Spring 2026 Banter Thread

[Brian D]

May 27

1930: The Great Empire Builder Tornado occurs. A direct hit derails a famous train in Norman County.

For Wednesday, May 27, 2026
1896 - A massive tornado struck Saint Louis, MO, killing 306 persons and causing thirteen million dollars damage. The tornado path was short, but cut across a densely populated area. It touched down six miles west of Eads Bridge in Saint Louis and widened to a mile as it crossed into East Saint Louis. The tornado was the most destructive of record in the U.S. up until that time. It pierced a five-eighths inch thick iron sheet with a two by four inch pine plank. A brilliant display of lightning accompanied the storm. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Note: 2x4 thru 5/8" thick steel...DAAAMN! Watch on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYFrvte1g_w )
1987 - Severe thunderstorms in West Texas produced baseball size hail at Crane, hail up to three and a half inches in diameter at Post, and grapefruit size hail south of Midland. Five days of flooding commenced in Oklahoma. Thunderstorms produced 7 to 9 inches of rain in central Oklahoma. Oklahoma City reported 4.33 inches of rain in six hours. Up to six inches of rain caused flooding in north central Texas. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988 - Sunny and warm weather prevailed across much of the nation to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. Afternoon thunderstorms in southern Florida caused the mercury at Miami to dip to a record low reading of 69 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1989 - Unseasonably hot weather prevailed in the southeastern U.S. Ten cities reported record high temperatures for the date as readings soared into the 90s. Lakeland, FL, reported a record high of 99 degrees, and Biloxi, MS, reported a temperature of 90 degrees along with a relative humidity of 75 percent. (The National Weather Summary)
1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather from north central Texas to the Central Gulf Coast Region. Severe thunderstorms spawned four tornadoes, and there were eighty-one reports of large hail or damaging winds. Late afternoon thunderstorms over southeast Louisiana produced high winds which injured twenty-seven persons at an outdoor music concert in Baton Rouge, and high winds which gusted to 78 mph at the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

An article on the derailed train.

An F3 tornado collided with the Empire Builder passenger train, the pride of the Great Northern Railway. The train had just left Fargo, heading east on a hot afternoon. The engineer and several passengers saw a small funnel cloud to the southwest. The funnel bobbed up and down; then the top of a haystack blew apart. Seconds later, the train shook and the windows blew out in several cars.

A farmer watching nearby saw the train lift from the tracks, settle back down, then lift again. He said, "it went flying out into the air and landed on its side. It caused such a huge cloud of dust that I couldn't see any of the train ... but soon the engine came pulling out of the cloud." Only the 136-ton locomotive and a 94-ton tender remained on the track.

Automobiles soon crowded the roadway – spectators that made the evacuation of the injured difficult. But a rescue train soon transported the 117 passengers back to Fargo. 57 of them were injured. A man from Washington state was killed, and a Mrs. Troll of Minot was reported in serious condition, but was expected to recover.

The storm went on for 50 miles through Clay and Norman counties. It was called a "definite barn wrecker." 24 farms in Clay County lost buildings. At the L. D. Fleming farm, the family sought refuge by their machine shed, but the storm lifted the shed over their heads and dropped it a couple hundred feet away.

The storm claimed a second fatality when it killed an 18-year-old as he and other members of his family crouched in their farm house basement. He was struck by a concrete block dislodged from the foundation. A third victim, one of the train passengers, died two weeks later from infection.

Based on interviews, it was later determined that three tornadoes had merged to form the funnel that struck the train. And coming during the Great Depression, the storm was another blow for those suffering losses.

Dakota Datebook by Christina Campbell