FLORIDA – The date of Easter changes each year based on the lunisolar calendar. Easter is the first Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon.
Spring storms often accompany the holiday weekend, with last year being a prime example.
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As if the beginning of a pandemic wasn’t enough for folks around Easter last year, there was wild tornado outbreak associated with a line of thunderstorms and embedded supercells ahead of a cold front that wreaked havoc across the Deep South. A staggering 140 tornadoes touched down on April 12 and 13, impacting nearly a dozen states from Florida to Texas and as far north as Maryland.
The National Weather Service Eastern Region tweeted the details, including the combined total length of the tornado paths reaching 938.68 miles.
One of those tornados, an EF-0, touched down and moved for a little over 3 miles near Live Oak, Florida. Multiple homes and businesses were damaged but, luckily, no one was injured.
In Mississippi, an EF-4 tornado touched down in Jefferson Davis County and was on the ground for roughly 68 miles before dissipating.
That tornado quickly became the widest in the state’s history, with a measured width of 2 miles. The previous record was 1.75 miles wide in April 2010.
Extensive reports show an estimated $3.6 billion in damages during the two-day weather nightmare.
According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, more than a million homes and businesses lost power. The worst reports were the 35 lives lost, the most lives claimed during a tornado outbreak since April 2014. Three states reported over 20 tornadoes touching down. Georgia reported 30, Alabama had 27 and South Carolina had 25.
The most damaging tornado reported was in Hampton County, South Carolina, where an EF-4 touched down, producing winds of 175 mph. It was the first time an EF-4 was reported in South Carolina since November 1995. For a little over 24 miles, the tornado tracked from Scotia and ended northeast of Fetching. At least 60 people were injured and five were killed as the tornado ravaged the area, damaging over 200 homes.
April continued to prove to be an active month for intense storms last year. There were a total of 1,186 severe weather reports.