Tornado Talk Weekly (July 31, 2023)

T Minus 6 Days Until Our Trip!

July 31, 2023

Company Updates! 

We are only a few days away until our next trip doing research for the 1974 Super Outbreak!

  • Most of our time will be spent in Alabama but we will also be going to Xenia, OH to research more details on that F5.

  • We will also make a stop in southern Tennessee.

  • In addition, while in Alabama, we will be visiting places hit by the 2011 Super Outbreak.

  • We have written several summaries covering those events. We are getting a chance to see where we are now, 12 years later in communities like Hackleburg, Tuscaloosa and Cullman. Our summaries about these major tornadoes are powerful and we are looking forward to visiting the different communities and supporting them.

  • Our goal is to write at least 40 summaries for the 1974 Super Outbreak and our visit will help gather details for those write-ups!

We need your help!

  • Tornado Talk is crowd-sourced through Patreon. It is through the donations of our members that we can write these detailed summaries, grow the website, do research trips, etc. Please consider supporting our work on a monthly or yearly basis. In fact, if you sign up for a yearly membership, you get a month FREE!

  • You can also support directly to our 1974 Super Outbreak project. You can donate directly to our PayPal account or via check.

  • We thank each and every one of our members for your support!

This Week In Tornado History! 

July 31: It was a day that came to be known as “Black Friday”. On July 31, 1987, one of the most powerful tornadoes in Canadian history struck Edmonton, Alberta and parts of Strathcona County. It is the deadliest known tornado for Alberta and the second-deadliest for the country. We have a detailed summary about this event!

Image from the Atlas of the Edmonton Tornado and Hailstorm, 1987.

August 1: An F2 tornado pushed through parts of Montgomery County, KS on this day in 1936. It demolished the Grange Hall and several homes at Havana.

August 2: On this day in 2015, an EF1 tornado hit Owendale, MI. The tornado destroyed numerous trees and outbuildings. A warehouse sustained major damage.

August 3: On this day in 1885: An F2 tornado moved 8 miles from south Philadelphia, PA to Camden, NJ. “A child and a railroad worker were killed at the south edge of Philadelphia, three people died at Camden, and one person drowned when the tornado struck and tore apart the steamer “Major Reybold” in the Delaware River.” 58 injuries were documented.

August 4: On this day in 2020, Hurricane Isaias spawned an EF3 tornado near Windsor, NC. Two people were killed, and 14 were injured. Several mobile homes and stick-built homes were annihilated.

August 5:  In 1917, an estimated F2 tornado moved through parts of Grady County, OK. Three homes were demolished 5 miles NE of Pocasset. There was 1 fatality and 4 injuries.

August 6: The most intense tornado in VA since 1950 occurred on this day in 1993. The twister caused an estimated $47.5 million in damage. Not only the costliest of the day but the costliest in the history of VA. 4 killed, 246 injured. Read our full summary on the Petersburg, VA F4 Tornado!

Twister Tales! 

Image from newspapers.com.

On August 24, 2016, 22 twisters moved through parts of Indiana and Ohio. Two tornadoes were also recorded in Ontario, Canada. Kokomo, IN was hit hard by an EF3. Some of the worst damage occurred in the Markland Mall area near Indiana 931. From our Tornado Talk summary on this event, “It was here that Starbucks shift supervisor Angel Ramos became a hero. His story is told in the article, “How Starbucks Customers and Partners Survived an Indiana Tornado That Flattened Their Store.” The store manager had called Ramos letting him know that the weather looked threatening. He calmly talked to the patrons of the Starbucks and moved everyone into the safest place in the building, the two bathrooms. Within minutes, the sirens sounded, and phones were triggered by the tornado warning for Howard County. The building was smashed but everyone inside survived. The only area of the building still standing were the restrooms.”

Article of the Week! 

Funnel cloud seen spinning over U.S. Capitol building in Washington

On July 25, 2023, a funnel cloud was seen over portions of the Washington DC area including over the Capitol building. This article from the Capital Weather Gang documents the event.

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