1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak

Palm Sunday (1965) Tornado Outbreak II
Picture of the "double tornado" that hit the Midway Trailer park killing 33.
Date of tornado outbreak: April 11–12, 1965
Duration1: ~11 hours
Maximum rated tornado2: F4 tornado
Tornadoes caused: 47
Damages: $1.6 billion (2007 dollars)[1]
Fatalities: 271
Areas affected: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin

1Time from first tornado to last tornado
2Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

The second Palm Sunday tornado outbreak occurred on April 11, 1965 and involved 47 tornadoes (15 significant, 17 violent, 21 killers) hitting the Midwest. It was the second biggest outbreak on record. In the Midwest, 271 people were killed and 1,500 injured (1,200 in Indiana). It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in Indiana history with 137 people killed.[1] The outbreak also made that week the second most active week in history with 51 significant and 21 violent tornadoes.

Contents

Meteorological synopsis

The tornadoes occurred in a 450 miles (720 km) swath west-to-east from Clinton County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a 200 miles (320 km) swath north-to-south from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The outbreak lasted 11 hours and is among the most intense outbreaks — in terms of number, strength, width, path, and length of tornadoes — ever recorded, including 4 "double/twin funnel" tornadoes.

This is the third deadliest day for tornadoes on record, trailing the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974, which killed 315, and the outbreak that included the Tri-State Tornado which killed 747. It occurred on Palm Sunday, an important day in the Christian religion, and many people were attending services at church, one possible reason why some warnings were not received. There had been a short winter that year, and as the day progressed, the temperature rose to 83 °F (28 °C) in some areas of Midwestern United States.

