Central and Northeast Severe Weather

Losses, 2024 dollars

$1.8 billion

Losses at the time

$1.4 billion

Deaths

0

The losses and deaths are NCEI’s, counting everything the disaster did. The episodes below are only what the Weather Service filed in its Storm Events record, which counts damage differently and often not at all, so the two never add up and are shown apart.

• Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Montana, April 29, 201866 kt wind · 3 eventsEnough instability existed due to an upper level trough and jet streak to produce multiple thunderstorms along the Yellowstone River valley of eastern Montana during the afternoon and evening.
• Hail in Kansas, April 29, 20181.5 in hail · 5 eventsRidging aloft transitioned eastward across the Central Plains giving way to an increasingly diffluent southwest flow aloft across the Western High Plains.
• Hail in Texas, April 30, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsAn upper trough was present to the west of the region with a dryline across West Texas which provided a source of lift. There was decent instability, moisture, and wind shear across the area. These conditions contributed to a thunderstorm producing hail in Pecos County.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, April 30, 20181.75 in hail · 25 eventsAn approaching upper level trough of low pressure, forced a cold front through western and north central Nebraska during the late afternoon and evening hours of April 30th. Thunderstorms initiated along a line from western Frontier county, north northeast into Blaine County.
• Hail in Texas, April 30, 20181.5 in hail · 4 eventsDryline thunderstorms developed late this afternoon on the Caprock and swept northeast. Stronger instability off the Caprock allowed two of these storms to produce some severe hail in Hall and Motley Counties.
• Hail in Kansas, April 30, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsSimilar to the day before, an upper level shortwave trough lifted northeast across the Central Rockies resulting in an increasingly diffluent southwest flow aloft across the Western High Plains.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in South Dakota, April 30, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsAfter a very warm day, a cold front pushing across southeast South Dakota during the evening produced scattered thunderstorms, with one severe storm toward south central South Dakota.
• Hail in Colorado, April 30, 20181.25 in hail · 1 eventA severe thunderstorm produced large hail, up to half dollar size.
• Hail in Texas, April 30, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsDryline convection developed into the later afternoon and early evening hours across the eastern Texas Panhandle. Storm initiation was still a bit of a challenge however as a cap was present.
• Hail in Minnesota, April 30, 20180.75 in hail · 1 eventA thunderstorm moving northeast through Otter Tail County dropped dime sized hail south of Perham.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, May 1, 2018$210,000 · 2 in hail · 30 eventsTo open up the month of May, Iowa saw a pair of thunderstorm rounds move through. First, storms that initiated the afternoon and evening prior in central and eastern Nebraska and progressed into and across Iowa overnight and through the morning of the 1st.
• Lightning Strike and Heavy Rain in Nevada, May 1 to 2, 20181 death · $10,000 · 3 eventsA low pressure system passing over the Mojave Desert brought isolated impacts from rain and thunderstorms to the Las Vegas Valley.
• Hail in Colorado, May 1, 20181.25 in hail · 4 eventsSevere thunderstorms developed over parts of Washington and Weld counties. The hail ranged from quarter to half dollar size.
• Tornado and Flash Flooding in Kansas, May 1, 2018$785,000 · EF0 · 24 eventsStorms produced very heavy rain, localized hail and wind damage, and even a brief tornado over north central Kansas on this Tuesday afternoon and evening. Around 2 PM CST, several thunderstorms rapidly developed southwest-to-northeast across Rooks and Smith counties.
• Hail in Kansas, May 1, 20182.5 in hail · 21 eventsA dry line and cold front interacted with an increasing unstable airmass to initiate thunderstorms during the afternoon and into the evening hours.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, May 1, 2018$6.3 million · EF0 · 20 eventsSevere storms produced numerous reports of hail and 3 brief, weak tornadoes on this Tuesday afternoon and evening. Between 230 and 330 PM CST, scattered fairly small supercell thunderstorms developed along a line from Red Cloud to Grand Island to Columbus.
