Severe Weather Outbreak With Widespread Damaging Winds, Over 20 Tornadoes Swept Through Midwest, South, East
Severe Weather Outbreak With Widespread Damaging Winds, Over 20 Tornadoes Swept Through Midwest, South, East
Jonathan Erdman Wed, March 18, 2026 at 2:36 AM UTC
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Data: NOAA/NWS/SPC
A severe weather outbreak lashed parts of the South, Midwest and East with widespread damaging winds and over 20 tornadoes in a third outbreak in the first half of March 2026.
Over a two-day span from March 15-16, about 850 reports of high winds and wind damage generated by severe thunderstorms were received by the National Weather Service from eastern Texas to the Midwest to the East Coast.
Among the many cities that reported these thunderstorm winds or damage included Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville, Indianapolis, Louisville, Atlanta, Raleigh, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City.
In Jonesboro, Arkansas, a 75 mph wind gust tore shingles off a roof. In Brookwood, Alabama, one motorist was injured when high winds topped a tree onto a car. Another tree fell on a home in Duval County, Florida due to thunderstorm winds.
Winds gusted to 71 mph at Newark and 72 mph at JFK Airport as thunderstorms swept through the New York City tri-state area just after midnight on March 17.
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The NWS confirmed 39 tornadoes in nine states in this outbreak, all of which were either rated EF0 or EF1. Sixteen of those tornadoes touched down in Illinois while another seven were confirmed in Missouri.
That included an EF0 tornado in the north Charlotte metro area on the morning of March 16, the city's first tornado since Dec. 29, 2024.
(MORE: Outbreak Impacts)
Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images
There were also more than 50 large hail reports on March 15, with tennis ball-sized hail being reported in San Augustine and Nacogdoches Counties, Texas.
This severe outbreak was the third in a 12-day span in March 2026. It hit some areas that were also hit by severe weather in one or both of the previous outbreaks from March 5-8 and March 10-12.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
