It Was An Active Weekend Across The South!

And A Look Back At A Tuscaloosa Tornado.....

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Before we get started with this edition of the Tornado Talk newsletter, wanted to pause and send up prayers for those impacted by the tornadoes across the south over the weekend. As of this writing, there have been six fatalities reported: 3 in the Clarksville, TN area and 3 in the Nashville area. The National Weather Service continues to survey the damage. Our article of the week will give an overview of the TN tornadoes.

🌪 We have begun the review process on our detailed summary on the Frankfort-Stamping Ground, KY tornado. This will be a premium summary series and free overview that will be released over a period of several weeks. Learn more about this multi-year project on the 1974 Outbreak in this video!

📽️ Here is our latest This Week In Tornado History Video! Twenty-four tornadoes were confirmed on December 16, 2000. Half of those were in the state of Alabama including the strongest of the day. It was a devastating F4 that pushed 18 miles through Tuscaloosa County. Eleven were killed and 144 injured.

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🌪️ This Week In Tornado History

December 11, 1931 - Texarkana, AR: An F2 tornado pushed through parts of Bowie County, TX and Miller County, AR near Texarkana. Two miles north of town, two homes were destroyed and there were two fatalities. Total of 15 injuries.

December 12, 1940 - Katy, TX: Two farm homes were destroyed by this F2. “One couple drove a quarter mile away, then stopped and watched their home being swept away.” A man was killed and his wife was injured at the other farm home. “Nothing was left at either site.” Source: Thomas Grazulis.

December 13, 1977: Houston, TX: A total of 12 homes, 18 mobile homes and 13 small businesses were destroyed by this F3 tornado. There were 40 injuries and sadly one fatality. Billy D. Hester, a superintendent for a construction company, was killed in his pickup truck and he tried to outrun the tornado. It lifted his truck and hurled it into an oak tree.

Image from newspapers.com.

December 14, 2010 - Aumsville, OR: On this day, an EF2 tornado struck Aumsville, OR. Over 50 structures were damaged or destroyed, and two people were injured.

December 15, 1971 - Bell City-Scott City, MO: There was damage to a farm near the development point SW of Bell City. On the north edge of town there were several businesses and homes that sustained damage. Just south of Messler, four box cars of a freight train were lifted off their tracks. Two barns and businesses were damaged near Oran. The tornado was rated F2.

Image from newspapers.com

December 16, 2019 - DeRidder-Alexandria, LA: An EF3 tornado developed in DeRidder, LA, and tracked northeast for 62 miles through Fort Polk, Alexandria, and Pineville. Numerous homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed, and there was extensive tree damage. One person was killed.

December 17, 1933 - Dixie, LA: A possible F2 tornado moved through Caddo Parish, LA. It had a path length of 20 miles. Five were killed and 20 injured. A lumber camp was hit near Dixie. Four of the fataities were here. "One person was killed in a tenant home on the "Soda Fountain" plantation near Dixie." Source: Thomas Grazulis

Twister Tales

A violent tornado devastated the Pitts Gap and New Harmony communities late on April 27, 2011. The furthest north-tracking EF4+ tornado in the Super Outbreak changed the lives of some rural residents forever. Here is an excerpt from this Premium summary:

“The tornado continued at this intensity into New Harmony, striking several more homes, including that of Bledsoe County High School football player Riley Wooden. “I felt like I was going to be dead. I accepted it. I waited for it. Then everything stopped spinning,” he said in an August 26, 2011 article for the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Riley, his siblings, and their father had been watching the local news. In between brief power outages, they learned about the tornado warning for their area. They all huddled under a mattress in the hallway. The tornado smashed through the home, hurling it and the Wooden family almost 100 yards.”

The summary, Pitts Gap-New Harmony, TN EF4 Tornado – April 27, 2011 is available for Patreon members! Join our community today!

Article of the Week

At least two tornadoes struck portions of Middle Tennessee on Saturday. Here is an article from NewsChannel5 in Nashville with the latest.

Photo by: WTVF / Sky5 from the article.

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