In June of 1953, one of the wildest and deadliest tornado outbreak sequences in US history occurred. In just under 72 hours, a potent weather system dropped at least 50 significant tornadoes across a 1500 mile stretch of the Midwest and northeastern United States. Three of these violent tornadoes tore through the heart of major cities located well outside of tornado alley, resulting in a horrific 251 deaths. In an era prior to the National Weather Service and Dr. Fujita’s critical tornado research, increasing concern was voiced over the nuclear bombs being tested out west, and their potential impact on summer storm systems to the east. Today we examine the meteorological conditions that caused this multi-day travesty, investigate the irreparable damage that these tornadoes caused, and observe how this generational event catapulted tornado science into the modern age.
Sources and Further Reading:
https://controlc.com/0bae78cb
The Worcester-Flint Tornadoes of 1953: When Nuclear Tests and Severe Weather Collide
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Gotta squeeze that commie propaganda in there where you can am I right comrades?
This video was fascinating. Hearing about a tornado so close to where I live that had such a significant impact on american history and tornado research in general is just astounding.
I live in southern New Hampshire, and just the other week we had Tornado Watches and I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've seen a Tornado Watch for the Manchester area in my life. At least that I can remember, and that's dating back to 1997 lol
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There is a story from a Boy Scout camp I went to when I was younger, near Worcester about how a tornado came down and killed 2 scouters. That storm, and this storm, I heard a lot about from my parents and their friends. I hope to not see the devastation caused to Worcester again. Those storms were once in a lifetime, and caused tragedies for many. Thanks weatherbox for talking about these (and all your other videos!)
I don’t think there’s any other YouTube channel that can compare with you on having top level production value & also being densely informative videos. Do the Moore tornados!
The thumbnail picture (Cygnet tornado) was taken about 5 miles from where I'm currently watching this video. I've seen that picture through most of my life growing up and remember my paternal grandfather telling me about watching it cut a swath through Wood county to the south from the family garden. This same tornado also tore the front from my maternal grandfathers block home, the repairs still visible to this day. As always a fascinating well researched video, made especially intriguing by covering a subject that has interested me for years.
I was 12 years old in June of1953, living with my parents in Altoona, Pa. We came to visit my sister and her family a week end or two after the tornado hit Cleveland, Ohio. They lived either on W 58th Street, off of Denison Ave. or in Parma – I don't remember when they moved to Parma. Anyway, my brother in law took us all around Cleveland to view the damage.
The thing which struck me the most was the number of three story houses on W117th Street, near Kensington, that was all twisted into a pile or rubble, refrigerators, dressers and other things sticking out of the rubble. And overturned cars everywhere. That is the only specific street I remember, but he drove us by many similar sights. I found it frightening and heart rendering to think of people losing all there positions like that. And the story of the infant was especially shocking to me, especially looking at the area where it happened.
Thank you for loading this video. I never realized the destruction was so wide spread.
3:40 thing is nukes thousands of times stronger than hiroshima quickly became feasible and was once even a common trait of weapons in the US arsenal. For example in 1952 the US tested the first dry fueled H bomb which had the explosive power 830 times that of hiroshima. Estimated to be the equivalent of 15 million tons of TNT.
A weapon like the Tsar bomb, the largest nuke ever built and tested, could deliver up to (only tested at 50) 100 million tons of TNT. Regardless of what category storm is whipped up, mankind has has the power to negate them for decades.
I live in Flint. The old timers never stop talking about the one that hit our town. I can see that water tower from my porch.
28:39 this was shot 10 of "Operation Upshot Knothole". The testing documentary is up here on YouTube. I'm not really surprised that it is the culprit for these unusual hailstones' radioactivity. It did a number of other strange things to the testing area that was not expected. It was the first and only test of the 280mm atomic canon, they even made a small color film of it's test. I'm not sure why you didnt use that footage because its rather infamous.
To put into context what 5 and 30 times background radiation is in terms of how dangerous it is, you get 30x background on a commercial airline flight at 30k feet. So its not that dangerous but it is a very significant change.
Do we know if it was a La Niña cycle?
I’d love to see you do an analysis on how weather affected the 2020 fire season in the pnw
Answer to the first question: the top 1% of the top 1% is the goal. If there are 5,000,000 times on a track, you should shoot for the top 5,000 times. If there are only half a million times, shoot for the top 500. This falls apart at the lower end. If there are only 100k times, maybe you can live with a top 100-200 finish. Thats my goal anyway! Join the reddit clubs, theres always someone in them who is doing well and theres no bar to entry.
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Interesting to see this looked at in retrospect. I remember as a child in Los Alamos I heard my fathet say something to my mother about "the prooving grounds" and I thought he said something funny.
This was so extremely well done that I must admit I thought you were a multi million subscriber channel. You have a great gift for conveying technical information in a palatable form. 10/10 recommend and am newly subbed!
Man! Love these videos! It is an exciting day when you post!
