On Saturday morning, many parts of the central United States are reporting temperatures over 30 degrees cooler than they stood on Friday afternoon. On Friday night, the energy of that difference was released in a series of severe storms that blasted cities and towns along a line that stretched from the upper Midwest to the Deep South. At least 30 tornadoes, some of them moving at 80 mph, tore across six states. One of those tornadoes was a massive F5, reported at some points to be more than a mile across. It stayed on the ground for an astounding and terrifying 223 miles, drawing a line of pure destruction from Arkansas as it nicked the Missouri bootheel, crossed the Mississippi, continued into the northwest corner of Tennessee, then sliced onward through the entire western half of Kentucky. The storm may turn out to have cut the longest path of any tornado in history, besting the infamous “tri-state tornado” of 1925. Such “long-track” tornadoes are often extremely powerful. Massive damage is reported at sites in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Especially hard hit was the town of Mayfield, Kentucky, where over 100 workers at a candle factory were trapped as that passing giant reduced the building to rubble. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear  announced that that “dozens” of people had died in the Mayfield factory, and that at least 50 people had died across the state. The final tally of the night’s losses in Kentucky alone may be above 100. Much of the town of Mayfield (pop. 9,900) was completely destroyed, and a path of damage continued across much of the state. Read more