Today is the 38th anniversary of one of the deadliest weather events of the modern era, The 1974 Super Outbreak. Between April 3rd and 4th, 1974, 148 tornadoes tore across 13 states in the U.S. and the province of Ontario in Canada. That record stood until the 2011 Super Outbreak, last April 26th, 27th and 28th.
Michigan was largely spared with "only" five tornadoes in the state, four of them rated F2 and one rated F3. Three of the five occurred in south-central Michigan, originating in Hillsdale County. The first tornado touched down at 6:30PM in Monroe County, just south of Rockwood in Berlin Charter Township. It was brief, 30 yards wide with a 2 mile damage path. The second and longest-lived of any of the outbreak tornadoes in Michigan occurred at 6:45PM, starting on West Bacon Road in Hillsdale. This tornado proceeded northeast through Hillsdale, going through the campus of Hillsdale College and exiting the city north of Wenona Lake. It continued through the countryside at nearly 40 MPH, missing North Adams by about a mile to the west, then moved on northwest, again narrowly missing a town, this time tracking northwest of Jerome by about a mile.
The twister continued on it's path, crossing Crystal Lake and South Jackson Road, heading into Liberty Township. It then turned slightly more north, crossing into Jackson County and heading in the general direction of Clarklake. After crossing Liberty Road, it finally lifted just short of Meridian Rd. (US 127), a couple of miles west of Clarklake. 19.3 miles and 31 minutes later, this quarter-mile wide tornado had killed 2 people and injured 31 more during it's journey.
At 7:15PM, two tornadoes touched down simultaneously in far southeast Hillsdale County, bracketing the farming town of Waldron. The northern tornado of the two touched down about 2 miles from the city, traveling north-northeast for 5 miles before lifting just south of Hudson. At it's widest point this F2 tornado was 167 yards, or about one and-a-half football fields wide. 5 were injured.
The southern tornado touched down less than a mile outside the southern city limit of Waldron. It took off directly northwest . Even though this F2 was only reported to be 10 yards wide, it traveled nearly 10 miles, causing 5 injuries, and it crossed Meridian Rd., entering Lenawee County. This twister lifted after entering Lake Hudson State Park. The tornado reportedly ripped a roof off a home, also destroying a barn and mobile home.
The last Michigan tornado of the event occurred just before 8 PM in Monroe County, touching down just east of Cemetery Rd., near St. Joseph Cemetery. This tornado was 30 yards wide and rated an F3, it traveled less than a half-mile before lifting again. No damage or injuries reported.
We have come a long way with knowledge and warning information since 1974, but we have a long way to go. You can increase your odds of staying safe by doing just a few things:
1) HAVE A PLAN IN ADVANCE, AND USE IT if needed! It's too late to decide where to go to shelter from a tornado when there is one on the move and headed your direction.
2) HAVE A GOOD SOURCE OF WARNING INFORMATION AVAILABLE. OUTDOOR SIRENS DO NOT COUNT! A twister can be miles away at the opposite end of the county from you if a siren is sounding, or worse, you don't hear the siren before you hear the roar of a tornado knocking on the door of a building, and you get caught out. Weather radios or laptop/cell phone based applications are the best way to go.
3) HAVE HELMETS WITH YOU WHEN YOU HUNKER DOWN IN YOUR SAFE AREA. A number of fatalities in tornadoes aren't from the storm itself, they occur from getting hit in the head by shrapnel and debris kicked up and thrown while the funnel is doing it's dirty work or afterward, as debris is falling from the sky. Protect The Noggin!!!
I could go further, but you can find plenty of information on tornado safety from the National Weather Service, your local emergency management agency, law enforcement, or ready.gov.
I hope to have more articles like this throughout the month, including a look at what happened a year ago - the 2011 Super Outbreak.
Here's hoping for a quiet April!
(Information gathered from Wikipedia.com and the Tornado History Project)
I decided to look up any archived information about the April 3rd tornado hit just outside the town of Hudson. I lived on 127 and the mobile home where I lived was not only torn apart, but it had completed twisted the frame into something that looked more like a pretzel rather that a steel frame. There were people who showed up soon after the tornado (I was still in the hospital) to buy the frame to recycle. They had been in the industry for more than 20 years and had never seen anything like it in their profession. While I got banged up quite a bit and suffered many back injuries, I was certainly blessed to be able to walk away. Thanks for keeping this information alive.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandma was just telling me about the tornado (the second one of this outbreak) that came through and destroyed her family's barn so we started looking for info on which one it was. She said her Amish father's big dairy barn was completely destroyed on the corner of Sterling and Moscow roads. Their uncle Levi's house across the road was nearly destroyed with just the bedroom left standing where he and his wife were in bed, and even old roughneck, the rooster had a very narrow escape! Thanks for preserving this info in such an easy to access way, it made finding the information so much easier.
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