Event Type : Get Hooked

A strong occluded front moved across the Columbia Basin. At 9am PT, several people witnessed a tornado develop just south of US Highway 12, one mile SW of Dayton. In this area, the second story of a barn was damaged and a mobile home was flipped over.

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An aerial view of a Jackson-Madison County school bus that was tossed about 300 yards from its bus barn. (Photograph courtesy of Robert Cohen, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN.

The tornado formed east of Bemis and tracked NE for 16 miles. It trekked through the southern part of Jackson. The Hollywood Shopping Center had severe damage. A funeral home near it was demolished except for interior rooms. 200+ homes were destroyed and 300 more had lesser damage. One of the hardest hit subdivisions was Orchard Hill.

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This tornado developed in open country near the Jackson-Caldwell parish line. It moved to the northeast near Corey. The survey states the tornado path was not continuous. A tenant farm was destroyed.

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This twister was described by the NWS as “an extremely powerful, but compact tornado.” It was given a rating of F4 and was the strongest of the 13 that occurred across parts of the southern US on January 19, 1988.

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Radar snapshot of the EF3 tornado near Waskom, TX. A debris ball was noted on radar as the tornado was passing over Interstate 20 near Mile Marker 628. Several homes and businesses were either completely destroyed or heavily damaged.

The strongest tornado to occur on January 20, 2010 was an EF-3 that moved through Harrison County, TX into Caddo Parish, LA.

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Home on Main Street in Beebe (White County)

An outbreak of 86 tornadoes occurred on January 21, 1999. There were 9 tornadoes rated F3 (all but one in Arkansas) and one F4 in Arkansas. This summary looks at one of the F3s.

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43 tornadoes occurred on this day and one of the strongest devastated the town of Clarksville, TN. It struck the town at 415am CT. It moved a total of 4.3 miles, through the downtown area and dissipated near Saint Bethlehem. There were 5 injuries and no fatalities.

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A long-track, deadly tornado occurred on January 23, 1969. In his book, “The Tornado: Nature’s Ultimate Windstorm”, Thomas Grazulis notes that the process that brought about using the Fujita Scale to rate tornadoes can be traced to this event. (Grazulis, 2003). This tornado devastated the town of Hazlehurst, MS. It is the deadliest tornado on record (1950-current) in the month of January.

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This summary focuses in on the what the NWS deems the 4th worst tornado in history to hit the St. Louis Metropolitain Area. It is also the last F4 tornado to affect St. Louis.

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This summary looks back at an estimated F2 tornado from January 25, 1933. It moved through parts of Thomas & Brooks Counties in Georgia and caused damage near the town of Barwick.

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This tornado moved to the northeast for about 20 miles. The Storm Data entry mentions that the tornado cloud was sighted several times and that during the early part of the path it was not continuous.

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Per the Storm Data Publication, this was the first tornado to hit in Delaware during the winter months (December through February). The twister moved to the northeast for only 1/2 mile. Four houses were destroyed.

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There was one tornado reported on January 28, 1956. It hit during the late evening in Faulkner County, AR. It moved to the northeast from the Wooster area to 1 mile south of Greenbriar. The Climatological Data Summary then states the tornado “went aloft for 10 miles, returning to the ground in Barney-Enola Area.”

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This summary looks back at an estimated F4 tornado from January 28, 1947. It moved from parts of Fulton County, Arkansas into Oregon and Carter Counties in Missouri.

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This car near the Relax Inn in downtown Adairsville was rolled several times, then impaled by two large wooden beams.

44 tornadoes were confirmed on January 30, 2013. The strongest was given a rating of EF3. It tracked over 21 miles through parts of Bartow and Gordon Counties in Georgia. There were 17 injuries and 1 fatality.

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Details extracted from the March 1908 Monthly Weather Review. The article was by W. S. Belden, Section Director. Dated Vicksburg, MS, February 17, 1908. Described as a “tornado of remarkable energy and duration”.

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This summary explores tornadoes from February 1, 1955…..that are not a part of the official SPC Database.

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Reflectivity and velocity of the tornado as it tore through the McMullen area.

An EF-2 tornado was confirmed in Pickens County, AL on February 2, 2016. Max winds were determined by the NWS to be around 135 mph. The tornado developed in the SW part of the county south of AL Hwy 21 and west of County Road 87. It moved NE for a total of 26.2 miles.

