The majority of reported tornado activity was seen across Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, which were all struck severely by multiple waves of tornado families. In the Southeast, the outbreak began during the late morning in Mississippi, preceded by severe thunderstorms in Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, the outbreak widened and intensified, progressing from Alabama to Virginia between noon and midnight. The outbreak also produced the deadliest individual tornado in North Carolina history, an F4 which swept through the Rockingham area, killing 23.[note 2]
A possible tornado may have occurred on February 19 south of Chester, South Carolina, killing one person.
Another tornado may have destroyed five homes south of Branchville.
Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRADDoppler weather radar in 1990–1991.[3][note 3] 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments.[7][note 4] Numerous discrepancies on the details of tornadoes in this outbreak exist between sources. The total count of tornadoes and ratings differs from various agencies accordingly. The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.
February 19 event
List of confirmed tornadoes – Tuesday, February 19, 1884
1+ death – Sharecroppers' cabins were destroyed, and plantations near Columbus heavily damaged. Multiple people may have died in Mississippi. 20 injuries occurred.[17][18][19]
Many homes lost their roofs, and trees and fencing were felled. A large, domed warehouse lost its cupola and much of its roofing. Several other warehouses were unroofed, along with a number of businesses. Skylights and windows were shattered as well, a carriage house and carriage destroyed, chimneys knocked down, and a church twisted on its foundation. Half a dozen homes occupied by blacks were leveled, at least one of them a robust, frame structure. Three injuries were reported.[20]
This was probably a family of two tornadoes. Heavy damage occurred in the Columbus area, to mostly industrial property, totaling $85,000. Five injuries occurred. 5-inch-diameter (13 cm) hailstones were reported in Harris County, just north of Columbus.[21][18][22]
Schools and homes were wrecked. 15 injuries occurred, a number of which were by students. Fires erupted in Goodwater after the passing of the storm, damaging several homes.[17][19]
22 deaths – This large, violent, long-tracked tornado formed from the same storm as the Tallapoosa F2. The tornado and downbursts combined to damage 3-mile-wide (4.8 km) areas. Most of the fatalities occurred near Jasper, Cagle, and Tate, where numerous spacious, well-built homes belonging to "prominent" owners were swept away; a publication by meteorologist Thomas P. Grazulis in 1984 indicated that these homes may have incurred F5 damage. Three of the dead were schoolchildren who had been dismissed early and sheltered in an old home. A 15-mile-long (24 km) stretch of farmland and timberland was obliterated, and some of the dead were found 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km) distant. The tornado and downbursts altogether destroyed 50 sq mi (130 km2) of woodland. In all, 100 people were injured.[23][21][24]
13+ deaths – This extremely intense tornado, which formed just south of Birmingham, crossed the Cahaba Valley near Shades Mountain, injuring 15 people and wrecking nine homes at Brock Gap. At Leeds the tornado damaged a newly built industrial area, where 27 homes, mostly constructed of brick, were destroyed, many of which were well built and obliterated, some along with their foundations. All known fatalities occurred in the Leeds area, but additional deaths may have occurred elsewhere, and the total number of dead may have exceeded 18. 30 people were injured along the path.[21][18]
30+ deaths – This violent, long-lived tornado ravaged six or more rural communities in Alabama, causing 26 deaths, 10 of which occurred just north of Piedmont. 14 deaths were reported at Goshen, where a schoolmaster died and 25 pupils were injured; half a dozen of the latter may have died later. Frail housing "literally vanished," and cotton bales were moved 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km). In Georgia the tornado obliterated many large homes, killing four more people. In all, 100 people were injured.[21][24] Another F4 tornado, closely following the path of this one, hit the Piedmont–Goshen area and killed 20 people in a single church on March 27, 1994.
