The Moscow tornado of 16 June 1904, over 100 dead and Gilyarovsky's description

On 16 June 1904 a tornado struck Moscow; the force of the wind that day is estimated at 25 m/s, that is 9 on the 12-point Beaufort scale (or a storm). More than 100 people were killed that day and more than 800 were injured.

Gilyarovsky described the catastrophe thus: the sky turned yellow, bronze-coloured clouds rolled in, a fine rain gave way to heavy hail, the clouds turned black and brushed against the bell towers. The darkness that followed was at once replaced by an ominous yellow. A storm broke, and it grew cold. Over Sokolniki a black cloud descended: it grew from below, while from above another just like it came down upon it. Suddenly everything began to whirl … amid the zigzags of lightning, yellow fires flashed, and a crimson-yellow pillar of fire spun in the middle. A minute later this horror swept past with a deafening roar, destroying everything in its path. Roofs, planks went flying, bells rang out; crosses and cupolas were torn off, trees uprooted; the vast Annenhof Grove was shaved bare; century-old trees were either split or torn up by the roots. The enormous building of the Cadet Corps and the Feldsher School was destroyed.

The twenty-kilometre storm cloud passed from south-east strictly northwards, scarcely touching the centre of the city.