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This tornado hit Fort Stewart, GA on during the afternoon of February 3, 2016. The survey performed by the NWS Charleston, SC found max winds to be between 105 and 110 mph. The tornado developed near Gate 7 of the Fort Stewart complex. It moved NE at 35 mph through the center of the base and dissipated near Highway 144.

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This tornado was 1 of 8 that occurred on February 4, 1971. It was given a rating of F2 and tragically 7 members of one family were killed when their mobile home was hit.

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Izard County: This jeep found itself in a tree. Standing in front of the jeep is Dan Koch, Information Technology Officer (ITO) at the National Weather Service in Little Rock.

This summary looks at the long-track EF4 tornado that pushed through 7 counties in the state of Arkansas on February 5, 2008. This is the longest tornado path on record (1950-current) in the state.

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Per the NWS Huntsville Survey, max winds were estimated at 170 mph. This occurred in Lawrence County. The tornado developed near the Pinhook Community, north of Bankhead National Forest) just after 3am CST. The tornado tracked 16.7 miles. It ended 3 miles SSE of Caddo in Morgan County at 3:20am CST.

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This tornado began near Pisgah and traveled 10.9 miles ending 1 mile SE of Flat Rock. The NWS determined that max winds were near 180mph. 3

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“Survivors of a tornado which wrecked the English Cove Apartments shown here and a motel across the street go through the rubble looking for items not destroyed by the twister.”

During the early AM of February 7, 1971, a waterspout south of Santa Rosa Island moved northeast becoming a tornado near Navy Cove. Half of the units in a 112-unit apartment complex were destroyed near Gulf Breeze. 112 people were injured, there were no fatalities.

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This summary looks back at an estimated F2 tornado from February 8, 1935. It crossed through parts of Liberty and Houston Counties, TX. There were 70 injuries and 12 fatalities.

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A quick-hitting F1 tornado was confirmed on February 9, 1990 in Madison County, MS. One person was killed and 4 injured in a mobile home destroyed 7 miles east of Canton.

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An EF4 tornado tracked 21.65 miles through parts of Lamar, Forrest and Perry Counties in Mississippi on February 10, 2013. Per the NWS Survey, the tornado reached maximum intensity with winds near 170 mph just SW of Oak Grove High School in Lamar County. A brick home in a subdivision, just west of Old Highway 11 was completely leveled with all interior and exterior walls down, and a fair amount of debris was blown downstream.

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During the early morning of February 10, 1959, an estimated F4 tornado tracked through the St. Louis Metro area. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, “the track of this tornado was not far from the tracks of major tornadoes in 1871, 1896, and 1927.”

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Image of the Lone Grove Tornado extracted from the February 2009 Storm Data Publication

10 tornadoes occurred across the Plains on February 10, 2009. The most significant tornado of the day was rated EF4. It tracked almost 37 miles with a max width of 880 yards.

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This tornado moved to the NNE across the west side of La Porte. Twenty-five homes were hit. Several had significant damage and most were unroofed. A total of 200 buildings had some degree of damage.

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Some of these older events are quite the challenge! I have poured over this one a few times.

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Tornado Tracks Via NWS Tallahassee

Late February 13 into early February 14, 2000, 3 devastating tornadoes struck portions of Southwest Georgia. Two were rated F3 and one was rated F2. There was a total of 19 fatalities, many in mobile homes. Approximately 200 injuries were reported.

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This summary looks back at an estimated F3 tornado from February 14, 1908. It moved 5 miles through parts of Smith County, TX, right through Tyler during the early morning.

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This summary looks at an EF2 with max winds of 130 mph that crossed through parts of Copiah and Simpson Counties. The path length was just over 30 miles, max width of 250 yards. There were no fatalities or injuries reported.

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This tornado began about 3 miles west of Joppa just before 5am CT. It travelled ENE through the town, across Alabama Highway 69 and into Marshall County just SW of Arab. The tornado moved across the south side of Arab. It moved into the rugged terrain east of this area and dissipated at the Browns Creek Section of Guntersville Lake just north of the Diamond Community.

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Destroyed mobile home. It was unoccupied.