2+ deaths – This strong, long-tracked tornado wrecked several dozen tenant homes. Several people were severely injured. A third death may have been tornado-related but was not definitively attributable. The path was up to 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km) wide at times and passed north of Monticello. 30 people were injured.[21]
2 deaths – This was probably an intense tornado family, individual members of which left 1⁄2-mile-wide (0.80 km) swaths of destruction. Damage may have begun in DeKalb County, where structures were felled. Farmhouses—some of which were reportedly "leveled"—and miles of forest were destroyed. The deaths occurred in a boarding house. 35 people were injured.[21]
1+ death – Damage occurred northwest of Newnan and in Palmetto. At least three strong tornadoes, occurring in quick succession, affected the same area, each of which was likely of at least F2 status. At least five fatalities may have occurred. 30 injuries were reported.[21][18]
2+ deaths – This intense tornado passed south of Mount Airy, sweeping away a home in Banks County. A third death was unconfirmed. The tornado wrecked 14 or more homes, along with many miles of timberland. 20 people were injured.[21]
8+ deaths – This intense tornado destroyed a plantation, killing seven or more tenants and a woman. Many small homes were leveled on the plantation. 10 or more additional deaths may have taken place among sharecroppers elsewhere, but were never verified. 50 injuries were confirmed. In 1984 Grazulis listed this tornado as an F4, but downgraded it to F3 in his later work.[23][21]
12 deaths – Large homes were swept away in Jones County, along with many smaller homes. Eyewitnesses north of Macon described a multiple-vortex storm, preceded by 3-inch-diameter (7.6 cm) hail. 50 injuries occurred. In 1984 Grazulis listed this tornado as an F4, but downgraded it to F3 in his later work.[23][21][18]
A church and many small homes destroyed in the Marietta area, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwestern Greenville County. Damage from downbursts or a series of small tornadoes continued into Rutherford County, North Carolina.[18][22]
This complex series of small, short-lived tornadoes and/or violent downbursts originated in the upper French Broad valley, before descending the Blue Ridge.[18][25]
2+ deaths – This tornado family formed from the same storm as the Hillsboro F3. Farms and small homes were destroyed at multiple locations. A train derailed northwest of Augusta. Substantial hail accumulations were reported in Warren County. At least two additional deaths may have occurred. 15 people were injured. In 1984 Grazulis listed this tornado as an F4, but downgraded it to F3 in his later work.[23][2][18][22]
2+ deaths – This multiple-vortex tornado or family passed through a mill/village complex, destroying at least 12 small homes, along with several larger homes and a tenant home. One or more additional deaths may have occurred. 20 people were injured.[2][18]
7+ deaths – Deaths, mainly those of children, occurred on a pair of plantations. Some reports indicated as many as 20 fatalities. 40 people were injured.[2]
4 deaths – This intense tornado family occurred within a wider complex of downbursts, which combined to create a broad damage swath. The business district of Davisboro was devastated, with every business in downtown destroyed; losses there totaled 30 stores and homes. Debris was carried for 52 mi (84 km). 30 people were injured and losses totaled at least $100,000.[2][18]
3 deaths – A damage swath peaked at 1+1⁄2 mi (2.4 km) wide; eyewitness accounts from Lancaster (the storm passed immediately south of town) would suggest that this was a tornado/downburst complex and likely a family of multiple tornadoes. Its attendant supercell later produced the Polkton F3 in North Carolina, and small tornadoes or downbursts linked the paths of these larger storms. 10 people were injured.[2][27]
5 deaths – 12 plantations were heavily damaged; a large home was destroyed near Ninety Six, and most buildings in Chappells were damaged or destroyed. Eight train cars were thrown. 30 people were injured.[2][18]
2 deaths – Several hundred acres of timber were destroyed in eastern Newberry and western Fairfield counties, particularly near the Broad River. Deaths were in tenant homes in the White Oak area. 15 injuries occurred.[2][24]
5 deaths – This storm passed south of Augusta, beginning at the McBean railroad depot; most damage occurred near Ellenton, South Carolina, where numerous structures and farms were impacted. The depot at Jackson was leveled, and many other structures were damaged or destroyed in and near town, including tenant homes. 30 people were injured.[2][18]
1 death – This storm was preceded by very large hail[citation needed], and was illuminated by continual lightning and unusual optical phenomena. Several small homes were destroyed in Cary. Five people were injured.[2]
2+ deaths – A 1⁄2-mile-wide (0.80 km) swath of damage was reported. Five or more small farmhouses were destroyed in Johnston County, including tenant homes. Four additional fatalities may have occurred. 20 injuries occurred.[2][24][27]
6+ deaths – This intense tornado passed very close to downtown Darlington, destroying at least 30 homes, one of whose debris was carried for miles, and unroofing a railroad depot. Five-sixths of the homes were small. Downburst damage continued to Robeson County, North Carolina. Four more people may have died of injuries. 50 people were injured.[2][18][25]
This was the first of a number of destructive North Carolina storms. Detailed coverage in a Wadesboro-based newspaper provides an unusually (by 19th-century standards) precise survey of the movement and damage produced by three of those storms in the southern Piedmont of North Carolina. This storm first formed in southeastern Union County, from a supercell that had produced significant damage in South Carolina earlier. Most of the path of this storm was in rural areas, with injuries and major damage along Beaverdam Creek, south of Marshville in Union County, and along Brown Creek in Anson County, northeast of Polkton.
