March 1942 tornado outbreak

March 1942 tornado outbreak
Date(s)	March 16–17, 1942
Duration	~1 day
Confirmed tornadoes	≥ 25
Maximum rated tornado	F5 (Fujita scale)
Damages	Unknown
Casualties	153

The March 1942 tornado outbreak was a deadly late-winter tornado outbreak which struck a large area of the Central and Southern United States on March 16–17, 1942. The tornado outbreak killed 153 people and injured at least 1,284. At least five states reported violent, F4–F5 tornadoes, making the outbreak the fifth-most widespread in terms of violent tornadoes—only outbreaks in 1920, 1965, 1917, and 1974 featured a wider distribution of violent tornadoes. Violent tornadoes occurred from Illinois and Indiana south to Mississippi, beginning with an F4 tornado in the morning in Illinois. Intense activity spread south to the Gulf Coast and north to the Michigan–Indiana border as the day went on. Seven violent tornadoes were reported, one of which was a powerful F5 in Illinois. The March 1942 outbreak also produced 18 tornadoes that caused at least one death, one of the highest such totals for a single outbreak.^[1]

Tornado table

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating
F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
?	?	6	12	6	1	≥ 25

March 16 event

March 17, 1942
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Comments/Damage
Illinois
F4	E of Ivesdale to NE of Alvin	Champaign, Vermilion	1630	52 miles (84 km)	12 deaths — A tornado moved northeast at about 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), causing F4 damage in two segments of the path. The first segment was in the Savoy–Mayview–St. Joseph area where farms were reportedly swept away. After having passed south and east of Champaign, the tornado hit the west side of Alvin, damaging or destroying 25 homes. According to a history of the area^[2] and a 2004 commemorative marker, six people died when the tornado arrived at 11:40 a.m. in Alvin, bringing the total death toll to 12 when combined with three deaths north of St. Joseph, one southwest of Savoy, one more near Hope, and a final east of Mayview.
F2	N of Middlegrove to near Yates City	Knox, Peoria	2215	8 miles (13 km)	A tornado struck 10 or more farms and completely destroyed barns and outbuildings. Four farms lost all barns and outbuildings, but only two homes were destroyed.
F5	E of Kickapoo to NE of Lacon	Peoria, Marshall	2230	30 miles (48 km)	8 deaths — A tornado passed northwest of Peoria, striking near Alta before hitting the northwest side of Chillicothe. It then crossed the Illinois River near Hopewell and south of Sparland, killing two people near the river. The tornado intensified to its peak intensity as it destroyed one third of Lacon, totaling about 60 homes, several of which were entirely swept away. The tornado also caused F5 damage to a farm 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Lacon, killing three people. Three others died in Lacon; debris from town was carried for 25 miles (40 km).
F3	W of Lincoln	Lincoln	2300	5 miles (8.0 km)	2 deaths — A tornado nearly swept away a farmhouse in which a couple died and also destroyed six barns along with two other homes. The tornado passed 3 miles (4.8 km) west and north of Lincoln.
Mississippi
F4	S of Berclair to N of Blue Springs	Leflore, Carroll, Grenada, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Union	2100	110 miles (180 km)	63 deaths — See section on this tornado
F2	SW of Grenada	Grenada	2215	5 miles (8.0 km)	1 death — A tornado moved northeast through an industrial section of Grenada, missing a hospital by only 20 yards (60 ft). Most of the $300,000 in damage was confined to a plywood-box factory, though the tornado also hit 23 homes.
F3	W of Holly Springs to NE of Spring Hill	Marshall, Benton	2220	15 miles (24 km)	5 deaths — A tornado destroyed about 50 homes and damaged the North Mississippi Branch Experiment Station. It continued northeast to the Mississippi–Tennessee state line before dissipating. The parent storm may have produced the later F3 tornado near Hornsby, Tennessee.
F2	S of Ofahoma to Carthage	Leake	2300	16 miles (26 km)	A skipping tornado destroyed small homes, barns, and a substantially-sized church.
F4	Baldwyn area (1st tornado)	Lee, Prentiss	2305	5 miles (8.0 km)	5 deaths — A tornado hit the northern portion of Baldwyn, leveling several large homes and destroying 50 others. It may have been the same as or continuous with an alleged tornado that killed a person in a boxcar west of Verona, Mississippi. Having caused $200,000 in damage, the F4 tornado dissipated, only to be followed by a second, weaker tornado that struck downtown Baldwyn only 35 minutes later.
F3	Baldwyn area (2nd tornado)	Lee, Prentiss	2340	5 miles (8.0 km)	11 deaths — Striking schools, homes, and businesses in downtown Baldwyn, the second of two tornadoes to hit the city caused much greater ($750,000) losses than the first. It dissipated into a downburst as it curved east-northeast across town. It may have also been part of the deadly O'Tuckalofa tornado family.
Tennessee
F3	WSW of Huntingdon to SW of Dover	Carroll, Henry, Stewart	2230	55 miles (89 km)	5 deaths — One of two long-tracked tornadoes to cross Tennessee on this date first destroyed eight homes in the Huntingdon area. In the Mansfield area, 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Paris, four people died and a student was injured in a school. Near Stribling, now called Short Creek,^[3] the tornado removed soil and swept away one home, killing a boy and injuring several people. Eight rural farms were destroyed across Stewart County.
F4	Near Bethel Springs to SW of Parsons	McNairy, Henderson, Chester, Decatur	2230	about 40 miles (64 km)	15 deaths — The second of two long-tracked tornadoes in Tennessee leveled homes, farms, and rural forests, reportedly causing rural buildings to be swept away. It killed eight people almost immediately as it touched down and caused four more deaths near Reagan. Other deaths were reported east of Finger, near Enville, and near Beacon, southwest of Parsons.
F2	WNW of Bolivar	Hardeman	2230	unknown	A tornado unroofed buildings and injured 12 patients by airborne glass at the Western Mental Health Institute.
F3	SE of Hornsby	Hardeman, McNairy	2245	8 miles (13 km)	A tornado destroyed eight homes between Hornsby and Serles.
F3	S of McEwen	Humphreys	0030	unknown	2 deaths — A tornado destroyed six homes near Bold Springs and along Hurricane Creek.
F3	Near Coopertown	Cheatham, Robertson	0100	9 miles (14 km)	1 death — A tornado killed numerous chickens and destroyed at least 12 homes and 12 barns.
F3	Goodspring to Diana	Giles	0200	20 miles (32 km)	2 deaths — A skipping tornado passed aloft over Pulaski before destroying four homes and damaging 20 in Diana.
Indiana
F2	Near Shelbyville to NE of Lewisville	Shelby, Rush, Henry	2300	30 miles (48 km)	Damage reached $300,000 in Shelbyville, where a touchdown hit factories, homes, and one hatchery. Elsewhere, the tornado destroyed a barn but caused less damage.
F2	SW of Plymouth	Marshall	0215	unknown	One barn was destroyed and airborne glass caused two injuries.
F4	SE of Goshen	Elkhart	0232	10 miles (16 km)	2 deaths — As it passed through southeast Goshen, an intensifying and narrowing tornado damaged or destroyed 87 homes, with F4 damage to one of them near the end of the path.
Kentucky
F3	SE of Greenville to E of Drakesboro	Muhlenberg	2340	10 miles (16 km)	11 deaths — A tornado devastated the mining community of Browder, sweeping away 12 small homes and causing 10 deaths. Another death occurred on a farm near Drakesboro.
F4	N of Caneyville to N of Summit	Grayson, Hardin	0015	30 miles (48 km)	9 deaths — A tornado caused deaths in seven different homes near Caneyville, Millwood, Leitchfield, Clarkson, and Summit. It destroyed 20 homes and swept some away.
F3	N of Bardstown	Nelson	0130	15 miles (24 km)	4 deaths — Homes were destroyed from the Deatsville area to Coxs Creek.
Alabama
F3	Waterloo	Lauderdale	0000	1.5 miles (2.4 km)	2 deaths — A tornado destroyed nine homes as it moved through Waterloo, killing and throwing a couple 200 yards (600 ft) from their homesite.
Sources: Grazulis, Significant, pp. 898–890

