Tornado outbreak of May 2, 1942

On May 2, 1942, a deadly tornado outbreak affected portions of the Central United States, particularly Northeastern Oklahoma and Southeast Kansas. In the latter areas the severe weather event produced at least four violent, long-tracked tornado families, retroactively assessed as having inflicted F4 damage, that varied in length from 55 to 88 mi. Altogether these claimed 29 lives and injured at least 158 people, featuring six known tornadoes, all rated F4. Besides these, the outbreak also yielded two other tornadoes, both deadly: a long-lived F3 family in Illinois that killed one person and an F2 in Missouri that killed one more. The entire outbreak killed 31 people and injured at least 172.

Confirmed tornadoes
Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991. 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments. Numerous discrepancies on the details of tornadoes in this outbreak exist between sources. The total count of tornadoes and ratings differs from various agencies accordingly. The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.