page_title: Tornadoes of 2012
section_title: April 13–16
hierarchical_section_title: Tornadoes of 2012 / April / April 13–16
caption_attribution_description: English: One of several violent tornadoes that touched down across Kansas on April 14, 2012. This particular tornado was located 5 miles west of Marquette, Kansas and was rated EF4.
context_page_description: This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2012. Extremely destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also appear regularly in neighboring southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season, and somewhat regularly in Europe, Asia, Argentina, and Australia.
  There were 939 tornadoes confirmed in the U.S. in 2012. Worldwide, 91 fatalities have been confirmed: 69 in the United States, six in Turkey, five each in China and Indonesia, three in New Zealand and one each in Italy, Japan and Poland.
context_section_description: An impressive low pressure area and associated trough began tracking into the Great Plains on April 13, and a slight risk of severe weather was issued. The outlook mentioned the possibility of tornadoes, including the risk for isolated strong tornadoes. No strong tornadoes occurred, though an EF1 tornado caused considerable damage in Norman, Oklahoma. For only the second time in history (previously for April 7, 2006), a day two high risk   of severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center. In the discussion, the SPC stated that a major tornado outbreak was likely across central Kansas and north-central Oklahoma during the afternoon and overnight hours of April 14, with long-tracked violent tornadoes likely. It was later expanded to include a second high risk area across much of Nebraska, where a rare 45% tornado probability was given during the late morning update on April 13.  During the morning hours on the 14th, the high risk area was expanded again to combine the two separate areas into a single large one. Later in the day, the 45% tornado probability was shifted from Nebraska south to Kansas and northern Oklahoma. A large outbreak of tornadoes impacted the Great Plains states on April 14, and several PDS Tornado Warnings were issued during the outbreak. Initially, most of the tornadoes were small or remained over open country, though more significant tornado activity began to develop throughout the day. A high-end EF2 tornado struck Creston, Iowa, flipping vehicles and causing major structural damage to homes and other buildings in town. Another EF2 wedge tornado struck Thurman, Iowa, damaging 75% of the town. In Nebraska, a strong EF2 tornado destroyed outbuildings and badly damaged a home near Cook, while a large and violent EF4 tornado leveled a home and debarked trees near Marquette, Kansas. Later that evening, a cyclic supercell thunderstorm developed in northern Oklahoma before moving into southern Kansas, producing multiple tornadoes along the way. This included a large EF3 wedge tornadoes that destroyed homes near Conway Springs. As this supercell moved into Wichita around 10:15 pm CDT (0315 UTC), another large EF3 wedge tornado touched down and caused major damage in the southeastern part of the city. Staff at the Wichita National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport were forced to hand over responsibility for their County Warning Area to the National Weather Service offices in Topeka and take shelter at about 10:00 pm CDT (0300 UTC), returning to duty half an hour later. Another supercell thunderstorm also produced two EF3 wedge tornadoes that passed near Fellsburg and Hudson, causing significant damage.
  Around 10:00 p.m. CDT (0300 UTC), a broken squall line began to form across the eastern portions of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles; a thunderstorm developed ahead of the northern line segment in northwestern Wheeler County, Texas at approximately 10:30 p.m. CDT (0330 UTC), and began developing supercell characteristics as it tracked northeastward into the Oklahoma counties of Ellis and Roger Mills. A tornado warning was issued for Ellis, Harper and Woodward counties at 12:00 am CDT (0500 UTC) on April 15 after weather spotters reported a tornado spawned by this supercell located 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Gage in Ellis County. This high-end EF3 tornado later struck Woodward, Oklahoma at 12:20 am CDT (0520 UTC), killing six people. Multiple homes and businesses were destroyed in Woodward, and all fatalities occurred as a result of destroyed mobile homes. Additional weak tornadoes occurred on April 15 and 16 before the outbreak came to an end. A total of 113 tornadoes were confirmed as a result of this outbreak.
caption: A large and violent EF4 tornado near Marquette, KS.
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