Alert archive / Tornado Watches / 2026
Tornado Watches in the United States, May 2026
20 tornado watches in May 2026. Each alert counts once, however many counties it covered. The last few weeks are still filling in as offices finish their follow-ups. The archive of tornado watches reaches back to 1997.
Tornado Watches by state
Each state shaded by its count. Tap a state for its own archive.
- Tornado Watches
- 20
- Busiest day
- May 18, 20267 tornado watches
Over time
By day
Days in UTC, the clock the archive keeps.
By state
Every state and territory, with the alerts that covered any part of it. Each state’s page lists every one of them.
- Missouri44
- Illinois32
- Kansas31
- Indiana24
- Iowa24
- Texas23
- Oklahoma23
- Arkansas22
- Louisiana19
- Nebraska16
- Alabama15
- Mississippi15
- Florida14
- Georgia13
- Kentucky12
- Pennsylvania10
- Minnesota10
- Ohio9
- Wisconsin9
- Maryland6
- West Virginia6
- South Dakota6
- Michigan6
- Tennessee6
- North Dakota5
- New Jersey5
- Virginia5
- Delaware5
- New York4
- North Carolina4
- South Carolina4
- Colorado3
- District of Columbia3
- Massachusetts2
- Connecticut2
- Hawaii1
- Wyoming1
- Maine1
- New Hampshire1
- Vermont1
Nearby
Sources
National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Rebuilt daily.