May 22nd, 2004. Residents of the small town of Hallam, Nebraska are enjoying a much needed break after a long week of hard work in the muggy late spring air. Yet in less than 30 minutes, a tornado measuring over 2 miles wide will destroy nearly every structure in the town. Another community has fallen victim to the worst tornado season in American history.
This is the story of the 2004 tornado season, the most active tornado season in US history spawning an incredible 1817 tornadoes across the United States from a series of devastating tornado outbreaks and hurricanes.
F Scale explanations:
F0 Light Damage (40-72mph)
F1 Moderate Damage (73-112mph)
F2 Significant Damage (113-157mph)
F3 Severe Damage (158-206mph)
F4 Devastating Damage (207-260mph)
F5 Incredible Damage (261-318mph)
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Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4c0hB8nCeA&t=4s
https://www.weather.gov/arx/jun1104
https://www.tornadotalk.com/marion-nd-f4-tornado-july-18-2004/
https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-20040529
https://www.weather.gov/ict/event_20040529
https://www.weather.gov/ilx/13jul04
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/mccarthy/tors2004.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQwptuHtP8Y&list=PLzfJLpB4-bzZvBswpCwQJGZDQ2I1WDMM7&index=8
Tornado Archive
https://www.weather.gov/lot/2004_04_20_tornadoes
https://www.weather.gov/hun/hunsur_2004-10-18
https://www.reddit.com/r/tornado/comments/135bacv/2004_marion_north_dakota_f4_tornado_often/#lightbox
https://www.weather.gov/lwx/sept17tornadoes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfu4EzE1h_4
https://youtu.be/Is_dMcLCPSs?si=esJ_TDL5WKWmNNwH
https://youtu.be/qPbG7vEqaR0?si=hFhiJZrR9FJCKALa
https://youtu.be/gw4bNgr_hR0?si=DrB125QdX8YmBCJK
https://youtu.be/4RlOkEnVZ1g?si=KpQG_OL6ToprOoEn
https://youtu.be/NK3jXhlrulg?si=ExTvyIPyrATUdu_i
https://youtu.be/xEOdHaZe_9A?si=7DGbRUtbtqsIdWG9
https://youtu.be/8MaQNBfN1Vc?si=3t5hNkEw7s_zEotw
https://www.tornadotalk.com/marion-nd-f4-tornado-july-18-2004/
source
My "unchi" lived over near the springs at the time. I told me about the tornadoes over by Ramah, Simla and Limon. I think part of the town Ramah got hit, we'd stop in during the summer or whatever I wasn't in school as we'd drive between KS and the springs. Unfortunately that year I think I was in FL, I don't remember if we went up or not, or if we went a bit later….Maby I only went up that year….hell I might of been stay with some friends in the springs, I think they lived closer to Cheyenne Mt. Side then the north part of the springs where he lived, hell we was closer to falcon then the springs…..I vegly remember the old town of simlia (I mean before the tornado). 04 was instrimg since I mostly lived in FL. I'll never forget our consent hurricanes for the bay area (Tampa Bay), and when I was in Alaska Frances came through and I couldn't get ahold of my family (at that time) living north of Clearwater. I'll never forget our parade of hurricanes in 04, nor katrea coming for us then going north to Mississippi. I'll never forget going up to Colorado and going through a little bit after katrea…..now I'm in eastern Colorado western KS area and watching both our tornado season and hurricane season be like 20 years ago when I left Florida is pretty crazy!! Stay safe everyone!! If you can ecvaluate! Don't mess around!! Only by a merical did I survive Andrew…. unfortunately no one else did in my family…..that's how i got my 1st family (the one l lived with till 04)
Many things here i find a bit overblown, like Hallam being "high F4" and such, but this is an amazing video.
9:09 A RAINBOW
It always seems like May is the most destructive month for tornadoes…
when the music begins in your videos we know shit is about to get real lol. BTW i've been using your 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak video as a research material for my schools tornado documentary competition.
We are in 2024 and it is expected to be the fifth or fourth most active tornado season.
Florida is cooked.
This is the year that my mom and I were transporting a horse in downstate Illinois and we drove into a tornado. The winds completely turned our truck and trailer around on the road. That experience was what got my obsessed with tornadoes
Abrupt ending
Epic video man!
2:20 – I must say, Harper CO/Anthony, KS is a EXTREMELY underrated tornado magnet in my opinion.
With 2004 featuring 3 major outbreaks/events of violent and/or photogenic tornadoes, a big outbreak of boundary tornadoes in 2012, and the supercell this year with multiple spinups including the boundary interaction EF2. Actually where I saw and filmed my 2nd and 3rd tornadoes this year.
Most active of worst tornado season I thought was in 2011? With the 2011 super out break having many F4s, 5 F5s, and countless others, along with, they are close to each other in count, 2011 having 1711 and 2004 having 1817. If anyone has more information of specific ratings let me know!
Could you cover this years hurricane season and hurricane Milton and hurricane Helene? Please?
As a Kansasan AAAAGGGHHHHH
funny to me that the year i was born in was the year with the most tornadoes on record, since im currently in college to try to get a degree in meteorology and am super hyperfixated on tornadoes lol
love your work celton!
I know what year is the worst tornado season and it's not 2004.
I didn't know that 2004 was such a active year and after watching this video, I now know that 2004 was the most active years for tornado activity. The Hallam Nebraska Tornado reminds me of the Tornado that hit Grand Island on June 17th 2009, except that tornado was much weaker than the Hallam tornado and was rated an F2 at its peak. Very similar structure to the tornado in Hallam Nebraska as it goes from a Dusty tornado to a Big tornado with all that dirt being spun around the circulation.
Could you think about doing a video about the 2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak? I live in Harrisburg Illinois where we had an EF4 tear through. IIRC there were over 40 confirmed tornados.
Well done Celton! This is awesome
😢😢😢😢😢😢😮😮😮😮😮😮
35 people dead across 1800 tornados is a pretty good track record.
Sorry guy's, my birth must've caused quite the stir for Earth.
EUGHHUEGHHAHAAAAAAHAHAh
(2011 laughs in tornadoes and deaths)
BROS COOKING AGAIN!!
This video was so well put-together – images, graphics, dialogue, and narration 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Imagine your company getting hit by 2 F/EF4 tornadoes
I’m in Wisconsin and I’ve littrealy never heard of the waupun tornado
And how many of those tornadoes were created by DUH GUVMINT?
Hey, i'm having trouble hearing you over the music. Next time, i's love to hear you more. Love the video ❤
As a kid i can’t tell you how many times the sirens went off in 2004 in my town. At least 5-6 tornado warnings that year along with countless severe T-storm warning. As much as I loved that spring/summer, I never wanted fall to get there so fast lol. Awesome video man!
Great video man! 2024 looked like it had a chance to top the record, but due to the lack of activity in late summer, it’s likely gonna fall short, barring any November/December outbreaks
9:07 There's something so unsettling about there being a rainbow next to a tornado while it's relentlessly tearing apart the victim's houses.
You should build fake trailer parks outside of town to act as decoys.
these videos are fun to watch when i’m in california like 1000 miles away from a tornado
Why don’t they rebuild under ground?
I have a feeling that the tornados were extremely photogenic
I live in Nebraska, and finally someone wants attention to the Hallam tornado
I live in Nebraska, and finally someone wants attention to the Hallam tornado