Tornado outbreak sequence of June 20–26, 2023
On June 20, a sequence of multiple severe weather events and tornado outbreaks began across large portions of the Great Plains, Midwestern, and Eastern United States as well as Manitoba and Ontario in Canada.On June 21, strong southwesterly winds associated with a large upper-level trough over the Western United States began overspreading central portions of the country.The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a bimodal level 3/Enhanced risk, one encompassing the tri-state region of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska, and the second stretching from the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles into North Texas.[6] High moisture combined with daytime heating resulted in an unstable airmass characterized by mixed-layer convective available potential energy (CAPE) in excess of 4,500 J/kg.Favorable wind shear overspread this environment, while the combination of outflow from morning storms and a nearby dry line became the focal point for thunderstorm development.[10] On June 23, the focal point for active weather shifted northward into eastern Wyoming and The Dakotas, where the SPC outlined a level 3/Enhanced risk.[14] Farther south in southeastern Colorado and western Kansas, more isolated but significant supercells developed along a dryline and in an area of strong orographic lift.An arcing band of supercells quickly developed by midday along a pseudo-dryline feature,[20][21] producing very large hail and multiple strong tornadoes.[23] Across the Southeastern United States, a moist and unstable environment devoid of strong low-level shear aided a long-lived mesoscale convective system that produced widespread damaging winds as well.[25] The threat for severe weather shifted eastward into the Mid-Atlantic on June 26, where the SPC issued a broad level 3/Enhanced risk stretching from The Carolinas into Pennsylvania and New Jersey.[27] Clusters of storms developed throughout the region ahead of the cold front,[28] contributing to numerous instances of damaging winds and a few tornadoes as far north as Ontario until they began to weaken with the loss of daytime heating or pushed offshore beyond the coastline.The tornado then moved south through an open field, producing a swath of ground scouring before it destroyed two homes near SH 70 as it entered the far northwestern outskirts of Matador.The tornado reached high-end EF3 intensity again as it continued due-south, completely destroying multiple buildings at the intersection of US 62 and SH 70 at the west edge of town.A recently-built, metal-framed Dollar General store on the south side of US 62 was completely leveled at high-end EF3 intensity, with its beams twisted and bolted anchor plates torn from the building's concrete foundation.[104] Past the intersection, the tornado maintained high-end EF3 strength as it paralleled SH 70 and kept moving south, causing major damage at the southwest edge of town.[33] The tornado started to weaken and began moving in a more south-southeasterly direction as it crossed SH 70, where it destroyed a guyed 500-foot (150 m) tall radio tower and caused additional major tree damage.[109][110] Mechanical engineer Ethan Moriarty stated with regards to the extreme vehicle damage that "the problem is that we can't really go outside of the confines of the scale"..."that's the thing with standards like this.The combination of heavy rain and winds caused trees to fall at the North Georgia Wildlife Park in White County; several animal enclosures required repairs.