The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period (as of 2019), just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. It was also the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded (as of 2019), with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes confirmed. From April 3 to 4, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario. In the United States, tornadoes struck Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York. The outbreak extensively damaged approximately 900 sq mi along a total combined path length of 2,600 mi. At one point, as many as 15 separate tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously. The 1974 Super Outbreak was the first tornado outbreak in recorded history to produce more than 100 tornadoes in under a 24-hour period, a feat that was not repeated globally until the 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak and in the United States until the 2011 Super Outbreak….
