Tornado outbreak sequence of May 7–11, 2008

The thunderstorms producing tornadoes over the north-central United States on May 10

The event started in Oklahoma on May 7 as an initial low pressure crossed the southern Plains and produced tornadoes across the Oklahoma City area producing scattered damage throughout the Metro Area including in Yukon, Bethany, Warr Acres and north Oklahoma City. KOCO-TV recorded a 124 miles per hour (200 km/h) wind gust while Chief Meteorologist Rick Mitchell was reporting on the storm. Widespread tree, fence, and minor property damage was reported throughout much of the area while there was also a gas leak reported in Bethany. Tree damage was also reported just outside the KFOR and KOCO stations. Similar conditions occurred south and east of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the line of thunderstorms raced across the state and caused similar damage although a portions of a storage structure was destroyed by the force of the winds. At least five tornadoes were confirmed throughout the state but all were rated either EF0 or EF1. There were no reports of injuries during the event.[2][3][4]

Two significant tornado outbreaks affected the southeastern United States on May 8. During the morning hours, tornadoes touched down across northeastern Mississippi including one EF3 tornado in the Tupelo, Mississippi area which heavily damaged several buildings near the Tupelo Airport.[5] Tornadoes also touched down across northwestern Alabama north and west of Birmingham and Huntsville. One particular tornado was caught on tape by a security camera at a business near Leighton in Colbert County which overturned cars at a parking lot. Another tornado crossed very near the ABC 33-40 Sky Cam in Cullman but the tornado was not seen as very strong winds stopped the video data prior to its passage. Structural damage was also reported to homes across the area.[6]

While weak tornadoes touched down north of Xenia, Ohio, during the early evening hours, the second outbreak of the day produced several strong tornadoes across the western Carolinas and southwestern Virginia. A line of showers and thunderstorms moved across the Appalachians. CAPE values were at around 1500 j/kg across parts of North Carolina.[7] One tornado hit the Clemmons, North Carolina area producing EF3 damage to several homes. The same area was hit an F3 tornado on the same date in 1998. Just after 11:00 pm, another tornado from the same supercell struck the western Greensboro region, killing one person inside a truck overturned by the tornado. The storm also damaged several buildings including homes, businesses and warehouses. Two Fed-Fex planes at the Piedmont Triad International Airport were pitched off the tarmac as the storm lifted near the area.[8] Other tornadoes produced some significant damage north of the Piedmont Triad region across southern Virginia.[6][9][10]

Business destroyed east of Little Rock by an EF3 tornado on May 10, 2008(NWS Little Rock)

On May 10, a new wave of tornadoes from a second system affected portions of the southern Plains and the Lower-Mississippi Valley. Temperatures across the region reached the 80s across portions of the South with mostly upper 70s elsewhere. CAPE values were between 1000 and 2000 j/kg near the center of the low with reading over 2000 j/kg across Mississippi. Helicity levels were over 250.[11] A moderate risk of severe storms was issued for a large portions of the Mississippi Valley as well as the Eastern Plains. Severe storms began to occur across northwestern Arkansas, southeastern Kansas and eastern Oklahoma during the late afternoon hours. Tornado watches extended from eastern Oklahoma to South Carolina and north to near Kansas City.[12][13]

Destroyed building behind an American flag near Darien, Georgia (NWS Charleston, South Carolina).

One violent EF4 tornado killed 15 people in Missouri and six people in northeastern Oklahoma, with one other death from an EF1 tornado also in Missouri.[14] Moderate to major damage was reported across Ottawa County, Oklahoma, and Newton County, Missouri, as well as in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and near McAlester, Oklahoma, where a tornado was caught on tape by a television crew from a helicopter. Other tornadoes were reported across Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. In the late evening, after crossing the Mississippi River, the supercells combined into a bow echo/derecho that tracked from the Memphis Metropolitan Area then across northern Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, with widespread wind damage and embedded tornadoes. Two people were killed in Laurens County, Georgia, and at least 85,000 customers were left without power in the Atlanta metropolitan area.[15]

Additional tornadoes touched down across the southeast and the eastern Ohio Valley from central Ohio to North Carolina but the bulk of the activity took place across central and southern Georgia where nearly 20 tornadoes were confirmed in that state alone. One tornado went through the city of Macon, Georgia, causing extensive damage to some buildings at Macon State College. This forced the closure of the Macon campus for repair.[16] A violent EF4 tornado was also confirmed near Darien in McIntosh County where numerous buildings near Interstate 95 were heavily damaged or destroyed. This was the first violent tornado in Georgia since an F4 tornado hit four counties north of Atlanta on March 27, 1994. The tornado that occurred during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1994 killed three and injured 20 over a nearly 50-mile path.[17] Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency for at least six counties across the state.[18] In addition to the tornado fatalities, one person was killed due to straight line winds in Barrow County, Georgia.[19]

• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• Tornado outbreak of May 1–2, 2008
• Tornado outbreak sequence of May 22–31, 2008

• Slide show of storm damage across the Piedmont Triad Region on May 8 (Courtesy of WXII 12)