23 tornadoes occurred on February 17, 2008 across the Southeast. A long-track tornado (75.63 miles) moved from Russell County, AL into 5 counties in Georgia. It ended near Roberta in Crawford County.

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In this summary, we look at a significant, quick-hitting tornado that hit in Van Wert County, OH.

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A garage destroyed in Coweta County.

13 tornadoes were confirmed on February 18, 2009. All but one were in the state of Georgia. This summary looks at an EF2 tornado that crossed through the southern Atlanta suburbs.

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This was a quick-hitting tornado at Angola. A dormitory was unroofed and several guard towers were damaged./strong>

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This summary looks back at an estimated F3 tornado from February 20, 1937. It moved through parts of Christian, Greene and Webster Counties in Missouri.

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Inverness, MS

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.

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Video capture of the Winter Garden tornado, looking north from Windermere, about 5 miles away. As is often the case with tornadoes at night, it only became visible once it was backlit by lightning. Via NWS Melbourne.

It was deemed “The Night of the Tornadoes” – The most deadly tornado outbreak in Florida history occurred during the nighttime hours of February 22-23, 1998. A total of 7 tornadoes swept through the central parts of the state between 1055pm EST and 230am EST. The tornadoes were unusually strong. 3 of the 7 were rated F3. 42 people were killed and over 260 were injured. 3,000 structures were damaged, 700 destroyed. This summary will look at all 7 tornadoes in the outbreak.

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There was heavy damage south of Tuscaloosa, several homes were leveled. In the SE part of the city, significant damage occurred at the intersection of I-59 and McFarland Blvd. A new Scottish Inn Motel was destroyed. 23-year-old housekeeper Thelma Hill was killed when most of the second floor of the motel was sheared away by the tornado causing a wall to fall on her.

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The twister moved to the northeast moving into Pontotoc County near the Matthews area. Most of the damage was between the communities of Algoma and Pontotoc. Approximately 360 homes, 15 businesses and 2 churches were damaged/destroyed. Per the Storm Data Publication, one of the destroyed homes was a restored antebellum plantation home listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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Example of projectile impaling exterior wall

This tornado developed in Plains Township (Luzerne County) near Bald Mountain Road. It tracked a total of 12.52 miles (7.12 miles in Luzerne County and 5.40 miles in Lackawanna County).

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This summary looks back at the tornadoes of February 26, 1958. The SPC database lists 14 tornadoes, half of these in the state of Mississippi. Three of the twisters listed have extremely long, continuous path lengths.

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This summary looks at a tornado that moved 15 miles through parts of Sumner County, TN on February 27, 1956. It was the strongest of 3 that were confirmed on this day.

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The NWS described this as a “monstrous tornado”. It developed just after 9am CST, 2 miles south of Moselle, MS. It grew rapidly and moved to the northeast at 60 mph. 10 minutes after it formed, the tornado hit the Glade Community, 3 miles SE of Laurel. At this point, the tornado was close to 2 miles wide and was producing F4 damage.

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39 tornadoes were confirmed on March 1, 2007. We look at a strong twister, given a rating of EF-3 that moved through parts of Webster, Sumter, and Macon Counties in Georgia. The town of Americus was hard hit.

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An aerial view of the destroyed Enterprise High School where an EF-4 tornado touched down in Enterprise, Alabama.

At 12:47pm CST on March 1, 2007, a tornado warning was issued for Coffee County, AL including the City of Enterprise.

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An outbreak of 35 tornadoes occurred across 6 states on February 29, 2012. During the early morning, a squall line with embedded supercells pressed through parts of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. The strongest tornado of the day occurred between 451am and 504am CT.

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An EF3 tornado traveled 84.99 miles through parts of KY and WV in 2012. The max width was 1580 yards. There were 118 reported injuries and 10 fatalities.

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The deadliest tornado in the country since the Moore, OK EF5 on May 20, 2013 occurred on March 3, 2019. 23 were killed in Lee County, AL. A total of 40 tornadoes were confirmed on this day and the Beauregard/Smiths Station/Talbotton tornado was the strongest with a rating of EF4. This was the first violent tornado to hit Lee County, AL since March 20, 1875. This summary is currently for Patreon members only.