Significant damage also occurred in and around the towns of Polkton and Ansonville, where structures in both towns were widely damaged, with homes and farm buildings destroyed south of Ansonville. A total of four people were killed: a pair in a "'mansion'" that was destroyed, and another pair in one of 28 homes that were wrecked on a plantation. Eyewitnesses in Polkton noted that the storm "crossed the railroad about a mile east of Polkton last night prostrating everything in its course. Could see the storm from Polkton by lightning, looked like a cloud of dense smoke and sounded like thunder. Hail stones measuring 2+1⁄2 in (6.4 cm) long, 1+1⁄2 in (3.8 cm) wide and 1 in (2.5 cm) thick fell."
Homes were also destroyed near Mangum in Richmond County and near Pekin in Montgomery County.[30]
This storm was preceded and followed by a wide area of downburst damage – with scattered areas of damage to farms and small structures reported across a wide area of southern Cabarrus County, eastern Mecklenburg County (northeast of Mint Hill) and the Goose Creek area of northwestern Union County.
The first tornado-specific damage occurred in the Pioneer Mills community between Harrisburg and Midland in Cabarrus County, where a mill was destroyed and estimated F2 damage was inflicted upon several residences, including several small and a few larger homes that were wrecked. The storm passed within 2 mi (3.2 km) of Albemarle; little damage was recorded elsewhere in Stanly County. Several poorly constructed buildings were destroyed along the Uwharrie River in Montgomery County, and damage to farms was widespread in the county. One person was killed, but there may have been other deaths. Downburst damage continued to southwest of Asheboro.[31]
Pee Dee–Rockingham–Philadelphia–Manly, North Carolina
Pee Dee–Rockingham–Philadelphia–Manly, North Carolina
Spawned late in the outbreak, the storm which swept from Anson to Harnett Counties in North Carolina passed through the Rockingham area, and became the deadliest tornado in recorded North Carolina history. This storm first touched down east of the town of McFarlan, in southeastern Anson County. The storm produced little damage in Anson County, but caused two deaths south of Pee Dee.
Tracking to the northeast, it crossed the Pee Dee River into Richmond County and produced sporadic damage until just southeast of Rockingham. Extreme damage to pine forests was first noted just south of town. Strengthening considerably, the storm swept through the southeast edge of Rockingham, where large homes were destroyed to their foundations, and large hardwood trees were snapped at ground level. The Philadelphia Church community (presently on U.S. Highway 1, 3 mi (4.8 km) northeast of downtown Rockingham) was devastated, with most of the poorly constructed dwellings in the community completely destroyed. 15 or more deaths occurred there. The storm had widened to nearly 1 mi (1.6 km) in width at this point.
Forests and rural homes were flattened in and beyond Philadelphia. The storm then tracked through what is now the town of Hoffman, before entering Moore County. Severe damage was again seen in the communities of Keyser and Manly (presently at the northeast corner of the city of Southern Pines), along the southeast edge of Moore County. The storm then curved slightly to the east, dissipating into a wide area of downburst damage near the community of Johnsonville. A total of at least 23 people were killed, for many of the injured may have died later. Eyewitnesses reported large hail and intense lightning displays preceding the storm.