I remember that afternoon. We lived a ways south from the Beecher area . I was out for a walk with my grandmother and it looked like storm clouds in the distance, but the sky was green. I was nine years old and it felt ominous to me. She didn't say anything about it but she squeezed my hand and we turned around and headed back. My Aunt and Uncle were visiting and were listening to a radio on the front porch when we got home. Everyone was very concerned but I didn't know what it all meant.
A few days later we drove through the Beecher area. Dad, a plastering contractor, was planning to offer to plaster some of the houses for free to help out. Most of the crew wouldn't have minded contributing some time. We looked at some of the damage. One thing I noticed was a steel electrical power tower still bolted to it's concrete foundation and all of it was there but corkscrewed to about five feet tall. I was amazed that the steel hadn't broken but was just bent. Another thing was a piece of straw sticking out of a cedar power pole, unbroken and said to have been embedded about four inches. What kind of a wind speed could do that?
I was a kid when the Cuban missile crisiss happened, year 1 at school , we all thought that we would die from the nuclear clould ..I also remember about the nuclear sun sets, very red, redder than red, me and my brother and sister where thinking if it goes off we would have radiation poison,,, a slow death….They found a solution which saved the planet I think…the TV stations back then used to tell you not to miss the sunset tonight because the nuclear fallout dust, making it redder than red,, because they had done a few Abomb tests in the outback so every year the fallout would circle the EARTH…From Australia..
This week I looked up both hurricane CCTV footage & how to pronounce Worcestershire, so I'm not surprised at all that this video was in my recommendations.
Living in southeastern part of Michigan watching this is amazing,love finding tornado history for these parts
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You should cover a few hurricanes next. Maybe a pre 1950s storm or two.
My father and Grandmother were getting on a streetcar (trolly) in Flint as the storm came over… they were missed by just a scant few miles… saw the whole thing. I grew up listening to stories about it.
I saw a tornado once at my grandmas. Do that one
Deeply appreciate a video on this tornado. Lived in Worcester my whole life, we have multiple monuments to the tornado, and my house was built directly after the tornado, but no one is ever taught nor told about this event unless you have family that were here when it occurred. Amazing video <3
This explains a lot about Midwesterners…
I'd comment with ideas on suggestions but sadly my memory is SHOT of tornadoes — XD I grew up in minnesota and sheesh – I remember seeing funnel clouds but the most — I guess the interesting weather from when I was a kid was the halloween blizzard we had – It stopped JUST in time for kids to go out and enjoy the snow – i remember the snow made it hilariously fun to actually sled down the banks of Hayden Heights Elementary in MN (Twin ciites/ St Paul)
I did actually try and ask my mother about Ohio events, and hiliarously both of us have CPTSD and we both laughed heartily and said "Would be great to remember fun. weahter events if WE DIDNT AHVE CHILDHOOD TRUAMA BLOCKING IT!" 😛 <3
I love watching these. doin't stop – they're amazing ,you do good work <3
My grandma is from just northeast of flint-Beecher and she still says to this day she was 11 when the Tornado happened and it was the loudest night of her life
I live in Massachusetts and I’ve heard multiple stories about the Worcester Tornado, the tornado was the deadliest in New England’s history, killing 94 and injuring a massive 1,288. Me hearing these stories peaked my interest in tornadoes, and has kept me interested in tornadoes to this day, so I thank you for going over the Worcester Tornado, as it started my interested in tornadoes in the first place, bless the souls of the families who lost members due to this tornado, and thank you for bringing attention to it.
Why you gotta tell me about that infant 😢
This is insane, the power output from a nuke is very high for something created by humans, but it only puts it out for a split second and compared to the power output of the weakest thunderstorm, it is insignificant. This stuff is put forward by people that cannot do math.
Please cover the May 27 1997 tornado outbreak. Specifically, the Jarrell F5 Tornado
You learn something new everyday.
This is your finest video to date, in my opinion. So much useful information that I plan to watch a couple more times. Thank you so much Steve!
I live in a suburb of Cleveland, and I thank you for covering the Cleveland F4. So many people talk about Flint and Worcester and skip over Cleveland. My mother was a few months old living off Lorain Avenue and the tornado missed their house by just a little bit.
I was born and raised in Worcester Mass remember my mother’s account
For reference the town name "Barre" is pronounced "Barry"
I am really enjoying this channel. I'd love to see a documentary on the Ruskin Heights tornado of 5/20/57.
My grandma survived the flint tornado in a church as a child
Your coverage of these stories would make excellent material for meteorology classes at universities. Have you considered creating your own courses. I think you are very qualified, if not overly so.
Awesome video and coverage on this tornado i grew up near beecher,flint area and have always been fascinated by this event! Best video explaining the flint/beecher tornado thank you so much!!!
My grandmother was entering her final year of high school when this happened. She lived in Akron during the Cleveland tornado; probably received a severe storm.
Nuclear Weaping? (2:37)
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