During the evening of June 5, 2005, a massive, discrete supercell meandered across the arid plains of west-central Texas. With a forward speed of just 5 mph, it spent more than five hours over almost total wilderness in Borden and Howard Counties. The storm produced six tornadoes, the strongest of which is the focus of this summary.
Only three weeks before a major outbreak would hit the Mississippi Delta, a small but devastating tornado event would occur. In the blink of an eye, a dedicated city of Grenada police officer lost his entire family. We had the honor to interview that police officer, Christopher Columbus Hankins, for an update to this summary.
During the morning hours of January 11, 1951, a squall line pushed across the San Franciso Bay area. The storms produced millions of dollars in damage as straight-line winds and tornadoes ripped through the region. Per the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) databases, one twister occurred on this day, an F2 in Sunnyvale. Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes lists two tornadoes, the Sunnyvale F2, as well as an F2 at San Jose. Upon doing research, we were able to definitively confirm two additional tornadoes, one that moved through parts of Marin and Sonoma counties and a weak one in Contra Cosa County. It is likely that other funnels occurred, though reports in the newspapers were not detailed enough to confirm others.
Last year, many of us watched as storms tore apart lives and communities across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky. After events of this magnitude, images depicting seas of wreckage where homes and businesses once stood can blind us to the true nature of the loss at hand. Ranging from six days to 98 years of age, a total of 92 people lost their lives during the tornado event. They were cherished as friends or family by thousands. This article details the stories of every one of those people, as well as all of the 23 significant tornadoes that formed during this event.
On the evening of August 11, 1954, a small tornado event took place in Maine. Through our research, we have determined there may have been two twisters to occur on this day. This summary will cover an F2 that caused considerable damage near the city of Caribou. It’s not all that unusual for such instances to occur in Maine. However, this tornado caused a fatality and is the most recent to do so as of this summary’s publication.
On October 21, 2021, a surprise outbreak of 19 tornadoes ripped across eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. This summary delves into the most destructive tornado of the event, an EF2 that trekked through rural Washington County, PA. Two people were injured, and $7 million in damage occurred as several homes and farm buildings were damaged or destroyed.
Three weeks after the devastating May 31, 1985, Tornado Outbreak, a long-tracked F2 tornado, skipped through parts of northeastern Ohio and into northwestern Pennsylvania. Several farms were damaged, and three people were injured.
On August 28, 1884, a deadly localized tornado outbreak would unfold across portions of eastern South Dakota. One of these twisters would become the second earliest photographed in history. There are sharp discrepancies over which tornado that day was photographed, and there is no detailed summary of the event in its entirety. In this article, I attempt to solve both of these longstanding unknowns. Check out this premium summary by becoming a member!
During the early morning hours of April 28, 2011, five tornadoes ripped across the Shenandoah Valley. This summary looks at the strongest, an EF2, that snaked along a 37.6 mile path across Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties. It caused heavy damage near Basye and injured two people. Check out this premium summary by becoming a member!
The April 25-28, 2011 Super Outbreak started on an active note for the state of Arkansas. Eighteen tornadoes occurred across the state on April 25. We take an in-depth look at four of these, two of which caused fatalities.
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