Wikipedia

User:CapeVerdeWave/Sandbox

< User:CapeVerdeWave

User:CapeVerdeWave/Sandbox
Black isolines, barbs, and isothermal features depicting pressure, wind, and temperature gradients
Surface weather analysis on the morning of April 4
Tornado outbreak
Maximum ratingF4 tornado
DurationApril 4–5, 1966
Overall effects
Fatalities11
Injuries540
Damage$ ($75,110,000 in 2024 USD)[a][1]
Areas affected
Part of the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1966

On April 4–5, 1966, an outbreak of at least three tornadoes affected portions of Florida and North Carolina. It included a deadly pair of tornado families that struck the I-4 corridor in Central Florida from the Tampa Bay Area to Brevard County. At least two long-tracked tornadoes affected the region, each of which featured a path length in excess of 100 mi (160 km). The two tornadoes are officially listed as continuous events, but the tornadoes' damage paths did not cross the entire state, and downbursts may have been responsible for destruction near Lake Juliana and in the Kissimmee–Saint Cloud area. However, tornado and downburst damage combined was continuous from coast to coast.

One of the tornadoes produced estimated F4 damage on the Fujita scale; it remains one of only two F4 tornadoes to strike the U.S. state of Florida, the other of which occurred on April 15, 1958. Both F4 tornadoes coincided with El Niño—a condition known to locally enhance severe weather over Florida. On April 4, 1966, a total of 11 people were killed across the state of Florida, including three in the city of Tampa and seven in Polk County. The F4 tornado remains the fourth-deadliest tornado event recorded in Florida; only tornadoes on March 31, 1962, February 2, 2007, and February 23, 1998, caused more deaths in the state. All of the events were induced by non-tropical cyclones.

[2] [3] [4] [5]

[b]

Background

edit

On Monday, April 4, a robust jet stream combined with cold air aloft to spark prefrontal storms. A squall line quickly formed over the Gulf of Mexico and swept east across Central Florida. A thunderstorm in the line spawned a pair of waterspouts that moved generally east-northeastward at up to 60 mph (97 km/h) into Tampa Bay. Initially, the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to predict the twisters, since a well-defined low-pressure area, a precursor to tornadoes, was absent; an advisory was issued half an hour after the first twister formed. Helping foster storminess over Florida, a strong El Niño event was ongoing—a factor that that also coincided with an F4 tornado in Polk County in 1958.[10]

Confirmed tornadoes

edit
Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating
FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 Total
0 0 1 0 2 1 0 ≥

Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991.[11][c] 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments.[15][d] Numerous discrepancies on the details of tornadoes in this outbreak exist between sources. The total count of tornadoes and ratings differs from various agencies accordingly. The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.

Color/symbol key
Color / symbol Description
† Data from Grazulis 1990/1993/2001b
Data from a local National Weather Service office
※ Data from the 1966 Storm Data publication
‡ Data from the NCEI database
♭ Data from newspaper(s)
♯ Maximum width of tornado
± Tornado was rated below F2 intensity by Grazulis but a specific rating is unavailable.

April 4 event

edit
Confirmed tornadoes – Monday, April 4, 1966[e]
F# Location County / Parish State Start Coord.[f] Time (UTC) Path length Width[g] Damage
F4 Clearwater to Carrollwood to Gibsonia to Loughman♭ Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk FL 27°55′N 82°48′W / 27.92°N 82.80°W / 27.92; -82.80 (Clearwater (April 4, F4)) 13:00–? 100 mi (160 km)† 880 yd (800 m)♭♯ >$24,000,000†
11 deaths – See section on this tornado
F3† Southern St. Petersburg to southern Lakeland to Auburndale to Alturas♭ Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk FL 27°42′N 82°38′W / 27.70°N 82.63°W / 27.70; -82.63 (St. Petersburg (April 4, F2)) 13:27–?♭ 80 mi (130 km)† 300 yd (270 m)†
See section on this tornado
F3¶ Holopaw♭ to Rockledge to Cocoa to southern Merritt Island† Osceola, Brevard† FL Un­known 14:30–?† 40 mi (64 km)† 150 yd (140 m)† $2,000,000†

April 5 event

edit
Confirmed tornadoes – Tuesday, April 5, 1966[e]
F# Location County / Parish State Start Coord.[f] Time (UTC) Path length Width[g] Damage
F1 WNW of Faith Rowan NC 35°36′N 80°30′W / 35.60°N 80.50°W / 35.60; -80.50 (Faith (April 5, F1)) 19:30–? 0.1 mi (0.16 km) 33 yd (30 m) $2,500
A brief tornado, described as a "black thing sounding like a jet plane", destroyed a 15-by-36-foot (4.6 by 11.0 m) structure.[25][26]

Clearwater–Carrollwood–Gibsonia–Loughman, Florida

edit
Clearwater–Carrollwood–Gibsonia–Loughman, Florida
Meteorological history
FormedApril 4, 1966, 8:00 a.m. EST (UTC−05:00)
F4 tornado
on the Fujita scale
Overall effects
Fatalities11
Injuries350
Damage>$24,000,000 ($232,590,000 in 2024 USD)

The first, strongest, and most damaging of at least two long-lived tornado families touched down near St. Petersburg College in Clearwater. It hit three trailer parks, 20 trailers, and 36 houses, tracking for 1 mi (1.6 km) from Belcher to Old Coachman Road, just south of Gulf to Bay Boulevard. It unroofed homes, broke windows, downed porch screens, tossed furniture, uplifted a few air conditioning units, and damaged a neon sign, with losses of $119,000; it also impacted carports, awnings, and patios.

The tornado then crossed northern Tampa Bay, striking Carrollwood and Temple Terrace, north of Tampa. There it demolished 158 homes, badly damaged 186, and lightly damaged 211. The St. Petersburg Times reported that some "large colonial style" homes at Carrollwood were leveled, and that the Forest Hills neighborhood was extensively damaged; other media said that "dozens" of "fashionable" homes were wrecked. Many homes in North Tampa lost walls or roofs, and winds flipped a school bus, injuring a student. Trees were downed at a school in Lake Magdalene as well, and a few windows were smashed at another school in Carrollwood. The tornado also struck the University of South Florida (USF), partly unroofing a dormitory, upending 12 or more vehicles, uprooting vegetation, leveling an unfinished building, tearing loose a few 16-foot-high (4.9 m) doors, blowing away screens, knocking down cooling towers, and slightly injuring three students; it also severed power, forcing USF to dismiss classes, and rolled a trailer 150 yd (140 m), hospitalizing a construction worker. The tornado tracked 8 mi (13 km) through North Tampa, killing three people—all on a single block—and injuring 68 others, with losses of $4 million.

The tornado moved east-northeast into Plant City, partly unroofing a classroom annex at Turkey Creek High School and exposing a few classrooms to rainwater. It then entered Polk County, passing near Kathleen, where it was up to 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km) wide, hurling nearby trailers "like toys", according to press reports. It then ravaged Galloway and Gibsonia, devastating 93 homes, one or two of which incurred F4 damage; seven deaths occurred there. Reports suggested twin tornadoes on parallel, 5-mile-long (8.0 km) paths in the Galloway–Gibsonia area. A chicken ranch was destroyed north of Lakeland, with two injuries. The tornado then passed north of Haines City and Davenport, killing a woman in a trailer 4 mi (6.4 km) outside the latter. It destroyed many trailers and a restaurant in the Loughman area, causing a loss of $500,000 there.

