1884 Garnett tornado
Top to bottom: The tornado viewed from Garnett, Kansas; a map of the tornado's path | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Date | April 26, 1884 |
| Duration | ~31⁄2 hours |
| F1 tornado | |
| on the Fujita scale | |
| Overall effects | |
| Casualties | ≥ 1 fatality, ≥ 1 injury |
| Areas affected | Coffey County, Anderson County |
On April 26, 1884, a tornado affected portions of the Coffey and Anderson counties in Kansas. The tornado is estimated to have been an F1[a] on the Fujita scale and is possibly the first tornado to be photographed.[2]
Overview
The tornado was of moderate intensity and was relatively slow. It touched down in eastern Coffey County, tearing through around ten and a half miles of Kansas countryside before eventually dying out in northwestern Anderson County near what is now Harris in Anderson County. It is said that damage to properties were minimal, but there was one fatality. The tornado was said to have had "an appearance of a long rope of a purplish colored cloud".[3]
As it approached Garnett, a fruit farmer and professional photographer named A. A. Adams quickly assembled his box camera and captured a single photo of the tornado, that picture being what is thought to be the first photograph taken of a tornado.[4] Adams sold many copies of this image, marketing souvenir cards and stereographs showing his picture. There was one injury; supposedly, a man named David Metheney and his wagon were carried through the air, and he survived the tornado.
Notes
References
- ↑ By the TornadoArchive website.
- ↑ "First-ever tornado photograph is likely fake but a new, real photo has emerged". Archived from the original on December 19, 2025. Retrieved March 20, 2026.
- ↑ Snow, John T. (1984). "Early Tornado Photographs". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 65 (4): 360–364. ISSN 0003-0007.
- ↑ "Tornado in Anderson County, Kansas - Kansas Memory". www.kansasmemory.gov. Retrieved April 3, 2026.