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On June 12, 2014 a hail storm that hit Abilene produced more than $400 million in insured losses to vehicles, homes and commercial property. "This is the worst storm damage I've seen in my 41 years in the insurance business," Leroy Perkins of the Perkins Insurance Agency in Abilene, told the largest state insurance trade association in the United States. the storm, packing baseball-sized hail, moved directly south across Abilene pounding the city's north side and downtown area. Commercial buildings downtown received millions of dollars in damage to roofs, windows and structures. Total uninsured losses are also expected to be high, Perkins adds. "Downtown looks like autumn because all of the trees have been stripped of their leaves and many limbs down in the street," Karla Martin with the Taylor County Sheriff's Office said the day after the storm. Hundreds of vehicles, many of them new cars, were declared totaled from the beating they took. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notes that hail causes approximately 1$ billion in damage to crops and property each year.

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The tornado outbreak of 9 June 1984 is among the most important tornado events in Russia’s history because it was associated with substantial loss of life with 400 deaths, and contained one of two F4 tornadoes ever recorded for in that country. Very little information is available on a violent tornado outbreak that swept through areas north of Moscow in the summer of 1984. The Soviet Union had not yet disbanded and few details were leaked to the international media. The outbreak was the result of a series of violent supercell thunderstorms that travelled north-northeast at speeds greater than 50mph. Local newspapers reported that massive hailstones, some over 2lbs in weight, fell over the affected areas. 400 people were killed, with most of the fatalities likely the result of a single tornado that tore through the town of Ivanovo. A French research article describes how the tornado threw cars long distances, lifted a 350-ton operating crane and leveled “steel-reinforced” buildings. According to the same article, the Russians unofficially awarded the tornado an F4 rating, although some of the damage was indicative of F5 strength. Reports describe how the tornado scoured pavement from a highway and hurled a 120,000lb water tank several blocks. Satellite images at the time showed an strong severe weather set up reminiscent of large outbreaks in tornado alley in the US. If the reports are all true, then the outbreak was an unprecedented event and astoundingly violent for an area generally accustomed to tornadoes only capable of inflicting F1 and F2 damage.

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The 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak was a devastating tornado outbreak sequence spanning three days, two that featured tornadoes each causing at least 90 deaths—an F5 occurring in Flint, Michigan on June 8, 1953, and an F4 in Worcester, Massachusetts the next day. The Worcester storm stayed on the ground for nearly 90 minutes, traveling 48 miles across Central Massachusetts. In total, 94 people were killed, making it the 21st deadliest tornado in the history of the US. In addition to the fatalities, over 1,000 people were injured and 4,000 buildings were damaged. The tornado caused $52 million in damage, which translates to more than $350 million in today’s dollars. These tornadoes are among the deadliest in U S history and were caused by the same storm system that moved eastward across the nation. The tornadoes are also related together in the public mind because, for a brief period following the Worchester tornado, it was debated in the U.S. Congress whether recent atomic bomb testing in the upper atmosphere had caused the tornadoes. Congressman James Van Zandt (R-Penn.) was among several members of Congress who expressed their belief that the June 4th bomb testing created the tornadoes, which occurred far outside the traditional tornado alley. They demanded a response from the government. Meteorologists quickly dispelled such an assertion, and Congressman Van Zandt later retracted his statement.

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On June 7 1984, nine people died and 200 were injured when a tornado slammed into the Iowa County, Wisconsin community of Barneveld. The F5 twister destroyed 90% of the town of 580 residents. What made Barneveld’s tornado rare is it hit overnight. A majority of tornadoes occur between 3 and 9 p.m., and violent tornadoes almost never happen late at night. Many tornadoes show a telltale “hook” shape on radar, but Barneveld’s tornado did not. Meteorologists could see fast-moving storms on radar heading northeast through Grant and Lafayette counties but without the hook, they did not know a tornado was forming. Most people in Barneveld were in bed and didn’t know about the warning unless they happened to be watching television and saw the scrawl on their TV screens. Because power went out a few minutes before the twister hit, Barneveld’s tornado siren never sounded. Lightning flashed so often — more than 200 strikes per minute — that the sky looked like a strobe light, according to the National Weather Service in Madison. The tornado traveled 36 miles for 59 minutes. At its peak, it was nearly a quarter-mile wide. Destroyed were all three of Barneveld’s churches, 93 homes, 17 of the community’s 18 businesses including the library, fire station, bank, post office and municipal building. Barneveld’s water tower was marked by blue paint about halfway up, possibly from a twirling car. A couple sleeping on the upper floor of their house ended up in the basement with their truck on top; they survived. Paper debris including checks, letters, bills and invoices in an area 23 miles wide and 110 miles away. 

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The story of how weather forecasting impacted the Allies invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/d-day-anniversary-how-the-weather-forecast-changed-the-tide-of-war/359733

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