Tornadoes of 1976

Fatal United States tornadoes in 1976
	class=notpageimage\| Approximate touchdown location of killer tornadoes in 1976
Summary of tornadoes
	February 17 – Arkansas (3 deaths); February 18 – Mississippi (1 death); February 21 – Missouri (1 death); March 12 – Illinois (2 deaths); March 12 – Illinois, Indiana (1 death); March 12 – Indiana (1 death); March 20 – Michigan (1 death); March 20 – Michigan (1 death); March 20 – Mississippi (1 death); March 26 – Oklahoma (1 death); March 26 – Oklahoma (2 deaths); March 26 – Missouri (1 death); March 29 – Mississippi (3 deaths); March 29 – Arkansas (5 deaths); March 29 – Arkansas (1 death); March 30 – Michigan (1 death); April 20 – Louisiana (1 death); May 15 – South Carolina (1 death); May 15 – North Carolina (3 deaths); May 26 – Texas (2 deaths); May 30 – Oklahoma (2 deaths); June 13 – Illinois (2 deaths); June 14 – Minnesota (1 death); July 11 – Pennsylvania (1 death); July 11 – Pennsylvania (1 death); August 12 – Florida (1 death); September 26 – Indiana (1 death); September 26 – Indiana (1 death); September 26 – Kentucky (1 death); Total fatalities: 44

Tornadoes of 1976
	Tracks of all US tornadoes in 1976.
Timespan	January 7 - December 7, 1976
Maximum rated tornado	F5 tornado Spiro, Oklahoma ; on March 26; Brownwood, Texas ; on April 19; Jordan, Iowa ; on June 13;
Tornadoes in U.S.	680
Damage (U.S.)	Unknown
Fatalities (U.S.)	44
Fatalities (worldwide)	>44
	1974 ; 1975 ; 1976; 1977 ; 1978 ;

Last updated December 19, 2024

This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1976, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.

Events

Numbers for 1976 were above average, however, the number of fatalities were significantly lower than normal.

United States yearly total

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating
FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	214	341	168	47	13	3	786

January

12 tornadoes were confirmed in the U.S. in January.^[4]

February

36 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in February.^[5]

March

180 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in March. This set a record for tornadoes in March until it was beaten in 2022 with 222 tornadoes.^[6] The Chicago area received the most tornadoes ever recorded, including several F2 and F3 tornadoes.^[7]

March 20–21

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
0	13	24	17	8	3	0

A major outbreak shifted into mainly Illinois and Indiana. The strongest tornadoes occurred in Illinois, including an F4 tornado in Sadorus, but one F4 tornado came very close to Lafayette, Indiana. The Metro Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, Michigan experienced an F4 tornado on March 20, it is to date the last tornado stronger than an F3 to strike the Metro Detroit area.^[8] More activity continued onto March 21 when the system moved across Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Overall, 66 tornadoes touched down, killing three and injuring 189.^[7]

March 26

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
0	0	8	3	3	2	1

An F4 tornado killed one and injured four in Talihina, Oklahoma. An F5 tornado also caused extensive damage in Spiro, Oklahoma, killing two people and injuring 64. The rating of that tornado is disputed. The outbreak as a whole killed four and injured 89.^[7]

March 28–31

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
0	4	10	14	5	2	0

The last few days of the month produced a significant tornado outbreak sequence lasting about four days. The outbreak on March 29 primarily affected Arkansas and Mississippi, with an F3 tornado directly hitting Cabot, Arkansas including Cabot High School around the same time students were getting let out. Five people were killed from that tornado, none of which occurred at the high school. Another extremely long tracked F4 tornado occurred in central Mississippi, which initially touched down about 15 miles southwest of Hazlehurst, and ended north of Meridian. The tornado tracked about 127 miles before it finally dissipated, and killed 3 people.

On March 30, tornadoes started forming again, but mainly in Texas and Louisiana before entering into Mississippi yet again. Tornadoes also occurred in Michigan, including an F3 which killed a person in Logan Township, Ogemaw County, Michigan. Later that same day, another F3 tornado tracked behind where the previous F4 occurred the day before, primarily affecting areas south of Fayette, Mississippi.

In total, 35 tornadoes were confirmed in four days.

April

113 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in April.^[9]

April 19

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
0	1	4	8	2	0	1

An F5 tornado hit Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11. The rating is disputed. The outbreak as a whole injured 13.

