Great Storm of 1975

The Great Storm of 1975 (also known as the Super Bowl Blizzard, Minnesota's Storm of the Century, or the Tornado Outbreak of January, 1975) was an intense storm system that impacted a large portion of the Central and Southeast United States from January 9 to January 12, 1975. The storm produced 45 tornadoes in the Southeast U.S. resulting in 12 fatalities, while later dropping over of snow and killing 58 people in the Midwest. This storm remains one of the worst blizzards to ever strike parts of the Midwest, as well as one of the largest January tornado outbreaks on record in the United States.

Meteorological synopsis

The storm originated over the Pacific Ocean and crashed into the Northwest Pacific coast with damaging gale-force winds on January 8, 1975. By January 9 it had cleared the Rocky Mountains and began to redevelop and strengthen. At the same time, Arctic air was being drawn southward from Canada into the Great Plains, and large amounts of warm tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico were being pulled northward into much of the eastern U.S. The storm was a classic Panhandle Hook which moved from Colorado into Oklahoma before turning northward towards the Upper Midwest. It produced record low barometric pressure readings in the Midwest, with the pressure falling to an estimated 28.38 in (961 mb) just north of the Minnesota border in Canada.

Tornado outbreak

Tornado summary event

An unusual feature of this outbreak was that daytime heating, typically a key ingredient in the formation of tornadoes, had very little impact on their development. Rather, as the storm system pulled out into the central plains, strong thunderstorms and tornadoes quickly began to form despite the late hours. The first two tornadoes in the outbreak touched down after 10:00 p.m. CST on January 9 in Oklahoma and Louisiana. From there the progression of the twisters shifted eastward through the overnight and early morning hours, setting the stage for what would turn out to be a record setting day on January 10. Texas saw five tornadoes between 1:30 a.m.–3:30 a.m., one tornado touched down in Arkansas at 6:00 a.m., Louisiana saw seven tornadoes between 5:30 a.m.–8:00 a.m. (killing one person), Mississippi had five tornadoes between 8:15 a.m.–10:00 a.m. (killing nine), and Illinois and Indiana each experienced three lunch-hour tornadoes. The tornadic line of storms then shifted into Alabama (killing one) and Florida during the afternoon and evening hours.

Outbreak death toll
State	Total	County	County total
Alabama	1	St. Clair	1
Florida	1	Bay	1
Louisiana	1	Acadia	1
Mississippi	9	Lincoln	5
Mississippi	9	Pike	4
Totals	12
All deaths were tornado-related

Mississippi and Alabama were the two states hardest hit by this outbreak. Alabama saw the most twisters of any state with 13, but Mississippi saw the largest and deadliest tornado. An F4 tornado that tore through Pike, Lincoln, Lawrence, and Simpson Counties at 8:14 a.m. killed nine people and injured over 200; severely damaging 38 blocks in the town of McComb. The 39 tornadoes that touched down on January 10 marked the most active tornadic day in January in U.S. history at that time. The 52 tornadoes that touched down during January 1975 also set a U.S. record for the most tornadoes during that month. Both of these records were eventually broken in January of 1999.

After a calm day on January 11, four more tornadoes touched down in Florida and Georgia on January 12, killing one person in Florida. By the time the outbreak was done it had produced 45 tornadoes, killed 12 people, injured 377 and caused $42 million in damages.

Tornado table

Confirmed tornadoes

January 9 event

List of confirmed tornadoes
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Oklahoma
F1	E of Ashland to SE of Arpelar	Pittsburg	0430	12.4 miles (19.8 km)	None
Louisiana
F2	N of Quebec to E of Transylvania	Madison, East Carroll	0440	18 miles (28.8 km)	6 injuries
Arkansas
F1	Springdale area	Washington	0655	0.5 miles (0.8 km)	5 injuries
Texas
F2	Daingerfield area	Morris	0730	0.3 miles (0.5 km)	None
Source: Tornado History Project - January 9, 1975 Storm Data

