1957 Fargo tornado

Infobox tornado outbreak|name=1957 Fargo Tornado
date=June 20-23, 1957
image location=1957 Fargo tornado.jpg


duration=3 days, 7 hours, 30 minutes
fujitascale=F5
tornadoes=23 confirmed
total damages (USD)=$25.883 million (1957 USD) $198.16 million (2008 USD)
total fatalities=11
areas affected=Midwest

1957 Fargo tornado

The 1957 Fargo tornado was a violent and deadly tornado that struck Fargo, North Dakota on June 20, 1957. The tornado struck the north Fargo (Golden Ridge) area in the early evening hours, causing major devastation. Damage was extensive including 100 blocks of Fargo. The worst residential damage occurred in the Golden Ridge Subdivision. Approximately 329 homes were destroyed and some of them were completely swept off their foundations - a classic example of F5 damage. Another 1035 homes were damaged. Fifteen farm homes were destroyed and 25 damaged. Four churches and Shanley High School were destroyed and two schools were damaged. Fifteen businesses were destroyed and 30 suffered major damage. These were mainly small local shops. Two hundred automobiles were destroyed and 300 damaged [ [http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/photography/2049404.htm Herschel Lashkowitz Photograph Collection - Image, Institute for Regional Studies, Fargo ] ] .

In the end, ten people lost their lives. After 1971, when Dr. Ted Fujita introduced his scale that rates tornadoes based on the damage they cause, the Fargo tornado received an F5 rating, the most severe level. The tornado had a long track which started in North Dakota, traveled 27.4 miles to the Minnesota border and continued on for another 25 miles. The total track length of the tornado was 57.4 miles and at its widest, it was almost a mile across. This tornado was part of a family of tornadoes which was spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that moved through most of North Dakota and into parts of Minnesota. [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fgf/?n=fargojune1957f5 NOAA page commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Fargo tornado] It was the northernmost confirmed F5 tornado until the Elie, Manitoba Tornado on June 22, 2007.

Debris from the tornado was found as far as western Minnesota, over convert|50|mi|km|0 east of Fargo in Becker County.

This tornado is considered the most devastating in North Dakota history, and was one of only two F5 tornadoes that have struck the state, the other occurring four years earlier in 1953.

In June of 2007, the 50th anniversary of the tornado was commemorated by the Fargo Forum, which ran a week-long series of stories on the tornado.

Confirmed tornadoes

* 7 Tornadoes were confirmed but were not given an F-Scale intensityTornado Chart
Total = 23
F0 = 3
F1 = 6
F2 = 5
F3 = 1
F4 = 0
F5 = 1
Enhanced=no

June 20 event

See also

*List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
*List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes

References

External links

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iEQZY8IQ9M Video of Fargo Tornado