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Candlestick Park Shopping Center sign. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Hugh W. Shankle Collection

It is known as the “Candlestick Park” tornado, named after a shopping center in south Jackson, MS which was completely destroyed. Per the SPC, the path length was 202.5 miles. It moved through portions of MS and then into AL. The max width was 900 yards. There were 518 injuries and 58 fatalities reported. 57 deaths in MS and 1 in AL.

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This tornado moved to the ENE on the south side of Mitchellville, TN. 20-30 homes damaged or destroyed. 50 head of livestock and 4,000 chickens were killed.

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One of 3 tornadoes to moved through parts of Illinois on March 4, 1961. It was given a rating of F1. The tornado began its 51.5 mile track near Arrowsmith. A house was knocked 20 feet off its foundation.

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This tornado hit in the extreme SW part of Bessemer, AL and then moved through the downtown area. It then moved to the northeast through parts of Homewood and Mountain Brook. Per the Storm Data summary of the event, most of the damage was is in the first 2 miles of the path in Bessemer.

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A strong tornado moved through parts of Grant County, IN and the town of Marion on March 6, 1956. The SPC has a path length of 1.9 miles but the Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS) has a path closer to 3.5 miles. It moved through the western and northern parts of Marion and then out into open country.

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This tornado developed 4 miles NE of Buckley and moved to the northeast for about 8-9 miles. About 10 farmsteads were heavily damaged.

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This summary looks at an EF2 that moved through parts of Columbia County, FL and the town of Lake City. The track was short, only 1.49 miles.

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26 tornadoes occurred on March 7, 2009. The strongest was given a rating of EF3. It was a quick-hitting tornado in Lawrence County, IN. It moved to the east-northeast for just over a mile.

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An F4 tornado was confirmed on March 9, 1992. It moved almost 20 miles through parts of Sharkey, Washington and Humphreys Counties. The twister developed 1.5 miles SSE of Panther Burn.

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This late night tornado developed along Highway 11, 1 mile south of Savoy or about 8 miles SSW of Meridian, MS. It moved to the northeast and pushed through the community of Zero and into the southside of Vimville. It ended near Alamucha.

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This summary looks at a tornado that developed along a squall line in parts of New Jersey during the early afternoon of March 10, 1964. Per the Storm Data Narrative, the tornado moved from SW to NE from Woodbury to Farmingdale.

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5 tornadoes are listed in the SPC database for March 11, 1955. Three were in Indiana and two were in Ohio. All were given ratings of F2. This summary looks at one of the Indiana tornadoes.

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This summary looks at the strongest tornado that occurred on March 11, 1963. It moved across portions of Cullman County, AL. The tornado was first reported in the Valley Grove Community.

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15 tornadoes occurred on March 11, 2006. Half of them where in the state of Missouri. We look at one of the strongest for the day and the event where fatalities occurred.

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10 tornadoes were recorded on March 12, 1971. 4 were given a rating of F3. This summary looks at the strongest tornado of the day. It was given a rating of F4 and traveled through Bowie County, TX.

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Image from the Lawrence Locomotive from the NWS Hasting Summary

Per the SPC Database, 15 tornadoes touched down in the state of Nebraska on March 13, 1990. The strongest, an F4, traveled from 3 miles south of Red Cloud in Webster County and lifted 3 miles East of Schuyler in Colfax County. The max width was 440 yards. There were 8 reported injuries.

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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.

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Per the SPC Database, 14 tornadoes occurred on March 13, 1990 in the state of Iowa. The strongest, an F4, traveled 19 miles from Prairieburg in Linn County to Worthington in Dubuque County. It was on the ground for 30 minutes. The max width was 200 yards. There were no injuries or fatalities.

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Map of tornadoes that occurred during the March 13th 1990 tornado outbreak via NWS Wichita

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.

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Cotton Mill Lofts. Roof was removed by the tornado and portions of the top floors collapsed all the way to the basement.

An isolated supercell developed just northwest of Atlanta, GA during the evening of March 14, 2008. As the storm moved into the city, it produced a tornado that caused damage on a 6.25 mile path from west of the World Congress Center in Fulton County to south of I-20 in Dekalb County.

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This was one of the strongest tornadoes of an outbreak of 23 that occurred during the evening of March 15, 1982. Most of the twisters were in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. This tornado was given a rating of F3. It had a path of 70 miles. There were 2 fatalities and 8 injuries.

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The SPC Database lists 9 tornadoes on March 16, 1965 including a long-track F4. This tornado is listed with a path of 82.7 miles through parts of Grant, Kay Counties in Oklahoma and Sumner, Cowley Counties in Kansas. After digging into the Storm Data entry and Significant Tornadoes by Thomas Grazulis, it would appear this was more than likely not a single path.

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The SPC lists a significant, long-track tornado occurred on March 18, 1982. Rating give was F4. There were 12 total injuries.

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This summary looks at a tornado that zipped through parts of Robertson and Sumner Counties in Tennessee. It moved ESE from east of Orlinda to Fountain Head. Approximately 500 buildings were hit with a varying degree of damage.

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Per the SPC Database, 48 tornadoes occurred on March 20, 1976. Three were rated F4. In this summary, we will look at the first F4 of the day. It occurred during the early afternoon in Macon, Piatt, Champaign and Vermillion Counties in Illinois. The path length was 63.7 miles and the max width 800 yards. There were 18 reported injuries.

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A tornado outbreak occurred on March 21, 1952. Officially, the SPC lists 27 tornadoes with 10 given a rating of F4. Through his research, Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes shows 7-F4 tornadoes. This summary looks at one of those F4s. It was the deadliest of the outbreak.

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This narrative will look into the details of the strongest tornado that occurred on this day. It was given a rating of F4 and traveled through parts of Morgan and Madison Counties in Alabama.

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Image provided to NWS by Jim Morrison.

18 tornadoes were confirmed across parts of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico on March 23, 2007. 10 were in New Mexico. This summary looks at a tornado rated EF2 that moved 8.36 miles through parts of Lea County.

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It is called the “Governor’s Tornado.” The twister moved 14.8 miles through parts of Fulton County, GA on March 24, 1975. It began in West Atlanta, moved to the northeast at approximately 50 miles and ended in the Brookhaven Area.

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A tornado, given a rating of F4, traveled 12.1 miles through parts of Texas County, MO on this day in 1954. The max width was 100 yards. This is the only F4 on record for March 25 (1950-2016).

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[Photograph 2012.201.B1215.0773] hosted by The Gateway to Oklahoma History Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: “A battered foundation is all that remains of the John Trout home in Spiro after a tornado ripped it apart Friday.”

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.

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The tornado that struck the Goshen United Methodist Church

This summary will review the most deadly tornado of the Palm Sunday Outbreak of March 27, 1994 (and the deadliest for 1994). An F4 moved 50 miles through St. Clair, Calhoun and Cherokee Counties in Alabama and lifted just over the Georgia state line in Floyd County.

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This summary will review the second F4 during the Palm Sunday Outbreak of March 27, 1994.

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Per the SPC Database, 7 tornadoes occurred on March 28, 1975. The strongest, given a rating of F4, is the topic of this summary. It developed just SW of Warren, AR and moved to the northeast through the center of town before dissipating.

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An aerial view of the town of Comfrey, in South Central Minnesota after being hit by an F4 tornado (Image extracted from Storm Data)

16 tornadoes occurred on this day in 1998. 2 in Wisconsin (both rated F0) and 14 in the state of Minnesota. This was the largest March occurrence of tornadoes in the state of Minnesota on record. Per the NWS Twin Cities, prior to 1998, there were only 7 tornadoes known to have hit the state in March.

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~7:29pm CT: The tornado was visible from the NWS Tulsa office as it passed just North of the Tulsa International airport. Photo Credit: NWS Tulsa

Per the SPC Database, 7 tornadoes occurred on this day in 2016. One in KS, 2 in Arkansas and 4 in Oklahoma. The strongest tornadoes of the day were rated EF2 and were found in Eastern OK. This summary will take a look at those 2-EF2s, one of which moved through the northern parts of Tulsa.

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From Fujita’s paper

Guest writer Nick Wilkes digs into 2 (or maybe 3) significant tornadoes that occurred in Georgia and South Carolina on March 31, 1973.

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Nine tornadoes occurred on March 31, 1959. 6 were in Oklahoma, 2 in Texas and 1 in Arkansas. One of the strongest, and the deadliest, was given a rating of F4. It moved 10.4 miles through parts of Hill County, TX.

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Destroyed home of John and Sheila Giles in Coatesville.

Damage path ranged from about 200 yards wide to near one quarter of a mile wide at its widest. The most significant structural damage occurred to two homes east of Coatesville. One home was completely destroyed and another severely damaged.

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13 tornadoes occurred on April Fool’s Day of 1983. The strongest was rated F4. It moved 9 miles through Ouachita and Morehouse Parishes in Louisiana.

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“There had been no disaster so great in Greensboro’s history. And there has never been one since.” (Greensboro News & Record, April 2016).

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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.”

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The deadliest tornado of the April 2, 1982 outbreak was an F4 that traveled 23 miles through parts of Lamar and Red River County, TX. Ten people died in the town of Paris. There were 170 injuries reported along the tornado’s path.

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Outbreak map via Storm Data

An outbreak of 56 tornadoes across 11 states occurred on this day in 1982. (Note: the SPC database has 55 tornadoes listed. Storm Data in their summary of the event states there were 56 tornadoes).

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The Xenia Tornado. Photo taken from the Greene Memorial Hospital by Fred Stewart.

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.”

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Detailed Super Outbreak tornado path and intensity analysis, hand drawn by Dr. T. Theodore Fujita of University of Chicago.

148 Twisters in 24 Hours.

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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.

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It is the 4th deadliest tornado in US History. Officially 216 deaths on record The Tupelo, MS F5 of April 5, 1936. Detailed summary on what happened and how that death toll may be much higher.

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Per the SPC, 9 tornadoes occurred on April 5, 1954 all in KS, MO and IA. The strongest for the day was given a rating of F4. Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes has a rating of F3 and notes there was “near-F4 damage”.

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This summary looks back at a devastating event in Gainesville, GA on April 6, 1936. Per Thomas Grazulis: The tornado hit at 827 local time. There were 1600 injuries and 203 fatalities. The path length was 7 miles (and he lists as a family) and the width 400 yards. Rating given: F4.

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Eight F3 tornadoes have occurred on April 6 (1950-2016). We are looking at one of those in this summary from 1955. This tornado is officially listed in the SPC database having a length close to 30 miles moving through Grayson and Fannin Counties.

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Tornado in Gallatin, TN

47 tornadoes were confirmed on April 7, 2006. The deadliest crossed through parts of Davidson and Sumner Counties in TN. It was given a rating of F3. There were 128 injuries and 7 fatalities.

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We look back to April 7, 1978 in this summary. A tornado traveled 31.2 miles through parts of Hamilton and Polk Counties in Nebraska. The twister moved NE from 5 miles ESE of Grand Island, near Marquette and Hordville and then to just NE of Polk.

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In this summary, we explore the F5 that began in rural sections of Eastern Tuscaloosa County, 1.5 miles east of the Warrior River. The tornado moved through mainly unpopulated areas in Eastern Tuscaloosa County and into extreme SW Jefferson County. The first major area hit was the Oak Grove Community. 3 deaths occurred in a mobile home and the Oak Grove School was destroyed.

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9 tornadoes were confirmed on April 9, 1999. Most were in Indiana and Ohio but there was an F1 in Spotsylvania County, VA. The strongest tornado for the day is the subject of this summary. It was an F4 that traveled 10 miles through parts of Hamilton and Warren Counties in OH. There were 65 injuries and 4 fatalities reported.

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Good Friday, April 10, 2009: An outbreak of 64 tornadoes across the south. This summary looks at the strongest of the day. It was given a rating of EF4 with estimated maximum wind speeds of 170 mph. It moved 23.25 miles through parts of Rutherford County, TN and the town of Murfreesboro.

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View looking southwest at the approaching tornado from the roof of Bethania Hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas. © Troy Glover

The Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak, one of the most significant outbreaks on record for this region, occurred on April 10, 1979. Per the SPC Database, 25 tornadoes occurred mainly in TX and OK with one lone tornado in KS. The focus of this summary will be on one of the tornadoes that occurred during this outbreak and one of the most devastating tornadoes in history: The Wichita Falls F4 Tornado.

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Alto

The focus of this summary will be on one of 10 tornadoes to hit the state of Indiana during the April 11 1965 Palm Sunday Outbreak.

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Per the SPC, 19 tornadoes occurred on April 12, 1964. There were 2 rated F4: One in Page County, IA that damaged or destroyed 70% of the buildings in Yorktown and the second in KS, the topic of this summary.

