Remembering Terrible Tuesday: The Devastating Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak of 1979
Written By Ken Hulsey On April 10th and 11th, 1979, a confirmed 59 tornadoes ripped through Northern Texas, Oklahoma, and several nearby states. This mass outbreak of deadly storms was officially named the Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak, but for all who survived, it was known as "Terrible Tuesday." My family moved from Whittier, California , to the farming community of Vernon, Texas , in the summer of 1974. While we were familiar with earthquakes, we had no idea of the sheer terror that a tornado could inflict in an instant.