Meteorological aspects of high-impact tornado outbreaks

Large-scale weather patterns have been examined for the ten largest tornado outbreaks recorded in the United States, and for the fifteen tornado outbreaks having greatest impact. Outbreak impact is assessed on the basis of not merely tornado count, but also includes numbers of fatalities and injuries, amount of damage, numbers of significant and violent tornadoes, combined tornado path length, and number of wide-track tornadoes, among other factors. The results show considerable variability between outbreaks.