The tornado outbreak of May 2, 1983
21 tornadoesOhio, New York, Pennsylvania and 5 more states
21 tornadoes touched down across 8 states between 11:05 AM and 12:16 AM the next day CDT, 9 of them rated F3 or stronger, and 5 people were killed.
Watch the day unfoldTornado outbreak · May 2, 1983
How the day unfolded
Every tornado recorded that day, at its logged touchdown time and along its path, with the counties it crossed.
The day in numbers
- Tornadoes
- 21
- on Monday, May 2, 1983
- F3 or stronger
- 9
- None rated F4 or F5
- Killed
- 5
- Along all the paths
- Injured
- 62
- Along all the paths
- Path miles
- 158
- All the paths end to end
- First and last
- 11:05 AM to 12:16 AM the next day
- Touchdowns, Central Daylight Time
Hour by hour
Tornadoes touching down in each hour, Central Daylight Time.
Every tornado
In order of touchdown.
| 11:05 AM | F3 | Macomb County, St. Clair County MI | 0 |
| 11:37 AM | F2 | Henry County OH | 0 |
| 11:49 AM | F3 | Wood County OH | 1 |
| 12:10 PM | F1 | White County IL | 0 |
| 1:20 PM | F2 | Huron County OH | 0 |
| 3:00 PM | F0 | Pike County IN | 0 |
| 3:10 PM | F1 | Richland County OH | 0 |
| 3:20 PM | F1 | Kenton County KY | 0 |
| 3:45 PM | F2 | Erie County PA | 0 |
| 3:55 PM | F3 | Cuyahoga County OH | 1 |
| 4:00 PM | F0 | Crawford County PA | 0 |
| 4:05 PM | F3 | Chautauqua County NY | 2 |
| 4:45 PM | F1 | Ross County OH | 0 |
| 5:27 PM | F1 | Fayette County, Pickaway County OH | 0 |
| 6:39 PM | F2 | Tioga County PA | 0 |
| 7:15 PM | F3 | Chemung County, Tioga County NY | 0 |
| 7:15 PM | F3 | Tioga County NY | 0 |
| 8:15 PM | F3 | Cayuga County, Onondaga County NY | 1 |
| 8:29 PM | F3 | Oswego County NY | 0 |
| 9:30 PM | F3 | Oneida County NY | 0 |
| 12:16 AM | F0 | Desha County AR | 0 |
By state
Tornadoes in 1983 · On this date in other years · The biggest outbreak days
Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025. A day is SPC’s calendar date in Central Standard Time; an outbreak day here has 40 or more tornadoes, or 6 or more rated F3/EF3 or stronger.