Tornadoes tore across several states on April 2 as powerful storms swept through the United States, with some of the most striking moments caught on camera.
Multiple reports confirmed that tornadoes hit at least five states across the central and eastern U.S. on Wednesday, triggering flash floods, damaging winds, and emergency warnings.
One of the most intense tornadoes during Wednesday’s outbreak struck Lake City, Arkansas, where Fox Weather Exclusive Storm Tracker Brandon Copic captured a massive tornado crossing a road directly in front of his vehicle.
The footage, broadcast live, showed swirling debris, flashing power lines, and street signs bending under extreme winds. A FOX Weather anchor, reacting to the footage in real-time, described the storm as a “monster.”
Shortly afterward, Copic encountered another tornado in Caraway, just southeast of Jonesboro. As the storm intensified, he reported live, “This is a strong tornado with the horizontal vortex. This thing is at least an EF 3. This is not weak.”
Meanwhile, a FOX Weather broadcaster tracking the same system described it as a “huge wedge tornado on the ground” with horizontal satellites and multiple vortices.
WREG News Channel 3 described the tornado as “incredible” as it tore through Craighead County, where Lake City is located, leaving visible damage.
Lake City Mayor Cameron Tate confirmed to CNN that at least five homes and one power line were down following the tornado. He added that there were no immediate reports of injuries. The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management also confirmed reports of tornadoes on the ground, according to public information officer Lacey Kanipe.
Kanipe said, “We are working with local emergency management offices for situational awareness and still learning of impacts as they come in. It’s early in the event and we will release more information about potential impacts as it becomes available.”
The outbreak extended beyond Arkansas. In Oklahoma, a tornado touched down in Owasso, a suburb north of Tulsa. Fox Weather shared a video showing damage to homes and trees after the storm struck early Wednesday morning.
In Indiana, warnings escalated throughout the evening. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Indianapolis issued a tornado warning for Brownsburg, Clermont, and Rocky Ripple.
Minutes later, Indiana’s City of Carmel confirmed a tornado on the ground, urging residents to take shelter. In nearby Brownsburg, a warehouse was partially destroyed, highlighting the tornado’s impact on local infrastructure.
In Missouri, Fox Weather shared footage of a tornado in Potosi, warning that severe weather continued to spawn tornadoes throughout the Midwest. Weather.com also confirmed a radar-indicated tornado in the city of Nevada, which caused roof and tree damage.
A tornado was also confirmed near Paxton, Illinois, according to The Weather Channel, adding to the growing list of twisters reported across the Midwest.
Forecasters said storms moving through the mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys would likely slow overnight as they encountered a dome of record heat in the Southeast, while new systems were expected to develop over northern Texas. Cities including Dallas, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, and Cincinnati remained under threat.
The NWS Weather Prediction Center (WPC), in a short-range forecast discussion, warned of a “life-threatening, catastrophic, and potentially historic flash flood event” unfolding across the Lower Ohio Valley and Mid-South.
The risk, they said, would likely persist for several days, fueled by a powerful spring system pulling warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico as it moves east.
At the same time, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) maintained a High Risk warning (Level 5 out of 5) — its highest level — for the same region, where a combination of strong wind shear and instability was expected to produce an outbreak of tornadoes, including multiple intense tornadoes and very large hail.
The system was also expected to support a broad warm sector, generating widespread, intense thunderstorms from the Great Lakes southwest through the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, the Mid-South, ArkLaTex, and into the Southern Plains.
Additionally, the NWS reported that the storm was bringing a late-season winter system to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, with heavy snowfall expected overnight. In the West, unsettled conditions persisted as an upper-level trough moved through the region. Meanwhile, parts of the southern High Plains faced critical fire weather due to dry air and strong winds.
Emergency officials urged the public to stay alert, monitor alerts, and take shelter immediately when conditions worsen.
The April 2 tornadoes came just days after a deadly outbreak swept through the South and Midwest. As reported on March 31, storms that began Friday evening killed at least 18 people and caused widespread damage.
The system intensified on Saturday, hitting parts of Mississippi and Louisiana and prompting a rare Tornado Emergency in Taylorsville, Mississippi.
