# When was the earliest record of a tornado?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 30, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124 "2007-03-30T16:15:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/1 "2007-03-30T16:15:46Z")
Tornados scare me. The thought of large objects being tossed about by an incomprehensibly powerful wind sends shivers down my spine. Before meteorology with Doppler radar was common, I imagine that a tornado seemed like a Divine force coming down upon unsuspecting mortals.
Does an early account of a tornado exist?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/2 "2007-03-30T16:51:00Z")
[Historical Roots of Modern Tornado Forecasts and Warnings](http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&issn=1520-0434&volume=014&issue=04&page=0484)
> [@](#):
>
> The tornado’s power and fury have fascinated humanity for centuries. Many ancient writings, including the Bible, Aristotle’s Meteorologica, and Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, describe nature’s most violent windstorm. Although tornadoes occurred occasionally in Europe, they were not sufficient in number to cause great concern or interest, but movement to the New World opened the field for exploration.
>
> Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop (1972) described in his journal what may be the first recorded tornado in the American colonies. The 5 July 1643 entry notes that a sudden violent wind gust blew down trees and “lifted up their meeting house at Newbury, the people being in it.” Whether this was a tornado or a straight-line wind is unknown, but the Reverend Increase Mather (1977) in An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences included an account of a July 1680 storm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which in all probability was the first written record of an actual tornado in what is now the United States. Eyewitness Matthew Bridge declared that a thick black cloud in continuous circular motion produced a great noise in the process of tearing down trees and picking up bushes, trees, and large stones. John Robbins, a servant killed by the storm, may be the first recorded tornado victim. Tornadoes were not common in the American colonies, or at least few were recorded. Ludlum (1970) lists only 20 pre–Revolutionary War tornadoes in Early American Tornadoes, 1586–1870. Because of their rarity, tornadoes generated only limited interest among scientists during the colonial period.
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### Author:  [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/3 "2007-03-30T16:58:14Z")
[QUOTE=Squink]
[Historical Roots of Modern Tornado Forecasts and Warnings](http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&issn=1520-0434&volume=014&issue=04&page=0484)
[/QUOTE]
Thanks! 🆒
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/4 "2007-03-30T17:13:33Z")
(scratching head)
1972? 1977?
Am I missing something? Did those belt-buckle hat types really live that long?
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/5 "2007-03-30T17:47:12Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]
1972? 1977?
[/QUOTE]
Those are just part of the article’s odd method of pointing to references.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/6 "2007-03-30T18:00:35Z")
How about circa 860 BCE? (Albeit it’s Biblical, not strictly historical) Elijah the prophet has just fled from Jezebel, who is determined to have him killed. He’s hiding in a cave, and sees, sequentially, **a whirlwind** , an earthquake, fire, and a quiet murmuring breeze. (I Kings 19:11ff)
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### Author:  [@tomwindsor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomwindsor)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/7 "2014-04-02T03:58:59Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> How about circa 860 BCE? (Albeit it’s Biblical, not strictly historical) Elijah the prophet has just fled from Jezebel, who is determined to have him killed. He’s hiding in a cave, and sees, sequentially, **a whirlwind** , an earthquake, fire, and a quiet murmuring breeze. (I Kings 19:11ff)
Yes , and the text states , “and Elijah \*\*went up \*\*to heaven in a whirlwind.” (2 King 2:11 ) There is also the \*\*“pillar of cloud” \*\* the people of Israel witnessed at the Red Sea. It is called a “whirlwind” in Psm. 77
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/8 "2014-04-02T05:50:39Z")
Ancient Comanche legends speak of the time when “our ancestors lost their trailers”.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/9 "2014-04-02T15:15:51Z")
Not all whirlwinds are tornadoes, though. Most of them are considerably smaller and gentler.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/10 "2014-04-02T16:06:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Ancient Comanche legends speak of the time when “our ancestors lost their trailers”.
Dang it! I was gonna post about the teepee parks… :mad:
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/11 "2014-04-02T16:21:38Z")
My question is, what did they compare the sound of a tornado to before there were freight trains?
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/12 "2014-04-02T16:32:37Z")
The howling of the zombies.
(FTR, this thread is 7 years old.)
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-earliest-record-of-a-tornado/398124/13 "2014-04-02T16:40:37Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> My question is, what did they compare the sound of a tornado to before there were freight trains?
Stampeding camels maybe.
The Middle East encounters Dervishes and Dust Devils frequently, these are names for events caused by local updrafts and not as intense as tornadoes, but can still be very damaging. Biblical accounts may be referring to those. Since cyclones in East Asia may spawn tornadoes the earliest accounts may be recorded from those regions.