Joplin, Missouri
Each June, Joplin hosts the Boomtown Run, a half marathon, 5K, and children's run. The event attracts runners from across the country, and features USTA certified courses which start and end in the historic downtown area. Celebrity runners featured at the prerace banquet have included Bart Yasso, Sarah Reinerston, Suzy Favor-Hamilton, and Jeff Galloway. In 2011, due to the devastating EF5 tornado that struck Joplin on May 22, just three weeks before the run, the event was transformed in the Boomtown Run Day of Service. About 270 individuals registered for the race after the tornado struck, knowing their proceeds would benefit tornado recovery. On June 11, about 270 registered runners and volunteers turned out to help clean debris and sort donations, contributing more than 1,200 hours of service. On August 7, 2012, the Village of Silver Creek and the City of Joplin voted to have Silver Creek annexed into Joplin City limits.
Teton–Yellowstone tornado
The Teton–Yellowstone tornado was a rare high-altitude tornado which occurred on July 21, 1987 in the U.S. State of Wyoming. Rated at F4 on the Fujita scale, it was the strongest tornado ever recorded in the state. It was also the only recorded F4 tornado in Wyoming history. The tornado cut through a long, wide swath of the Teton Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park, and even crossed the Continental Divide. The damage occurred at elevations ranging from , making it the highest altitude violent tornado recorded in the United States. No human fatalities or injuries were recorded, but up to 1,000,000 trees were uprooted by the storm. The F4 rating was based on the severity of the tree damage in the worst affected areas. Huge swaths of trees were flattened, and many were stripped of leaves and limbs, with the trunks debarked. Topsoil was picked up and spattered against the bare trunks. Fujita noted that the tree damage was only comparable to that he had seen associated with some of the tornadoes from the 1974 Super Outbreak, as well as the April 1977 Birmingham tornado. Most of the damaged forest later burned in the Yellowstone fires of 1988.