January 10 event

List of confirmed tornadoes
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Texas
F2	Hooks area	Bowie	0800	4 miles (6.4 km)	None
F1	La Marque area	Galveston	0955	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	Jasper area	Jasper	1030	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	Kountze area	Jefferson	1030	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
Louisiana
F1	Vinton	Calcasieu	1125	0.5 miles (0.8 km)	None
F1	SE of Fishville	Grant	1230	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	Jennings to Evangeline	Jefferson Davis, Acadia	1315	7.6 miles (12.2 km)	None
F1	NE of Oak Grove	West Carroll	1315	0.5 miles (0.8 km)	1 injury
F1	S of Mermentau to Crowley	Acadia	1335	13.5 miles (21.6 km)	1 death, 8 injuries
F1	Lawtell area	St. Landry	1400	1 miles (1.6 km)	5 injuries
Arkansas
F1	S of Stuttgart	Arkansas	1210	0.5 miles (0.8 km)	None
Mississippi
F4	SW of McComb to SW Pinola	Pike, Lincoln, Lawrence, Simpson	1414	56.5 miles (90.4 km)	9 deaths, 210 injuries
F1	SE of Linwood to NW of Selma	Adams	1448	11.9 miles (19 km)	None
F2	Clinton to SE of Flora	Hinds, Madison	1555	15 miles (24 km)	1 injury
F2	SE of Greenfield	Rankin	1610	4.5 miles (7.2 km)	None
F1	S of Biloxi	Harrison	2000	0.5 miles (0.8 km)	None
F1	W of Pascagoula	Jackson	2025	2.5 miles (4 km)	None
F2	N of Helena	Jackson	2030	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
Illinois
F2	SE of Raleigh	Saline	1715	2 miles (3.2 km)	None
F1	Old Shawneetown area	Gallatin	1732	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
Indiana
F1	Harwood area	Vanderburgh	1825	0.5 miles (0.8 km)	None
Alabama
F1	NE of East Brookwood	Tuscaloosa	2030	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	Citronelle area	Mobile	2045	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	N of Faunsdale	Marengo	2045	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F2	N of Porter	Jefferson	2045	2 miles (3.2 km)	4 injuries
F1	Vestavia Hills area	Jefferson	2145	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	Keystone area	Shelby	2200	0.2 miles (0.32 km)	14 injuries
F3	W of Pell City to NE of Ragland	St. Clair	2215	18.8 miles (30 km)	1 death, 60 injuries
F1	NW of Loxley	Baldwin	2215	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	Prattville area	Autauga	2245	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F2	SW of Montgomery	Montgomery	2250	2 miles (3.2 km)	None
F2	SW of Davisville	Macon	0000	1 miles (1.6 km)	9 injuries
F2	NE of Salem	Lee	2030	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
F1	E of Ranburne	Cleburne	2030	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
Florida
F1	W of Mary Esther	Okaloosa	2355	1 miles (1.6 km)	7 injuries
F0	N of Ponce de Leon	Holmes	0130	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	None
North Carolina
F2	W of Selica	Transylvania	0230	4.3 miles (6.9 km)	None
Source: Tornado History Project - January 10, 1975 Storm Data

January 12 event

List of confirmed tornadoes
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Florida
F1	SW of Greenhead to N of Horrsville	Washington, Jackson	1615	53 miles (84.8 km)	12 injuries
F2	Panama City, FL to NE of Bethel, GA	Bay, FL, Calhoun, Jackson, Seminole, GA, Decatur, Mitchell, Worth, Turner	1620	168.5 miles (269.6 km)	1 death, 33 injuries
Georgia
F2	Lyons area	Toombs	2215	2 miles (3.2 km)	1 injury
Source: Tornado History Project - January 12, 1975 Storm Data

Blizzard

As the storm system began to move northeastward out of Oklahoma, the cool air behind pulled down behind the system interacted with the moisture being pulled northward to produce snow over a large part of the Midwest. The snow began falling on Friday, January 10 and continued for the next two days. Snowfall of a foot (30.5 cm) or more was common from Nebraska to Minnesota, with a high amount of in Riverton, Minnesota. The heaviest snow fell to the west of the low pressure center, which tracked from northeast Iowa through central Minnesota up to Lake Superior. Sustained winds of 30 – 50 mph (48 – 80 km/h) with gusts from 70 – 90 mph (113 – 145 km/h) produced snowdrifts up to in some locations. Some roads were closed for up to 11 days.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota saw visibilities of below for 24 straight hours, and just east of Sioux Falls a 2,000-foot (610 m) broadcast tower collapsed under the storm's fury. In Willmar, Minnesota, 168 passengers were trapped in a stranded train for hours, unable to walk to shelter because of dangerously low wind chill values. In Omaha, Nebraska a foot (31 cm) of snow fell, Sioux Falls saw , Duluth, Minnesota saw , and International Falls, Minnesota saw .

Record low pressures were recorded in communities in Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin, with a low of 28.55 in (966.8 mb) in Duluth, Minnesota. In all, approximately 58 people died from effects of the blizzard and over 100,000 farm animals were lost. The combination of snowfall totals, wind velocities, and cold temperatures made this one of the worst blizzards the Upper Midwest has experienced.

Record events

This storm system had, in part, a large effect on the weather in the entire eastern half of the country. A number of different weather records (at the time) were set during the four days of this storm, especially in daily high temperatures, wind gusts, low barometric pressure readings, and number of tornadoes.