Was the TRI STATE TORNADO the most FREAKISH weather tradgedy in the 232 year history of America?

Question

On March 18 1925 something happened that the History Channel called possibly a 1 in 1000 year event.

On that day just outside of Annapolis Missouri a tornado touched down that was so incredible that at first no one reported a tornado. Witnesses that survived said that they saw a giant ground hugging FOG rolling along the hills! No one was alarmed till it got very close and people saw pieces of HOUSES and BUILDINGS in the fog!

By then it was far too late because the killer fog was moving at a staggering ground speed of 60 mph! After swallowing several more small towns in Missoui the MONSTER parted the Mississippi River and began to engulf many large towns in Ilinnois. Massive loss of life was Unnavoidable including a whole school full of children. It looked nothing like a tornado and was moving way too fast. Weather wise farmers were dying by the dozen. The twister spiralled into a deadly scorpion in Indiana. Instead of dying it sped up to 73mph. In all it traveled 3hr and 219mi!

Answer 1

Yes the Great Tri-State tornado is the most freakish natural disaster in U.S. history.  

Eye witness said it like the whole cloud was "eating the ground".  Some said the cloud was "rolling like a barrel".  

Others said it looked like "wall of blackness", a "pillar of black smoke", or a "smoking rolling fog".  

The tornado track length will change from 219 mi to 234mi due to old accounts dugged up in shannon county, missouri.

Top researchers on the reanalysis of the twister has concluded that the tornado was in infact "one continuos" tornado.  695 people were confirmed dead but there are still many that are still missing.  3.5 hr rampage that's scarry

Answer 2

Yes it was.  It was the longest lasting tornado that kept its strength the longest.  

"During a 3.5-hour lifespan, the devastating funnel cloud averaged a quarter-mile in width but at times grew as wide as a mile. The tornado and its debris cloud were so large that they could scarcely be distinguished as such by some witnesses. The enormity of the tornado and its ranking as the greatest tornado in American history can be summarized by the following statistics:

1) Longest continuous contact on the ground

2) Third fastest traveling speed

3) Continuous exertion of force resulting in damage throughout most of its lifespan

4) A record 3.5-hour duration.

Recently some mile-wide tornadoes have been sighted, but they never lasted as long as the 1925 one.

Answer 3

Not even close. The New Madrid earthquake in 1808 (I believe) was so violent that it made the Mississippi River flow backwards! It would have killed millions if people had lived in the area at the time.