Southeastern Tornadoes and Severe Weather

Losses, 2024 dollars

$1.8 billion

Losses at the time

$1.5 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.

• Hail and Damaging Winds in Missouri, March 16, 2018$95,000 · 1 in hail · 10 eventsA couple of clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms developed near a warm front extending from central Missouri southeastward to the Tennessee Valley. The primary type of severe weather was large hail.
• Hail in Kentucky, March 16, 2018$10,000 · 1.75 in hail · 6 eventsA couple of clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms moved along a warm front extending from central Missouri southeastward to the Tennessee Valley. Some storms produced large hail over far western Kentucky, west of Kentucky Lake.
• Hail in Tennessee, March 17, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsA line of strong thunderstorms moved across far northern Middle Tennessee during the early morning hours on March 17. One report of large hail was received in Robertson County.
• Hail in California, March 17, 20180.25 in hail · 6 eventsA short-wave disturbance along with a trough moved through the Bay Area. The resulting instability generated scattered thunderstorms that produced small hail.
• Hail in West Virginia, March 17, 20181 in hail · 1 eventA frontal boundary was draped across southern West Virginia and Virginia, with a surface wave moving along the boundary during the afternoon and evening of the 17th.
• Damaging Wind in Kentucky, March 17, 2018$20,000 · 53 kt wind · 1 eventA briefly unstable environment developed during the late afternoon hours on March 17 ahead of a cold front. A few thunderstorms tracked through east central Kentucky and one produced wind damage.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, March 17, 2018$6,000 · 1 in hail · 8 eventsA disturbance passed across Kentucky on March 17th. Scattered thunderstorms developed and quickly turned severe during the evening hours. Storms were responsible for bringing down trees and causing minor structural damage. Some hail reports of an inch were also reported.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, March 17 to 19, 2018$65,000 · 2.75 in hail · 28 eventsAn upper level trough produce multiple rounds of thunderstorms across North and Central Texas as it approached from the west on Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18. A surface front and a dryline helped provide focus for thunderstorm development over the weekend.
• Hail in Mississippi, March 17 to 19, 20181 in hail · 3 eventsIsolated storms developed during the evening of March 17th, and resulted in hail across the southern portions of the ArkLaMiss.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Tennessee, March 17, 2018EF0 · 28 eventsThunderstorms developed ahead of an upper level system and surface cold front during the evening hours. Several of these storms produced large hail and wind damage.
• Hail in Virginia, March 17, 20181 in hail · 1 eventThunderstorms developed ahead of an upper level system and surface cold front during the evening hours. Several of these storms produced large hail and wind damage.
• Tornadoes and Hail in North Carolina, March 17, 2018EF0 · 6 eventsThunderstorms developed ahead of an upper level system and surface cold front during the evening hours. Several of these storms produced large hail and wind damage.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, March 17, 2018$25,000 · 3 in hail · 7 eventsThunderstorms developed along the dryline in Central Texas and moved into South Central Texas. Some of these storms produced large hail and damaging winds.
• Tornado and Hail in Georgia, March 17, 2018$500,000 · EF1 · 4 eventsAn upper-level short wave sweeping southeast through the southern Appalachians spawned isolated severe thunderstorms across the region. Cold air aloft, associated with the short wave, produced large hail in portions of north and central Georgia.
• Damaging Wind in North Carolina, March 17, 201850 kt wind · 1 eventScattered thunderstorms developed within an unseasonably warm and moist environment ahead of a cold front across the Tennessee Valley during the afternoon and moved into western North Carolina during the evening. One storm produced brief damaging winds across Avery County.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in Georgia, March 17, 20181 in hail · 3 eventsScattered thunderstorms developed within an unseasonably warm and moist environment ahead of a cold front across the Tennessee Valley during the afternoon and moved southeast into northeast Georgia during the evening.
• Hail and Lightning Strikes in Texas, March 17, 2018$3,000 · 1 in hail · 3 eventsA severe thunderstorm produced large hail and lightning strikes.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in South Carolina, March 17, 201850 kt wind · 2 eventsScattered thunderstorms developed within an unseasonably warm and moist environment ahead of a cold front across the Tennessee Valley during the afternoon and moved southeast across north Georgia and into Upstate South Carolina during the evening.
