Recollecting a Historic and Violent Illinois Tornado (credit: This Day in Weather History)

DISCUSSION: As we rewind the clocks back to June 4th, 1877, we arrive at a scary day in Illinois state weather history.  On that early June day back in 1877, a major tornado impacted the city of Mt. Carmel, Illinois.  More specifically, a tornado of estimated F4 intensity touched down just west of Mt. Carmel, Illinois and moved east-northeast, devastating the town. During the course of this historic tornadic event, 20 businesses and 100 homes were damaged or destroyed. At least 16 people and as many as 30 were killed, with 100 others injured.  Hence, this was a very high impact severe weather event which greatly impacted the lives of many people at that time in history. It is also worth noting that at that point in history, there was far less sophisticated of an ability for weather forecasters to anticipate the occurrence of convective storms.

To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here!

©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz