A Look Back at F3s in Kansas, Oklahoma and Indiana!

A possible wind-speed testing facility in the works?

Happy Monday, Tornado History Fans!

The Tornado Talk team continues to keep their head buried in archived materials from the 1974 Super Outbreak in hopes to have our first multi-part summary out within 4-6 weeks. Stay Tuned! đź“Ż

We get that the anticipation is building, but good news for you is that we do have something for you on our YouTube channel - be sure to check out the Xenia, OH F5 video!

📽️ Speaking of YouTube, we’ve released another video! This Week In Tornado History: An F3 tornado struck Montgomery, NJ on October 18, 1990!

Now, onto this week’s newsletter; here’s what’s in store:

  • Two twisters from the 1800s are highlighted….

  • A tornado hits near The Beach Boys!

  • There’s a plan for a new testing facility for extreme wind fields 🌪

It’s History Time!

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🌪️ This Week In Tornado History

October 16, 1998 - Yocemento, KS: This F3 tornado traveled 26 miles through Trego and Ellis Counties in Kansas. A total of 10 homes were damaged or destroyed. A modular home on a concrete slab was hit and the remains were carried 1/2 mile.

Image from newspapers.com.

October 17, 1946 - Hugo, OK: An estimated F3 moved 7 miles from SW of Goodland, OK to the edge of Hugo. Several homes and the Goodland Indian School were unroofed and torn apart.

October 18, 2007 - Indiana: A high-end EF3 tornado with estimated wind speeds at 165 mph tracked for 20 miles through Marshall, Kosciusko, and Elkhart counties in Indiana. The worst damage was in the town of Nappanee. Hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed, and four people were injured.

October 19, 1958 - Palm Beach & Martin County, FL: This twister traveled 20.2 miles injuring 24 people and killing one. In Pahokee, 50 dwelling units were destroyed. Two boxcars were thrown on their sides and their wheels ripped off.

Image from newspapers.com.

October 20, 1837 - Summit County, OH: Thomas Grazulis documents a tornado with no rating given. A house was “torn to pieces” in Stow. Three were killed instantly and a fourth person died of injuries later. After passing over Cochran Pond, more houses were hit and lost their roofs. Barns were struck. Chickens were found “plucked” of their feathers.

October 21, 2017 - South Norman, OK: This was one of nine tornadoes to hit in the state of Oklahoma on this day. It had a 3.4 mile path and moved near the Riverwind Casino and Hotel where The Beach Boys were holding a concert inside.

October 22, 1888 - Louisiana: A possible F2 tornado traveled 12 miles through St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana. “It cut a two-mile-long swath across the Whitney Plantation, north of Wallace, destroying a dozen buildings”. Two tenants were killed.

Which of these tornadoes did you like best? Want to see your favorite tornado highlighted in this section?

Twister Tales

We have a series of in depth, well-researched summaries by Main Writer Nelson Tucker on the Mississippi Delta Outbreak that occurred February 21-22, 1971. Here’s a snippet from the free overview:

“Three massive tornadoes, along with dozens of smaller and undocumented twisters, raked across eastern Mississippi with catastrophic results. At least 119 lives were claimed, and another two were killed the following day in North Carolina. All told, nearly 1500 were injured, with small communities wiped from the map. As of 2023, only the 1974 Super Outbreak, the 2011 Super Outbreak, and the Joplin disaster have since surpassed this loss of life in the United States.”

The overview is free but each summary is premium, exclusive to Patreon members! Join the Tornado Talk team today!

Article of the Week

Researchers design a national testing facility to simulate tornadoes, downbursts and gusts; Experiments will help them engineer buildings that can stand up to extreme winds

A research team from Iowa State has been awarded a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to design and plan a National Testing Facility for Enhancing Wind Resiliency of Infrastructure in Tornado-Downburst-Gust Front Events, or NEWRITE. “If it’s built, the facility would allow testing at large-scales (a full-scale house or 1:10 scale models of buildings with large footprints such as retail buildings, shopping malls or hospitals) and high wind speeds (86-225 mph for EF1 to EF5 tornadoes, 100-125 mph for downbursts, 80-100 mph for gust fronts) in simulated windstorms.”

Image from Iowa State University News Service.

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