NWS Local Storm ReportsNOAA National Weather Service via Iowa Environmental MesonetMar 31, 18:00 UTC – Apr 1, 11:00 UTC1,263
FAA airport programs (ground stops and ground delay programs)FAA Air Traffic Control System Command CenterMar 31, 18:00 UTC – Apr 1, 11:00 UTC4
ORNL EAGLE-IOak Ridge National LaboratoryMar 31, 18:00 UTC – Apr 1, 11:00 UTC878
  • Radar: NOAA/NSSL MRMS SeamlessHSR, via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM), Iowa State University
  • Warnings: NOAA/NWS, storm-based polygons via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet
  • Storm reports: NOAA/NWS Local Storm Reports via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet
  • Airport programs: FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center
  • Tornado tracks: NOAA/NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit damage surveys
  • Power outages: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, EAGLE-I (CC BY 4.0)
  • County boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau