Weather History

This Day In Weather History

In 1924, tornadoes broke out across a large part of the Southeastern fourth of the country. A total of 27 significant tornadoes occurred the 29th and 30th. Of the total, 23 occurred on the 30th. The most violent, and deadliest, was an F4 that slammed Central South Carolina from around Aiken to Darlington. The tornado, likely a tornado family, had a continuous track 105 miles long and around a third of a mile wide that passed 9 miles south of Columbia, the state capital. The tornado killed 53 and injured 534.

In 1852, a tornado struck New Harmony, located in extreme southwest Indiana where it killed 16 people. Its rating is unknown. On March 18, 1925, the Indiana segment of the Tri-State Tornado, which set records for length, width, duration, speed and casualties, closely followed the same track.

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In 2011, for the south and southeastern United States said Good Riddance to the month of April, as many tornado records were swept off the books in EF5 fashion. The April total of 875 tornadoes thoroughly wiped out the previous April record of 267 that was set in 1974. The April total also leveled the record for most tornadoes in any month which had been 542 in May, 2003. In April 2011, there were 361 tornado fatalities, of which 314 occurred on the 27th. That made it the 4th deadliest single day on record and the deadliest since March 18th, 1925 when 747 people died; 695 of them were killed by the Tri-State Tornado that raced a three and a half hour, 219 mile marathon from Southeast Missouri, across Southern Illinois, to Southwest Indiana.

In 1967, an outbreak of 12 strong and violent tornadoes tore across Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota. Garnering the greatest attention were three F4s. The first had a track 30 miles long, averaged around 500 yards wide, killed 6 and injured 22. Hardest hit was Waseca where 16 homes were destroyed, of which 6 were leveled. The second struck along the Iowa Minnesota border, with a track 18 miles long and one quarter mile wide. It is surprising that only one was injured, as the twister hit 20 farms of which 10 were destroyed and three were leveled. The third had a track 40 miles long and around 200 yards wide. That tornado killed five and injured 35. Hardest hit was Albert Lea, Minnesota, located along the Iowa border, where six farms were leveled, 26 homes were destroyed and 64 others were badly damaged.
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