1944, Appalachians Tornado Outbreak, Port Vue, Boston and Greenock, Pennsylvania

[@babyteeth4]

Here because of the Post Gazette article... We have driven through Boston PA many times on our way to Round Hill Farm, and had no idea about the 1944 tornado!

[@Mike-e1h1z]

Thank you for posting this fine historical retrospective. The outbreak sequence is a bit of a "sleeper" within the tornado community, being overshadowed by the infamous 1953 Flint-Beecher-Worcester tornadoes of nine years later. The Shinnston F4 in particular was a new discovery for me, as I didn't realize this was the worst tornado in West Virginia history. Obviously Appalachia was extremely rural at that time (mid 1940s), so as with other outbreaks it's likely there were more tornadoes with the outbreak that were never reported. Even as late as 2015, researchers such as meteorologist Dr. Charles Doswell have speculated that as many as 50% of annual tornadoes in the US may go unreported.

[@ReelLifeCanada]

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I suspect there were many tornadoes that went unreported during major outbreaks dues to the lack of technology and resources. Today, we have access to near instant information, Doppler radar and more. I enjoy (re)discovering history through the reels I've been collecting and sharing them. Cheers!

[@JeffR-p9s]

Amazing to see, my great aunt from port vue was one of the 130 that died that day, i have old black and white photo of my grandfather and 2 great great uncles in uniform on leave during ww2 to attend her funeral.

[@johnsalko5077]

My grandmother lost everything in the 1944 tornado outbreak. She was in an F4 tornado in Greene County PA. There were 53 houses destoyed and at least 10 dead.

[@mocarpenter8836]

60+ died in the Shinnston area alone! 30+ in Shinnston and 30 more around there. My grandfather grew up in Gypsy WV. Which is a mining camp about 2 miles south Shinnston. He would tell us stories about how they stood on their back porch and watched the monster absolutely level downtown !! They say it was a mile wide and so powerful that it sucked the West Fork River dry !! That's unimaginable!

[@audioinheritance8557]

This tornado affected Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania. My grandfather's house was a company coal miner's house for Standard Shaft mine. His house is located where Standard Shaft No.3 used to be, which was destroyed by the tornado. His house had the roof ripped off, but was repaired and is still standing today. To this day, it still is really windy out there, and it always reminds me of the tornado that affected the area from years ago.

[@carriemattis5354]

I believe I remember my Dad talking about this. He said when he was a kid, he watched a tornado down by the train tracks in McKeesport and saw a refrigerator drop on someones roof. I thought it was a fascinating story as a child, but didn't give it a lot of thought of how unique it was. 1944 would have made him 13, so that makes sense. Thanks for sharing the footage.

[@velmasaire3240]

The tornado did not strike at 11:30 at night. It was still daylight when it occurred shortly after the dinner hour. My home was damaged and others nearby were totally destroyed. One of the photos shown was of Morton Avenue, the street just above my home and were a number of homes deemed uninhabitable. I was 11 1/2 at the time and remember how the Red Cross provided mobile homes for those who stayed on their property to rebuild. The audio portion of the video contains a number of mispronunciations of some areas : Dravosburg, Versailles, Greenock---all unique to the region.

[@ReelLifeCanada]

My apologies for the errors, I'm working with information found online, I won't contest the info, as you were there. As for the mispronunciations of the local names, again, my apologies, being 2000 miles away and unfamiliar with the local nuances puts me at a disadvantage. I hope you enjoy this footage just the same. Thank you.

[@velmasaire3240]

@@ReelLifeCanada Good to hear from you. I realize our local pronunciations certainly are not as spelled. I pointed them out only if the audio portions are ever added to.

[@markzupan2737]

@@ReelLifeCanada I'll try to help with some of the pronunciations. Dravosburg comes out as Dra vose' burg, Versailles is Ver sales', & Greenock is Green' oak, although I've heard some locals pronounce Greenock the same as you did.

