It was a powerful F5 tornado that moved 14.7 miles through parts of Jefferson County, AL on this day in 1977. This tornado is named after the area which received the greatest damage: Smithfield Drive and Smithfield Lane.
The deadliest tornado of the April 3-4, 1974 outbreak was the F5 that hit Xenia, OH. Per the SPC, it continues to be in the top 10 of costliest tornadoes on record. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, “This was the most publicized tornado of the day and perhaps the most well-studied tornado in history, from a wind-engineering perspective.”
The strongest tornado of the April 2, 1982 tornado outbreak was rated F5 The path length was 53 miles. The tornado max width was 1.5 miles (that was near Golden). Per the NWS Norman, “The physical state of this tornado varied as it morphed between multiple vortex and solid funnel phases during its lifetime.”
Per the SPC database, 17 tornadoes occurred on March 26, 1976. Two were rated F4 (1 in OK, 1 in MS). At 328pm CT, a tornado that would be rated officially F5 traveled 11.9 miles through parts of LeFlore County, OK. There were 64 injuries and 2 fatalities reported. Tremendous damage occurred in and around the town of Spiro.
Per the March 1990, Storm Data Publication, “The “Hesston” thunderstorm complex produced at least four tornadoes totaling nearly 120 miles on the ground over a 3-1/2 hour period.” We are going to take a look at the 2-F5 tornadoes that occurred from this complex.
March of 1990 was extremely active with a total of 86 tornadoes occurring. 78 of them during the period of March 11 through March 15th. The most active day: March 13.
The Mississippi Delta Tornado Outbreak occurred February 21-22, 1971. There was a total of 19 tornadoes across 9 states. 123 people were killed with most of those occurring on the 21st. Nearly 1600 injuries were reported. Three significant tornadoes occurred on the 21st. Two were given an F4 rating and 1 was rated F5.
Main Writer Nick Wilkes documents the violent tornado outbreak that hit parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario on May 31, 1985.
A Funnel Feature by Guest Writer Lon Curtis about the Central TX Outbreak of May 27, 1997. This included the devastating Jarrell, TX F5.
A Funnel Feature by Guest Writer Lon Curtis about the devastating Waco Tornado of May 11, 1953
