The first tornadic supercell developed in the mid-afternoon hours over the western Twin Cities in Minnesota, and caused moderate damage in the Minneapolis area.

[18] The tornado moved east-northeast and strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings.

A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was "deflected upward several inches and cracked".

Widespread, catastrophic damage occurred around the St. John's Regional Medical Center, which itself lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof.

[18] The tornado maintained EF5 intensity as it moved to the east, either heavily damaging or completely destroying nearly every structure directly in its path, including several larger institutional buildings.

Along Rangeline Road, a large commercial district was impacted, where a Walmart and a Home Depot were completely destroyed, along with numerous other businesses and restaurants.

Three people were killed as two vehicles were tossed more than 1,093 yards (999 m) from the road and obliterated, the victims being found stripped of clothing 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) from the interstate and left "unrecognizable".

One home had nothing left but the foundation slab and an above ground reinforced concrete shelter sustained damage to its metal door from debris impacts.

An SUV in this area was thrown 780 yards (710 m) into a wooded thicket, and had its frame torn from the vehicle body, which was found crumpled around a debarked tree.

[22] Crossing into Logan County south of Cashion, the tornado reintensified slightly, producing a mixture of EF2 and EF3 damage as large high-tension towers were toppled and manufactured homes were destroyed.

Continuing northeastward across the south side of town, the tornado reached EF2 strength as it struck a mobile home park, killing one person at that location.

After crossing the highway, the tornado began to rapidly grow in size and intensity, reaching EF3 strength as homes lost their exterior walls and trees were debarked nearby.

Many trees were debarked in this area, and a mixture of scoured crops, mud, and straw was found piled up to a depth of six feet (1.8 m) against a nearby fence line.

Further along the path, another well-built home was flattened at EF4 strength, a metal building was destroyed, and vehicles were thrown up to 300 yards (270 m) away along Ballard Road before the violent tornado tore across a series of open fields further to the northeast, leaving behind a continuous swath of debarked trees and scoured grass.

The tornado re-intensified as it crossed NW 25th Street, completely debarking numerous trees and obliterating several metal buildings, outbuildings, and mobile homes.

According to NWS damage surveyors, the tornado shrunk and tightened to "plausibly EF5 strength"[35] as it approached and crossed Kitty Hawk Road, scouring away a large area of pavement.

Several homes were reduced to bare slabs in this area, and vehicles were thrown up to 600 yards (550 m) away, including a pickup truck that was torn into multiple pieces.

[30][35] Due to intensity of the damage in this area, surveyors noted that the tornado was "plausibly EF5" as it clipped the north side of Blanchard, though the fact that the homes swept away were missing some of their anchor bolt washers led to a high-end EF4 rating being assigned instead.

Just to the northeast, the tornado maintained its strength as it struck a steel-reinforced concrete dome home, which was shredded by flying debris and sustained partial cracking of its frame.

[35] The tornado then weakened to EF3 strength as it crossed Sandrock Road, debarking trees and heavily damaging or destroying several homes in nearby subdivisions.

Additional minor damage to trees, power lines, and outbuildings occurred as the tornado crossed into Cleveland County, executing a loop in a field before dissipating just west of Moore.

Continuing to the northeast, the tornado intensified further to EF3 strength as it passed through rural areas of Grady County, snapping and debarking numerous trees.

[28] One well-built home in this area with numerous anchor bolts was reduced to a bare slab, though a metal fence immediately next to the house remained standing and grass on the property was not scoured.

This home was specifically engineered to be tornado resistant, though close inspection of the foundation revealed that some of the anchor bolt washers were missing, and the ones that were present were slightly too small, preventing a rating higher than EF4.

Despite the presence of multiple well-built, anchor-bolted homes being swept completely away along the path, the tornado was not rated EF5 due to several contextual discrepancies and minor anchoring flaws.

[40] During the overnight hours of May 24–25, a very large and violent wedge tornado, rated low-end EF4, tracked through several small communities in western Arkansas.

The tornado touched down at 11:53 p.m. CDT (04:53 UTC) as an EF1 south of Branch in Franklin County, snapping trees and power poles and damaging a mobile home.

As the tornado crossed back into Logan County, it weakened to EF2 strength but grew extremely large, expanding to 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) in width and snapping numerous trees.

[45] The tornado then continued into Johnson County and weakened to EF2 strength, heavily damaging several homes in Centerpoint, and downing numerous trees in the community cemetery.

[48] Governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency in 68 counties on May 24, before taking to the air to survey damage in a number of areas.