It apparently dissipated over swampland past Loughman, but downbursts caused further damage on Lake Juliana, in Campbell City, on the fringes of St. Cloud, and in southern Kissimmee, wrecking a recreation area; wind-related damage extended as far east as the Courtenay–Merritt Island area. Damage in the Kissimmee area was described as "more powerful than a hurricane"; power poles were splintered and 2-foot-diameter (0.61 m) trees were uprooted, with seven injuries in Osceola County. This and the next tornado collectively destroyed 480 homes, killed eight people, injured 280 others, and caused $20 million in damages in Polk County alone.[27]

St. Petersburg–Lakeland–Auburndale–Alturas, Florida

edit
St. Petersburg–Lakeland–Auburndale–Alturas, Florida
Meteorological history
FormedApril 4, 1966, 8:27 a.m. EST (UTC−05:00)
F3 tornado
on the Fujita scale
Overall effects
FatalitiesNone
Injuries50

The second of a pair of tornado families touched down 15 minutes later than its predecessor near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, where it lifted a 23-foot-long (7.0 m) trailer and an automobile. In the Pinellas Point area, on the southernmost edge of St. Petersburg, the tornado damaged or destroyed 43 homes and injured nine people. It then crossed Tampa Bay, moved inland over Central Florida, and closely paralleled the path of the more powerful first tornado. A total of 15 homes were destroyed in Lakeland, while homes and businesses were demolished in northern Winter Haven. 18 students at a school in Lakeland sustained injuries. The tornado also destroyed warehouses, Citrus trees, and trailers from Auburndale and northern Winter Haven to just south of Haines City.

The tornado later crossed into Osceola County, passing near Holopaw, and continued into Brevard County. In the Cocoa Beach–Rockledge area, 150 trailers in six different trailer parks were destroyed, resulting in more than 100 injuries. A shopping center and 20–23 frame homes were likewise demolished. Additionally, the tornado struck the training site for the Houston Astros in nearby Cocoa, ripping four light standards from the ground, flattening the center field fence, and destroying all the backstops and batting cages. One of the cages was thrown more than 800 ft (240 m) into nearby woods.

Tornado researcher Thomas P. Grazulis classified the tornado as an F3 and split the event into two separate tornadoes, at least one of which was likely a tornado family. One of the tornadoes tracked for 80 mi (130 km) and the other for 40 mi (64 km).[28]

Aftermath and recovery

edit

Widespread looting was reported in some localized areas after the passage of the tornadoes in Hillsborough and Polk counties; a total of 200 National Guardsmen were deployed to the two counties, while lesser numbers were ordered to the city of Cocoa. Damage in the Lakeland area was compared to the aftermath of the Normandy invasion during World War II. This event may have contained multiple tornadoes, which would constitute another tornado family.[29]

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ All losses are in 1966 United States dollars unless otherwise noted.
  2. ^ An outbreak is generally defined as a group of at least six tornadoes (the number sometimes varies slightly according to local climatology) with no more than a six-hour gap between individual tornadoes. On the Florida peninsula, an outbreak consists of at least four tornadoes occurring relatively synchronously—no more than four hours apart.[6][7] Outbreak sequences, prior to (after) the start of modern records in 1950, are defined as periods of no more than two (one) consecutive days without at least one significant (F2 or stronger) tornado.[8][9]
  3. ^ Historically, the number of tornadoes globally and in the United States was and is likely underrepresented: research by Grazulis on annual tornado activity suggests that, as of 2001, only 53% of yearly U.S. tornadoes were officially recorded. Documentation of tornadoes outside the United States was historically less exhaustive, owing to the lack of monitors in many nations and, in some cases, to internal political controls on public information.[12] Most countries only recorded tornadoes that produced severe damage or loss of life.[13] Significant low biases in U.S. tornado counts likely occurred through the early 1990s, when advanced NEXRAD was first installed and the National Weather Service began comprehensively verifying tornado occurrences.[14]
  4. ^ The Fujita scale was devised under the aegis of scientist T. Theodore Fujita in the early 1970s. Prior to the advent of the scale in 1971, tornadoes in the United States were officially unrated.[16][17] Tornado ratings were retroactively applied to events prior to the formal adoption of the F-scale by the National Weather Service.[18] While the Fujita scale has been superseded by the Enhanced Fujita scale in the U.S. since February 1, 2007,[19] Canada used the old scale until April 1, 2013;[20] nations elsewhere, like the United Kingdom, apply other classifications such as the TORRO scale.[21]
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ a b All starting coordinates are based on the NCEI database and may not reflect contemporary analyses.
  7. ^ a b The listed width values are primarily the average/mean width of the tornadoes, with those having known maximum widths denoted by ♯. From 1952 to 1994, reports largely list mean width whereas contemporary years list maximum width.[22] Values provided by Grazulis are the average width, with estimates being rounded down (i.e. 0.5 mi (0.80 km) is rounded down from 880 yards to 800 yards.[23][24]

