The Enigma Tornado Outbreak of 1884

newspapers 140 years ago reported on what was described as an awful battle in the clouds and the war of the elements across the American Southeast on February 19th 1884 meteorologists today use a scale to talk about the intensity of a tornado called the enhanced fuga scale they have satellites and Doppler radar to track and probe the inside of Storms and sea tornadoes form they have networks of stormchasers to follow a Storm's path but in 1884 they didn't have any of that all they had were the stories told by the survivors and those stories suggest a tornado outbreak on a truly massive scale that devastated entire communities but leave a picture of what might have been one of the largest tornado outbreak in history that is so incomplete that we truly do not know the actual extent of the storm we know so little that it is still known today as the Enigma tornado outbreak tornadoes defined by the National Weather Service as a narrow violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground are more common than you might think the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that around 1,200 tornadoes hit the United States each year although still today the number of tornadoes is likely under reccord and historically much more so tornadoes are often lone events but sometimes a single storm can produce multiple tornadoes called Tornado outbreaks although the term is still not clearly defined these events are rare but devastating a 2021 publication of the American Meteorological association cites research that finds that annually the United States experiences at least a few days with clusters of tornadoes that extensively damage property and infrastructure and threaten people's lives most tornado related fatalities in the United States result from those type of tornado days these events can be particularly dangerous because they usually comprise multiple longt trck tornadoes that persist for tens of minutes and thus can affect populated areas outbreaks that occur over multiple days are called outbreak sequences certain outbreaks are particularly large the largest are called super outbreaks although that term is relatively new super outbreaks are rare occurring only maybe once every 40 years and are thus sometimes called generational outbreaks these are among the most violent and deadly weather events one occurred in 1974 the subject of another episode of the history guy and another in 2011 the aftermath of which I personally visited only a couple of weeks after the storm the damage of such storms is truly unbelievable as if the puny works of humans are simply wiped away by the hand of God it is terrifying frankly to think that despite all our developed technology that we are still so vulnerable the outbreak in 2011 killed 178 people injured more than 1600 thousands of homes and structures were destroyed damages were estimated as high as $7 billion but of course tornadoes long predate modern weather technology Noah notes that for instance the indigenous peoples have witnessed the devastating power of tornadoes over thousands of years across the landscape the power of storms must have seemed even more capricious to them the system that we use in the United States to try and track and predict storms was still relatively new in 1884 on February 9th 1870 in response to deadly storms that struck the Great Lakes region the year before US President ulyses Grant approved a joint resolution of Congress instructing the national museum of the United States Army explains military posts throughout the continental United States to communicate observations of approaching storm to the division of telegrams and reports for the benefit of Commerce the task of establishing an effective Weather Service was detailed to the US Army signal Corp the museum explains that operating primarily as an aid to Industrial agriculture the signal Corp issued daily weather summaries and predictions and Telegraph these reports to and from agricultural centers across the country furthermore because only very basic meteorology was taught at universities the Army instituted its own educational program at Fort Whipple Virginia eventually the weather bureau would be moved to the Department of Agriculture but in 1884 it was still under the opes of the army which was issuing daily weather reports while the development of the service within the core represented the beginning of a professional Weather Service the system of weather prediction was still in its infancy weather historian Bill Murray wrote in the Alabama weather blog last year the US Army signal Corps was in charge of collecting weather observations and producing storm warnings in 1884 the weather map from from the morning of Tuesday February 19th of that year showed low pressure over Northern Illinois temperatures over the Lower Mississippi Valley were in the 60s that morning and from North Alabama to North Carolina temperatures were in the 40s and 50s official weather forecast for the Gulf States called for local rains with winds shifting from southerly to Westerly and then Northerly for the South Atlantic slightly warmer fair weather was called for with winds shifting to Westerly and generally lower barometer there was no indication of what the day would portend in fact the weather had taken a notable turn journalist James Hayes wrote on the website of Montgomery Alabama's NBC affiliate WSFA news2 strengthening low pressure entered the Ohio Valley just south of the Great Lakes and mixed with warm moist air from the Gulf pushing North journalist