The 1944 Appalachians tornado outbreak was a deadly

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 ...

that hit the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States on June 22–23, 1944. The outbreak produced several strong tornadoes in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

—areas that were falsely believed to be immune to tornadoes.Grazulis, ''The Tornado'', 235. Particularly hard hit was the town of Shinnston in

Harrison County, West Virginia Harrison County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,921. Its county seat is Clarksburg. Harrison County is part of the Clarksburg, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Indigenous ...

, which was destroyed by 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 ...

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 ...

before 9:00 PM EDT on June 23. A total of 30 people died at Shinnston and at least 104 were killed in the state of West Virginia by this and two other intense tornadoes.Grazulis, ''Significant Tornadoes'', 915. The outbreak itself was and still remains the deadliest tornado outbreak ever to hit the state of West Virginia. The Shinnston tornado was and is the only tornado to produce violent damage in West Virginia.

Meteorological synopsis

Confirmed tornadoes

June 23 event

References

Bibliography

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External links