• Tornado and Flash Flood in Nebraska, May 1, 2018$8,000 · EF0 · 26 eventsSevere thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front moving slowly southeast across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Supercell thunderstorms produced hail as large as 4 inches in diameter in Butler County, and thunderstorm winds as high 80 mph near Wymore,NE.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, May 1, 2018$120,000 · EF1 · 26 eventsA series of severe thunderstorms and a few supercells moved east across central Kansas | and along Interstate 70, during the late afternoon and evening hours of May 1st, 2018. The strongest supercell thunderstorms produced very large hail up to 4 inches in diameter.
• Hail in Iowa, May 1, 20181.75 in hail · 13 eventsA cold front moving across northwest Iowa interacted with a weakly capped environment with 1000-1500 J/kg MLCAPE to produce scattered surface-based storms during the late afternoon with large hail up to golf ball size.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, May 1, 2018EF3 · 15 eventsSupercell T-storms developed across north central Kansas during the late afternoon on May 1. The supercells produced at least 4 documented tornadoes including a strong tornado in Ottawa county near Tescott Kansas. No injuries occurred with any of the storms.
• Damaging Winds and Heavy Rain in Iowa, May 1, 201878 kt wind · 3 eventsSevere thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front moving slowly southeast across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Storms produced locally heavy rainfall and dam aging winds.
• Hail in Colorado, May 1, 20181.5 in hail · 3 eventsA severe thunderstorm moved east from Washington County into Yuma County during the late afternoon. The storm had a history of producing large hail. Near Yuma hail up to ping-pong ball size was reported.
• Hail in California, May 1, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsIsolated severe thunderstorms developed over the northern Sierra Nevada with some large hail.
• Hail in South Dakota, May 1, 20180.88 in hail · 1 eventIsolated storms developed behind a strong cold front within the zone of drying aloft during the evening, producing hail up to nickel size.
• Hail in Nebraska, May 2, 20180.88 in hail · 3 eventsAn isolated strong thunderstorm behind a cold front produced pea to nickel size hail across parts of Platte and Colfax County in the mid morning.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, May 2, 20182.5 in hail · 3 eventsA deepening upper level trough over southern Nevaded throughout the morning hours set the stages for active weather downstream across the Panhandles.
• Hail in Texas, May 2, 20181 in hail · 3 eventsA deepening upper level trough over southern Nevaded throughout the morning hours set the stages for active weather downstream across the Panhandles.
• Hail in Iowa, May 2, 2018$10,000 · 1.75 in hail · 5 eventsA roughly NE to SW oriented cold front that was slowly progressing eastward stalled out about half way across the state, awaiting storms to fire up along and ahead of it during the afternoon and evening hours.
• Tornadoes and Flooding in Kansas, May 2, 2018$15,000 · EF0 · 26 eventsA complex of storms swept east across most of the region during the afternoon and evening hours of May 2nd, 2018. As the storms moved east, a combination of large hail and damaging winds moved across the area.
• Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Oklahoma, May 2 to 3, 2018$211,000 · EF2 · 59 eventsSeveral discrete supercells formed off a dryline in the eastern parts of the panhandles in the late afternoon of the 2nd. These storms moved eastward through the evening, eventually congealing into a line before coming across central Oklahoma.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, May 2, 2018EF0 · 20 eventsA large cluster of t-storms developed during the afternoon of May 2 across central Kansas. The cluster evolved into a line or lines of storms that moved across northeast and east central Kansas during the afternoon and evening of May 2.
• Tornado and Flash Flood in Texas, May 2 to 3, 2018$17,000 · 2 in hail · 12 eventsSeveral discrete supercells formed off a dryline in the eastern parts of the panhandles in the late afternoon of the 2nd. These storms moved eastward through the evening, eventually congealing into a line before coming across central Oklahoma.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, May 2, 2018$2,000 · 1 in hail · 10 eventsScattered thunderstorms developed along a slow moving cold front with some storms becoming severe. Several reports of large hail were received. A few reports of gusty winds to 60 mph were also reported.
