At least eight fatalities have been confirmed in parts of Michigan and Oklahoma as a severe weather outbreak spawned dozens of tornadoes across five states between March 5 and 6, 2026. Four fatalities were reported in Michigan and four were reported in Oklahoma, while injuries and widespread destruction were reported across the affected regions.
The tornado that struck Fairview, Oklahoma on March 5, 2026, was rated as an EF-2 after damage surveys were conducted by National Weather Service (NWS) in Norman. At least one other EF-2 and two EF-1 tornadoes were also identified in the region.
Severe storms and tornadoes struck southwest Michigan, United States, on March 6, 2026, killing at least four people and injuring more than a dozen in Branch and Cass counties. Homes were destroyed, trees uprooted, and power infrastructure damaged as emergency crews carried out search and rescue operations through the night.
A mother and daughter were killed near Fairview, Oklahoma, after a tornado struck their vehicle near state highways 60 and 243 late on March 5, 2026, according to the Major County Sheriff’s Office. The fatalities were confirmed on March 6.
Multiple tornadoes were reported across parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on March 5, 2026, as severe thunderstorms moved across the southern Plains. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) received at least seven tornado reports during the event, with storms causing localized damage and leaving more than 11 000 customers without power as of March 6, according to PowerOutage.US.
Severe thunderstorms capable of producing very large hail, damaging winds, and a few tornadoes are forecast to develop across the Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma, and southern Kansas late on March 5, 2026. The National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued an Enhanced Risk for the region as atmospheric conditions become favorable for supercell development along a dryline during the late afternoon and evening.
Record rainfall struck Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, on March 4, 2026, when Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport recorded 39.4 mm (1.55 inches) of rain, breaking the previous daily record of 32.3 mm (1.27 inches) set in 1937. The storms flooded highways across North Texas, caused the collapse of a commercial building roof on Kingsley Road, and triggered a lightning-caused house fire in Fort Worth.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued numerous flood warnings on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, following 50–100 mm (2–4 inches) of rainfall across Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. Several rivers, including the East Fork White River, White River, and Big Blue River, are above flood stage, with additional rainfall forecast through the end of the week.
A multi-day storm event is forecast to unfold across the central and southern United States, with the Storm Prediction Center issuing a slight to enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms across the Southern and Central Plains from March 4 to 6, 2026.
A lifting frontal boundary draped from the southern Plains to the Mid-Atlantic is producing a swath of mixed winter precipitation across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on March 2, 2026, while setting the stage for isolated severe thunderstorms in Oklahoma and Kansas on March 3. Winter weather advisories are in effect from Indiana to Pennsylvania, with ice accretion possible across the higher terrain of the Appalachians, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