• Hail in North Carolina, March 17, 20181 in hail · 2 eventsAs high pressure started to depart the area, moisture levels started to rise across the area and a warm front was approaching from the south. A storm developed head of this front over Rockingham County and progressed into Caswell County.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, March 18, 2018$184,000 · 4.25 in hail · 32 eventsSevere storms produced very large hail and damaging winds.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, March 18, 2018$75,000 · 5.5 in hail · 21 eventsThunderstorms formed in the warm sector ahead of cold front in the eastern part of South Central Texas. Some of these storms produced large hail and damaging winds.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, March 18, 2018EF1 · 5 eventsA upper level low developed across the far NE Texas Panhandle with an associated dryline back to the south and southwest. A jet streak working into west Texas during the afternoon helped bring strong shear throughout the column into the Panhandles.
• Hail in Oklahoma, March 18, 20181 in hail · 1 eventA upper level low developed across the far NE Texas Panhandle with an associated dryline back to the south and southwest. A jet streak working into west Texas during the afternoon helped bring strong shear throughout the column into the Panhandles.
• Hail in Louisiana, March 18, 20181.25 in hail · 4 eventsA weak surface frontal boundary backdoored southwest into portions of North Louisiana and extreme Northeast Texas during the afternoon hours on March 18th, before pulling up stationary late in the day.
• Hail in Texas, March 18, 20181.25 in hail · 2 eventsAn outflow boundary from earlier convection drifted south from Northeast Texas. Convection redeveloped during the evening with a couple storms becoming severe.
• Hail and Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, March 19, 2018$10,000 · 1 in hail · 2 eventsFairly widespread showers and scattered storms developed over Oklahoma as a upper level trough and associated cold front passed through the area, producing a few severe reports.
• Hail in Louisiana, March 19, 20182 in hail · 3 eventsAn upper level disturbance triggered severe thunderstorms over the coastal parishes of southeast Louisiana during the early morning hours. Several reports of large hail were received from the storms.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Florida, March 19 to 20, 2018$27,000 · 1 in hail · 6 eventsA typical early spring cold front brought a round of showers and thunderstorms to the area with some large hail and marginally severe winds.
• Hail in Oklahoma, March 19, 20180.75 in hail · 1 eventWidespread thunderstorms developed across eastern Oklahoma during the early morning hours of the 19th as an occluded frontal system moved into the region. The strongest storms produced marginally severe hail over portions of northeastern Oklahoma.
• Hail in Tennessee, March 19, 20180.88 in hail · 1 eventAn advancing warm front produced a lone strong thunderstorm across portions of southwest Tennessee during the early morning hours of March 19th.
• Damaging Winds in Florida, March 19, 2018$15,000 · 50 kt wind · 4 eventsThe first wave of pre-frontal thunderstorms moved across the Suwanee River Valley moved across the area as an MCS which produced wind damage across Gilchrist and Alachua counties.
• Hail in Arkansas, March 19, 20180.88 in hail · 2 eventsA lone storm brought hail to Conway in Faulkner County the 19th.
• Tornado and Hail in Mississippi, March 19, 2018$630,000 · EF0 · 12 eventsAn unstable airmass and advancing cold front produced severe thunderstorms capable of large hail, damaging winds and a tornado across portions of north Mississippi during the morning and late afternoon hours of March 19th.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, March 19, 20184 injured · EF3 · 43 eventsSix tornadoes and hail up to 3 inches in diameter affected the northern areas of Central Alabama on the afternoon and evening hours of March 19th, with a rare PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Watch issued for a large portion of Central Alabama.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, March 19, 2018$1,000 · EF2 · 46 eventsAn isolated supercell produced hail during the early afternoon hours across far northwest and north central Alabama.
• Hail in Kentucky, March 19, 20180.75 in hail · 2 eventsA surface low pressure center moved east from northern Arkansas to western Tennessee. North of the low pressure track, a few strong thunderstorms formed within a much larger area of showers.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, March 19, 2018$10,000 · 1.75 in hail · 6 eventsA typical early spring cold front brought a round of showers and thunderstorms to the area with some large hail and marginally severe winds.
