User:Halls4521/Tornadoes of 1938

This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1938, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes. Also, prior to 1950, tornadoes were not officially surveyed by the U.S. Weather Bureau, which would later become the National Weather Service, and thus had no official rating. All documented significant tornadoes were instead given unofficial ratings by tornado experts like Thomas P. Grazulis.

United States yearly total
Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991. 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments.

December 31, 1937 – January 1 (United Kingdom)
An F1/T2 tornado struck Dartmouth, Devon, England, around New Year.

February
A violent, 7 mi F4 tornado obliterated much of Rodessa, Louisiana, after sunset on February 17, killing 21 people and injuring 50. Small, frail homes were blown away and oil derricks mangled. Machinery and parts of automobiles were piled up or carried many miles. Human bodies were also mutilated by corrugated metal debris. A predawn F2 tornado the same day tracked 4 mi from Mertzon to Sherwood, Texas, injuring 24 people and leaving 100 homeless. About 24 structures were destroyed or unroofed in its path. On February 19 an F1 tornado, skipping between touchdowns, collapsed a small home near Live Oak, Alabama, south of Petrey, crushing to death a four-year-old girl beneath a fallen chimney. The tornado only hit twice, each 3 mi apart.

February 16 (Germany)
An F1/T3 tornado hit the Spessart, tracking 1/2 km; its peak width was 150 m.

March 15
Two deadly F4s in all killed 20 people—10 each—and injured 72: a state-crossing tornado family on the Arkansas–Missouri border that injured 60, annihilating small homes near Bakerville, and another event in Belleville, Illinois, that wrecked 60 homes, many of them large that were obliterated. A pair of long-lived F2 families tracked across parts of eastern Missouri, one of which entered Illinois, and killed a few people.