Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In-depth meteorological breakdown of the tornado outbreak that occurred on May 18, 2025, across the central and southern Plains. One of the more classic Plains tornado outbreaks in recent years, over 40 tornadoes occurred from Colorado and Nebraska down to Texas. Perhaps most notably, a sculpted low-precipitation supercell spawned multiple tornadoes, including an EF3, near Arnett, OK, and a cyclic supercell produced eight tornadoes, several of which were significant, after dark in southern Kansas. One of these narrowly missed the town of Greensburg, 95% of which was damaged or destroyed in a similar event on May 4, 2007.
In this video, we'll take a look at the meteorology behind this event, including why it was such a prolific tornado producer over such a broad area, and we'll take a deep dive into each of the notable storms that occurred during this outbreak using radar data and model proximity soundings.
Part 2 of this video is coming very soon. In it, we'll compare the May 18 event to the May 4, 2007, event from a meteorological standpoint.
A big thank you to everyone who submitted their footage and photos to me for use in this video; I wasn’t able to include everybody’s, but know that they were, at the very least, a huge help in my research process for this video.
Thumbnail images via Austin Jones (left) and Mikey Plemmons (right).
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
4:39 Meteorological breakdown begins
25:20 Observed sounding analysis
32:48 Analysis of Bennett, CO tornadoes
42:09 Analysis of Texas tornadic supercell
44:29 Analysis of Scott City/Grinnell, KS tornadic supercell
47:57 Analysis of Arnett, OK tornadic supercell
1:04:25 Analysis of Kinsley/Garfield, KS tornadoes
1:09:03 Analysis of southern Kansas cyclic tornadic supercell
1:16:30 Wrap-up
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Want to learn how to forecast and chase severe storms from the best meteorologists and storm chasers in the business? Check out my new training site, Storm Chaser Coaching! Join our Discord community to connect with our coaches and other like-minded severe weather enthusiasts and to get started on your journey to becoming a better storm chaser:
discord.gg/hNrcwJJQR5
---------------------------------------------------------
Become a Patreon member today to support the channel: patreon.com/convectivechronicles
Facebook: facebook.com/ConvectiveChronicles
X: twitter.com/ConvChronicles
Instagram: instagram.com/convectivechronicles
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Resources:
NWS Denver event page: weather.gov/bou/May182025ECOTornadoes
NWS Dodge City event page:
weather.gov/ddc/may18th2025_TornadoOutbreak
NWS Goodland event page:
weather.gov/gld/may18tornado
NWS Wichita event page:
weather.gov/ict/event_20250518
Thompson et al. (2012): "Convective Modes for Significant Severe Thunderstorms in the Contiguous United States. Part II: Supercell and QLCS Tornado Environments" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/27/5/waf-d-11-00116_1.xml
Bluestein et al. (2016): "Doppler Radar Observations of Anticyclonic Tornadoes in Cyclonically Rotating, Right-Moving Supercells" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/144/4/mwr-d-15-0304.1.xml?tab_body=pdf
Peters et al. (2023): "An Analytic Formula for Entraining CAPE in Midlatitude Storm Environments" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atsc/80/9/JAS-D-23-0003.1.xml?tab_body=pdf
Vivek Mahale's work on low-reflectivity hooks: https://x.com/vmahale/status/1836113461614616795/photo/1
Nixon and Allen (2021): "Anticipating Deviant Tornado Motion Using a Simple Hodograph Technique" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/36/1/WAF-D-20-0056.1.xml
Wakimoto and Wilson (1989): "Non-supercell Tornadoes" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/117/6/1520-0493_1989_117_1113_nst_2_0_co_2.xml
Access to RaXPol data: https://radarhub.arrc.ou.edu/archive/raxpol/
Chase Archive website: app.chasearchive.com
In-depth meteorological breakdown of the tornado outbreak that occurred on May 18, 2025, across the central and southern Plains. One of the more classic Plains tornado outbreaks in recent years, over 40 tornadoes occurred from Colorado and Nebraska down to Texas. Perhaps most notably, a sculpted low-precipitation supercell spawned multiple tornadoes, including an EF3, near Arnett, OK, and a cyclic supercell produced eight tornadoes, several of which were significant, after dark in southern Kansas. One of these narrowly missed the town of Greensburg, 95% of which was damaged or destroyed in a similar event on May 4, 2007.
In this video, we'll take a look at the meteorology behind this event, including why it was such a prolific tornado producer over such a broad area, and we'll take a deep dive into each of the notable storms that occurred during this outbreak using radar data and model proximity soundings.
Part 2 of this video is coming very soon. In it, we'll compare the May 18 event to the May 4, 2007, event from a meteorological standpoint.
A big thank you to everyone who submitted their footage and photos to me for use in this video; I wasn’t able to include everybody’s, but know that they were, at the very least, a huge help in my research process for this video.
Thumbnail images via Austin Jones (left) and Mikey Plemmons (right).
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
4:39 Meteorological breakdown begins
25:20 Observed sounding analysis
32:48 Analysis of Bennett, CO tornadoes
42:09 Analysis of Texas tornadic supercell
44:29 Analysis of Scott City/Grinnell, KS tornadic supercell
47:57 Analysis of Arnett, OK tornadic supercell
1:04:25 Analysis of Kinsley/Garfield, KS tornadoes
1:09:03 Analysis of southern Kansas cyclic tornadic supercell
1:16:30 Wrap-up
---------------------------------------------------------
Want to learn how to forecast and chase severe storms from the best meteorologists and storm chasers in the business? Check out my new training site, Storm Chaser Coaching! Join our Discord community to connect with our coaches and other like-minded severe weather enthusiasts and to get started on your journey to becoming a better storm chaser:
discord.gg/hNrcwJJQR5
---------------------------------------------------------
Become a Patreon member today to support the channel: patreon.com/convectivechronicles
Facebook: facebook.com/ConvectiveChronicles
X: twitter.com/ConvChronicles
Instagram: instagram.com/convectivechronicles
---------------------------------------------------------
Resources:
NWS Denver event page: weather.gov/bou/May182025ECOTornadoes
NWS Dodge City event page:
weather.gov/ddc/may18th2025_TornadoOutbreak
NWS Goodland event page:
weather.gov/gld/may18tornado
NWS Wichita event page:
weather.gov/ict/event_20250518
Thompson et al. (2012): "Convective Modes for Significant Severe Thunderstorms in the Contiguous United States. Part II: Supercell and QLCS Tornado Environments" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/27/5/waf-d-11-00116_1.xml
Bluestein et al. (2016): "Doppler Radar Observations of Anticyclonic Tornadoes in Cyclonically Rotating, Right-Moving Supercells" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/144/4/mwr-d-15-0304.1.xml?tab_body=pdf
Peters et al. (2023): "An Analytic Formula for Entraining CAPE in Midlatitude Storm Environments" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atsc/80/9/JAS-D-23-0003.1.xml?tab_body=pdf
Vivek Mahale's work on low-reflectivity hooks: https://x.com/vmahale/status/1836113461614616795/photo/1
Nixon and Allen (2021): "Anticipating Deviant Tornado Motion Using a Simple Hodograph Technique" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/36/1/WAF-D-20-0056.1.xml
Wakimoto and Wilson (1989): "Non-supercell Tornadoes" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/117/6/1520-0493_1989_117_1113_nst_2_0_co_2.xml
Access to RaXPol data: https://radarhub.arrc.ou.edu/archive/raxpol/
Chase Archive website: app.chasearchive.com
