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NOUS43 KICT 031200
PNSICT
KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-031500-

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Wichita KS
700 AM CDT Wed Apr 3 2024

...ON THIS DATE IN WEATHER HISTORY...

In 1974, the notorious Super Tornado Outbreak ravaged the
Midwest and Eastern United States from Michigan to
Alabama.  A total of 148 tornadoes killed 335, injured
6,142 and caused an estimated $600 million damage.  Many
tornadoes were appalling.  The most publicized was an F5
that destroyed half of Xenia Ohio.  Killing 34, injuring
around 1,150 and causing $100 million damage, the vortex
had a track 32 miles long and averaged one third mile
wide.  Later that evening, three hideously violent
tornadoes roared across Northwest and extreme North
Central Alabama.  The first of these three tornadoes, an
F5 with a track 52 miles long and close to one mile wide,
killed 28 and injured 267 as it tore through four
counties in extreme Northern Alabama.  Several homes
vanished and of the 28 deaths, six were members of one
family while four were members of a second family.  One
half hour after the first F5 occurred, a second F5
struck.  It cut a track 41 miles long, averaged one third
of a mile wide, killed 22 and injured 250 of which 19
were in one home.  Three towns that were hit by the first
tornado were also hit by the second tornado.  In fact, a
few rescue squads responding to the first disaster were
hit by the second tornado.  The F5 crossed the Alabama
Tennessee border where it dissipated just north of the
state line.  The third F5 vortex that struck Alabama
raced a 102 mile long marathon northeast from just west
of the Mississippi Alabama border to just southwest of
Huntsville.  Reaching one mile wide, this massive tornado
killed 28, of which 20 were in the town of Guin.  The
town was nearly devastated and many homes vanished.  A
mobile home plant was obliterated.  The tornado raced
northeast at speeds that reached 75 MPH!

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