Kelly kazik wrote on the website alabama.com in 2015 a brooding gray welcomed alabamans to the year 1884 cloudy wet conditions would Prevail until mid-February then on February 19th Rite arrived in the span of a few hours the temperature surged by 10° weather residents could have known at the time to fear the sudden meteorological changes unclear soon enough though the results of the turbulent atmosphere would become all too evident the New York Sun described the coming of the storm near the town of Jasper in Pickins County Georgia at 2 p.m a man stood in the rear Veranda of a hotel in this place looking quietly towards the summit of grassy knob the highest point in the range of long swamp mountains suddenly clouds began to lower and darkness to gather until it seemed that the town had been sunk into the night darker grew the day until those indoors were forced to light their candles then a low Rumble Was Heard and the man who was watching grassy knob turned off to his right and looked in the direction of Carterville he could have seen the hills for Miles if the day had been clear before him but obscured by dark clouds lay a strip of country extending for about 15 15 miles running from Southwest to Northeast quick as a flash the low Rumble broke into a loud roaring in a wild and Furious tornado hve into sight at the southwestern part of the strip of country described the face of the country seemed suddenly seized with convulsions and the elements battled furiously a huge mass of black clouds with a bright white lining was seemed to pass along south of Jasper first dashing furiously towards the ground and then wildly upward and then whirling and whizzing and lashing each other moving along with a Grandeur towards the summit of grassy knob the oddly named Aniston Illinois hot blast reported after the wind swept across Pickin County along its track were strewn the mangled remains of 20 souls and more than double that number severely wounded and all this in less than 5 minutes the hot blast rote on February 23rd Tuesday the 19th is a day long to be remembered by the people of Alabama and Georgia living along the track of the terrific Gale which swept from the Gulf across to hatus on that day death and destruction followed in the wake of the tornado and it will be a hard matter to tell the entire damage under several days there was no language to explain tornadoes no fuget scale no way to describe wind speed in miles per hour Telegraph lines and railroad tracks were destroyed and much of the area was rural with few to document the destruction reporting on the terrible storm likely the most destructive witnessed in the nation at least since European settlement was both raw and poetic the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote the story of a family near Jasper settling down it whizzed towards the house of Levi cogle and literally tore it into a million pieces there was a clash and a clatter and the air was filled with flying Timbers tin pans Furniture feathers corn wheat bedding chickens and in fact everything that the place had to hold Mr kogle was at the residence of his brother just outside of the fury of the storm and when he saw the tornado coming he started towards his house before he reached it he was forced to cling to the underbrush to keep from blowing away as soon as the tornado had gone he went to where his house stood and a heart-wrenching spectacle met his gaze his wife and two children were found 100 yards away Dead Further on three other children one a baby 18 months old were picked up in almost dying condition two of them had been blown 300 yards scattered about in the woods were his three hired men all dead one with a huge tree across his body thus in a moment in that house six persons were killed and three others dangerously injured the distressed husband and father in the midst of his demolished home and dead and dying family was wild with grief such a visitation rarely falls to the lot of one man the hot blast talked about damage in the town of Leeds in Central Alabama up through the Kaba Valley the Cyclone swept and at leads on the the Georgia Pacific every house was blown down and six persons were killed the house of Mrs Carr was blown down killing her and immediately took fire after and burned 27 houses were demolished not including Barns and ouses Etc brick houses were literally taken up and carried away living behind but the barren waste to tell the Tale in some instances cattle and horses had rails and such Timbers driven through their bodies the town was almost swept from the face of the earth a Georgia spefic special with Physicians and nurses was sent to leads and did everything possible to attend to the once of the wounded and to bury the dead the outbreak was massive causing damage and death in Alabama Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee and Virginia the number of tornadoes is impossible to determine from the newspaper reports but some estimates count more than 60 with the assumption that there were likely many more not reported some tornadoes track more than 35 miles although it isn't known if those were single tornadoes or the paths of several tornadoes formed close to each other something called a family of tornadoes the hot blast reported that the winds passed on both sides of the Augusta skipping across the Carolinas and its path resembles out of a battle just after a bloody Carnage everywhere the tornado darted to the Earth lives were lost in homes and plantations Torn to Pieces one tornado that struck across ansen to Harnet counties