On this date in 1899: An F5 tornado struck New Richmond, Wisconsin. A total of 117 people were killed and 200 were injured. A circus was playing in the town, which meant an additional one thousand people were there for the performances. Over three hundred buildings were damaged or destroyed as the tornado went straight through the center of town. Six families had four or more members killed. A 3000-pound safe was blown a full block. High visibility that allowed the tornado to be seen for quite some time before it arrived limited the death toll.
On this date in 1947: Wyoming received a surprise late spring snowstorm. 18.4 inches of the heavy wet snow fell at Lander, 8.7 inches at Cheyenne and 5 inches at Casper. For these locations it was their heaviest late season snow on record.
On this date in 1969: A record late snow blanketed parts of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska at “low” elevations on the 11th and 12th. Five inches accumulated at Great Falls and just east of Broadus, Montana, with 10 inches reported at Deerfield, South Dakota. There were several inches in northwest Nebraska. Traces of snow fell as far south as Kimball. The low a Billings MT dropped to 32 on the 12th and 13th, tying records for June.
On this date in 1982: Famed tornado researcher Theodore “Ted” Fujita had been studying the destructive storms since 1948. He had made many important scientific discoveries, but had never seen a tornado in person until this date. He caught his first “live” twister in Colorado.
