Tornadoes of 1976

This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1976, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.

Tornadoes of 1976
TimespanJanuary 7 - December 7, 1976
Maximum rated tornadoF5 tornado
Tornadoes in U.S.680[2]
Damage (U.S.)Unknown
Fatalities (U.S.)44
Fatalities (worldwide)>44

Events

Numbers for 1976 were above average, however, the number of fatalities were significantly lower than normal.

United States yearly total
Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 Total
0 214 341 168 47 13 3 786

January

12 tornadoes were confirmed in the U.S. in January.[3]

February

36 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in February.[4]

March

180 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in March.[5] The Chicago area received the most tornadoes ever recorded, including several F2 and F3 tornadoes.[6]

March 20–21
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 13 24 17 8 3 0

A major outbreak shifted into mainly Illinois and Indiana. The strongest tornadoes occurred in Illinois, including an F4 tornado in Sadorus, but one F4 tornado came very close to Lafayette, Indiana. More activity continued onto March 21 when the system moved across Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Overall, 66 tornadoes touched down, killing three and injuring 189.[6]

March 26
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 0 8 3 3 2 1

An F4 tornado killed one and injured four in Talihina, Oklahoma. An F5 tornado also caused extensive damage in Spiro, Oklahoma, killing two people and injuring 64. The rating of that tornado is disputed. The outbreak as a whole killed four and injured 89.[6]

April

113 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in April.[7]

April 11
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 1 1 0 0 0 0

Two weak tornadoes touched down in Tennessee and Arkansas.[8] The Arkansas tornado on April 11, 1976 was investigated using regular 30 min interval GOES digital infrared data, rawinsonde observations, Doppler sounder records and radar summaries covering the 3 hour time period immediately preceding the touchdown of the tornado. Clouds associated with the tornado were compared to other clouds that were not associated with tornadoes.[9]

April 19
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 1 4 8 2 0 1

An F5 tornado hit Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11. The rating is disputed. The outbreak as a whole injured 13.

May

155 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in May.[10]

June

169 tornadoes were reported in June in the U.S.[11]

June 13
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 2 5 5 2 1 1

One of the largest and most violent tornadoes ever recorded in Iowa moved in between the cities of Ames and Boone during the afternoon. The tornado began southwest of the small town of Luther, Iowa a little before 3:30 pm and moved north northeast. The tornado strengthened and grew larger (at some points, more than a mile wide) as it approached US 30 just east of the intersection of IA 17. The tornado turned toward the north with the small hamlet of Jordan, Iowa in the path. A small satellite F3 tornado formed on the southwest side of the main tornado and moved around the back side and to the east of the tornado around 3:40 pm before merging back with the parent storm north of Jordan by 3:50 pm. The small hamlet of Jordan was raked by the half-mile wide F5 tornado, destroying nearly everything in its wake.

The parent tornado turned north-northwest before encountering outflow from a storm to its northwest and pushed the tornado to the east and a little south of east. An anticyclonic tornado (the second tornado image on post) formed to the east of the parent tornado and it went to the north following the parent storm about two miles to its east. It too felt the downburst winds from the northwest and was pushed to the east as well. The parent tornado began to shrink and weaken as it approached the Boone and Story County line northwest of Ames. The tornado lifted about four miles west of Gilbert, Iowa at 4:15 pm, but the storm was not through yet.

The downburst winds that had pushed the tornado to the east were now rampaging the countryside in northern Story County around Gilbert northeastward to Story City, Iowa where more houses and farmsteads were damaged or destroyed by the strong straight line winds, although there were no deaths and only a few injuries. More than 60 homes, and over 300 farm buildings were hit and destroyed by the family of tornadoes and the downburst winds that followed.[1]

Theodore Fujita (creator of the Fujita Scale) said the damage was most likely the most severe and extreme he'd ever examined and also one of the most rare, referring to the anticyclonic F3 tornado that accompanied and mimicked the F5 tornado from the parent storm.

At same time of the supercell that produced the Jordan tornado, another supercell formed, producing a mile-wide F4 wedge tornado near Lemont, Illinois and causing two fatalities and 23 injuries. The outbreak as a whole killed two and injured 35.[12]

June 29
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 4 1 2 0 1 0

An F4 tornado struck Alta, Illinois. There no casualties from this or any other tornado that day.

July

84 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in July.[13]

August

38 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in August.[14]

September

35 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in September.[15]

October

11 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in October.[16]

November

No tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in November, being a record low.[17]

November 13 (Australia)
Main article: Sandon tornado
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
0 0 0 0 1 0 0

An estimated F3 tornado killed 2 people in Victoria, Australia.

December

1 tornado was reported in the U.S. in December.[18]

See also

References
  1. Wilcox, Jeff (2008-06-27). "Historical WX: Jordan F5 Tornado of 1976". Iawx.net. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  2. "1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  3. "January, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  4. "February, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  5. "March, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  6. "March 1976: The most tornadoes on record in March | United States Tornadoes". Ustornadoes.com. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  8. "April 11, 1976 Tornadoes". Tornado History Projects. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  9. R.J. Hung; R.E. Smith (1983). "Remote sensing of Arkansas tornadoes on 11 April 1976 from a satellite, a balloon and an ionospheric sounder array". International Journal of Remote Sensing. 4 (3): 617–630. Bibcode:1983IJRS....4..617H. doi:10.1080/01431168308948578.
  10. "May, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  11. "June, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  12. "June 13, 1976 Tornadoes". Tornado History Projects. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  13. "July, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  14. "August, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  15. "September, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  16. "October, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  17. "November, 1976". Tornado History Project. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  18. "December, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
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