Tornadoes in KY?! Yikes!

[bishard2]

What is the new Madrid Fault...may I ask?!

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by bishard2

What is the new Madrid Fault...may I ask?!

It is a fault zone which occurred when the US continent tried to pull apart, and ended up forming today's Mississippi River Valley (This is why the MS Valley is the lowest elevation in the US)

It is quit inactive compared to anywhere in the Western US, where the geological landscape is still young and forming.

The Jackson Purchase area of KY would be one of the safest seismic zones in the West

[censusdata]

As for the tornadoes, this is Kentucky's worst outbreak since the 1974 Super Outbreak with only 7 fatalities. (I emailed this to the Communist Jounral & Harold's Leader but they didn'y mention it)

By comparison, TN has had 4 outbreaks producing 7-16 each fatalities just since 2002!
Wartburg 11/10/2002 7 dead
Denmark 05/04/2003 11 dead
Newbern 04/02/2006 16 dead
Gallatin 04/07/2006 7 dead

Here is Kentucky's worst since 1974, only 3 outbreaks w/ 2+ deaths
MCCREARY 04/08/1980 2
Glasgow 04/16/1998 2
Oakdale 02/22/2003 2

Since the 1974 Outbreak, TN has had 112 deaths, KY only 18. Don't ask me why, I don't know
Source: http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~storms

[WanderingCajun]

censusdata, you're not quite right about the New Madrid fault, it's quite active & of considerable concern, at least to geologists. There was a spate of the worst earthquakes recorded in the U.S. there in the 1800's. Paducah is where one of the quakes made the river run backwards. Since seismographs weren't in existence, scientists base the guess of the Richter scale numbers on eyewitness accounts from that time. There were many over 8.0. I've been in those of "only" 6.1 and 6.0 and they were terrible. There are many, many minor quakes to this day, with a "catastrophic" one predicted -- and overdue. My husband is a geologist and is happily terrorizing me with information about the NM fault.

[damonwilliams]

Anyone have pics of the 1974 tornado path? Was a kid and watched is pass

[censusdata]

[K. Dunn]

My wife read a historical story about a family moving from Kentucky to Indiana back in the 1800's regarding that fault and the earthquakes that happened. It was a fascinating story from the diary of the father who lost several family members including children [sad] in the earthquake and then decided to move away from west KY to feel safer only to have a tornado [if I remember right] hit him again this time in Indiana. Very bad luck. Shows no where is it truly safe, but overall statistically KY is pretty darn good! Nature is nature, unpredictable

[missymomof3]

I remember as a child (I don't remember what year) I was sitting on the ground watching a baseball game when there was a trimmer. That is the only one I remember.

[K. Dunn]

Here is that Map of the 1974 Tornado Super Outbreak showing where all the tornadoes touched down. Notice how far several of them traveled! Across several states in some case. Truly terrifying I'm sure to them at the time. Luckily a VERY rare occurence.

Incredible pictures and data found at:
My Scrapbook

Basic details: It was coined the Super Outbreak of 1974. On April 3 and 4th a storm system produced a line of tornadoes starting in Alabama and extending into Ontario Canada.

A total of 148 Tornadoes Struck the United states over the 2 day period. Five of them were F5, the strongest on the tornado intensity scale. 315 people died in the U.S. and over 5 thousand injured.

[censusdata]

Tornado Deaths Jan 1, 1975 to Aug 31, 2007

• Texas 219
• Alabama 182
• Ohio 138
• Florida 138
• Arkansas 123
• Tennessee 118
• Oklahoma 98
• Mississippi 93
• Georgia 87
• Illinois 81
• Pennsylvania
• Kansas 76
• Missouri 75
• North Carolina 70
• Indiana 55
• Louisiana 39
• Wisconsin 31
• South Carolina 29
• Iowa 26
• Minnesota 22
• New York 19
• Michigan 19
• Kentucky 18
• Nebraska 14
• Virginia 11
• North Dakota 8
• South Dakota 8
• Maryland 6
• Massachusetts 5
• Wyoming 3
• Connecticut 3
• Delaware 2
• Colorado 2
• New Mexico 2
• West Virginia 1.
• New Jersey 1
• Utah 1
• Montana 1
• Alaska 0
• Arizona 0
• California 0
• Hawaii 0
• Nevada 0
• Oregon 0
• Washington 0
• Vermont 0
• New Hampshire 0
• Maine 0
• Rhode Island 0
• Idaho 0