• Damaging Winds in Texas, May 2 to 3, 201852 kt wind · 2 eventsA large upper level storm system over the desert southwest of the United States fostered the development of dryline convection over the far eastern Rolling Plains on the afternoon of the second.
• Hail in Illinois, May 2, 2018$1,000 · 2 in hail · 12 eventsScattered thunderstorms developed along a slow moving cold front with some storms becoming severe. Numerous reports of large hail were received. A few reports of non-severe gusty winds below 60 mph were also reported.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Missouri, May 2, 2018EF0 · 13 eventsOn the evening of May 2, 2018 strong thunderstorms moved out of Kansas and into western Missouri. These storms formed squall line tornadoes, that did damage across portions of the Kansas City Metro Area.
• Tornado and Hail in Texas, May 2 to 3, 2018EF0 · 20 eventsSevere storms erupted along the dryline during the late afternoon and continued into the early morning hours of May 3rd. The storms resulted in several reports of damaging winds and large hail across West Central Texas.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Indiana, May 2, 20181.25 in hail · 4 eventsSevere thunderstorms moved across parts of northwest Indiana on May 2nd producing large hail and damaging winds.
• Hail in Iowa, May 2, 20181 in hail · 1 eventA strong thunderstorm produced quarter size hail 4 3/4 miles east of Shambaugh.
• Hail in Illinois, May 2, 20180.88 in hail · 1 eventAn approaching cold front interacted with a moderately unstable and weakly sheared environment to trigger scattered strong thunderstorms across the Illinois River Valley during the evening of May 2nd.
• Hail in Wisconsin, May 2, 20180.75 in hail · 1 eventAs a line of thunderstorms moved across southwest Wisconsin during the early evening of May 2nd, some of the storms produced hail. Dime sized hail was reported with these storms in Fennimore (Grant County).
• Damaging Winds in Indiana, May 2, 201865 kt wind · 14 eventsEast to west oriented MLCAPE axis of 1000 to 2000 J/KG existed across far southern Lower Michigan and far northern Indiana. Effective shear was maximized across northwestern Indiana but did lower somewhat with southward extent.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Wisconsin, May 2, 2018$79,000 · 2.9 in hail · 27 eventsA severe squall line rapidly moved east across southern WI in the vicinity of a stalled frontal boundary. Much of the severe weather was associated with a supercell thunderstorm on the southern end of the line.
• Hail and Lightning Strike in Colorado, May 2, 2018$1,000 · 0.88 in hail · 2 eventsLightning struck a tree in southwest Denver and completely destroyed it. A strong thunderstorm produced nickel size hail in Lincoln County.
• Damaging Wind in Nebraska, May 2, 201861 kt wind · 1 eventA line of thunderstorms produced damaging winds in Richardson County which blew down a tree and caused the power to be lost to all of the residents of Rulo.
• Tornado and Hail in Kansas, May 2, 2018EF1 · 8 eventsOn the evening of May 2, 2018 a line of strong storms moved through eastern Kansas.
• Damaging Winds in Michigan, May 2, 201863 kt wind · 7 eventsEast to west oriented MLCAPE axis of 1000 to 2000 J/KG existed across far southern Lower Michigan and far northern Indiana. Effective shear was maximized across northwestern Indiana but did lower somewhat with southward extent.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, May 2, 2018$45,000 · 1.75 in hail · 3 eventsIsolated severe thunderstorms produced several reports of large hail of up to one and three quarters inches in diameter and isolated damaging wind gusts.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, May 2 to 3, 2018$7,000 · 1 in hail · 10 eventsTwo distinct rounds of showers and thunderstorms moved across North and Central Texas late May 2 through May 3 as a large upper level storm system worked its way east through the Plains.
