Super Outbreak

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Template:Infobox tornado The Super Outbreak (sometimes called Jumbo Outbreak) is the largest tornado outbreak on record. On April 3–4, 1974, 148 tornadoes hit in 13 states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and New York. One tornado also hit near Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It was the only one to hit outside the United States.

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Events and aftermath

This outbreak also broke the record for the most violent (F5 and F4) tornadoes. There were six F5 tornadoes and 24 F4 tornadoes. The outbreak began in Morris, Illinois, at around 1 p.m. on April 3, 1974. As the storm system moved east where it had been sunny all day, the tornadoes became more severe. A tornado that hit near Monticello, Indiana, was an F4 and had a path length of 121 miles, the longest path length of any tornado for this outbreak. Nineteen people were killed in this tornado. The first F5 tornado of the day hit in Xenia, Ohio at 4:40 in the afternoon. It killed 32, injured 1,150, completely destroyed about one-fourth of the city, and caused serious damage in another fourth of the city.

Five more F5s would go on to hit—one in Indiana, one more in Ohio, one in Kentucky, and two in Alabama. Twenty-eight were killed in Brandenburg, Kentucky, and 30 were killed in Guin, Alabama. The lowest number killed by an F5 tornado in this outbreak was six in Hanover, Indiana. During the peak of the outbreak, a staggering fifteen tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously.

There were 18 hours of continuous tornadic activity. The outbreak finally ended in the early morning hours of April 4, 1974. A total of 315-330 people were killed in 49 tornadoes and 5,484 were injured.

The Super Outbreak occurred at the end of a very strong, nearly record-setting La Niña event. The 1973–74 La Niña was just as strong as the 1998–99 La Niña. Another tornado outbreak, which may be linked to La Niña, was the March 12, 2006 tornado outbreak. Despite the apparent connection between La Niña and two of the largest tornado outbreaks in US history, no definitive linkage exists between La Niña and this outbreak or tornado activity in general.

Some tornado myths were soundly debunked (not necessarily for the first time) by tornado activity during the outbreak.Template:Citation needed

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Strength of the Super Outbreak tornadoes using the Fujita scale

Confirmed
All 		Confirmed
F0 		Confirmed
F1 		Confirmed
F2 		Confirmed
F3 		Confirmed
F4 		Confirmed
F5
148 23 31 30 35 24 6


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See also

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Related Movies

Gummo <i/> (1997)

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Books about

  • Tornado! the 1974 super outbreak, by Jacqueline A. Ball; consultant, Daniel H. Franck. New York: Bearport Pub., 2005. 32 pages. ISBN: 1597160091 (lib. bdg), 1597160326 (paperback).
  • Tornado at Xenia, April 3, 1974, by Barbara Lynn Riedel; photography by Peter Wayne Kyryl. Cleveland, OH, 1974. 95 pages. No ISBN number is available. Library of Congress Control Number: 75314665.
  • Tornado, by Polk Laffoon IV. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. 244 pages. ISBN: 006012489X.
  • Tornado alley: monster storms of the Great Plains, by Howard B. Bluestein. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 180 pages. ISBN: 0195105524 (acid-free paper).
  • April 3, 1974: tornado! book edited by Robert E. Deitz, introduction by John Ed Pearce. Louisville, Ky: Courier-Journal, 1974. 128 pages. There is no ISBN number available. Library of Congress Control Number: 74080806.
  • Delivery of mental health services in disasters: the Xenia tornado and some implications, by Verta A. Taylor, with G. Alexander Ross and E. L. Quarantelli. Columbus, OH: Disaster Research Center, Ohio State University, 1976. 328 pages. There is no ISBN number available. Library of Congress Control Number: 76380740.
  • The widespread tornado outbreak of April 3-4, 1974: a report to the Administrator. Rockville, Md: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1974. 42 pages. There is no ISBN number available. Library of Congress Control Number: 75601597.
  • The tornado, by John Edward Weems. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977. 180 pages. ISBN: 0385071787.
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External links

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