Updated Jun 6, 2024 - Energy & Climate

U.S. tornado outbreak kills boy in Michigan, injures multiple in Maryland

A tornado near cars in Montgomery County, Maryland. Photo: Montgomery County, Maryland, Fire & Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer/X

Multiple tornadoes reported across the U.S. on Wednesday left a toddler dead in suburban Detroit, Michigan, and several people injured in a Maryland suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

The big picture: The storms that unleashed the tornadoes come during one of the busiest tornado seasons on record in the U.S, per the National Weather Service.

Details: Livonia Fire and Rescue said in a Facebook post that a 2-year-boy was killed "after a tree fell on the family house when a quick-developing tornado struck" the western Detroit suburb about 3:30pm Wednesday.

The NWS confirmed a tornado rated at EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale touched down in Livonia.
In Maryland, Montgomery County officials reported injuries following a tornado and said crews removed several people from damaged structures following the tornado.
A tornado was also reported elswhere in Maryland and in Loudon, Virginia, where trees were downed, while tornado warnings were in effect for parts of Ohio, Delaware and New Jersey late Wednesday, according to the NWS.

Between the lines: Climate change affects the conditions in which thunderstorms form and may be leading to larger tornado outbreaks, though fewer of them, by adding to the instability of the atmosphere while simultaneously cutting back on wind shear, per Axios' Andrew Freedman.

Go deeper: Scorching heat wave set to smash records across U.S. Southwest

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

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U.S. tornado outbreak kills boy in Michigan, injures multiple in Maryland

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