It’s no surprise that we are seeing a lot of activity in the severe weather department this week.  Historically, this has been a very active time of year across the US, and it’s the main peak of severe weather activity in the Southeast, although we have a secondary peak in fall and tornadoes can and do happen here in every month.

Today is the anniversary of two very notable outbreaks, including the Super Outbreak of 1974 and another less well-known outbreak which also hit Georgia and South Carolina back in 1804.  You can read about some lessons learned from the Super Outbreak at Weather Underground at https://www.wunderground.com/news/superoutbreak-1974-eight-things-it-taught-us-about-tornadoes?__prclt=MWchXd1B.  I was living in Michigan at the time, and remember members of our church going to Xenia OH to help with the awful devastation there.  Many of you may have your own memories.  You can also read about it at Smithsonian magazine here.

This Day in Weather History has the story for the 1804 tornadoes:

April 4th, 1804 – A group of tornadoes slashed a 120-mile path across seven counties in Georgia and one county in South Carolina killing 11 people near Augusta, GA. The tornado’s path through heavy timber was still visible some 71 years later as noted in an Army Signal Corps survey. The clipping is from the Army Signal Service survey report from a tornado event on March 20, 1875. They noted damage from the April 4th, 1804 tornado is still evident. The clip is from the Army Signal Service annual report of 1875.

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