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Remarkable picture series shows development of 1957 Fargo tornado. Here "mother cloud" builds
. tit
Moments later tornado forms, reaches for ground.
i-ievr. r
Fargo tornado, which
Family Weekly, April 27, 195
by Kevin V. Brown
"I '
I noticed an odd formation on the horizon, sort of
a mass coming down from the sky. Then it
became clear the most horrible thing I ever
saw. I yelled for the neighbors to look.
"Mr. Perkins ran out and saw the monster, twist
ing and weaving like a graceful snake. Then it was
almost on top of us, so huge, so terrifying, so ugly
that I had to look straight up to see the top. Its
base was obscured by dirt and debris, making a
cloud so black it would be impossible to describe . . .
'";i.v-lT,,-'.,-tn '
- It ri
was to kill eight persons, now starts its savage swath
1
up, sucking low squall line into its swirling mass.
"We managed to circle around the monster and
turn back. At first we saw no destruction, then the
telephone poles in the distance looked curiously
bent The farther we went, the worse it got, until
finally we could go no farther because of the rubble
in the streets, strewn thick in weird piles.
"The growing darkness began to cover the terrible
scene, reeking in the sweet, sick smell of broken
gas mains, and drenched in the gurgles of water
gushing from severed pipes. Cries of agony and pain
came from shocked groups of people wandering
about with no idea of what would come next ...
'"J
toward city, uprooting or exploding anything m its way.
Tame
the
Tornado?
Here's how man hopes to
master this fiercest
of all storms which
annually wreaks havoc
across America's
mid-section.
This was neither Hiroshima nor an invasion by
creatures from outer space. It was Ruskin Heights,
Kans., May 20, 1957. It was a 15-year-old survivor's
account of a tornado, an American phenomenon so
common it occurs nearly 900 times a year.
No man-made force can match the concentrated
fury of a tornado, and no man-made defense has
been found to stop it It is Nature's most sudden
and savage beast; but new equipment, intensive
research, and the unselfish efforts of average citizens
offer hope that its claws may be clipped and that
the beast itself may some day be tamed.
4,', ' . 1 'l' ' 1 M
Black with debris, funnel roars through residential
To understand what is being done to tame the
tornado, it's necessary to understand some of the
things a tornado is and isn't.
1. Tornadoes are the smallest but fiercest of the
circular storms.
Cyclones (a name often erroneously given to
tornadoes) are the largest, measuring up to 1,000
miles in diameter with winds up to 70 miles an hour.
Hurricanes are half as small but twice as strong
(winds up to 150 miles an hour). In the Far East,
they're called typhoons. Both types can last a week
and cause considerable damage.
A tornado, as if concentrating all this same force
in one furious spiral, seldom exceeds a few hundred
yards in width or lasts more than 15 to 20 minutes;
but it is unmatched in instant, utter destruction. Its
winds are estimated at 500 miles an hour, but no
instrument has been found strong enough to meas
ure them. In its path, strong buildings are literally
exploded and the pieces scattered like kindling;
trains are lifted from tracks and cars flung in cir
cular patterns; bridges are wrenched from founda
tions, rivers sucked dry.
The granddaddy of all tornadoes occurred March
18, 1925. Starting in Missouri, it crossed the Missis
sippi River into Illinois, then cut a savage mile-wide
swath across the state, finally dissolving in Indiana
more than three hours and 219 miles later. It left
689 dead, 1,980 injured, and damage of more than
16 million dollars, including total destruction of
several communities.
2. Tornadoes are caused by a precise combination
of weather factors.
Chief factors are a low layer of moist warm air,
a high layer of dry cool air, and a narrow band of
high-velocity winds in the upper atmosphere (a jet
stream). Complicated . energy transformations take
place but, in simple terms, the warm air rises
rapidly; triggered by the jet stream, it begins
swirling. The uprush of air leaves a vacuum, and
into the void roar warm currents from lower and
lower down until the ground is reached and a tor
nado is born. The suction of the vacuum and the
whirling winds cause the damage, picking up or
knocking down anything in the way.
The combination of weather factors produces tor
nadoes throughout the world, notably in Russia and
Australia, but no area is hit as often or as hard as
the American Midwest. Here the potent mixture is
moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and dry air from
the West and Canada.
3. Tornadoes are most probable at certain times of
the year and in certain places.
Like a gigantic left hook, tornadoes begin their
area, then dissolves on far side. Ruskin Heights tornado tore this fatal path.
devastation in early Spring in the Gulf states, be-
coming more frequent and powerful as they swirl
up the middle states. They are most frequent in
March and April in Alabama, Georgia, and Missis
sippi, in April and May in Texas and Oklahoma, in
May and June in Kansas and Iowa. They have
caused most deaths in Illinois (nearly 1,000 in the
past 40 years).
Iney form most readily in the hours closely
following the warmest parts of the day. More than
80 percent occur between noon and midnight; nearly
half between 3 and 7 p.m.; about one-fourth be
tween 4 and 6 p.m.
More than half of all tornadoes occur in April,
May, and June in the Midwest, but some of the
worst occur elsewhere. The most devastating of all.
time $52,000,000 in damage happened June 9,
1953, in Massachusetts, which in 40 previous years
had averaged less than one a year.
1"o predict such devastation and thus save lives is
the aim of weather forecasting. To prevent
such devastation, and save property, is the aim
of weather research. Great strides have been made
in both fields.
Tornado forecasting right now can make predic
tions up to 12 hours in advance with 50 percent
accuracy. But the forecast usually covers too large
an area up to 30,000 square miles whereas the
tornado itself can pop up anywhere within it, affect
ing only about 10 square miles. To predict which
small-scale weather pattern in the larger system
will produce the tornado is part of the problem. To
solve it, three tools are now being used.
Actual observation of a tornado is the first. Ad
mittedly, it's like locking the tornado cellar after
the twister has blown it to bits, but not quite. Once
formed, tornadoes usually follow a predictable path:
most travel east or northeast from 10 to 40 miles
an hour. When a tornado is spotted and its path
tracked, those in its way can be warned.
Nearly 200 "tornado networks" have been formed
in recent years, networks composed of average
citizens members of ground observer corps, police
departments, telephone companies, and radio and
television stations who have been trained to spot
tornado-producing weather and spread warnings
when one forms.
Many lives have been saved and much valuable
information collected from these on-the-spot meth
ods. Last Summer, when a twister struck Fargo,
N. D., one resident heard the warning on television.
Opening his front door, he saw the tornado coming
directly toward him.
"I headed for the basement," he said, "and within
seconds the first blow struck. Then there were
(Continued on page 15)
Family Weekly, Ajnil 27, 195J 7