Tornadoes

Tornadoproject

1925 March 18 U.S. Missouri, Annapolis; South Illinois; Southwest Indiana: a single tornado moved through a 220 miles Tri-State area in three-and-a-half hours, in ist path 689 people died and 1,980 were injured

1974 April 3-4- Midwestern USA: treacherous thunderstorms caused 127 tornadoes; more than 300 people died, 6,142 were injured, and damages were estimated at $600 million.

1984 March 28th - USA, North & South Carolina: 22 tornadoes hit in the afternoon and evening. They caused 57 deaths (of them 37 in mobile homes), over 1,000 injuries, and $200 million in damages.

1985 May 31st - USA/Canada, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario area: outbreak of 41 tornadoes causing 75 deaths in the U.S., 1,025 injuries, and $450 million in damages.

1991 April 26th - 27th - Midwestern USA: outbreak of 54 tornadoes causing 21 deaths (15 in or near mobile homes, 2 in vehicles), 308 injuries, and over $277 million in damages.

2003 May 4th. - 10th. Indiana, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee: A barrage of twisters ripped across the nation's midsection and marked the most active week of tornadoes on record. At least 44 people died, and hundreds were injured.

The deadly tornadoes began early in the week in Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee, followed by two rounds of twisters in the Oklahoma City area Thursday and Friday. Storms combined with straight-line wind, lightning and floods destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and businesses, overturned cars and downed power lines.

The qualification for the Indianapolis 500, scheduled for Saturday, May 10, was postponed.

President Bush had issued disaster declarations for Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas and Missouri, clearing the way for federal aid.

While tornadoes are common in May, the number of them reported in the first part of this month has been extraordinary. By Saturday, May 10, about 300 tornadoes had been reported since the start of May, about 100 more than the most recent comparable rash, in 1999. Until now, that 1999 barrage had been the record for any 10-day period since record-keeping started in the 1950s. A persistent warm air mass in place and a persistent jet stream extending from the Southwestern United States into the central Plains creates those conditions for producing thunderstorms, which can rotate and form tornadoes.