Tornado Talk Weekly (July 17, 2023)

Tornado Talk is Hitting the Road Soon!

Company Updates! 

  • During the week of August 7, the Tornado Talk team will be in portions of the south doing research for our 1974 Super Outbreak project. Right now, we are scheduled to visit over 20 places including archives, history centers and libraries….in 5 days! Learn MORE about our project and how you can help support our work!

  • We are working on growing our presence on our YouTube channel. Each Monday, you will see a new short video for “This Week In Tornado History” and we are working on longer form videos based off our in-depth summaries! Subscribe to our channel to get hooked on MORE tornado history!

This Week In Tornado History! 

July 17: Thomas Grazulis documents five tornadoes in the state of Illinois on this day in 1903. Three were given an F3 rating. One of the F3s moved at Streator. An entire farm was destroyed west of town. Six people were killed, five of which were at a racetrack where people sheltered under a grandstand that collapsed. A night watchman was killed at a factory.

July 18: On this day in 1986, an F2 tornado hit the Minneapolis suburbs of Brooklyn Park and Fridley. A news helicopter broadcasted it live on TV as it was lofting trees into the air.

July 19: In 1950, an F3 tornado struck Lima, OH. Hundreds of homes were damaged, three were destroyed. A drive-in theater, which had only been built two weeks before the tornado hit, was leveled. The Lennox Furnacing Company was unroofed and a wall collapsed. Read our full summary!

Damage Photo taken by James B. Bachmann, Akron, OH

July 20: On this day in 1876, an estimated F3 tornado moved near Raymore, MO. “In one home, people were thrown 150 feet in different directions, resulting in a death. In another home, a child died in its mother’s arms.” Source: Thomas Grazulis

July 21: On this day in 1993, a large, wedge tornado passed across the open country near Last Chance, CO. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes: “The tornado may have damaged storage sheds and grain combines but is officially rated at F0.” Several amazing photos of the tornado were taken by William Reid, and can be viewed at his blog, stormbruiser.com. After this spectacular tornado dissipated, an F3 tornado hit near Lindon, CO, injuring 6 people.

July 22:  An F2 tornado moved along the Potomac River shore between Morgantown, MD and Tompkinsville on this day in 1928. A cottage, two barns and at least 100 trees were demolished and thrown into the river. “A man was killed in the cottage and his wife was injured.” Source: Thomas Grazulis

July 23: Canton, IL F3 Tornado – July 23, 1975! Part of a tornado family that Ted Fujita researched. Studied the influence microbursts may have had on the twisters. 127 businesses in a 5-block area damaged. Two fatalities occurred at the Horton’s Mobile Home Manor. Read our full summary about this event here!

Twister Tales! 

The basement of the Noot's single level home. One basement wall collapsed inward. It was also here where a safe was ripped from the basement and hurled several miles (NWS/Greg Gust).

Main writer, Nelson Tucker documents in a Premium Summary, an F4 tornado that moved 12 miles through Barnes and La Moure Counties in North Dakota on July 18, 2004. The Noot Farm Tornado (as it is commonly referred to at the NWS Grand Forks) was one of the most intense of the 2000s. Per Nelson’s summary, “the damage to the Noot property was extreme. The NWS surveyor who rated this tornado, Greg Gust, often described in Skywarn Spotter classes that this tornado had ‘picked up everything in the farmyard and mixed it, like a blender on liquefy, and deposited it as wind-rows of debris’”. The family survived the disaster but lost several animals including 49 cattle.

This event is documented in a premium summary, one of several available to members! Support our work and read more amazing stories by subscribing to Patreon!

Article of the Week! 

Hail damage swath in Wyoming
From the CIMSS Satellite Blog 

Highlights 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 Nighttime Microphysics RGB images (including plots of local storm reports) which show wind-driven hail across NE Wyoming during the afternoon and evening hours of July 11, 2023.

Reply

or to participate.