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TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 5 - TORNADOES SPAWNED BY HURRICANE DAVID
Strong thunderstorms sometimes spawn tornadoes. So it's actually possible for
tornadoes to form during a tropical storm or hurricane, since they're nothing more
than lots of heavy thunderstorms. And that's exactly what happened in our area on
this date in 1979, with the remnants of once-Hurricane David.
David began its
destructive path in the Caribbean a week earlier with 150-mph winds.
But by the time it reached us, David was merely a fast-moving tropical storm with maximum
winds around 50 mph and 1 to 3 inches of rain.
But it was David's thunderstorms that produced 4 tornadoes in this area. One tornado
travelled 3 miles through New Castle county, ripping several homes apart. In Pennsylvania,
tornadoes touched down in Chester and Berks counties, while a weak twister struck
Cape May County in New Jersey. All told,
the tornadoes caused 1 fatality, 10 injuries,
and several million dollars in property damage.
So even though we don't usually associate the two, history has demonstrated that
hurricanes can spawn tornadoes.