in North Carolina killed at least 23 people still the deadliest tornado in the history of the state the sun reported that the center of the storm struck the outskirts of the town of Rockingham with such sudden Fury that the people were unable to escape from the houses the buildings were blown into fragments the Raley news and observer reported that perhaps never before in this country has there been seen a spectacle so appalling as that now to be seen as there occurred a loss of life for a destruction of property so great as that rought by the Cyclone on Tuesday the stoutest hearted could not but weep to see the Havoc rought by the storm to hear the stories of the sufferings inflicted by the terrible Cyclone the Post Gazette tried to describe the destruction an old Soldier said yesterday it looks like there has been a battle here the village of Yates looks as though it had been sat upon and squelched in many places the face of the country has not a vestage of Timber left standing where two days ago were dense forests now Barren hilltops alone are left a Survivor was quoted it looks like the elements were on a tear that the clouds and winds were gone crazy as ever the storms were capricious the son wrote about an Irish Peddler named James Canon he was crossing a creek and the foot log was blown from under him his pack was claimed by the tornado but he clung to a stump for Life The Post Gazette told the story of a Mr Lock who said I was on my way to Jasper from cogle distiller it was earlier than usual if I had been going home at my usual time I would have been caught in the midst of it who would not have been 10 minutes later in passing that road for a million dollars in gold the hot blast noted that a delayed train was safe from destruction by the mere fact of being 15 minutes behind time the editors of the Wilmington North Carolina Morning Star opined when we know how it swept its wild Carnival destruction so nigh us we have great cause to be thankful to almighty God that we escaped others though did not escape the storm's path the hot blast wot after the wind passed over one section of herd County Georgia a whole family by the name of Moore was found to be missing and nothing has been heard from them save that a party saw the funnel-shaped cloud suddenly settle down over the homestead Wrench It asunder and Scatter the inmates and Furniture to the for Winds of Heaven the newspaper reports in fact seemed overwhelmed by the story The Hot blast wrote it is impossible to convey the harrowing spectacles that were everywhere witnessed along the line of the death dealing hurricane in so short a space we have merely given a general outline in a few of the most notable instances of Destruction Tales of Woe and suffering from this demon Of The Wind are heartbreaking it's now estimated that 300 will not cover the number of lives lost and the damage to property is almost innumerable a glance over the track is enough to make one shudder with holy horror and breathe a prayer hoping never more to be compelled to Chronicle another such terrible account of the winds or to listen to the groans and suffering of those who were the main sufferers and are now beyond all Earthly Aid in the end the hot blast simply tallied the storm to the hand of the fourth writer of the Apocalypse death himself the writer of The Pale Horse seems to have been enveloped in the wind in all his destructive importance holding in one hand the power of Heaven concentrated in his grasp and in the other Reigns that guided The Dashing monster onto peaceful and happy towns and neighborhoods and loving God-fearing men women and children when I was doing the research it struck me how similar some of the these descriptions are to the way that people talk about the devastation of tornadoes that occurred in recent storms that occurred more than a century after this one in all that time we have really not come up with any way to defeat the the rider of the Pale Horse but there was something also really remarkable in the in the raw and a struck way that reporters talked about a storm that was so much larger and more devastating than anything they had ever seen or could even imagine occurring but most of all there's just the Enigma we don't have any idea how many tornadoes were involved although even the lowend estimat would have made it the largest number of tornadoes recorded in a 24-hour period up until the Super outbreak in 1974 we certainly don't know how many people died the signal core could only account for 184 they could only come up with names for a hundred of those but some of the estimates went into the many hundreds even the thousands quite a number of those who weren't counted were likely black sharecroppers whose names were not recorded the Apple named Aniston hot blast wrote that February 19th 1884 will be remembered with bleeding hearts by thousands well those thousands are now all gone and so it's it's up to us to remember I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please free to like And subscribe and share the history guy with your friends and if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube a supporter on our community at locals or as a patron on patreon you can also check out our great merchandise shop or book a special message from the history guy on [Music] [Applause] cameo [Music] [Applause] [Applause] now

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 90,274

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: 6JDu17Va-GQ

Length: 17min 17sec (1037 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2024