• Hail in Alabama, March 19, 20181.25 in hail · 3 eventsA typical early spring cold front brought a round of showers and thunderstorms to the area with some large hail reported in Geneva county.
• Tornadoes and Hail in Georgia, March 19 to 20, 20183 injured · $5.1 million · EF2 · 38 eventsWidespread severe thunderstorms broke out across central and north Georgia during the evening hours of March 19th, through the early morning hours of the 20th as a warm front lifted north across the region ahead of a strong storm system developing across the lower Mississippi…
• Hail and Damaging Wind in Tennessee, March 19, 2018$5,000 · 2.5 in hail · 3 eventsScattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed across Middle Tennessee during the afternoon hours on March 19. One tornadic supercell developed just south of the Alabama border and moved eastward parallel to the Tennessee/Alabama state line.
• Tornado in Tennessee, March 19, 2018EF0 · 1 eventMost of the tornadic supercell activity asssociated with this event occurred just south of the Tennessee/Alabama state line. However, one of the supercells produced a tornado in Franklin County during the early evening hours.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, March 20, 2018$200 · 1 in hail · 6 eventsA band of severe thunderstorms moved southeast over the Central Savannah River Area of GA along a warm front, producing wind damage and some hail.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, March 20, 201850 kt wind · 3 eventsA large area of thunderstorms develop upstream of the southeast Georgia region and moved through during the early morning hours in the vicinity of a warm front.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Florida, March 20, 2018$161,000 · 1.25 in hail · 11 eventsA prefrontal trough developed ahead of a cold front moving southeast through the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Florida Peninsula on the 20th, producing numerous thunderstorms.
• Hail in Georgia, March 20, 20182 in hail · 6 eventsA strong short wave trough and pre-frontal trough over a moist and unstable environment triggered severe thunderstorm that produced large hail and gusty winds. Strong deep layer shear and most unstable CAPEs where near 2500 J/kg with steep mid level lapse rates (over 8C/km).
• Hail and Damaging Winds in Florida, March 20, 2018$5,000 · 2 in hail · 21 eventsA deepening mid-level trough and associated strong cold front moved across north/central Florida. Conditions ahead and along the cold front were favorable for severe thunderstorms as an 80-90 knot jet maxima produced sufficient upper level divergence.
• Hail and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, March 20, 2018$500 · 2 in hail · 22 eventsClusters of thunderstorms developed across portions of southeast South Carolina in the afternoon hours ahead of a strong cold front. Several of these thunderstorms became strong enough to produce damaging wind gusts and large hail.
• Hail in Florida, March 20, 20181.75 in hail · 6 eventsA strong short wave trough and pre-frontal trough over a moist and unstable environment triggered severe thunderstorm that produced large hail and gusty winds. Strong deep layer shear and most unstable CAPEs where near 2500 J/kg with steep mid level lapse rates (over 8C/km).
• Hail in South Carolina, March 20, 2018$5,000 · 1.75 in hail · 5 eventsLapse rates are expected to steepen into this evening ahead of an upper trough and surface cold front.
• Hail in South Carolina, March 20, 20180.88 in hail · 2 eventsA cluster of evening thunderstorms developed across the Piedmont in association with a frontal system. The storms produced some hail across York County.
• Flash Flood and Debris Flow in California, March 20 to 22, 2018$5,000 · 10 eventsA series of storm systems with a subtropical moisture stream swept through the region between the 20th and 22nd of March. This subtropical moisture was also associated with an upper level trough and surface cold front.
• Damaging Wind in Florida, March 20, 201853 kt wind · 1 eventA moist and unstable air mass with south southwesterly wind flow across South Florida ahead of a cold front. A line of thunderstorms ahead of an approaching cold front produced gusty winds in Marco Island in Collier County.
• Tornado and Flash Flooding in California, March 20 to 23, 20182 deaths · $2.8 million · EF0 · 31 eventsA warm plume of moist tropical air brought a very active period of weather to the area between the evening of March 20 and the evening of March 22.
• Tornado and Flash Flood in California, March 21 to 27, 20187 injured · $52 million · EF0 · 13 eventsTorrential rain from an atmospheric river with locally heavy convective showers brought flash flooding to portions of the northern Sierra and Motherlode foothills.
• Flash Flood and Heavy Rain in Hawaii, March 22 to 26, 201811 eventsA moist low-level flow and instability aloft brought downpours and thunderstorms to the island chain, and periods of flash flooding.

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.