On Monday, April 8, 1957, a widespread

tornado outbreak __NOTOC__ A tornado outbreak is the occurrence of multiple tornadoes spawned by the same synoptic scale weather system. The number of tornadoes required to qualify as an outbreak typically are at least six to ten, with at least two rotational l ...

struck the Southeastern United States, particularly

the Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nort ...

, and was responsible for seven deaths and 203 injuries across the region. Most of the activity occurred on either side of the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, including portions of the

Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Alle ...

. At least 18 tornadoes occurred, including several long-tracked tornado families, one of which included a

violent Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened o ...

tornado that was retrospectively rated F4 on the Fujita scale. Besides tornadoes, the outbreak also generated other

severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atm ...

phenomena such as large

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

Background

Outbreak statistics

Confirmed tornadoes

Flat Creek–Jefferson–Cheraw–Wallace–McColl, South Carolina/Johns–Maxton–Roseboro–Parkersburg, North Carolina

This was a long-lived

tornado family A tornado family is a series of tornadoes spawned by the same supercell thunderstorm. These families form a line of successive or parallel tornado paths and can cover a short span or a vast distance. Tornado families are sometimes mistaken as a sin ...

containing at least two separate tornadoes, both of which may have been tornado families themselves. The first member of the tornado family touched down near Flat Creek and moved into the town of

Jefferson Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

, tearing apart 23 of 25 buildings on Main Street and destroying or damaging 141 homes and 156 other structures. Near-continuous damage of F2 and F3 intensity extended from Jefferson to near

Cheraw The Cheraw people, also known as the Saraw or Saura, were a Siouan-speaking tribe of indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, in the Piedmont area of North Carolina near the Sauratown Mountains, east of Pilot Mountain and north of the Yad ...

and

Wallace Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...

. The tornado destroyed or damaged 25 homes in Wallace. Parts of a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

were found distant. 16 injuries occurred in South Carolina, all in Chesterfield County, and losses statewide totaled $750,000 (Grazulis listed damages as $1 million). The second member of the tornado family touched down near McColl and crossed into North Carolina near Johns and east of Maxton. In this area the tornado destroyed several

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G. ...

s, a

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

, and small homes, but was not of violent intensity. The tornado later tracked near St. Pauls en route to Roseboro. The only confirmable F4 damage occurred in a pair of small communities between Roseboro and

Parkersburg Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metro ...

, where four people died and approximately 20 homes were destroyed. More than 387 homes, businesses, and other structures were damaged or destroyed along the path, including more than 100 in Sampson County alone. In all, 80 people were injured and losses totaled $1 million.Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * *

Non-tornadic effects

Severe thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

winds gusted to at Bristol, Virginia. Additionally, hail was recorded in Anderson County, South Carolina.

Impact

Aftermath and recovery

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:1957-04-08 Southeastern United States Tornado Outbreak F4 tornadoes by date Tornadoes of 1957 Tornadoes in Alabama Tornadoes in Georgia (U.S. state) Tornadoes in Mississippi Tornadoes in North Carolina Tornadoes in South Carolina Tornadoes in Tennessee Tornadoes in Virginia Tornadoes in Nebraska Southeastern United States,1957-04-08

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

April 1957 events in the United States