If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? This old riddle can be applied to tornadoes as well. If a tornado occurs, but no one sees it, did it happen? This is seen for the tornadoes that have occurred before written record, natives likely have countless stories of tornadoes tearing across the plains, but what about when no humans were there to witness them? Tornadoes have occurred in the central United States for thousands of years before the first humans ever made contact with the Americas. The mind can reel over the thought of major tornado outbreaks affecting only fields and plains.
Once humans began inhabiting the central plains, documentation of tornadic activity began, first in the oral tradition of native tribes. Then, once settlers pushed west, tornadoes appeared in written word. Newspapers began accounts of these "cyclones" as they were called at the time. Once settlers began populating Nebraska and Iowa in the early 19th century, tornadoes became a more common occurance. The first observed tornado in Iowa came in 1830, when a small tornado passed west of Cedar Rapids. The first recorded Nebraska tornado came in 1860, when a brief tornado impacted Bellevue.
As 1870 came around, documentation of tornadoes increases. According to records, Nebraska has 7 tornadoes recorded in the 1870s, although more certainly touched down. Iowa has more, with over 20 documented. Into the 1880s, even more tornadoes enter the public record. However, many of these were isolated, tornado outbreaks were few and far between. That changed on April 14, 1886, when the first documented official tornado outbreak for our area occurred. Violent tornadoes ripped up land from northwest Missouri to southern Minnesota, and many of those violent tornadoes occurred in our area. In this installment of This Week in Weather History, let's jump wayyy back to the 19th century to examine the earliest recorded tornado outbreak in western Iowa.
THE TORNADOES OF APRIL 14, 1886
The first tornado on April 14 that we know of occurred in Richardson County in southeast Nebraska, moving near Shubert and killing one. This tornado is believed to be an F-2 and was on the ground for a short time.
The longest-tracked and perhaps the most violent of the tornadoes crossed through Cass, Audubon, and Carroll Counties. This tornado began near Griswold, smashing homes so completely it left bare foundations. Those in Atlantic, a town of over 3,000, witnessed the turbulent clouds to its east as the tornado moved barely a few miles to its east. Homes on the east side of Atlantic suffered damage, with a few people suffering minor injuries. The tornado crossed into Audubon County, grazing Exira where more homes were damaged or destroyed. It wasn't until the tornado reached Carroll County where things got ugly. The tornado took direct aim on Coon Rapids, a rising town in the 1880s. As it crossed into town, a train was struck and derailed, with the west cars thrown to the north and the east cars thrown to the south. 38 homes and businesses would be damaged or destroyed in Coon Rapids, nearly half the town. One schoolboy was killed when he was cleaning a chimney and it collapsed. Two other people would be killed in the tornado. It lifted northeast of Coon Rapids.
Back southwest in Fremont County, an F-3 tornado touched down near Sidney destroying a schoolhouse. The remains of this schoolhouse was scattered for two miles as the tornado continued its trek through Fremont County. A church and a store also suffered significant damage, with one newspaper likening them to being "blown to atoms" in southeast Mills County. The tornado crossed into Montgomery County, passing north and west of Red Oak. It lifted east of Macedonia in Pottawatomie County. 15 homes were destroyed along the path, and 5 people were injured but no one was killed.
In northwest Missouri, a second violent tornado touched down in northern Holt County. This tornado passed west of the town of Skidmore in Nodaway County, where it passed to the west of Maryville. While it was west of Skidmore, the tornado did much of its destructive work. Six people were killed on farm fields in Nodaway County, many of which dying in homes which no longer existed as they were blown apart. The tornado lifted northwest of Maryville.
The final tornado touched down in Taylor County north of Bedford. This tornado did minor damage until it reached Prescott in Adams County, where some homes were completely destroyed. Nobody was killed in this tornado as it lifted in town.
This outbreak was larger than NW MO and SW IA. The strongest tornadoes occurred in Minnesota, where an F-4 obiliterated St. Cloud and the nearby city of Sauk Rapids, where much of the town was destroyed. Other tornadoes touched down from northern Minnesota to Kansas. The tornado outbreak of April 14, 1886, was perhaps the first tornado outbreak recorded in western Iowa.
