As a tornado was making its way through Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a meteorologist at CNN affiliate KFVS talked his audience through the disaster, all while he and his colleagues sheltered as it passed over the station.
As the tornado inched closed, chief meteorologist Grant Dade kept the radar up on air as they went into the basement to keep people up to date.
“I’ve never had to watch a tornado hit my house, hoping it’s not hitting my house,” he said, as he prepared to shelter.
While the scene outside the station wasn’t broadcast, Dade noted when the tornado passed, saying “It went right across us.”
“That was a little bit intense folks,” he said after making his way back to the camera. “I’ve never witnessed a wedge tornado come right into the station.”
He took a moment to text his family as he had “no idea the shape of my neighborhood.”
He kept talking the audience through what the radar showed until he finally heard back that his family was all right. “My family is OK and now I’m all yours,” Dade said as he continued the broadcast.
The station posted on its Facebook page everyone there was okay.
While full reports of damage are not in yet, the station said they were seeing reports of at least one house damaged.
At least five houses and one power line are down after a tornado ripped through Lake City, Arkansas on Wednesday, Mayor Cameron Tate told CNN in a phone call.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management has confirmed “reports of tornadoes on the ground,” public information officer Lacey Kanipe told CNN.
“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,” Kanipe said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The tornado threat has ramped up to the extreme in the lower Mississippi Valley tonight. A nearly unbroken line of tornado warnings is stretching over 200 miles from central Arkansas into southeast Missouri.
Multiple “large and extremely dangerous” tornadoes have impacted parts of eastern Arkansas in the past hour, according to the National Weather Service. One of these tornadoes triggered a rare tornado emergency.
This is the rare level 5 of 5 high risk of severe storms unfolding in real time. These dangerous storms are approaching some population centers – like Memphis, Tennessee – and will likely continue to produce tornadoes at least into the early overnight hours.
A tornado emergency is in effect for Lake City, Arkansas, as a “large and destructive tornado” moves through the area, according to the National Weather Service.
“This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE COVER NOW!” the NWS warned.
Tornado Emergency continues for Blytheville AR, Trumann AR and Gosnell AR until 7:45 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/5Eemlwkkvb
— NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) April 2, 2025
Tornado emergencies are the most extreme form of tornado warning. This tornado emergency is the fourth issued in the United States this year. The three others were issued during mid-March’s tornado outbreak.
It appears the tornado has already inflicted damage near Bay, Arkansas, as we’re seeing concerning radar signatures there. A so-called “debris ball” is showing up on radar, meaning that some sort of debris was tossed a few thousand feet in the air.
A tornado destroyed homes and structures near Potosi, Missouri, on Wednesday, according to state troopers. There were no deaths and everyone was accounted for, some with minor injuries, the agency said.
Timbers from homes, overturned cars and farm equipment and debris littered the landscape in the aftermath of the tornado.
Potosi is located roughly 72 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Several drone shots show the extreme damage and debris after a storm ripped through neighborhoods in Owasso, Oklahoma, Wednesday.
The damage in the Fairways and El Rio Vista neighborhoods includes parts of roofs torn off homes and sidewalks uprooted. Photos also show piles of debris tossed onto the streets.
A tornado watch was in effect early Wednesday morning for parts of Oklahoma, CNN previously reported.
There are nearly two dozen tornado warnings in effect in the central US just after 6 p.m. CDT, but the storms we are most concerned about right now are the supercells west of Memphis, Tennessee.
These storms have a classic rotation signature on radar. Storm chasers or other weather spotters have observed tornadoes in several of them.
The Memphis area could be at significant risk if these kinds of storms continue to develop.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon ahead of storms hitting the state.
She also released $250,000 from the Governor’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund to help with recovery costs, she said in an executive order.
“Arkansas is anticipating severe storms today and potential flooding later this week,” she said in a post on X. “I’ve released $250,000 to make sure our state is prepared, and emergency responders are readying themselves to assist.”
Fierce thunderstorms have produced a tornado in eastern Arkansas.
“At 558 PM CDT, a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located over Almyra, or 12 miles southeast of Stuttgart, moving northeast at 60 mph,” the National Weather Service warned.
With a 60 mph movement speed, the tornado could tear through an area in a matter of moments.
“A large, extremely dangerous and potentially deadly tornado is on the ground. To protect your life, TAKE COVER NOW!”
Tornado Warning continues for DeWitt AR, Holly Grove AR and Almyra AR until 6:30 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/4ArmXO1dLM
— NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) April 2, 2025
Videos show a tornado hit Potosi, Missouri, on Wednesday as millions of people in the central US are under a tornado watch.
