1936 Cordele-Greensboro tornado outbreak

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1936 Cordele-Greensboro tornado outbreak
Date of tornado outbreak: April 1-2, 1936
Duration1: ~14 hours
Maximum rated tornado2: F4 tornado
Tornadoes caused: 12 known
Damages: Unknown
Fatalities: 44 known
Areas affected: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina

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


The 1936 Cordele-Greensboro tornado outbreak was tornado outbreak that affected the Southeast United States during April of 1936. The Greensboro, North Carolina and Cordele, Georgia tornadoes were the deadliest spawned during the April 1–2 outbreak, which developed in three waves of tornadic activity over 14 hours, associated with the same storm system.

On the evening of April 2, 1936, the Greensboro tornado left a long path of F4 damage across the south side of Greensboro, passing through the south side of downtown. The storm began its path near High Point Road at Elam Street and continued east along Lee Street to east of Bennett College. This storm left $2 million in damage in Greensboro (1936 USD).[1] It was responsible for 14 deaths and 144 injuries, standing as the second deadliest tornado in the history of North Carolina after a February 1884 tornado that caused 23 deaths along a path from Rockingham to Lillington.

Later in the week, a second outbreak would spawn devastating tornadoes in Waynesboro, Tennessee, Tupelo, Mississippi and Gainesville, Georgia.

[edit] Reported tornadoes

F# Location County Time (EST) Path length Damage
Georgia
F? Athens Clarke 08:00 PM Damage in one neighborhood, with a church destroyed.
F? Tignall Wilkes 08:30 PM Heavy damage to buildings in town; damage to nearby farms.
F4 Washington, Lincolnton Wilkes, Lincoln 09:00 PM 2 Deaths in Washington, 50 buildings heavily damaged in Lincolnton.
F2 Dawson, Sasser Terrell 06:45 AM 2 Deaths in Dawson and Sasser. Path up to 500 yds in width. This tornado, and the subsequent Leesburg and Cordele tornadoes were produced by the same supercell.
F2 Leesburg Lee 07:00 AM 1 Death.
F4 Cordele Crisp 08:00 AM 23 deaths, 500+ inj. Large and violent tornado destroyed 276 homes and 11 other buildings buildings and damaging 165 structures, causing ~$3 million in damage in the town, in 1936 dollars. "Many of the finest houses were torn to splinters..."
South Carolina
F1 Lodge Colleton 08:30 AM 1 Death. Brief tornado touchdown destroys a farm in Lodge, between Barnwell and Walterboro.
F? Hampton Hampton unk 1 Death.
North Carolina
F? Concord Mecklenburg,

Cabarrus

 05:30 PM Businesses and homes heavily damaged (with at least 1 building destroyed) near downtown Concord.
F4 Greensboro Guilford 07:00 PM 14 deaths, 144+ inj. Tornado leaves F4 damage along a 7-mile-long path (up to 800 yds in width) through the southern part of downtown Greensboro; 56 buildings completely destroyed, with many 233 more damaged. ~$2 million in damage, in 1936 dollars.
F2 N of Mebane to N of Efland Alamance, Orange 07:40 PM 1 Death, 4 inj. A 6-mile-long path was left just north of the towns of Mebane and Efland, with severe non-tornadic wind damage continuing NE of Hillsborough. This supercell also produced the Warren County tornado.
F? 10 SE of Warrenton Warren 09:15 PM An eyewitness in the Warren County community of Arcola noted that "a heavy cloud and a loud roar passed north of me at 9:15 P.M."
Sources:[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Syracuse Herald, Syracuse New York. April 3 1936.
  2. ^ American Meteorological Society, Monthly Weather Review. Volume 64, Issue 5, May 1936