Midwest Tornadoes
One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $1.5 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($1.1 billion at the time) and 6 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 53 most significant severe storm episodes filed in these dates, colored by kind.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Losses, 2024 dollars
- $1.5 billion
- Losses at the time
- $1.1 billion
- Deaths
- 6
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.
By state, as filed
| State | Events | Deaths | Injuries | Damage filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas | 179 | 0 | 38 | $501 million |
| Nebraska | 162 | 0 | 0 | $47 million |
| Iowa | 127 | 0 | 6 | $7.3 million |
| Oklahoma | 129 | 6 | 49 | $162,000 |
| Arkansas | 6 | 1 | 0 | $65,000 |
| Missouri | 34 | 0 | 0 | $36,000 |
| Texas | 42 | 0 | 1 | $30,000 |
| California | 1 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 |
| Florida | 1 | 0 | 0 | $1,000 |
| Minnesota | 18 | 0 | 0 | |
| Colorado | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Illinois | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| South Dakota | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Louisiana | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| New Mexico | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nevada | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Episode by episode
- Hail in Louisiana, April 11, 2012An isolated severe storm occurred in Acadiana.
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Texas, April 11, 2012Scattered thunderstorms developed across eastern New Mexico and over the South Plains and moved east during the evening hours. Early in the evening, one of these storms became severe as it crossed into Yoakum County.
- Hail in New Mexico, April 11, 2012A dryline sharpened over eastern New Mexico, helping fuel some strong thunderstorms. A storm that moved through Clayton produced 0.88 inch hail.
- Hail in Colorado, April 12, 2012Severe thunderstorms produced large hail, up to 2 inches in diameter, in parts of Logan and Sedgwick Counties.
- Hail in Nebraska, April 12, 2012Thunderstorms developed on the north side of a warm front over northeast Colorado and southwest Nebraska the afternoon of April 12th.
- Tornado and Hail in Nebraska, April 12, 2012A line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours and moved east across southern Nebraska and northern Kansas. Hail up to tennis ball size, wind gusts to 70 mph and a brief tornado were reported.
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Kansas, April 12, 2012A line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours and moved east across southern Nebraska and northern Kansas. Hail up to tennis ball size, wind gusts to 70 mph and a brief tornado were reported.
- Damaging Wind in Florida, April 13, 2012A weak surface trough of low pressure was located near Palm Beach County and extending east into the Bahamas leading to scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon across South Florida.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, April 13, 2012A severe weather event began during the early afternoon hours of Friday, April 13, 2012, and lasted through the early morning hours of Saturday, April 14, 2012.
- Flash Flood in California, April 13, 2012An unseasonably moist fetch of subtropical air fueled locally heavy rain which caused isolated damage over the Mojave Desert.
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Kansas, April 13, 2012A storm system affected the south central and southeast sections of the state. These storms primarily produced low end severe and sub-severe sized hail.
- Hail in Oklahoma, April 13, 2012A cluster of thunderstorms across Kansas moved southeast into far northeastern Oklahoma. Small hail was reported with one of the storms in the cluster.
- Hail in Kansas, April 13, 2012Thunderstorms moving across Cherokee County produced a report of quarter sized hail.
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Missouri, April 13, 2012A warm front along with an upper level disturbance developed severe thunderstorms across portions of southwest Missouri which produced up to baseball sized hail.
- Tornado in Nevada, April 13, 2012A tornado was photographed just east of Carlin. No damage was reported.
- Hail in Texas, April 13, 2012On the evening of the 13th, scattered thunderstorms developed over the extreme southeastern Texas Panhandle along an east-west warm front. One of these storms developed into a supercell while in Hall County before proceeding to drop large hail in northern Childress County.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Missouri, April 13 to 14, 2012A warm front was lifting north through the forecast area, triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms. A few of the storms produced heavy rainfall which caused flash flooding.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Missouri, April 14, 2012A stalled out front combined with several upper level disturbances moving across the Ozarks produced several rounds of thunderstorms which produced heavy rainfall and caused flooding.
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, April 14, 2012Thunderstorms developed along a cold front across western Oklahoma during the late evening of the 13th. These thunderstorms developed into a squall line and raced east into eastern Oklahoma during the early morning hours on the 14th.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, April 14 to 15, 2012Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms pounded parts of the 24-county area on this Saturday, resulting in numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds along with four brief EF0 tornadoes.
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, April 14 to 15, 2012Two distinct rounds of severe thunderstorms raked across the six-county area on this Saturday, resulting in several reports of large hail and damaging winds along with one EF1 tornado.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Nebraska, April 14 to 15, 2012A strong low pressure system produced widespread severe weather across the central plains on April 14th. Storms developed over central Nebraska in the late morning hours which produced large hail over portions of Garfield and Wheeler counties.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Kansas, April 14, 2012A vigorous upper level system combined with copious moisture and an advancing warm front to produce widespread thunderstorms, some producing tornadoes.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Nebraska, April 14, 2012A strong upper level system over the southern Rockies lifted northeast across the plains causing an intense surface low pressure system and attendant warm front to lift into Nebraska.
- Hail in Oklahoma, April 14, 2012Severe thunderstorms produced hail across the eastern Oklahoma Panhandle during the early afternoon hours. There were no reports of damage or injuries.
- Tornadoes and Flooding in Kansas, April 14 to 15, 2012A significant severe weather outbreak with several damaging long track tornadoes occurred. The strongest tornado moved through portions of central Kansas and produced EF-4 damage at one home stead. Two other tornadoes touched down producing EF-3 damage in south central Kansas.
