Evening star., 1953-06-15
Story Of Tornudoes
Is Strange and Weird
Kansas Is No. I Stalking
Ground for Violent Winds
By Thomos R. Henry

Ground for Violent Winds
By Thomas R. Henry
A total of 5,204 tornadoes was re-
corded in the United States between
1916 and 1850.
One or more have been reported
from every State in the Union. They
took 1861 lives in the IS years.
There may well have been thou
sands more of such violent wind storms
of which no report ever was made.
These figures have just been compiled
by Weather Bureau climatologists from
the official records.
The greatest number reported from
any State during the period was 6l8 in
Kansas. Iowa followed with 498, Texas
with All. Oklahoma with 399 and Ar
kansas with 324. One tornado was re-
ported for Nevada and one for Rhode
Island. Utah reported two, the Dis
trict Of Columbia, Oregon and WASH,
lngton, four each, and Delaware, Idaho
and Vermont, five each.
Greatest loss of life during the 35
years was in Illinois with q total of
914, but 606 of these resulted from a
single storm in 1925. Arkansas was
second with 886 deaths and Mississippi
third with 1913. One or more deaths
have occurred in all States except Ari-
zona, California, Connecticut, Delaware,
Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Utah and Washington. Nobody yet
has been killed in the District.
Oklahoma Leads in Damage.
Property damage over the 35-year
period is estimated at $476,427 GIT.
Oklahoma led all the States in this
respect with loss of $51 ,442 ,567. Illi-
noiS was second with damage amount-
ing to $48,705,650. Missouri ranked
third with 44,854,7 200 and Texas fourth
with $36.661.5OO.
The average number of tornadoes
per annum has been 149. There were.
however, 262 in 1949, 260 in 1888, 220
in 1888 and 200 in 1850. This year
has already had 267 tornadoes in little
more than five months.
Tornadoes have been reported every
month in the year. May, however, ap-
pears to be the month of greatest fire.
quency. Almost fourth of all those
reported in the 35-year period were
In this month. A marked decrease takes
place in July and continues through
fall and winter.
A tornado may break at any hour,
The greatest probability, however, is
during the afternoon hours when 81
per cent of those recorded occurred.
The storms appear to form most readily
during the hours from to 7 pm.
Internal Wind Never Measured.
Tornadoes move across the country.
side at a speed of about 40 miles an
hour. The rotary speed of the winds
within them, however, has been esti.
mated to exceed 500 miles an hour.
A few have been observed to remain
stationary for several minutes while
the air composing them continued to
Whirl at tremendous speeds. Actually,
the maximum speeds of the whirling
internal winds never have been meas
ured because no measuring device has
survived the tests. Speeds of more than
$50 miles an hour have been estimated.
Most tornadoes come from the SOUTH
west. They have been known, however.
to come from almost every direction.
They sometimes even stop their forward
movement, turn and loop. One Iowa
storm caused widespread destruction in
crescent-shaped path curving from a
southeasterly direction through south,
west and northwest to northeast. A
1946 tornado followed a circular path
which took in both Detroit and Windsor,
Ont. Often several occur on the same
day and move in nearly parallel lines.
Although terribly destructive of life
and property, says the Weather Bureau
report, "the tornado is one of the small
est of serious weather disturbances and
is limited in its duration as we'll as in
the length and width of its path. In
some cases its dangerous core may not
even touch the ground or does SO in a
very narrow and short path In other
cases it's contact may persist for hours
in a path of destruction several hun
dred yards wide and extending 800 miles
or more. The average width of tornado
paths in the United States for the past
ten years is about 1900 feet and the
average length about 16 miles.
One Was Feet Wide.
Among the narrowest and widest re-
ported paths of tornadoes were one
of 8 feet in North Carolina and 8
miles in North Dakota. Both took
place in 1916. The abnormal width
of the latter path, however, apparently
was due to the high winds at the sides
Of the tornado funnel. The storm was
described by witnesses as having hun
dreds of snaky heads with tongues
dipping towards the earth.
On March 20, 1875, tornadoes were
reported to have travelled over two
parallel paths across Georgia and South
Carolina, the path of one being $50
miles long and the other 375 miles.
There were, however, several gaps in
these paths where no destruction oc-
CURED. indicating that the tunnels
failed to touch the ground over these
areas. or that the path in each case
may have been made by more than one
storm.
Seven tornadoes. all with paths 200
miles or more in length, have been re-
ported since 1916. The longest reported
path Of 293 miles was in Illinois in
1927. This storm moved steadily across
the country for seven hours.