One of the most enjoyable aspects of a virtual is that it takes geocachers to places they might not otherwise have known about. This is not designed to take you to a place with a breath taking view as some virtuals do. It's a place to pause and appreciate the resilience of a community following a natural disaster.
Chances are, no matter where you live, you heard about the December 2021 destruction across Western Kentucky caused by an EF-4 tornado.
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Date
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10 December 2021
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Time (Local)
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8:49-11:47 PM CST
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EF Rating
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EF-4
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Est. Peak Winds
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190 mph
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Path Length
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165.7 miles
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Max Width
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1.13 miles
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Below are excerpts from National Weather Service:
“On the evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a potent storm system moving across the central United States resulted in widespread severe weather across the region, including a significant long track tornadoes. NWS storm damage surveys found a violent EF-4 tornado began in far northwest Tennessee and moved across western Kentucky, resulting in significant destruction to portions of the region. The tornado began in Obion County, in northwest Tennessee, and tracked across 11 counties in western Kentucky: Fulton, Hickman, Graves, Marshall, Lyon, Caldwell, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Breckenridge, and Grayson. Its 165.7 mile long path length was the longest for a tornado in U.S. history.
“The tornado entered Dawson Springs in far eastern Hopkins County at 10:32 p.m. Still producing violent EF-4 damage, numerous homes and pieces of infrastructure suffered catastrophic damage. The worst of the damage occurred near the Dawson Springs park, where several homes were completely destroyed, including a few low rise apartment buildings. In this area, 15 residents of Dawson Springs perished. To the northeast of Dawson Springs and Interstate 69 there was damage to small barns and other farm outbuildings, along with roofs and walls separated from floor and undercarriages of manufactured homes. South of Earlington, the tornado derailed a train, moving several rail cars several feet up an embankment next to the railroad tracks. In all, there were 15 fatalities, 200 injuries, and over 1500 damaged structures in Hopkins County. Around 10:55 p.m. the tornado left Hopkins County.”
According to the Oxford dictionary, the word resilience means “the ability of people or things to recover quickly after something unpleasant, such as shock, injury, etc.” It also relates to the ability to return to the original form or position after being bent, compressed or stretched.
Dawson Springs is rebuilding. A small memorial was established at the town's city park.
To verify your visit for a valid log, you must do both of the following:
1. Find a rectangular marker (the size of two ammo cans) a few feet to the west of the memorial and email/message the cache owner the reason of celebration found on the marker.
2. Attach a photo to your online log of you at the posted coordinates for this virtual geocache (your face is not required in the photo - if you're camera shy a piece of paper with your caching name on is acceptable). PLEASE no spoiler picture giving answer to requirement 1.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.