2011 had more than twice as many tornadoes as 1974, but it is important to remember it occurred over a much longer time period. However due to the fact that 2011 was a continuous three-day outbreak, it should be no surprise it triggered two-in-a-half times as many tornadoes as 1974! It’s also more than likely that tornadoes were missed in 1974 that are counted today. The April 1974 outbreak featured 148 total tornadoes and 350 dropped in 2011. The April 2011 outbreak lasted much longer at three days and seven hours as opposed to just 18 hours during the April 1974 outbreak. Charts by Kathryn ProcivĮven though the April 1974 outbreak had a more northerly bias spanning across the Midwest, and the April 2011 outbreak a more southern bias, Tennessee was the geographic center for both. Notice Tennessee has the highest number of tornadoes both in 19. Yes, both! Charts showing the breakdown of tornadoes by state for the two events. Related: April 2011 Super Outbreak | April 1974 Super Outbreakīoth events were similar in that they did not occur over the storied Plains-centric Tornado Alley, but rather throughout the Midwest, Lower Mississippi Valley, and Southeast.Īnother similarity between the two events was that the state of Tennessee experienced the most tornadoes in both events. Spatial comparison of the 1974 (red) and 2011 (blue) outbreaks. Two events since the modern record began in 1950 stand out above all the others in this category: The Super Outbreaks of April 3-4, 1974 and April 25-28, 2011. Plenty of years feature not a ton of activity, but there is also seemingly unlimited high-end outbreak potential. All rights reserved.April is the most volatile month for tornadoes. You can download out WHSV weather app to stay up to date on the latest local forecast that is customized for our area, from the Meteorologists who live here.Ĭopyright 2021 WHSV. It’s easy to make a plan, and hope that you never have to use it. Pay attention to those alerts when and if issued and have a plan. The best advice for severe weather? Pay attention to changes with the local weather, have multiple ways to receive weather alerts. NOAA weather radios will still transmit when cell towers go down, when the cellular signal is interrupted or if a cell tower is hit by a tornado. Ultimately with the National Weather Service modernizing technology, this also led to an improvement in lead times for tornado warnings and accuracy. This is the one still in use today and it’s still the best way to receive the important warnings. This led to NOAA’s expansion of the weather radio network. One of the biggest impacts was improvements in communication and the warning system.Īccording to a National Weather Service report, tornado warnings were being issued so frequently, they could not be transmitted fast enough. Obviously the technology has improved in detecting tornadoes. He remembers the noise, the damage and describes that early morning.Īs a result of this extreme outbreak, there were many lessons learned. One man we spoke with was in 8th grade at the time, and was the first person at school that day. There was damage to the Fort Defiance high school. A chicken house was torn apart between Laurel Hill and Verona, and many trees were knocked down blocking roadways. The tornado knocked over a tractor trailer on I-81 near Weyers Cave. However his report of the tornado was likely what led to the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning that morning because a warning was issued. Terrain may have made it look like that was the actual tornado. The trooper was likely seeing the wall cloud, the rotating cloud that a tornado drops down from. ![]() This was unlikely due to the amount of damage. A state trooper noticed the tornado and said it looked a half-mile wide. In Mount Sidney, large barns and highway signs were blown over. No injuries or fatalities occurred with this tornado as it touched down at 5:40 am on April 4, 1974. It crossed I-81 just north of Verona impacting Fort Defiance and Mount Sidney, and finally lifted near Weyers Cave. ![]() The Augusta County tornado started near Swoope, closer to West View and moved to the northeast.
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