On This Day: June 20

Tornado Talk Summary

A significant event on this day in 1957! A newer section in the NW part of Fargo was hit. All property in an area 5 city blocks wide and 20 blocks long was destroyed. Ten people were killed. Rating given was F5. Ted Fujita did an in depth study on what occurred. Per Thomas Grazulis, “The Fargo report was a landmark effort in both detailed mapping and in efforts to understand the tornado life cycle.” Read the full summary here

SIGTOR Spotlight

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

June 20, 1890: An F4 tornado moved through portions of Lee and Dekalb Counties in Illinois. Farms were demolished near West Brooklyn and Compton. The Deacon Hunt school was leveled near Paw Paw. Many of the children had gone home but there were six there with a teacher. All were killed. There was a total of 13 deaths along the path.

Twister From The 2000s

On this day in 2011, a high-end EF3 tornado with wind speeds up to 160 mph struck near Amherst, NE. It destroyed four homes and damaged 40 others. Transmission towers were toppled. Source. 

A house that was destroyed, photo via NWS Hastings.
Toppled transmission tower, photo via NWS Hastings.

Weather Rewind

Tornado and Other Weather Events From On This Day

On this day in 2021, an EF3 tornado tracked for 17.6 miles through the Chicago, IL, Metro, causing significant damage in Naperville and Woodridge. One poorly anchored house was shifted from its foundation and collapsed, and 230 homes were damaged. Eleven people were injured. Source

The house that collapsed, photo via NWS Chicago.

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 1840: Samuel Morse patents his telegraph. Check out more historical events at onthisday.com

Famous Birthday

John Goodman was born June 20, 1952, in Affton, Missouri. He is an actor who was perhaps best known for his long-running role as Dan Conner in the television series Roseanne (1988–97; 2018). His imposing physical stature often garnered him movie roles playing over-the-top, larger-than-life figures. SourceBritannica

Film & TV

On this day in 1975: “Jaws”, based on the book by Peter Benchley, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Roy Scheider is released. Get more daily history at onthisday.com

Music Trivia

On this day in 1969: David Bowie recorded ‘Space Oddity’ at Trident Studios London. The track went on to become a UK No.1 when re-released in 1975. Written about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut; Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs ‘Ashes to Ashes’, ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ and ‘Blackstar’.  Get into the groove with more music trivia at thisdayinmusic.com

Photo of the Day

June 20, 2015: Severe thunderstorms pushed across western and central Pennsylvania, causing widespread damage and flooding. Photo of the shelf cloud generated by the line storms over Greensburg, PA via Tornado Talk Writer Nick Wilkes.

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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