Significant Tornado Events

I remember that January, 2008 outbreak quite well. I was home from college on winter break at the time, but the warm sector only nosed into far southern/southeastern Wisconsin so we just got cold rain. I have seen that train derailment video many times. It occurred near Lawrence, IL along the Union Pacific Harvard Subdivision which runs to Janesville, Wisconsin. It was just west of where Metra passenger service terminates at Harvard. At the time it still served the General Motors assembly plant in Janesville, although they would soon announce its impending closure.
 
Is there a "deadliest single county" for tornadoes? Like where the highest number of tornado fatalities have been recorded? I know it's a niche and morbid question, but I'm interested. I'm assuming it'd be Cleveland County, OK, but there's probably been deadlier.
 
OH-IOan said:
Is there a "deadliest single county" for tornadoes? Like where the highest number of tornado fatalities have been recorded? I know it's a niche and morbid question, but I'm interested. I'm assuming it'd be Cleveland County, OK, but there's probably been deadlier.
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Jackson Co Illinois saw more deaths in just the Tri-State tornado than the general OKC area has seen in it's entire history (174), and while that page only includes part of Cleveland Co it also includes several other counties, and I'm not aware of other tornadoes in the area that would produce a much higher total just for one county.

Going by one of the more commonly reported death counts Gorham, Murphysboro and De Soto totalled 340 deaths.
 
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A Guy said:
Jackson Co Illinois saw more deaths in just the Tri-State tornado than the general OKC area has seen in it's entire history (174), and while that page only includes part of Cleveland Co it also includes several other counties, and I'm not aware of other tornadoes in the area that would produce a much higher total just for one county.

Going by one of the more commonly reported death counts Gorham, Murphysboro and De Soto totalled 340 deaths.
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The total death toll in Jackson County from our research is 346.
33 were killed in Gorham, 4 were killed south of the Sand Ridge Area. 12 were killed in between the Sand Ridge and Murphysboro area. At most 225 were killed in Murphysboro. Three were killed northeast of murphysboro. Two were killed southeast of De Soto. 64 were killed in De Soto (33 at the school), and three were killed in rural areas northeast of De Soto.

Also note that Franklin County suffered a loss of 207 people, also making it the second deadliest.


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HAwkmoon said:
The total death toll in Jackson County from our research is 346.
33 were killed in Gorham, 4 were killed south of the Sand Ridge Area. 12 were killed in between the Sand Ridge and Murphysboro area. At most 225 were killed in Murphysboro. Three were killed northeast of murphysboro. Two were killed southeast of De Soto. 64 were killed in De Soto (33 at the school), and three were killed in rural areas northeast of De Soto.

Also note that Franklin County suffered a loss of 207 people, also making it the second deadliest.


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192 were officially killed in Franklin County; the Gainesville tornado killed 203 in Hall County, Georgia.
 
HAwkmoon said:
The total death toll in Jackson County from our research is 346.
33 were killed in Gorham, 4 were killed south of the Sand Ridge Area. 12 were killed in between the Sand Ridge and Murphysboro area. At most 225 were killed in Murphysboro. Three were killed northeast of murphysboro. Two were killed southeast of De Soto. 64 were killed in De Soto (33 at the school), and three were killed in rural areas northeast of De Soto.

Also note that Franklin County suffered a loss of 207 people, also making it the second deadliest.


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Wow. F5 in Bollinger County, and then at F5 intensity for literally the entire rest of the path. Yikes. This tornado isn't considered one of the most extreme tornadoes of all time for nothing!
 
OH-IOan said:
192 were officially killed in Franklin County; the Gainesville tornado killed 203 in Hall County, Georgia.
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There is no "official toll" bar what the red cross and WB said of 695 total. Actually going through each location and using Root and Barron's original figure of 742 dead total shows that the commonly sourced totals in each area are significantly off. Hence why as part of our reanalysis into the event we acquired death tolls from local societies and created a new more accurate one. Which for Franklin County stands at 207 dead. Making it the second deadliest in any county.
 
The other county with over 300 confirmed deaths is Hall County, Georgia, where the 1903 and 1936 Gainesville tornadoes killed 98 and 203+ respectively, and the March 20 1998 F3 killed 10 (plus there's some possible 19th century ones) for at least 311 deaths.

In Jackson Co Illinois, 7 were killed on March 27 1890, one each on April 21 and 26 1912 and 11 on Dec 18 1957, taking its total to at least 366.

Adams Co Mississippi is a possibility due to the Great Natchez tornado, but most of the deaths were on boats so it would depend on their location when struck. Apparently 30 were killed in the Pine Ridge area on April 8 1908 as well, and there's a couple of other poorly documented tornadoes that may have killed people in the county.
 
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A bit of a random question, but something i’ve always been curious about. Has it ever been discussed on why Dec 10, 2021 wasn’t given a high risk outlook? Obviously this makes absolutely no difference to the destruction and fatalities caused by this tragic outbreak. I just personally felt like if it had been upgraded to a high, it 100% would’ve verified. Again, not trying to sound like it 100% should’ve been, i’m just curious to know if it’s been discussed why the SPC kept it at a moderate!
 
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