An unusually detailed accounting of the storm's passage through Richmond County was provided two days later: a local resident undertook an informal, but detailed survey of the damage produced by the storm, and this account was published in an Anson County newspaper. This accounting establishes a steady southwest-to-northeast movement through the county, with a number of buildings—sharecropper cabins, large homes, and a mill—swept away along the path. As the storm passed 1 mi (1.6 km) southeast of downtown Rockingham, it may have peaked in intensity; it was noted that all structures along a 5-mile-long (8.0 km) segment of the path (beginning at this point) were destroyed. The surveyor noted a path width of 1⁄4–1⁄2 mi (0.40–0.80 km), with the most extreme damage (and most deaths) in the Philadelphia Church community. The surveyor noted that:
Trees were taken up by the roots and hurled with fearful rapidity through the air and those not uprooted had all the bark taken off. The scene after the storm, particularly the position of the prostrate trees, indicated a convergence toward the center, as if a vacuum was created there and the wind rushed in from either side to fill it.
A second, detailed survey of the path was made 10 days later by J. A. Holmes; his findings were published in the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society journal for 1884.[32]
The total impact of the outbreak was never adequately quantified and hence has been considered enigmatic. Individual deaths may have been counted multiple times, leading to an exaggerated death toll, but on the other hand rural Black dead may have been undercounted, many of whom were undocumented sharecroppers. Of thousands reported dead, the names of fewer than 100 could be verified. According to an article appearing in the Statesville (NC) Landmark three days later, the damage tally in Georgia alone was estimated to be $1 million, in 1884 dollars. Tabulations from 1884 estimate a total of $3–4 million in tornado damage (with an unknown amount of flood and other damage), with 10,000 structures destroyed, as many as 800 dead, and up to 2,500 injured. The same reported an estimated 60 tornadoes and called the outbreak the worst in U.S. history to date. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were reportedly rendered homeless and even said to be "starving". The outbreak produced the largest 24-hour total of killer tornadoes until the 1974 Super Outbreak. The precise number of tornadoes as well as fatalities incurred during the outbreak is unknown, but the death toll was variously estimated to range from 370 to 2,000 at the time. A reliable survey by the Signal Corps in 1889 located 182 fatalities, and a reanalysis by tornado researcher Thomas P. Grazulis in 1993 counted 178 deaths.[34]
^An outbreak is generally defined as a group of at least six tornadoes (the number sometimes varies slightly according to local climatology) with no more than a six-hour gap between individual tornadoes. An outbreak sequence, prior to (after) the start of modern records in 1950, is defined as a period of no more than two (one) consecutive days without at least one significant (F2 or stronger) tornado.[1]
^Historically, the number of tornadoes globally and in the United States was and is likely underrepresented: research by Grazulis on annual tornado activity suggests that, as of 2001, only 53% of yearly U.S. tornadoes were officially recorded. Documentation of tornadoes outside the United States was historically less exhaustive, owing to the lack of monitors in many nations and, in some cases, to internal political controls on public information.[4] Most countries only recorded tornadoes that produced severe damage or loss of life.[5] Significant low biases in U.S. tornado counts likely occurred through the early 1990s, when advanced NEXRAD was first installed and the National Weather Service began comprehensively verifying tornado occurrences.[6]
^ abcThe Fujita scale was devised under the aegis of scientist T. Theodore Fujita in the early 1970s. Prior to the advent of the scale in 1971, tornadoes in the United States were officially unrated.[8][9] Tornado ratings were retroactively applied to events prior to the formal adoption of the F-scale by the National Weather Service.[10] While the Fujita scale has been superseded by the Enhanced Fujita scale in the U.S. since February 1, 2007,[11] Canada used the old scale until April 1, 2013;[12] nations elsewhere, like the United Kingdom, apply other classifications such as the TORRO scale.[13]
^ abAll dates are based on the local time zone where the tornado touched down; however, all times are in Coordinated Universal Time and dates are split at midnight CST/CDT for consistency.
^ abThe listed width values are primarily the average/mean width of the tornadoes, with those having known maximum widths denoted by ♯. From 1952 to 1994, reports largely list mean width whereas contemporary years list maximum width.[14] Values provided by Grazulis are the average width, with estimates being rounded down (i.e. 0.5 mi (0.80 km) is rounded down from 880 yards to 800 yards.[15][16]
^Edwards, Roger (March 5, 2015). "Enhanced F Scale for Tornado Damage". The Online Tornado FAQ (by Roger Edwards, SPC). Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
— (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN1-879362-03-1.
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