Twenty-six of those deaths were caused by a single supercell thunderstorm which produced damaging and long lived tornadoes from north central Arkansas into northwest Tennessee.
The outbreak was caused by a cold front that tracked across the central United States, triggered by a deep low-pressure area in the Upper Midwest.
The warm humid air mass ahead of the cold front, along with high upper-level wind shear, produced supercells across the region.
The supercells didn't really fire up as expected and only one small tornado was reported in Pawnee County, Kansas on April 1.
While a significant severe weather event was expected, the extreme nature caught many forecasters by surprise, based on the risk levels and the probabilities estimated by the SPC in the area primarily affected.
[74] Past Shannon, the tornado rapidly intensified into a large high-end F3 as it crossed into Greene County and slammed into the town of Marmaduke.
The tornado then re-intensified to a high-end F3 as it tore through the neighboring town of Caruthersville, destroying roughly half of the community and injuring 130 people.
The primary employer in the area, American Railcar Industries, rebuilt its facility and quickly returned it to operational status.
He ordered the sirens to sound repeatedly and used the fire department's communications frequency to warn of the imminent and extreme danger that lay ahead, which saved many lives that evening.
[81] Numerous FEMA trailers – intended for Hurricane Katrina victims but unused and sitting nearby – were redirected to the communities affected in Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee after the tornadoes hit.