An F-5 tornado passed through the village of Woldegk in Saxony (now Germany) on June 29, 1764. An F5 is the most powerful category on the Fujita scale. In fact, the Woldegk tornado, with winds speeds of 300 mph (480 km/h), is estimated to have been the most powerful recorded tornado in history! It flattened a path 30 kilometers long and was estimated to be 900 meters wide at its maximum. It pulled up mighty oaks, flattened houses, ripped up cobblestones, and even unearthed a skeleton from a grave.
But how do we know the power of that tornado? There were no modern meteorological devices in Woldegk, nor anywhere near. German scientist Gottlob Burchard Genzmer visited the area soon after the tornado and made an excruciatingly detailed survey of the damage, from the place where the tornado touched down to the point it fizzled out, including illustrations like the one above. Comparing the book Genzmer published to better-recorded tornados of later centuries allowed scientists to determine the twister's strength.
But the real kicker is that only one person died in that disaster. June 29 was Buß- und Bettag, a day of prayer and repentance, and almost everyone in town was inside the massive stone church, the only building that was safe from the storm. Read about the historic devastation of the Woldegk tornado at Amusing Planet.
(Image credit: Gottlob Burchard Genzmer)
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dang only 1 person eh
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That one is here.
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Pretty impressive, Miss C. I'm somewhat of a tornado fancier and I was not familiar with this one. It is hard to believe that an F-5 storm could occur in Germany, but evidently it did. But so far as it being "the most powerful recorded tornado in history" (as opposed to 'the most powerful tornado in recorded history') goes, I think that title belongs to the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, which had an effective wind velocity in excess of 350 mph, as well as a damage path 219 miles long. This tornado, as you may recall, is somewhere in here under the title 'The Forgotten Storm'.
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