Historical Perspective
Tornadoes during the month of March are an unusual occurrence in Minnesota when compared to the rest of the spring and summer months. Before this event there had been only six tornadoes ever recorded in the state during March, and since this event there has been only one. This outbreak also marks the first time in Minnesota history that two tornadoes were recorded on the same day in March, as well as the first time since 1921 that there have been multiple tornado fatalities on the same March day. Despite the historical significance of the outbreak, this was not the earliest calendar-year tornado to touch down in Minnesota; that record is held by a tornado that touched down near Truman on March 18, 1968.
With a path of 67 miles (108 km), the Comfrey tornado had the fifth-longest track of any tornado on record in Minnesota. It is however the longest continuous-track tornado in Minnesota history, meaning that it was the longest to have been observed to always be in contact with the ground. The damage from the F4 tornado that struck Comfrey is the strongest ever measured in Minnesota during the month of March. The previous strongest-measured were two F3's, occurring on March 27, 1905 and March 26, 1921.
Read more about this topic: 1998 Comfrey – St. Peter Tornado Outbreak
Famous quotes containing the words historical perspective, historical and/or perspective:
“Reason, progress, unselfishness, a wide historical perspective, expansiveness, generosity, enlightened self-interest. I had heard it all my life, and it filled me with despair.”
—Katherine Tait (b. 1923)
“Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a big furry goddess-creature who resembles everybody’s mom in that she knows what’s best for us. But if you look at the historical record—Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages—you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“Egoism is the law of perspective as it applies to feelings, according to which what is closest to us appears to be large and weighty, while size and weight decrease with our distance from things.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)