Greg Forbes and Mike Bettes of The Weather Channel spotted this tornado near the Shawnee Reservoir in Oklahoma on May 10, 2010, during that year's Tornado Hunt. Forbes spots a wedge tornado in person.ĭr. Marengo, Ind., was also hard-hit by a deadly F3. The worst tornado in this outbreak was an F4 that struck Weatherby, Mo., north of Kansas City, on May 29, killing three. over 300 in April 1974 total damage was $75 million in this outbreak compared to over $1 billion in 1974. Whereas 30 of the tornadoes in the '74 Superoutbreak were F4 or F5, only one of the 170 tornadoes in the May 2004 episode was.Īs a result, the toll was not nearly as intense. This outbreak broke the long-standing record of 147 tornadoes from the April 1974 Superoutbreak, but in terms of impact, it was not nearly as devastating. ![]() In terms of tornadoes, the most prolific May outbreak was the late May 2004 outbreak that produced 170 tornadoes affecting parts of 16 states. Smith/Getty Images)ġ70 tornadoes | 5 deaths | 51 injuries | $75.7 million Marengo, Ind.Įllen Kerr looks down on the volunteers in her basement from where her family's home was completely blown away on near Conway Springs, Kansas. Next, the outbreak that broke a record from the 1974 Superoutbreak.ĩ. The second zipped through a series of northeast Arkansas communities including the city of Jonesboro, where 164 homes were destroyed, and some victims died when their "cars were wrapped around trees" according to tornado historian Tom Grazulis. The first tornado destroyed over half the town of Oil Trough. That evening, a pair of F4 twisters struck Arkansas. Another F5 would not strike Iowa again until 1976. Some 3,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by these tornadoes alone. In Iowa, a pair of F5 tornadoes blasted Charles City and Oelwein, respectively, in the mid-afternoon hours. The worst damage focused on two areas: northeast Iowa and northeast Arkansas. May 15-16, 1968: Charles City, Iowa / Jonesboro, Ark.ģ9 tornadoes | 72 deaths | 1,203 injuries | $57.2 millionĪn outbreak of tornadoes struck up and down the Mississippi Valley from the Twin Cities area to as far south as northern Mississippi, as well as east into Indiana and Ohio on May 15-16, 1968. Our list begins with the oldest tornado outbreak to make the top ten.ġ0. The Forbes index accounts for changes in dollar inflation (up), annual tornado reports (up), and annual tornado fatalities (down) over time to enable, as closely as possible, an apples-to-apples comparison of various outbreaks. Greg Forbes (Twitter | Facebook), whose Forbes Impact Index is a sophisticated combination of tornado counts, tornado sizes and intensities, casualties, damage, and geographical extent for major historical tornado outbreaks. Our rankings come from our severe weather expert, Dr. Others may surprise you, or may have occurred before you were born. ![]() Some are recent, and some you will undoubtedly remember. May, however, has its share of major tornado outbreaks. Both the 1974 Superoutbreak and the 2011 Superoutbreak took place in April. But on average, over the long term, May is the king of the tornado calendar – as it was last year, in 2013.ĭuring the 30-year period from 1984 through 2013, May averaged 249 tornadoes per month, followed by June with 216 and April with 160.īut when it comes to individual tornado outbreaks, April is the month that has attracted the most attention. tornado activity varies from year to year.
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