ssure region, with its counterclockwise rotation moved eastward, it became more and more intense and caused a great deal of warm, moist air to move into the Ohio river valley from the Gulf of Mexico. The natural rising of the surface, warm, moist air was inhibited by an upper atmospheric layer of warm dry air from the dry southwest region of the country. During the outbreak, six tornadoes reached the massive intensity of F5 on the Fujita Scale, were winds can exceed 318 mph and whole houses can be swept away. Often there isn't an F5 in an entire year in the whole country. An estimated 118 of the twisters had paths on the ground more than a mile long. One traveled more than a hundred miles, researchers say. Another reached five miles in width. At one point, 15 tornadoes were on the ground at the same time. Few states in the region escaped damage; those hit were Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In conclusion, the deadliest and most devastating U.S. tornado outbreak of the 20th century was the April 34, 1974, Super Tornado Outbreak. It lasted 16 hours and at least 148 twisters tore up 2,500 miles of Earth through 13 states over a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service. The "super outbreak," as meteorologists now call it, left 330 people dead and 5,484 injured. Property losses were placed at $600 million and only ten of the thirteen states that were hit, were declared a disaster area. ...
