![]() School buses rest April 5, 1974, on the remains of the high school where they were tossed by a tornado that went through the town in Xenia, Ohio. ![]() "The radar was very manually intensive, and took a lot of experience for correct storm interpretation," said Allan Fisher, who was a meteorologist at the NWS in Chicago at the time. Radar available to operational meteorology was crude by modern standards. In 1974, Doppler radar was merely in development in the research community. Not only is there a network of National Weather Service Doppler radars, but many local television stations also have their own. ![]() Our Radar Network Was Sorely Inadequateīy now, you've heard of Doppler radar. Here are eight things we may take for granted today that were not in place during the 1974 Super Outbreak. Some took two decades to fully implement others were phased in more quickly. Guin, Alabama: Town leveled by an F5 tornado moving at a forward speed of 75 mphĪt one point, 16 tornadoes were in progress simultaneously in Indiana alone.Īfter this Super Outbreak, several important advances in both science and public awareness of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes were spurred. Brandenburg, Kentucky: 28 killed by an F5 tornado Monticello, Indiana: 109-mile path was the longest track of the outbreak Xenia, Ohio: 34 killed, $100 million damage from an F5 tornado The April 3-4, 1974, Super Outbreak tornado tracks as determined by the research team lead by Dr. The total damage was estimated to be $1.5 billion. The total path length of all those tornadoes was a staggering 2,521 miles, roughly the distance between New York City and Las Vegas. has seen a single EF5 tornado.įorty-eight of those 148 tornadoes were deadly, claiming 307 lives, with 5,454 injured. As of April 2020, it's been almost seven years since the U.S. Six of the violent tornadoes were F5, the most intense tornadoes in the Fujita – now Enhanced Fujita – scale. Thirty were violent tornadoes, rated at least F4. In 24 hours, 148 tornadoes tore through parts of 13 states and Ontario, Canada. This outbreak – one of the worst in United States history – arguably occupies a spot on the Mount Rushmore of U.S. It also accelerated the development of our tornado warning system we heavily rely on today. The April 3-4, 1974, Super Outbreak tore through the Ohio Valley, South and Great Lakes, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
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