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An F3 tornado traveled 15.9 miles through parts of Harrison County, MS on this day in 1980. The max width was 400 yards and there were 25 injuries reported. Most of the damage was in the Gulfport area (estimated damage at $10 million at that time).

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5 miles west of Marquette. Picture by Will Campbell via NWS summary.

Per the SPC, 83 tornadoes occurred on April 14, 2012. Just over half of them (42) were in the state of KS. The strongest tornado for the day was one of the 42: It was an EF4 that traveled through parts of Rice, Ellsworth, McPherson and Saline Counties. Total path length was 50.28 miles.

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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.

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A two-day tornado outbreak occurred April 15-16, 1998. A total of 61 tornadoes were recorded by the Storm Prediction Center. 42 of those were on the 16th. Our summary for today is on an F4 that traveled a short distance through parts of Mississippi County, AR.

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An F4 tornado traveled 70 miles from NW of Essex, IL to just west of Medaryville, IN on this day in 1963. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, “In Illinois, damage was near-F5 as several houses literally vanished.”

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This massive twister tracked 65 miles through parts of Swisher, Briscoe, Armstrong, Donley and Gray Counties. This tornado had a max width of 880 yards. 42 injuries and 16 fatalities were reported.

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It lasted 4 minutes. An F4 tornado tore through the heart of Greenwood, AR on April 19, 1968. Total path length was 2 miles and the maximum width was 300 yards. In a blink of an eye, 14 people lost their lives and there were 270 injuries reported.

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A bit after midnight on April 20, 1973, an F3 tornado moved through parts of Pontotoc County, OK including the town of Ada. Officially from the Storm Prediction Center, the path length was 7.9 miles, the width 100 yards and there were 21 injuries.

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A tornado given a rating of F4 crossed 5 miles through parts of Barton County, KS. The tornado developed 1 mile SW of Hoisington. It rapidly intensified as it entered the west side of town climbing to F4 intensity within minutes. Per the NWS summary, “while crossing northwest Hoisington, the tornado inflicted a path about 2 miles long and about 2 blocks wide of almost complete destruction.”

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Belvidere Tornado Memorial via Boone County Journal

An outbreak of tornadoes occurred on April 21, 1967 across parts of the Midwest states. Per The Storm Prediction Center, there were 46 tornadoes. 5 were given a rating of F4: 1 in MO, 1 in MI and 3 in IL. This summary will focus on the 3 Illinois F4s. It is considered Northern Illinois’ Worst Tornado Disaster.

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EF3/EF4 damage at Harmann Estates via Fred H. Glass of NWS St. Louis

Per the SPC Database, 20 tornadoes occurred on April 22, 2011. The strongest, an EF4 hit parts of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. It reached maximum intensity as it tracked through the community of Bridgeton, just west of Lambert St. Louis International Airport, in St. Louis County.

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Ohio National Guardsmen stand guard over a house that had been leveled by a tornado late 4/23 which killed 5 people in the rural Southern Ohio community.

14 tornadoes occurred on April 23, 1968. Per the SPC, 2 hold a rating of F4 and one was rated F5. That twister is the topic of our summary.

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Damage in Yazoo City, MS from EF4. Front cover of Storm Data April 2010.

During the midday hours of April 24, 2010, a destructive long track tornado made a 149 mile journey across 1 parish in Louisiana and 8 Counties in MS. It formed just south of I-20 west of Tallulah in Madish Parish, LA and dissipated 5 miles north of Sturgis, MS in Okitebbah County. Actual time on the ground: 2 hours and 44 minutes.

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A quick-hitting F4 tornado moved 6 miles across parts of Dallas County, TX on this day in 1994. 80% of the Lancaster downtown square was destroyed. 223 homes were destroyed and 227 damaged. 58 businesses were destroyed.

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Andover Tornado via NWS Summary

The topic of our summary: a long track, well documented event: The Wichita-Andover, KS F5 Tornado. It was the 3rd in a family of 4 tornadoes that pushed through South Central KS during the Plains Tornado Outbreak of April 26, 1991.

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Pavement scoured off the surface along Brown Street in Phil Campbell.

