Today (Dec. 10) is the one-year anniversary of the deadliest tornado outbreak ever in December. Seventy-one tornadoes were reported from Dec. 10-11, including two EF4 rated tornadoes. There were 89 tornado fatalities (74 in Kentucky) and 677 were injured. There’s a nice summary of the tornado outbreak here.
Here’s a map showing the tornado paths. You can several very long-track tornadoes, including one that has been called the Great Quad-State Tornado, that crossed parts of four states (AR, MO, TN and KY. That tornado had winds of up to 190 mph and grew to a width of over one mile. The twister was on the ground from 9:54 pm to 12:48 am (it was totally dark) and was on the ground continuously for at least 165 miles. Other long track tornadoes hit IL, KY, and TN.
Severe thunderstorms also produced damaging winds of up to 85 mph. A total of 740,000 customers lost power in these storms. The Storm Prediction Center issued 11 watches for this event. Local National Weather Offices issued 149 separate county tornado warnings.
This serves as a reminder that strong and deadly tornadoes can occur at any time of year and they can occur in the middle of the night.
Here’s storm reports from December 10, 2021. There was one report of wind damage in Michigan. That was near Grand Junction in Van Buren County, where some limbs and power poles were damaged. A gust to 107 mph was recorded at Wingo KY. A thunderstorm gust of 78 mph at the airport in Nashville TN was the 3rd highest wind gust ever measured at the airport. There were several gusts to 85 mph.