[@mycoolkeno]

@@markzupan2737 Definitely pronounced Green Oak by us locals. I remember when I was a boy, a new kid moved to town and pronounced it wrong so we through his bike in the Yough. That did help him with his pronunciation after that though.

[@Bravo_116Cinema]

My mom was on bridge Street Shinnston West Virginia, she was 8 years old in 1944 she was staying overnight with her grandma, she was out on the back porch that was facing the West fork River and saw the tornado, she ran inside where her grandma was and told her that there was a big haystack in the sky. When I was growing up every time a dark cloud appeared in the sky we would have to go to the. I was growing up in 1970s

[@spencerpatterson2799]

The house appearing beginning at 3:10 is at the bottom of Constitution blvd. at the intersection with Smithfield st.

[@ReelLifeCanada]

It sure is thank you and well done!

[@jjryan1352]

Wow really? I remember that road being a lot steeper. Maybe that comes further up. Impossible to ride my bike all the way up it as a kid. Long push to the top.

[@rayinpau.s.a.6351]

The last time I remember a storm like this was the Micro Burst that hit Kennywood Park. PITTSBURGH - May 31 has a history of being a big severe weather day in western Pennsylvania, including a violent storm that killed one person and injured dozens of others at Kennywood Park. It was around 7 p.m. May 31, 2002, a microburst hit the park, damaging dozens of trees and collapsing the pavilion above the ride called The Whip.

[@headupdef]

My grandmother lived on W 5th Ave just before the Elbow Room. My mother told me the story she has told to her, that it went right down 5th Avenue and sounded like a freight train. They watched it from a porch. They had no idea it was coming.

[@BryanRoparsPlasticChairWorld]

The massive green duplex still on 11th street was my Uncle Marks house -- he had some good stories about the May 1973' famous building fire. Also The Elbow Room I say RIP Jack unfortunately he never got to see his home town recover as he had hoped all those years he kept that place running it was the most cleanest nicest corner in town.

[@moebeddah2288]

My mom was at home up on Reynolds Ave when the tornado hit. She said it ripped the peach tree out of the ground. It destroyed a home further up Reynolds, unfortunately killing the occupant. My family lived on Atlantic Ave when I was born. Went to West Side School until 2nd grade. My dad's job moved us to Michigan.

[@markzupan2737]

My paternal grandmother & her family lived pretty close to this in McKeesport. They were going to Sacred Heart Cemetery in Port Vue that day. Luckily for them, they took a route that was away from the brunt of the tornado. I recall my grandmother telling me that a friend of hers was taking a bath at the time & was later found dead with the bath tub on top of her.

[@moebeddah2288]

My parents and all my relatives are buried at Sacred Heart.

[@markzupan2737]

Mine too.

[@ryanthomas3628]

Looks like modern day McKeesport

[@radar_the_fox]

looks better*

[@timothycoberly1419]

Does anyone know where to find a map of the path through Shinnston ?

[@storming654]

This will prove my friends wrong

[@Robo-xk4jm]

can anyone help me confirm if footage around 2:45 is left side when coming down zimmer hill rd? looks like it but hard to tell with the differences from now to over 70 years ago, if it is most of those houses are gone only going by shape of the hill slope

[@gregsz1ful]

I like the projector sound.

[@ragestorms1942]

As a local storm chaser from Northeast Ohio I had always known about the 85 outbreak I recently learned about this outbreak and was trying to find more information when finding this video apparently Appalachia has had a couple of large outbreaks

[@BryanRoparsPlasticChairWorld]

Living in this area all my life there's small evidence of Tornados forming and slight minor damage somewhere nearly every storm.

[@jaida3704]

I just need this for a school project I choose it because I live in Pennsylvania

[@AlientonioTM]

Ey me to

[@ragestorms1942]

I'm surprised you didn't go with the 1985 outbreak then the only F5 to ever hit Pennsylvania

[@NickWilkes5166]

I wrote a summary on this event for tornadotalk.com anyone who wants more information on the tornado outbreak and read about here! www.tornadotalk.com/june-23-1944-appalachian-outbreak/