- Tornadoes and Flood in Iowa, April 14 to 15, 2012A strong upper level system over the southern Rockies lifted northeast across the plains causing an intense surface low pressure system and attendant warm front to lift into Nebraska.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, April 14 to 15, 2012A volatile environment developed across Kansas that featured extremely strong wind shear and sufficient buoyancy (called convective energy) to allow supercell thunderstorms to develop ahead of a dry line across central Kansas.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, April 14 to 15, 2012A severe weather outbreak occurred on the afternoon and evening of Saturday April 14th, 2012 across Kansas and northwest Oklahoma.
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Iowa, April 14 to 15, 2012The first significant severe weather outbreak of the season took place during the afternoon and evening of the 14th with all modes of severe weather taking place. An upper level low pressure lifted northeast out of the southwest U.S.
- Hail in Missouri, April 14, 2012A dissipating upper level low pressure system, combined with a cold front, caused scattered thunderstorms across northwestern Missouri, during the late afternoon hours of April 14th, 2012. One report of hail was received near Maryville.
- Hail in Kansas, April 14, 2012A large upper low pressure system produced several rounds of severe weather across Kansas during the afternoon and evening. Late in the day a severe storm moved northeast across Graham and Norton counties producing hail up to the size of golf balls.
- Tornado and Hail in Iowa, April 14, 2012A warm front lifting northward across the region on April 14, 2012 brought a round of severe thunderstorms during the late afternoon through much of the evening hours. Large hail and damaging winds were reported across eastern Iowa and western Illinois.
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, April 14 to 15, 2012A warm front lifting northward across the region on April 14, 2012 brought a round of severe thunderstorms during the late afternoon through much of the evening hours. Large hail and damaging winds were reported across eastern Iowa and western Illinois.
- Hail in Texas, April 14, 2012A vigorous upper level trough approached West Texas late this evening accompanied by a strong Pacific cold front. In response to this trough, a dryline that was previously stationary in the Rolling Plains began surging west by sunset.
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, April 14, 2012Severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours across much of the eastern and southeastern Texas Panhandle producing hail and damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. There were no reports of injuries or fatalities.
- Hail in Illinois, April 14, 2012A line of thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the evening and overnight hours of April 14th dropping heavy rain as well as small to medium sized hail in a few areas.
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Texas, April 14 to 15, 2012An upper level low was over the Southwest United States with a dryline positioned across the Permian Basin and Trans Pecos. Severe thunderstorms formed along this dryline and produced hail and gusty winds.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, April 15, 2012Early morning thunderstorms developed over northeast Oklahoma in advance of a slow moving cold front. Damaging winds, large hail, and two tornadoes were produced by the strongest storms.
- Damaging Winds in Kansas, April 15, 2012Thunderstorms moving across the region produced some isolated high winds and wind damage.
- Damaging Winds in Arkansas, April 15, 2012Early morning thunderstorms occurred over far northwest Arkansas in advance of a slow moving cold front. Damaging winds occurred from these storms in Washington County.
- Tornado and Hail in South Dakota, April 15, 2012Thunderstorms produced large hail at a few scattered locations in southeast South Dakota during the late morning and early afternoon of April 15th. There was also a tornado reported in Bon Homme County.
- Tornadoes and High Wind in Nebraska, April 15, 2012As a powerful, nearly vertically-stacked closed low pressure passed directly over the area on this Sunday, a few brief EF0 tornadoes touched down in Sherman and Valley Counties at mid-day, while later in the afternoon and evening strong northwest gradient wind gusts of 50-60 MPH…
- Flash Flood and Hail in Missouri, April 15, 2012A stalled out front across the Ozarks helped to develop severe thunderstorms which produced large hail and isolated wind damage.
- Tornadoes in Nebraska, April 15, 2012A few weak thunderstorms developed along a surface boundary located from central into northeast Nebraska on the afternoon of April 15th. These thunderstorms produced short-lived and weak tornadoes, before the storms quickly dissipated.
- Tornado and Damaging Wind in Arkansas, April 15, 2012Windy conditions prevailed ahead of an approaching cold front, with gusts of 30 to 40 mph common. As the front moved in, thunderstorms developed. Isolated severe weather, including one tornado, resulted.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, April 15, 2012Deep low pressure that brought several tornadoes to southeast Nebraska on April 14th, tracked across northeast Nebraska during the morning and early afternoon of April 15th.
- Tornado and Hail in Minnesota, April 15, 2012Thunderstorms produced large hail at scattered locations in southwest Minnesota during the afternoon of April 15th. There was also a brief tornado reported in Lyon County.
- Tornado and Hail in Minnesota, April 15, 2012A very large and intense storm system that moved across the Upper Midwest generated one tornado in southern Minnesota during the late afternoon of Sunday, April 15th.
- Damaging Winds in Missouri, April 15, 2012A strong cold front moved across the region, triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms. A few of the storms produced damaging winds.
- Hail in Texas, April 15, 2012A slow moving cold front along with plentiful moisture, an unstable airmass and a strong upper level disturbance set the stage for the development of severe thunderstorms late in the afternoon on April 15th.
- Hail in Illinois, April 15, 2012An area of thunderstorms developed over northeastern Illinois during the evening of April 15th.
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, April 15, 2012A strong cold front moved across the region, triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms. A few of the storms produced damaging winds.
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2012Tornadoes in 2012
Sources
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.