Tornado outbreak of March 30–31, 1962

A small but damaging outbreak of 11 tornadoes impacted the Southeast during the overnight hours of March 30–31, 1962. The outbreak was highlighted by a catastrophic nighttime F3 tornado that destroyed multiple neighborhoods in Milton, Florida, killing 17 and injuring 100. It was the deadliest tornado ever recorded in Florida until 1998. Overall, the outbreak killed 17, injured 105, and caused $3.38 million in damages. Additional deaths and injuries were caused by lightning as well.

Tornado outbreak of March 30–31, 1962
TypeTornado outbreak
DurationMarch 30–31, 1962
Tornadoes confirmed11[1]
Max. rating1F3 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak215 hours
Highest winds
  • 79 miles per hour (127 km/h)
Largest hail2 inches (5.1 cm)
Damage$3.38 million[2]
Casualties17 fatalities (+2 non-tornadic), 105 injuries (+3 non-tornadic)
Areas affectedSoutheastern United States

1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale
2Time from first tornado to last tornado

Meteorological synopsis

Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms struck the Southeast during the final two days of March, bringing heavy rain, flash flooding, frequent lightning, high winds, hail, and tornadoes to the region. Individual storms moved through portions of the region before a large line of storms pushed through.[3]

Confirmed tornadoes
Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 Total
0 0 7 2 2 0 0 11

March 30 event
List of confirmed tornadoes – Friday, March 30, 1962[nb 1][nb 2]
F# Location County / Parish State Start
coord.		 Time (UTC) Path length Max. width Summary Refs.
F1 Littleville Colbert AL 34.60°N 87.68°W / 34.60; -87.68 (Littleville (March 30, F1)) 05:00–? 0.1 miles (0.16 km) 10 yards (9.1 m) Tornado accompanied by 1 in (2.5 cm) hail destroyed several farm buildings, unroofed three homes, and moved another home off its foundation. Damage was estimated at $25,000. [5][6]

March 31 event
List of confirmed tornadoes – Saturday, March 31, 1962[nb 1][nb 2]
F# Location County / Parish State Start
coord.		 Time (UTC) Path length Max. width Summary Refs.
F3 N of New Hope to E of Columbus Lowndes MS 33.47°N 88.30°W / 33.47; -88.30 (New Hope (March 31, F3)) 06:15–? 3 miles (4.8 km) 880 yards (800 m) Skipping tornado touched down three times, causing major damage west of McCrary. Two homes were destroyed while eight others, along with a church, were damaged. One person was injured and damage was estimated at $250,000. [7][8]
F2 N of Belk Fayette AL 33.70°N 87.90°W / 33.70; -87.90 (Belk (March 31, F2)) 08:00–? 0.1 miles (0.16 km) 10 yards (9.1 m) Brief, but strong tornado destroyed a concrete block barn, heavily damaged a house and unroofed another barn. Damage was estimated at $25,000. [9][10]
F1 SE of Winfield Marion AL 33.90°N 87.80°W / 33.90; -87.80 (Winfield (March 31, F1)) 08:10–? 1 mile (1.6 km) 10 yards (9.1 m) Damaging tornado moved through the eastern outskirts of Winfield. Several houses and a church were damaged, garages and outbuilding were blown over, a car was overturned and trees were uprooted. Damage was estimated at $250,000. [11][12]
F1 Chef Menteur Orleans LA 30.10°N 89.75°W / 30.10; -89.75 (Chef Menteur (March 31, F1)) 13:00–13:14 1 mile (1.6 km) 30 yards (27 m) A tornado developed near Lake St. Catherine, destroying a shed. Winds from the tornado were recorded at 65 miles per hour (105 km/h). Damage was estimated $2,500. [13][14]
F3 Milton Santa Rosa FL 30.62°N 87.10°W / 30.62; -87.10 (Milton (March 31, F3)) 14:00–? 6.9 miles (11.1 km) 440 yards (400 m) 17 deaths – See section on this tornado – 100 people were injured and damage was estimated at $2.5 million. [3][15][16]
[17]
F2 Bon Secour to Miflin to SW of Lillian Baldwin AL 30.3°N 87.7°W / 30.3; -87.7 (Bon Secour (March 31, F2)) 14:00–? 11.9 miles (19.2 km) 100 yards (91 m) A strong tornado struck Bon Secour, where homes were heavily damaged and trees were uprooted. It continued eastward to Miflin, where more homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed. Damage was estimated at $250,000. [3][18][19]
F1 N of Bellview Escambia FL 30.5°N 87.33°W / 30.5; -87.33 (Bellville (March 31, F1)) 15:30–? 0.1 miles (0.16 km) 10 yards (9.1 m) A trailer was destroyed while another residence was damaged. Two people were injured and damage was estimated at $2,500. [3][20][21]
F1 Valpariso to Niceville Okaloosa FL 30.5°N 86.5°W / 30.5; -86.5 (Valparaiso (March 31, F1)) 16:20–? 0.1 miles (0.16 km) 10 yards (9.1 m) Six residences and two businesses suffered major damage from this destructive tornado. A total of 12 additional residences were damaged as well. Two people were injured and damage was estimated at $25,000. [3][22][23]
F1 Tifton to Douglas to Nicholls to Alma Tift, Berrien, Colquitt, Bacon GA 31.45°N 83.5°W / 31.45; -83.5 (Tifton (March 31, F1)) 17:30–? 61.2 miles (98.5 km) 200 yards (180 m) Long-tracked tornado, which may have been a tornado family, caused most of its damage in Tifton, although damage from the storm was reported as far back as Doerun. Several homes were unroofed, trees were uprooted, and power lines were blown down on the southeast side of Tifton. The funnel cloud from the tornado was seen by a pilot in Alma as well. Damage was estimated at $25,000. [24][25]
F1 West Panama City Beach to Youngstown Bay FL 30.18°N 85.73°W / 30.18; -85.73 (West Panama City Beach (March 31, F1)) 20:00–? 0.1 miles (0.16 km) 10 yards (9.1 m) Several residences and a motel suffered major damage in West Panama City Beach. The tornado lifted after that only to touch down again and caused minor damage in Youngstown. Damage was estimated at $25,000. [3][26][27]