• Damaging Winds in Michigan, May 2, 201852 kt wind · 5 eventsAn isolated severe thunderstorm developed near Onstead and tracked northeast over Ypsilanti.
• Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, May 2 to 3, 2018$32,000 · 70 kt wind · 11 eventsSevere thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 2nd as a dry line moved into the area from West Texas and a cold front translated into the area from the northwest.
• Damaging Wind in Texas, May 2, 2018$28,000 · 64 kt wind · 1 eventAn upper trough was over New Mexico and Colorado with a dryline present across the Permian Basin. These conditions resulted in sufficient lift and moisture for thunderstorms to develop across West Texas. These storms produced a downburst in the western Permian Basin.
• Tornado in Texas, May 2, 2018$50,000 · EF0 · 1 eventThunderstorms developed along the dryline in West Texas and Northern Mexico. One of these storms moved through Val Verde County and produced a tornado.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Missouri, May 2 to 3, 2018$164,000 · EF1 · 12 eventsSevere thunderstorms caused damaging wind and large hail.
• Damaging Winds in Kansas, May 2, 2018$1,000 · 52 kt wind · 2 eventsIsolated severe storms produced a couple reports of wind damage.
• Damaging Winds in Missouri, May 2 to 3, 201856 kt wind · 2 eventsA QLCS moved across forecast area during the late evening hours of May 2nd and into the early morning hours of May 3rd. There were several reports of damaging winds with the storms.
• Damaging Winds in Arkansas, May 3, 201861 kt wind · 8 eventsTwo lines of severe thunderstorms moved across the state on the 3rd. One occurred in the early morning hours and one occurred in the afternoon. Both lines of thunderstorms blew several trees down around Arkansas.
• Tornado and Damaging Winds in Arkansas, May 3, 2018$50,000 · EF1 · 3 eventsA line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved into northwestern Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 3rd, producing isolated wind damage. Another line of storms developed over far eastern Oklahoma during the early afternoon as a cold front moved into the area.
• Hail in Illinois, May 3, 20181 in hail · 3 eventsA passing upper disturbance from the northern plains produced thunderstorms, a few of which produced large hail.
• Tornado and Damaging Winds in New York, May 3, 2018$100,000 · EF1 · 4 eventsA couple weak waves of low pressure moved across New York state on the 3rd. These waves produced a few severe thunderstorms over central New York which included one tornado.
• Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, May 3, 2018$5,000 · 52 kt wind · 2 eventsA cluster of convection developed during the afternoon of May 3, 2018, as a mid-level disturbance crossed the area. A storm within this cluster of convection produced wind damage in Northumberland County near Shamokin.
• Damaging Wind in Texas, May 3, 201856 kt wind · 1 eventDirty southwest flow aloft and daytime heating resulted in scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms across the northern half of Northeast Texas into portions of Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon and evening hours of May 3rd.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Iowa, May 3, 2018$25,000 · EF0 · 18 eventsFor a third consecutive day, a boundary found itself draped from NE to SW roughly cutting the state of Iowa in half.
• Damaging Winds in New York, May 3, 2018$26,000 · 58 kt wind · 7 eventsSevere thunderstorms moved across Westchester County ahead of a cold front.
• Hail in Kansas, May 3, 20180.75 in hail · 2 eventsA near severe thunderstorm was observed across Ellis County.
• Damaging Winds in Connecticut, May 3, 2018$3,000 · 50 kt wind · 2 eventsSevere thunderstorms moved across Fairfield County ahead of a cold front.
• Damaging Wind in Arkansas, May 3, 201856 kt wind · 1 eventDirty southwest flow aloft and daytime heating resulted in scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms across the northern half of Northeast Texas into portions of Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon and evening hours of May 3rd.
• Hail in Kansas, May 3, 20181.75 in hail · 4 eventsIsolated severe storms moved across portions of central Kansas on May 3rd, 2018.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, May 3, 20181.5 in hail · 5 eventsWidely scattered thunderstorms produced large hail and damaging across the area during the late afternoon and evening hours.
• Tornado in Iowa, May 3, 2018EF0 · 1 eventA narrow line of thunderstorms moved east through eastern Iowa. An isolated mesovortex developed along the line and produced a brief tornado. The EF-0 tornado touched down briefly northwest of Olin, IA.
• Hail in Missouri, May 4, 20181 in hail · 1 eventA passing cold front produced an area of thunderstorms in the evening with one storm becoming severe, producing large hail.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, May 4, 2018$25,000 · 1.25 in hail · 10 eventsThunderstorms formed along a trough ahead of a cold front in the morning hours of May 4th. Some of these storms produced large hail and damaging wind gusts.
• Damaging Winds and High Wind in Michigan, May 4, 20181 death · 1 injured · $38 million · 70 kt wind · 28 eventsA strong low pressure system tracked through northern Lower Michigan, swinging a strong cold front through southeast Michigan early in the afternoon.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 4, 2018$98,000 · 55 kt wind · 28 eventsA cold front marched across northern Ohio during the afternoon of May 4th. A line of thunderstorms developed in advance of the front and caused some damage. Most of the damage was from downed trees and power lines but there were a few reports of lost siding and roofing material.
• Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, May 4, 2018$2,000 · 50 kt wind · 1 eventA cold front marched across northwestern Pennsylvania during the afternoon of May 4th. A line of thunderstorms developed in advance of the front and caused some damage. A severe thunderstorm watch box was in effect during the time of the storms.
• Hail in Michigan, May 4, 20180.88 in hail · 1 eventA stronger storm forming along a lake breeze boundary produced nickel-sized hail near Perkins on the afternoon of the 4th.
• Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, May 4, 2018$3,000 · 59 kt wind · 15 eventsShowers and thunderstorms, some of which became severe developed ahead of and along a passing cold front on the 4th. While instability was rather modest, shear supported some storms to severe levels, with damaging wind as a result.
• Damaging Winds in New York, May 4, 2018$22,000 · 57 kt wind · 8 eventsStorms formed along a pre-frontal trough east of Lake Erie as it crossed the afternoon lake breeze boundary. The environment was not terribly unstable, however, strong winds aloft were brought to the surface easily with modest convection.
• Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, May 4, 2018$63,000 · 61 kt wind · 19 eventsA line of severe thunderstorms produced widespread wind damage across northwestern and north-central Pennsylvania during the late afternoon and early evening hours on May 4, 2018.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, May 4, 2018$171,000 · 1.25 in hail · 12 eventsAn energetic storm system moved from the Great Lakes across the St. Lawrence Valley into Ontario/Quebec during the afternoon and evening hours of May 4th.
• Flash Flooding and Lakeshore Flood in Vermont, May 4 to 5, 2018$1.5 million · 1.5 in hail · 26 eventsAn energetic storm system moved from the Great Lakes across the St. Lawrence Valley into Ontario/Quebec during the afternoon and evening hours of May 4th. Instability was marginal for thunderstorm development during the evening hours with thunderstorms ahead of a cold front.
• Damaging Wind in Ohio, May 4, 201850 kt wind · 1 eventShowers and thunderstorms, some of which became severe developed ahead of and along a passing cold front on the 4th. While instability was rather modest, shear supported some storms to severe levels, with damaging wind as a result.
• Damaging Winds in New York, May 4, 2018$195,000 · 50 kt wind · 23 eventsA strong area of low pressure tracked from the Great Lakes to the Saint Lawrence Valley from the morning of the the 4th to the evening hours.
• Damaging Wind in Ohio, May 4, 2018$250 · 50 kt wind · 1 eventScattered thunderstorms developed along a cold front that pushed slowly south into the upper Ohio Valley.
