Windsor Locks, Connecticut Tornado

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Windsor Locks, Connecticut Tornado

Destroyed homes in Windsor Locks. Image by Windsor Locks Fire Department.

Date of tornado:

1979-10-03

Time:

3:00 PM

Rating of tornado:

F4 tornado

Damages:

$442 million (1997 USD)

Fatalities:

Area affected:

North-central Connecticut

The Windsor Locks, Connecticut tornado struck on October 3, 1979. The short lived but intense F4 tornado caused three deaths, 500 injuries, and - with more than $300 million in property damage along an 11 miles (18 km) path - ranks as one of the most expensively destructive tornadoes in American history.

The tornado touched down in Poquonock, Connecticut, a section of the town of Windsor, just north of Hartford, Connecticut in the Connecticut River valley. It traveled north through the town of Windsor Locks, Connecticut before dissipating in the town of Suffield, Connecticut, just south of the Massachusetts state line.

The path of the tornado crossed the northern portion of Bradley International Airport, and many vintage aircraft at the nearby New England Air Museum were damaged or destroyed by the storm.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

The Windsor Locks, Connecticut Tornado of 3 October 1979: An Analysis of an Intermittent Severe Weather Event

v • d • e 10 costliest US tornadoes
Rank	Area affected	Date	Damage ¹	Adjusted Damage ²
1	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	May 3, 1999	1000	963
2	Wichita Falls, Texas	April 10, 1979	400	884
3	Omaha, Nebraska	May 6, 1975	250	745
4	Lubbock, Texas Tornado	May 11, 1970	135	558
5	Topeka, Kansas Tornado	June 8, 1966	100	494
6	Windsor Locks/Poquonock, Connecticut	October 3, 1979	200	442
7	St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado	May 27, 1896	12	380
8	Xenia, Ohio	April 3, 1974	100	325
9	North-central Georgia	March 31, 1973	89	321
10	Worcester, MA	June 9, 1953	52	311
Source: Brooks, Harold E.; C.A. Doswell (Feb 2001). "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 1890–1999". Weather and Forecasting 16 (1): 168-76. American Meteorological Society. ³
1. These are the unadjusted damage totals in millions of US dollars. 2. Raw damage totals adjusted for inflation, in thousands of 1997 USD. 3. Search of NCDC Storm Data indicates no tornadoes since 1999 have caused more than $210 million in damage, so this source is up-to-date.