The severe weather outbreak that battered the central United States closed out its most active phase with 24 confirmed tornado touchdowns across six states, the Storm Prediction Center reported, pulling back from the 34 tornadoes and eight-state spread documented the previous day.
Confirmed touchdowns were recorded in Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, and Wisconsin. The Storm Prediction Center’s storm reports placed specific touchdowns at 3 miles south of Sisemore, Arkansas; 2 miles west of Haskins, Iowa; and multiple Illinois locations including near Carthage, Macomb, and Low Point — extending the damage cluster along the state’s central corridor that was documented Thursday.
The tornado activity was embedded within a far broader event. The Storm Prediction Center logged 42 large hail reports and 579 damaging wind reports over the same 48-hour window. That wind damage total — approaching 600 separate reports — reflected destruction spread across the six-state footprint, reaching communities that never saw a confirmed tornado but still faced destructive straight-line winds.
The National Weather Service maintained 24 active alerts across the affected states as the system moved through its final phase, with the primary severe weather window having largely closed across the outbreak zone. The contraction from eight affected states to six, alongside the drop in confirmed tornado count from Thursday’s peak, pointed to a system past its most dangerous stage.
Illinois carried the heaviest cumulative damage footprint, with confirmed tornadoes scattered across multiple west-central counties adding to the concentrated cluster documented the day prior. Residents across the state — including those in the Chicago area — were advised by the National Weather Service to treat downed power lines as live and to avoid structurally compromised buildings as local emergency managers began damage surveys.
Texas appeared among the six states with confirmed tornado touchdowns in the Storm Prediction Center’s most recent reports, extending the outbreak’s reach to the southern plains. Residents tracking Houston weather were among those in areas covered by active National Weather Service alerts.
With the immediate threat receding, recovery and damage assessment became the primary focus across the six-state corridor. The combined toll — 24 confirmed tornadoes, 42 large hail events, and nearly 600 wind damage reports — placed this multiday system among the more consequential severe weather outbreaks in the central United States this season.