This summary explores one of the 4-catastrophic EF5 tornadoes that occurred on April 27, 2011. A continuous tornado track was found that began west of Hamilton in SW Marion County, AL. The tornado strengthened rapidly and hit the city of Hackleburg as an EF5 with estimated max winds of 210 mph.

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The large funeral home slab can be seen along with incredible vegetation damage. Low lying shrubs were unable to withstand the onslaught, and large shrubbery had foliage, limbs, and bark blasted off (Johnny Buckner).

Guest writer Nelson Tucker presents a detailed summary on the April 27, 2011 Smithville, MS EF5 tornado. He examines the tornado, the extreme damage and the impact to the Smithville community.

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A Funnel Feature by Guest Writer Beth Ann Crocker about the Suffolk, VA EF3 Tornado. 20 mile path on April 28, 2008

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The Louisville, MS EF4 tornado was a part of a larger outbreak that spanned from April 27-30, 2014. 84 tornadoes occurred during that period with over half of them on April 28. There were 2-EF4 tornadoes during the outbreak and we look at one of those in this summary.

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Front of the April 2002 Storm Data Publication. Just east of La Plata, this block and brick foundation home was destroyed. Seven people were inside and all survived.

This summary looks at the devastating La Plata, MD tornado of April 28, 2002. We explore the damage details of this historic tornado along with path discrepancies and the rating controversy.

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An F4 tornado tracked 27 miles through parts of Creek, Pawnee and Osage Counties on this day in 1984. The max width was 200 yards. There were 60 injuries and 1 fatality reported.

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The official stats from the SPC is that this tornado had a path length of only 1 mile. The max width was 333 yards. There were 300 injuries and 18 fatalities reported. Per Grazulis, most of the 18 deaths were in families of Air Force personnel living on two housing projects.

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This tornado traveled 12.1 miles through parts of Clay County, AL. 19 homes were destroyed and 50 damaged. There were 7 fatalities.

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This tornado moved 20.6 miles through parts of Major and Garfield Counties. The max width was 880 yards. There were 25 injuries and 1 fatality reported.

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Bridge Creek, OK area via NWS Norman general forecaster Erin Maxwell.

This violent, long-lived tornado was the most infamous of nearly 60 tornadoes that struck central Oklahoma during an unprecedented outbreak on this Monday afternoon and evening of May 3, 1999. The tornado was the 9th of 14 tornadoes produced by a supercell thunderstorm during the tornado outbreak.

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This tornado image was captured just before sunset as it headed for Haysville, Kansas. (Courtesy of National Weather Service and Perry Lambert on May 3, 1999).

A Funnel Feature by Guest Writer Dan Holiday about the May 3, 1999 F4 tornado that hit Haysville, KS!

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From the May 2007 Storm Data Publication. Damage in Greensburg including a fire hydrant ripped out of the ground.

This summary looks at the tornadoes of May 4, 2007 including the first to be given an EF5 rating under Enhanced Fujita Scale.

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“The Western Storm”

A Funnel Feature by Guest Writer Lon Curtis about the “unusual” event that occurred in Austin, TX on May 4, 1922.

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Per the Storm Prediction Center, 7 tornadoes occurred on May 4, 1950. The strongest was an F4 that tracked over 30 miles through parts of Pawnee and Barton Counties in KS. The max width was 150 yards. There were 30 injuries reported.

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Per the Storm Prediction Center, 31 tornadoes occurred on May 5, 1960. The most violent was given an F5 rating. It tracked 71.8 miles through Pottawatomie, Lincoln, Okfuskee and Creek Counties in Oklahoma. The max width was 800 yards. There were 81 injuries and 5 fatalities reported.

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This F5 tornado traveled 10 miles through parts of McLennan and Bosque Counties in Texas. It formed 5 miles south of Valley Mills and moved due north. The max width was 100 yards. There were no injuries or fatalities reported with this event.

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Real Photo Post Card from the collection of Edward L. Williams

In this summary, we look back at May 6, 1930 and two tornadoes in two different areas of Texas that caused widespread devastation. They were later given ratings of F4.

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An F4 traveled 50 miles through parts of Gibson, Carroll, Benton and Humphreys Counties. The max width was 100 yards. There were 137 injuries and 3 fatalities reported. The tornado left an almost continuous path of destruction through Huntingdon and Buena Vista in Carroll County to Eagle Creek in Benton County.

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