A 1957 Reminder About the Fall Tornado Season

November 17, 1957 was a Sunday. Newspaper headlines chronicled a deadly crash of the New york Central passenger train, The Chicagoan, in Michigan. The crash killed one and injured 32. Another train crash in France killed 28. Seventeen people, including fourteen children, died in a New York tenement fire. There was a lot of talk about defense spending in light of the space race that had exploded with the Russian launch of Sputnik. The prospect of atomic testing in space was causing a great deal of concern. A Christmas Seals cartoon of Santa on the front page warned there were only 31 shopping days left until Christmas.

As is usually the case on any Sunday in Alabama in the fall, the big news revolved around the world of college football. The front page of the Birmingham News heralded “API Takes Dogs” after Auburn had beaten Georgia 6-0. API stood for Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The name was officially changed in 1960 to Auburn University. The headline also hinted that Auburn might end up with the number one ranking in the polls, but Michigan State catapulted to number one, passing the unbeaten, untied Tigers. Auburn would of course go on to the number one position in the AP Poll at the end of the year.

Also that Saturday, Oklahoma had seen its incredible 47 game unbeaten streak end at the hands of Notre Dame. It took a last second field goal for Georgia Tech to eek out a victory against upset minded Alabama. The News kept a close eye on what was going on at Texas A&M, where Bear Bryant was the coach of the 4th ranked Aggies.

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On that November Sunday, Alabama was in the first day of a two-day period of severe weather. That morning, strong subtropical high pressure was centered near Key West. The Gulf of Mexico was open for business as the high pumped moisture into the Deep South on southerly winds. A powerful upper level trough extended from the northern Rockies to the Southwest. That morning, a surface low pressure system was moving northeast into northwestern Arkansas, dragging a cold front back into Texas.

Just after noon, tornadoes started touching down in eastern Mississippi. Two people were killed by a strong tornado that cut a 15 miles path from near Macon. Mississippi State Police were tracking the tornadoes and relayed reports ahead to Alabama.

A little after 3 p.m., a violent tornado touched down 6 miles northwest of Jasper near the community of Red Mil Cross Roads. Mr. and Mrs. Wilford Bradford had just built a new home there. The ranch home was blown 150 feet and smashed to bits. The couple and their 14 year old daughter were killed. One other person was killed along the short 5 mile path that carried it near Saragossa and Manchester.

An amateur photographer snapped a dramatic picture of the tornado that ran on front pages of newspapers all over the country, including the one on the front page of The Birmingham News the next day

The official forecast from the U.S. Weather Bureau called for cloudy, windy and warm weather for Monday the 18th as Alabama would remain in grips of a battle between the subtropical high and the encroaching upper trough. More about the events of the 18th tomorrow.

Category: Alabama's Weather