March 17

March 17, 1942
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Comments/Damage
South Carolina
F3	Between Norway and Springfield	Orangeburg	2330	10 miles (16 km)	Seven people were injured as a tornado destroyed or caused damage to 15 structures.
Sources: Grazulis, Significant, pp. 898–890

Notable tornadoes

Avalon–O'Tuckalofa–Tula, Mississippi

A long-tracked tornado family first leveled many homes in Leflore County, killing three people southeast of Itta Bena and 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Greenwood. Entering Carroll County, it caused five more deaths near Avalon and tossed a school bus 50 yards (150 ft), injuring the driver and 11 children. Seven more deaths were reported, three each in two leveled homes near Holcomb and Cascilla, plus a dead child in a school bus. The worst damage was near O'Tuckalofa, southeast of Water Valley, where 10 square miles (26 km²) of forest were flattened and 19 people died, including the school superintendent whose home and school were leveled and whose car was moved 300 yards (900 ft). A report card from the school was transported 100 miles (160 km). Northwest of Tula, five more deaths occurred, four of them in one home. The last reported damage was to schools in the Ecru and New Harmony areas, but one of the tornadoes in the family could have continued to Baldwyn, Mississippi, as the F3 farther below.

References

↑ Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes, 37.
↑ Stapp et al., History Under Our Feet, 48.
↑ Houston County Historical Society, History of Houston County, 90.

Bibliography

Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
— (2003). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3538-0.
The History of Houston County, Tennessee. Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company. 1995.
Stapp, Catherine, and W. I. Bowman (1968). History Under Our Feet: The Story of Vermilion County, Illinois. Danville, Illinois: Interstate Printers and Publishers, Inc.