The 18 Worst US Weather Disasters of the Past Year

A storm front that stalled over Arkansas brought three days of severe weather to the region as far away as central Texas, which received a pounding of large hail and one moderately strong tornado. But Arkansas bore the brunt of this severe weather system that spit out several tornadoes and softball-sized hail.

Severe supercell thunderstorms (distinguished by their height and broad anvil-like shape) formed as an upper-level front moved from the Rocky Mountains to the central plains and interacted with dry weather over eastern New Mexico. The supercells produced wind gusts as high as 86 miles per hour and poured baseball-sized hail in parts of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, damaging roofs and vehicles.

The north-central portion of the country was hit hard in May 2022 by a one-two punch of two thunderstorm systems that struck in one day in central and eastern Minnesota, producing sizable hail and wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour. Two days later, another bout of costly and severe weather hit the region followed by yet another set of hail storms just seven days after that. The central and north-central parts of the country were also struck with three other weather events, each causing between $1.34 billion and $3.25 billion in damages.

A rare line of thunderstorms marched across portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas over two days, producing large hail and intense wind gusts of more than 75 miles per hour that substantially damaged buildings and other infrastructure. The storm was “unusually early and strong in heat and humidity,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, who pointed out that these types of storm fronts typically occur in July.

A series of severe storms dumped ping pong-sized hail on parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Heavy wind gusts, urban flooding, and one tornado were also reported during this weather event. The storms were part of one of the most active months of severe weather in years in Minnesota. Tornado and severe storm warnings were the highest on record for that time of year, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources.