On This Day: April 15

Tornado Talk Summary

A tornado given a rating of F4 moved just over 23 miles eastward through parts of Frio County, TX on April 15, 1973. It began about 8 miles west of the Frio Airport. It moved across the airport and the Melon community passing 3 miles south of Pearsall. It ended 15 miles due east of the airport. There were 5 fatalities. All were occupants of two cars traveling on Interstate 35 as the tornado crossed that area. Read the full summary here

Clipped From Abilene Reporter-News, April 17, 1973.

SIGTOR Spotlight

Highlighting a Tornado Before 1950
from Significant Tornadoes by Thomas Grazulis!

April 15, 1879: An F2 tornado passed through Lisbon, TX, 7 miles SSW of Dallas. 15 homes were destroyed and six were damaged. The twister was described as a “green rimmed cone that rose and fell in its motion like a monster wave.” 25 people were injured. Grazulis does not list fatalities, but newspaper accounts do.

Twister From The 2000s

On this day in 2018, an EF3 tornado tracked for 20 miles through Timberlake, Lynchburg, and Elon, VA. The worst damage was in Elon, where several poorly anchored homes were swept away. 12 people were injured. Source. 

A home that was swept away. Photo via the Damage Assessment Toolkit ( DAT).
A home that was ripped apart, photo via the Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT).

Weather Rewind

There is more weather phenomenon than just tornadoes? 

On This Day in OTHER weather history!

On this day in 2008: “(15th and 16th): High Winds blew embers smoldering from an earlier controlled burn. The town of Ordway, CO, was evacuated, as a wildfire burned 8,900 acres of grassland. 2 firefighters died. Their pickup (going through thick smoke) drove into a culvert because a wooden bridge had burned.” Exceprt via the 2021 Weather Guide Calendar. 

Pieces of the Past

A Look Back Through The Ages!  On This Day In History! 

Sources:  onthisday.com, thisdayinmusic.com & Britannica

Historical Event

On this day in 1877: Boston-Somerville installs the world’s 1st telephone in Massachusetts. Check out more historical events at onthisday.com

Famous Birthday

Seth Rogen was born on April 15, 1982, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a comic actor and screenwriter who won over audiences as a charismatic buffoon in a number of box-office hits, including Knocked Up (2007). Source:  Britannica

Film & TV

On this day in 1963: Steve Allen’s musical “Sophie”, based on the life of American singer, and comic actress Sophie Tucker, opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 8 performances. Get more daily history at onthisday.com

Music Trivia

On this day in 2010: After receiving some bad reviews and even enduring some boos during her performance, Whitney Houston brushed off criticism of her first show in the UK in over eleven years by insisting she was playing to a ‘tough crowd’. She had recently been hospitalized with chronic rhinopharyngitis, which is a swelling of the membranes in the nose and throat.  Get into the groove with more music trivia at thisdayinmusic.com

Photo of the Day

On this day in 1912: The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive.

Note:  There are some images/videos in our summaries that were licensed to us to be used only on this website. If you would like to use an image/video in your project or blog, please contact us and we will grant permission if possible.

Newspaper clips are embedded via newspapers.com. Please see their terms and conditions.

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