National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

On This Day In Weather History - May 22

Local


1956   Evening thunderstorms in the Kansas City area produced a wind gust of 56 mph at the Municipal Airport. It was the third windiest May of record with an average wind speed of 13.7 mph.


National


1893   Farms near Darlington, WI vanished as an F5 (estimated) tornado swept them away. Three people were killed.

1996   The air in Oklahoma from collapsing nighttime thunderstorms warmed when it sank. This caused a large heat burst that made temperatures rise to over 100 degrees at midnight.

1948   A rare early season hurricane struck the Island of Hispanola, killing an estimated 80 people.

2004   The world's widest tornado, with a maximum width of two and a half miles, struck Hallam, NE with F4 strength.

1995   Cantaloupe sized hail was reported in Preston, KS.

1933   A multi-vortex tornado that was nearly a mile wide and probably an F5 killed 8 people near Tyron, NE, six of whom were from the same family.

2011   The 7th deadliest tornado in US history (most deadly since the modern era of record keeping began in 1950) struck Joplin, MO. The EF-5 tornado, up to a mile wide at times, had estimated winds in excess of 200 mph. 158 people lost their lives with over 1000 injured.