May

155 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in May.^[10]

June

169 tornadoes were reported in June in the U.S.^[11]

June 13

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
0	2	5	5	2	1	1

One of the largest and most violent tornadoes ever recorded in Iowa moved in between the cities of Ames and Boone during the afternoon. The tornado began southwest of the small town of Luther, Iowa a little before 3:30 pm and moved north northeast. The tornado strengthened and grew larger (at some points, more than a mile wide) as it approached US 30 just east of the intersection of IA 17. The tornado turned toward the north with the small hamlet of Jordan, Iowa in the path. A small satellite F3 tornado formed on the southwest side of the main tornado and moved around the back side and to the east of the tornado around 3:40 pm before merging back with the parent storm north of Jordan by 3:50 pm. The small hamlet of Jordan was raked by the half-mile wide F5 tornado, destroying nearly everything in its wake.

The parent tornado turned north-northwest before encountering outflow from a storm to its northwest, pushing it in an ESE direction. An anticyclonic tornado formed to the east of the parent tornado and it went to the north following the parent storm about two miles to its east. It too felt the downburst winds from the northwest and was pushed to the east as well. The parent tornado began to shrink and weaken as it approached the Boone and Story County line northwest of Ames, lifting about four miles west of Gilbert, Iowa at 4:15 pm, but the storm was not through yet.

The downburst winds that had pushed the tornado to the east were now rampaging the countryside in northern Story County around Gilbert northeastward to Story City, Iowa where more houses and farmsteads were damaged or destroyed by the strong straight line winds, although there were no deaths and only a few injuries. More than 60 homes, and over 300 farm buildings were hit and destroyed by the family of tornadoes and the downburst winds that followed.^[1]

Theodore Fujita (creator of the Fujita Scale) said the damage was most likely the most severe and extreme he had ever examined and also one of the most rare, referring to the anticyclonic F3 tornado that accompanied and mimicked the F5 tornado from the parent storm.

At same time of the supercell that produced the Jordan tornado, another supercell formed, producing an F4 wedge tornado with a width of 800 yards (730 m) near Lemont, Illinois and causing two fatalities and 23 injuries. The outbreak as a whole killed two and injured 35.^[12]

June 29

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5
0	4	1	2	0	1	0

An F4 tornado struck Alta, Illinois. There were no casualties from this or any other tornado that day.

July

84 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in July.^[13] An F3 tornado struck within the Lake Martin area on Independence Day in Alabama.

August

38 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in August.^[14]

September

35 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in September.^[15]

October

11 tornadoes were reported in the U.S. in October.^[16]

November

November 13 (Australia)

An estimated F3 tornado killed 2 people in Victoria, Australia.

December

1 tornado was reported in the U.S. in December.^[17]

Related Research Articles

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References

1 2 Wilcox, Jeff (2008-06-27). "Historical WX: Jordan F5 Tornado of 1976". Iawx.net. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "Severe Weather Database Files (1950-2021)". Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. July 11, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
↑ "January, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "February, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "March, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
1 2 3 "March 1976: The most tornadoes on record in March | United States Tornadoes". Ustornadoes.com. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "March 20th Marks 25th Anniversary of West Bloomfield F4 Tornado". National Weather Service. 20 March 2001. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
↑ ^[dead link ‍]
↑ "May, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "June, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "June 13, 1976 Lemont Tornado". National Weather Service Chicago, Illinois.
↑ "July, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "August, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "September, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "October, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ "December, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

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[autogenerated1976-1] 1 2 Wilcox, Jeff (2008-06-27). "Historical WX: Jordan F5 Tornado of 1976". Iawx.net. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[2] "1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[3] "Severe Weather Database Files (1950-2021)". Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. July 11, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.

[4] "January, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[5] "February, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[6] "March, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[ustornadoes1976-7] 1 2 3 "March 1976: The most tornadoes on record in March | United States Tornadoes". Ustornadoes.com. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[8] "March 20th Marks 25th Anniversary of West Bloomfield F4 Tornado". National Weather Service. 20 March 2001. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

[9] [dead link ‍]

[10] "May, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[11] "June, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[12] "June 13, 1976 Lemont Tornado". National Weather Service Chicago, Illinois.

[13] "July, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[14] "August, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[15] "September, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[16] "October, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[17] "December, 1976". Tornado History Project. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

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v t e Tornadoes by year
1940s	1942 1945 ( February, April ) 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024