Potosi resident Ashley Bleckler-Akers told CNN her family is safe and they suffered no damage, despite capturing these videos of the nearby tornado.
Potosi is located roughly 72 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Severe thunderstorms are intensifying and trying to churn out tornados in southern Illinois, east of St. Louis. Tornado warnings span more than 70 miles of a particularly intense portion of the line.
An EF-1 tornado in Owasso, Oklahoma, outside of Tulsa, caused damage in the area as the storm brought winds estimated around 100 to 110 mph, the National Weather Service said.
“Our survey team has found high-end EF1 tornado damage that occurred this morning in the Owasso area,” the Weather Service office in Tulsa said on X. “More details will be forthcoming later.”
An EF-1 tornado caused damage in Vernon County, Missouri, Wednesday morning after it traveled 17 miles in 12 minutes, the National Weather Service Springfield office said.
The tornado knocked over eight train cars, damaged the roofs of several houses and inflicted “varying degrees of damage” to businesses in the area, they said in a post on X.
No injuries were reported, the post said.
A new tornado watch is in effect through 7 p.m. CDT for more than 2 million people in west-central Illinois and east-central Missouri, including St. Louis.
A line of severe thunderstorms is tracking through the area and parts of the line have already been warned for tornadoes. Tornadoes, damaging wind and hail are possible in any storm.
This tornado watch is one of five total watches active in the central US. Close to 17 million people are within these watch areas.
A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Illinois and Missouri until 7 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/VeBdbVO1vS
— NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) April 2, 2025
A new tornado watch is in effect through midnight CDT for more than 1 million people in parts of southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana and northeast Texas, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
“Severe storm development may occur in multiple zones through late afternoon and early evening across the ArkLaTex, with hail/wind and tornadoes all possible with the most intense storms,” the SPC warned.
This tornado watch is one of four total watches active in the central and eastern US.
A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas until 12 AM CDT pic.twitter.com/hjLRRca4ms
— NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) April 2, 2025
A line of severe thunderstorms is intensifying as it continues to roll through parts of Missouri and Arkansas this afternoon.
Multiple parts of this line have prompted tornado warnings in the last few hours. These storms will continue to get stronger as they track east.
Clusters of severe thunderstorms also just started to bubble up in northern Mississippi and southwest Tennessee. These storms could get ferocious over the next few hours as they track north and east over more of Tennessee and into Kentucky.
Additional storms have started to develop in parts of Illinois and will move into Indiana this evening.
A severe thunderstorm is producing a tornado in eastern Missouri, just southwest of the St. Louis metro.
“At 335 PM CDT, a confirmed and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Old Mines, or 6 miles northwest of Potosi, moving northeast at 50 mph,” the National Weather Service warned. “You are in a life-threatening situation.”
The storm developed a classic “hook echo” on radar, which looks sort of like a fishing hook on the back end of the storm. It’s just one way forecasters can spot a potential tornado.
Severe thunderstorms are intensifying rapidly as they plow across the Midwest. The conditions in the atmosphere have now prompted the Storm Prediction Center to issue a “particularly dangerous situation” tornado watch until midnight, local time.
This kind of watch indicates forecasters have high confidence that large, destructive tornadoes will develop this evening. Some of the tornadoes could be EF3 or higher.
Memphis, Tennessee, is the largest city in the watch.
Tornadoes are powerful storms that get more destructive the faster their winds spin. They’re rated from EF0 to EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita or “EF” scale based on estimated wind speeds.
These ratings are assigned long after a tornado is over by National Weather Service crews that survey the kind of damage it left behind to estimate its wind speed.
EF3 tornadoes – which are possible today – have wind speeds of at least 136 mph and inflict some serious damage.
EF3 tornadoes can rip apart entire stories of well-constructed homes, damage large structures like office buildings and shopping malls and completely wipe away anything built on a weak foundation, like mobile homes.
Stronger EF4 tornadoes are also possible. These tornadoes have wind speeds of at least 166 mph and up to 200 mph. They can completely level well-built homes and toss cars in the air like toys.
Thousands of flights are delayed across the United States on Wednesday as dangerous storms and, in some states, tornadoes, roll through the central part of the country.
At 3:30 p.m. ET, 5,005 flights within, into or out of the US were delayed and 728 were canceled, according to the website FlightAware.
Chicago’s major airports led the country with significant delays. 41% of flights leaving O’Hare and 28% of flights leaving Midway were behind schedule.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, 34% of flights departing were delayed.
American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines all had travel advisories Wednesday for passengers wanting to reschedule their flights due to the weather.