References

edit
  1. ^ Storm Data Publication 1966, Events Reported
  2. ^ "The New Smyrna Beach Tornado – 11/2/97". National Weather Service Forecast Office Melbourne, FL. Melbourne, Florida: National Weather Service. Archived from the original on May 7, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  3. ^ Wilson, Jennifer; Oyola-Yemaiel, Arthur (November 4, 1998). Written at University Park, Florida. Quick Response Report #110 (Report). Boulder, Colorado: University of Colorado Boulder. Archived from the original on June 27, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  4. ^ Grazulis, Thomas P.; Grazulis, Doris (April 26, 2000). "The United States' Worst Tornadoes". The Tornado Project. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: Environmental Films. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  5. ^ Hagemeyer, Bartlett C.; Carney, JoAnn S. Florida hazardous weather day-by-day (to 1994) (PDF) (Report). Melbourne, Florida: National Weather Service. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  6. ^ Hagemeyer 1997, pp. 400–1.
  7. ^ Hagemeyer, Bartlett C.; Spratt, Scott M. (2002). Written at Melbourne, Florida. Thirty Years After Hurricane Agnes: the Forgotten Florida Tornado Disaster (PDF). 25th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology. San Diego, California: American Meteorological Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 16, 2008. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
  8. ^ Schneider, Russell S.; Brooks, Harold E.; Schaefer, Joseph T. (2004). Tornado Outbreak Day Sequences: Historic Events and Climatology (1875–2003) (PDF). 22nd Conf. Severe Local Storms. Hyannis, Massachusetts: American Meteorological Society. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  9. ^ Grazulis 2001a, p. 206.
  10. ^ Multiple sources:
  11. ^ Agee and Childs 2014, p. 1496.
  12. ^ Grazulis 2001a, pp. 251–4.
  13. ^ Edwards, Roger (March 5, 2015). "The Online Tornado FAQ (by Roger Edwards, SPC)". Storm Prediction Center: Frequently Asked Questions about Tornadoes. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  14. ^ Cook & Schaefer 2008, p. 3135.
  15. ^ Agee and Childs 2014, pp. 1497, 1503.
  16. ^ Grazulis 1993, p. 141.
  17. ^ Grazulis 2001a, p. 131.
  18. ^ Edwards et al. 2013, p. 641–642.
  19. ^ Edwards, Roger (March 5, 2015). "Enhanced F Scale for Tornado Damage". The Online Tornado FAQ (by Roger Edwards, SPC). Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  20. ^ "Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-Scale)". Environment and Climate Change Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada. June 6, 2013. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  21. ^ "The International Tornado Intensity Scale". Tornado and Storm Research Organisation. Tornado and Storm Research Organisation. 2016. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  22. ^ Agee and Childs 2014, p. 1494.
  23. ^ Brooks 2004, p. 310.
  24. ^ Grazulis 1990, p. ix.
  25. ^ Storm Data 1966, p. 27.
  26. ^ Storm Data Publication 1966, #10078053
  27. ^ Multiple sources:
  28. ^ Multiple sources:
  29. ^ Multiple sources:

Sources

edit


This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.
Categories:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:CapeVerdeWave/Sandbox&oldid=1304829160"