Milton, Florida
Milton, Florida
F3 tornado
Max. rating1F3 tornado
Damage$2.5 million
Casualties17 fatalities, 100 injuries
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

This large, intense F3 tornado first touched down west of Milton and caused major damage as it moved northeast through the northwest side of town with little to no warning. Multiple neighborhoods were struck with homes being heavily damaged or destroyed at F2 or F3 intensity. The tornado continued northeast after that, uprooting trees and damaging isolated structures before dissipating south of Roeville. It traveled 6.9 miles (11.1 km) and was 440 yards (400 m) wide. A total of 130 homes were destroyed. There were 17 deaths, including five out of six members of one family, and 100 injuries. The storm that produced the tornado may have also caused a lightning-induced injury in Crestview, Florida two hours later.[3][15][16][17]

Non-tornadic impacts

There were 13 reports of high winds and large hail during the events. Hail peaked at 2 inches (5.1 cm) in diameter in De Soto County, Mississippi with winds peaking at 79 miles per hour (127 km/h) at the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal east of Boiling Springs Lake, North Carolina. Both events occurred on March 31.[28]

Early on March 30, a lightning strike sparked a large fire at a horse stable in Kingston, Oklahoma although no casualties occurred. That evening, two students were struck by lightning while walking on the Emory University campus, killing one and injuring the other. Early the next morning, a woman was knocked unconscious and injured in Decatur, Tennessee after lightning traveled from outside her farmhouse into her kitchen through the water pipes, sparking a fire. Later, another man was killed in Lee County, Alabama when the power line he was working on was struck by lightning. One other person was injured by lightning in Crestview, Florida.[3]

Rounds of storms caused widespread hail and wind damage in Cental Alabama on March 30. The Birmingham Municipal Airport was particularly hard hit as winds of up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and hail up to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in diameter damaged around 60 planes. Albertville was buried under 2 inches (5.1 cm) of marble-sized hail. The small hail caused an unusually high amount of destruction as it damaged roofs, broke windows, and heavily damaged a greenhouse, trees, and shrubs. Early the next morning, a line of storms caused heavy wind damage in Port Arthur, Texas. This same line moved in Southeastern Alabama, producing high winds, heavy rainfall that peaked at 5 inches (13 cm), and flash flooding that damaged several homes, farm buildings, two airplanes, roads, and newly planted crops.[3]

Aftermath and records

At the time of the F3 the small town of Milton, Florida had only 4,000 residents and one 50-bed hospital, which was quickly overwhelmed after the storm. Some of the most seriously injured victims were eventually sent to hospitals in Pensacola, Florida. The Florida Highway Patrol, who were some of the first on scene, provided early estimates on the damage and casualties caused by the storm.

The 17 deaths caused by the F3 tornado made it the deadliest tornado of 1962 as well as the deadliest tornado ever recorded in Florida until 1998, when another F3 (initially rated F4) tornado killed 25.[29][30]

See also

Notes
  1. All dates are based on the local time zone where the tornado touched down; however, all times are in Coordinated Universal Time and dates are split at midnight CST/CDT for consistency.
  2. Prior to 1994, only the average widths of tornado paths were officially listed.[4]

References
  1. "March 30-31, 1962 Tornadoes". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. "Tornado Summaries". National Weather Service. National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. "Storm Data Publication | IPS | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)". www.ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. Brooks, Harold E. (April 2004). "On the Relationship of Tornado Path Length and Width to Intensity". Weather and Forecasting. Boston: American Meteorological Society. 19 (2): 310. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2004)019<0310:OTROTP>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  5. "Alabama F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. Alabama Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers of Environmental Information. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  7. "Mississippi F3". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  8. Mississippi Event Report: F3 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  9. "Alabama F2". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  10. Alabama Event Report: F2 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  11. "Alabama F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  12. Alabama Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  13. "Louisiana F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  14. Louisiana Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  15. "Florida F3". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  16. Florida Event Report: F3 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  17. "Milton FL tornado disaster.... - RareNewspapers.com". www.rarenewspapers.com. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  18. "Alabama F2". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  19. "Alabama Event Report: F2 Tornado". National Weather Service. National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  20. "Florida F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  21. Florida Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  22. "Florida F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  23. Florida Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  24. "Georgia F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  25. Georgia Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  26. "Florida F1". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  27. Florida Event Report: F1 Tornado. National Weather Service (Report). National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  28. "Non-Tornadic Impacts". National Weather Service. National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  29. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  30. "Tornado History Project: Maps and Statistics". www.tornadohistoryproject.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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