"Fargo, North Dakota tornado"

23 June 1957
"Well Tuesday is my birthday and Mom sent me $5.00 today in the mail. She also told me to spend it on myself. But I think that I can find a better place for it somehow. I was ashore again this afternoon. I went over to the Ship's store and bought another chief a short sleeved shirt. I paid $2.50 for it...I can look out the door of the Supply Office and see the big red sunset. I wish that you were here to witness it too. But I guess we are too old to enjoy the sunsets, are we not...I see in the paper where Fargo, North Dakota was hit by a bad twister. I believe there were 6 or 7 children in one family killed by the tornado. We can consider ourselves very lucky I guess...Well so long Old Gal, I'll be thinking of you tonite in my dreams. I hope to see you soon."

The 1957 Fargo tornado was a violent and deadly tornado that struck Fargo, North Dakota on Thursday, June 20, 1957. The tornado struck the north Fargo (Golden Ridge) area in the early evening, causing major devastation. Damage was extensive including 100 blocks of Fargo. The worst residential damage occurred in the Golden Ridge Subdivision, much of which was swept away and scattered across a nearby farm field. Approximately 329 homes were destroyed and some of them were completely swept off their foundations - a classic example of F5 damage. Another 1035 homes were damaged. Fifteen farm homes were destroyed and 25 damaged. Four churches and Shanley High School were destroyed and two schools were damaged. Fifteen businesses were destroyed and 30 suffered major damage. These were mainly small local shops. Two hundred automobiles were destroyed and 300 damaged.^[1]
In the end, ten people lost their lives. After 1971, when Dr. Ted Fujita introduced his scale that rates tornadoes based on the damage they cause, the Fargo tornado received an F5 rating, the most severe level. The tornado had a long track which started in North Dakota, traveled 27.4 miles to the Minnesota border and continued for another 25 miles. The total track length of the tornado was 57.4 miles and at its widest, it was almost a mile across. This tornado was part of a family of tornadoes that was spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that moved through most of North Dakota and into parts of Minnesota.^[2] It was the northernmost confirmed F5 tornado until the Elie, Manitoba Tornado on June 22, 2007. The Fargo area has also been hit by three F3 tornadoes on June 13, 1950, August 30, 1956 and most recently June 15, 1973 but none of these caused any fatalities.^[3]
Debris from the tornado was found as far as western Minnesota, over 50 miles (80 km) east of Fargo in Becker County.
This tornado is considered the most devastating in North Dakota history, and was one of only two F5 tornadoes that have struck the state, the other occurring four years earlier in 1953.