While we’re at it, from Significant Tornadoes:
The Dallas tornado
TX • APR 2, 1957 • 1615 • 10k • 216inj • 125y • 15m • F3 • DALLAS—This was among the most photographed and studied tornadoes in history. Touching down 2m SE of Red Bird Airport, the funnel passed 2.5m W of downtown Dallas. It lifted three quarters of a mile west of the Weather Bureau station at Love Field. The path width varied from 50–200 yards. The late afternoon hour provided a good angle for lighting, and a lack of rain made for good visibility. The fairly slow movement (30 mph) and long path gave people time to reach a camera. The analysis of these photographs made significant advancements in the understanding of tornado wind speeds and the tornado lifecycle. Photos were taken by at least 125 people and included over 2000 feet of movie film. Some of the 16mm film is, to this day, unequalled in closeup quality. About 131 homes were completely destroyed, 111 had major damage, and 287 had minor damage. Over 500 homes were hit, and some were leveled to the ground. The construction of many of these homes was so poor, however, that an F4 rating seems inappropriate. Many of them were built without wall studding. In addition, 12 apartment houses were severely damaged, along with 5 churches, 28 businesses, and 10 commercial warehouse buildings. Eight of the ten deaths were in two clusters of homes. One was a mile south of the Trinity River, and one was a mile north. Most of the dead were elderly or children. $1,500,000.
The Parker tornado
IN • APR 3, 1974 • 1535 • 1k • 12inj • 1000y • 22m • F4 • HENRY/DELAWARE/RANDOLPH/JAY—(#33)Moved NNE from 1m SW of Blountsville, passing east of Parker and ending 3m N of Ridgeville, just over the Jay County border. The funnel was a mile wide as it crossed Hwy-32 east of Parker, and displayed remarkably clear multiple vortices. It ripped apart the large, steel-reinforced Monroe Central School complex on one side of Hwy-32, and leveled homes on the other side, killing a woman. Forests were “reduced to matchsticks.†Students from Monroe Central had been dismissed 20 minutes earlier.
—Both from Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991 by Thomas P. Grazulis, St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project, 1993.
The data across the top row is: state/date/time of touchdown, in local standard time/deaths/injuries/average path width, in yards/path length, in miles/F-scale rating/county-ies affected.