• Damaging Winds and High Wind in New York, May 4, 201887 kt wind · 72 eventsA powerful low pressure system formed on May 4th, pushing a strong cold front across eastern New York. A line of thunderstorms developed along this front in the afternoon and evening, resulting in widespread wind damage.
• Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, May 4, 2018$50,000 · 50 kt wind · 8 eventsA strong area of low pressure tracked from the Great Lakes to the Saint Lawrence Valley from the morning of the the 4th to the evening hours.
• Damaging Winds in Vermont, May 4, 201850 kt wind · 9 eventsA powerful low pressure system formed on May 4th, pushing a strong cold front across New York and New England. A line of thunderstorms developed along this front and pushed into southern Vermont in the evening, resulting in dozens of downed trees and wires.
• Damaging Winds in New Hampshire, May 4, 201854 kt wind · 27 eventsA strong cold front was approaching from the west on the afternoon of May 4th. Good shear combined with strong forcing to produce organized convection in the form of bowing line segments and some super cells.
• Tornadoes in New Hampshire, May 4, 2018EF1 · 3 eventsAn EF-1 tornado touched down just east of the Vermont border in southwestern New Hampshire during the evening of May 4 and moved rapidly to the east-northeast. The first observed damage in New Hampshire was in North Walpole in northern Cheshire County.
• Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, May 4, 201850 kt wind · 4 eventsA powerful low pressure system formed on May 4th, pushing a strong cold front across New York and New England.
• Flash Flood in Texas, May 4, 2018$50,000 · 1 eventThe combination of a late-season dry (cold) front associated with an upper level trough provided sufficient lift of moist and unstable air into a slow moving band of thunderstorms in south central Starr County on May 4th.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 5, 2018$10,000 · 1.5 in hail · 6 eventsScattered strong to severe thunderstorms during the afternoon hours on May 5 brought large hail and wind damage to parts of eastern Middle Tennessee.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in Kentucky, May 5, 20182.5 in hail · 4 eventsA complex weather system set up as an area of low pressure pushed across the Tennessee Valley on Saturday, May 5, 2018. Initially, a few supercell-like thunderstorms produced large hail due to their rotation and stronger updrafts near the Virginia border.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in West Virginia, May 5, 2018$1,000 · 1.25 in hail · 3 eventsA frontal boundary stalled across the area became the focus for isolated severe thunderstorms during the afternoon across southeast West Virginia.
• Hail in Tennessee, May 5, 20181.25 in hail · 2 eventsIsolated occurrences of marginal hail were reported across the Southern Appalachian region.
• Hail in North Carolina, May 5, 20180.75 in hail · 1 eventIsolated thunderstorms developed over the high terrain during the afternoon. Some of the storms produced hail up to the size of pennies.
• Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Kentucky, May 5, 201853 kt wind · 3 eventsAn upper level wave swung through the Tennessee Valley causing widespread rainfall, with a deformation band of heavy rain near the Ohio River in central Kentucky. This caused areas of flash flooding in Jefferson County, KY and severe weather in Clinton County, KY.
• Hail in Virginia, May 5, 2018$15,000 · 1.75 in hail · 7 eventsFollowing a period of sunshine earlier in the day, thunderstorms formed across southwest Virginia and southeast Kentucky during the late afternoon of the 5th as a low pressure system approached. Large hail fell out of these storms during the late afternoon and evening.
• Hail in West Virginia, May 5, 20180.88 in hail · 2 eventsFollowing a period of sunshine earlier in the day, thunderstorms formed across southwest Virginia and southeast Kentucky during the late afternoon of the 5th as a low pressure system approached. These storms moved into southern West Virginia that evening, producing hail.
• Hail in Virginia, May 5, 20181 in hail · 1 eventA weak short wave passed across the Southern Appalachians generating a couple thunderstorms that produced marginally severe hail.

Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2018Tornadoes in 2018

NOAA NCEI, U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025), https://doi.org/10.25921/stkw-7w73, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.