The tornado outbreak of May 6, 2003
74 tornadoesMissouri, Illinois, Alabama and 10 more states
74 tornadoes touched down across 13 states between 1:30 AM and 11:55 PM CDT, 2 of them rated F3 or stronger, and 2 people were killed. The 21st-most tornadoes of any day since 1950.
Watch the day unfoldTornado outbreak · May 6, 2003
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
- 74
- 21st of 12,998 tornado days since 1950
- F3 or stronger
- 2
- 1 rated F4 or F5
- Killed
- 2
- Along all the paths
- Injured
- 60
- Along all the paths
- Path miles
- 306
- All the paths end to end
- First and last
- 1:30 AM to 11:55 PM
- Touchdowns, Central Daylight Time
Hour by hour
Tornadoes touching down in each hour, Central Daylight Time.
Every tornado
In order of touchdown. One has a record page, linked from the rating.
By state
| Missouri | 27 | 1 | 0 |
| Illinois | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Alabama | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Georgia | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Kansas | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Mississippi | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Arizona | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Oklahoma | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Texas | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Tornadoes in 2003 · 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.