NOAA has done a bang up job cooling past temperature records, but it also turns out that they have been reducing or entirely missing many other historic weather events. Their deadliest tornado list has either under-counted or entirely missed many tornadoes from the past.
Ivan found this list of tornadoes which shows that they completely missed a tornado which killed 800 people in February 1884. That would have been #1 on the NOAA list. They also seem to have undercounted deaths from many others.
The following is a list of the worst tornadoes that have visited North America since 1880:
- April 18,1880—65 killed and 200 wounded.
- February 19, 1884—800 killed, 2500 wounded, and over 10,000 rendered homeless.
- April, 1892—40 killed in Kansas.
- June 14, 1892—50 killed in Minnesota.
- June 20, 1893—16 killed in Kansas river valley.
- September 20, 1894—75 killed in Iowa and Minnesota.
- May 27, 1896—500 killed in St. Louis and East St. Louis.
- March 30, 1897—Three-fourths of the town of Chandler, Okla. , destroyed.
- May 9, 1905—30 killed at Marquette, Kan.
- May 11, 1905—130 killed at Synder, Okla.
- March 2, 1906—25 killed at Meridian, Miss.
- April 24, 1908—500 killed in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama storms.
- June 5, 1908—27 killed in Southern Nebraska and Northern Kansas.
- March 13, 1913— Heavy damage and loss of life in Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas.
- April 25, 1923— Nearly 100 killed in Oklahoma.
- July 23, 1923—63 killed in Pomeroy, Iowa.
- June 28, 1924—67 persons killed and scores injured in Lorain, O., by a tornado which swept the southern shore ofLake Erie, the property loss being placed at 25,000,000 dollars.
18 Jun 1925 – Toil of the Tornado Havoc in United States
But it is worse than it seems. I found another article showing even more huge tornadoes which they missed, like an 1842 tornado which killed 500 people.
- State | Date | Killed | Wounded | Buildings Destroyed
- Mississippi | May 7, 1840 | 317 | 100 | … | 1,260,000 Mississippi | June 16, 1842 | 500 | … | … | … Alabama | Nov 22, 1874 | 10 | 30 | 100 | …
- Wisconsin | May 23, 1878 | 30 | … | … | 1,260,000 Missouri | June 1, 1878 | 13 | 70 | 100 | …
- Connecticut | August 9, 1878 | 34 | 28 | 160 | 2,000,000 Missouri | April 18, 1880 | 100 | 600 | … | 1,000,000
- Mississippi | April 25, 1880 | 22 | 72 | 50 | 100,000 Texas | May 28, 1880 | 40 | 83 | 85 | …
- Minnesota | June 17, 1882 | 100 | 300 | 269 | 1,000,000 Missouri | July 15, 1881 | 11 | 65 | 300 | 400,000
- Mississippi | April 18, 1882 | 8 | 130 | 51 | 150,000 Wisconsin | April 22, 1883 | 51 | 20 | 10 | 300,000 Minnesota | May 18, 1883 | 16 | 100 | 52 | 175,000 Arkansas | August 21, 1883 | 26 | 80 | 400 | 700,000
- North Carolina | Nov 21, 1883 | 5 | 162 | 60 | 300,000 Dakota | Feb 19, 1884 | 18 | 125| 58 | …
- Minnesota | July 28, 1884 | 15 | 18 | 100 | … Wisconsin | Sept 9, 1884 | 6 | 75 | 305 | 4,000,000
- New Jersey | August 5, 1885 | 6 | 100 | 500 | 500,000
- Ohio | Sept 8, 1885 | 6 | 100 | 300 | 500,000
- Minnesota | April 14, 1886 | 74 | 136 | 138 | 385,000 Ohio | May 12, 1886 | 27 | … | … | 1,000,000
- Ohio | May 12, 1886 | 30 | … | 85 | 300,000
- Ohio | April 21, 1887 | 20 |237 | 330 | 1,000,000
Winston? Is that you?
What is the process for submitting this information to NOAA and request a correction?
Call 1-800-EAT-SHIT
1890:
“TORNADO AND BLIZZARD. LOUISVILLE WRECKED. HUNDREDS KILLED.
A COUNTY SUBMERGED. THOUSANDS HOMELESS.
March 28.—A disastrous cyclone has occurred in the United States. Its worst effects were felt in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois, where the destruction of property was immense.
Five hundred persons were killed by the cyclone.”
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/71109978
~5 April 1890
1913.
“TERRIFIC TORNADO. TOWNS WIPED OUT. THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS.
The worst tornado that America has trembled under for many years devastated her middle western districts on Sunday night, March 23, causing scores of deaths and injuries to several thousand persons, and inflicting damage estimated at more than £1,000,000.
Official figures of the casualties at Omaha itself place the number of dead at 170, and the injured at 360. The figures for Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri are given as 300 dead and 1,100 injured. ”
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/56989216
~7 May 1913