Flashback Thursday

On this day back in 1974, Louisville and the surrounding area witnessed the worst outbreak of tornadoes in the history of the state of Kentucky. The massive tornado outbreak happened from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf Coast.   148 confirmed tornadoes touched down, with 30 of them in the F4 and F5 categories, resulting in 319 deaths and over 6000 reported injuries.  F4 and F5 tornadoes touched down in Louisville.

My most vivid memories of April 3rd (as we call it here in Louisville) were not of the day that the tornadoes hit, but on the day after.  We are in what we call The Little Pocket, and we were safe from any of the tornadoes.  I really don't think we even got any rain that day.  But I digress.  The day after, of course, schools were closed, and I remember going to the drugstore with Mom and Grandpa.  Dad was with the Boy Scout troop that he worked with, and they were in the Cherokee Park area, cutting down trees and limbs to help homeowners.  Grandma was back at The Compound.  Anyhoo, Mom and Grandpa and I went to the drugstore up on Dixie Highway after we had breakfast, and as I held Grandpa's hand as we walked through the parking lot I remember looking up at the sky, and it was the bluest, most clear sky that I have ever seen.  And to this day, decades later, April 4, 1974, was a day that will always stand out in my memory as being the day with the clearest, bluest sky that I have ever seen.