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed
Total		 Confirmed
F0		 Confirmed
F1		 Confirmed
F2		 Confirmed
F3		 Confirmed
F4		 Confirmed
F5
47 0 15 10 5 17 0
List of reported tornadoes - Sunday, April 11, 1965
F#
Location
County
Time (UTC)
Path length
Damage
Iowa
F4 NE of Tipton Cedar, Clinton, Jackson 18:55 91.5 miles
(146.4 km)		 1 death - One person died one month later from their injuries. 25 farms were affected.
F1 SE of New Hampton Chickasaw, Fayette, Allamakee 19:15 49.9 miles
(79.8 km)
Wisconsin
F1 SE of Monroe Green, Rock, Dane 20:00 27.1 miles
(43.3 km)		 50 homes and 65 businesses destroyed or damaged and 40 were injured.
F2 S of Watertown Jefferson 20:30 14.5 miles
(23.2 km)		 3 deaths - 28 others were injured.
F1 S of Soldiers Grove Crawford 20:45 13.3 miles
(21.2 km)		 One barn was destroyed
F1 W of Lake Geneva Walworth 21:50 1.9 miles
(3 km)
F1 NW of Elkhorn Walworth 21:55 1 mile
(1.6 km)		 One barn was destroyed
F1 W of Tomah Monroe 22:14 2 miles
(3.2 km)		 Several farm buildings were destroyed
Illinois
F4 Crystal Lake McHenry, Lake 21:20 9.1 miles
(14.6 km)		 6 deaths - Destroyed large sections of the town including a shopping mall. Damage estimates were at about $1.5 million.
F2 N of Gurnee Lake 21:50 4.5 miles
(7.2 km)		 Some homes were damaged and two planes flipped at Waukegan Memorial Airport.
F1 Geneva Kane 22:00 0.3 mile
(0.5 km)		 About a dozen homes were heavily damaged
F1 Zion Lake 22:04 0.5 mile
(0.8 km)
Indiana
F3 NE of Knox to S of South Bend Starke, Marshall, St. Joseph, Elkhart 22:45 35.6 miles
(57 km)		 10 deaths - 30 cottages were destroyed and 70 others were damaged. 26 homes, one church and one high school were also destroyed. There were 82 people injured.
F3 S of Crown Point to SE of Laporte Porter, Laporte 23:10 33.1 miles
(53 km)		 Several homes and barns were destroyed and 4 people were injured.
F4 W of Wakarusa to NW of Middlebury Elkhart 23:15 21.2 miles
(34 km)		 14 deaths - Destroyed Midway Trailer Park in Dunlap and numerous other homes. Was photographed as a double funnel. 1st of 2 tornadoes hitting the town of Dunlap and the Elkhart region.
F4 NE of Goshen to W of Orland Elkhart, LaGrange 23:40 21.6 miles
(34.6 km)		 5 deaths - A dozen homes were demolished
F4 Manitou Beach-Devils Lake, Michigan (1st tornado) Steuben, IN, Branch, MI, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw 00:00 90.3 miles
(144.5 km)		 23 deaths - Starting just south of the Indiana-Michigan state line, the massive tornado caused extensive damage to the Manitou Beach region and southwestern suburbs of Detroit. First of two violent tornadoes to affect the same large portion of Lower Michigan.
F4 SE of Lafayette to W of Russiaville Tippecanoe, Clinton 00:07 21.8 miles
(34.9 km)		 Several homes and other buildings were destroyed or damaged.
F4 SE of South Bend to NE of Shipshewana St. Joseph, Elkhart, LaGrange 00:10 37 miles
(59.2 km)		 36 deaths - Second violent tornado struck the Dunlap/Elkhart region in just over an hour. Destroyed an entire subdivision of the town of Dunlap. Affected rescue efforts after the first tornado. Also was witnessed as a double funnel tornado. Was rated an F5 but downgraded to a F4.
F4 Russiaville to SE of Marion, Indiana and Greentown, Indiana Clinton, Howard, Grant 00:20 48 miles
(76.8 km)		 25 deaths - Large sections of Russiaville, southern Kokomo and Alto were destroyed. Over 800 people were injured.
F4 SE of Crawfordsville to Arcadia Montgomery, Boone, Hamilton 00:50 45.7 miles
(73.1 km)		 28 deaths - 80 homes were destroyed and over 100 people were injured.
F4 W of Montpellier, IN to N of Spencerville, OH Blackford, IN, Wells, Adams, Mercer, OH, Van Wert 01:10 52.5 miles
(84 km)		 4 deaths - F4 damage was observed in Keystone in Wells County. Crossed into Ohio where it destroyed five homes and damaged five others.
Michigan
F4 N of Grand Rapids Ottawa, Kent 22:54 20.6 miles
(33 km)		 5 deaths - 34 homes were destroyed and nearly 200 others damaged. Nearly 150 were injured and damage amounts were estimated at almost $15 million.
F1 N of Middleville Allegan, Barry 00:05 19.5 miles
(31.2 km)		 1 death - A trailer and 5 homes were destroyed while 25 others were damaged.
F3 NE of Kalamazoo Kalamazoo 00:30 14.2 miles
(22.7 km)		 4 homes were destroyed and 22 others damaged. 17 people were injured.
F3 Hastings Barry 00:40 14.1 miles
(22.6 km)		 15 homes were damaged.
F4 Manitou Beach-Devils Lake, Michigan (2nd tornado) Branch, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw 00:40 80.5 miles
(128.8 km)		 21 deaths - Second tornado to hit the same areas 30 minutes after being affected by the first tornado. Total damage estimates from the two tornadoes were $32 million. Over 550 homes and 100 cottages were destroyed in total.
F4 N of Lansing Clinton, Shiawassee 01:15 21 miles
(33.6 km)		 1 death - Several homes were severely damaged or destroyed.
F2 W of Ithaca Montcalm, Gratiot 01:25 15.1 miles
(24.1 km)		 Several farm buildings and livestocks were destroyed.
F2 Alma (1st tornado) Gratiot 01:30 0.1 mile
(0.16 km)		 One of three tornadoes to struck the area where it caused damage to several buildings including the library.
F2 Alma (2nd tornado) Gratiot 01:30 0.5 mile
(0.8 km)
F2 E of Alma Gratiot 01:30 1 mile
(1.6 km)
F2 SE of Bay City Bay 01:50 9.9 miles
(15.8 km)
F2 SW of Unionville Tuscola 02:00 9 miles
(14.4 km)		 Damage to a firehall and lumberyard.
Ohio
F4 Toledo (northern sections) Lucas, OH, Monroe, MI 02:30 5.6 miles
(9 km)		 18 deaths - Numerous homes in the northern suburbs of Toledo were completely destroyed. There were reports of twin tornadoes during the event. Damage amounts were estimated at $25 million.
F4 N of Lima Allen, Hancock 02:30 32.5 miles
(52 km)		 13 deaths
F4 N of Sidney Shelby 03:00 18.4 miles
(29.4 km)		 3 deaths - Affected Anna, Swanders and Maplewood where 25 homes were destroyed and 20 others heavily damaged. Several train cars were derailed.
F3 SE of Tiffin Seneca 03:15 15 miles
(24 km)		 4 deaths - Affecting Rockaway, 4 homes were destroyed and three others were damaged.
F4 S of Oberlin, Ohio to Strongsville Lorain, Cuyahoga 04:05 22 miles
(35.2 km)		 18 deaths - Extensive damage to Pittsfield and Strongsville. Damage amounts were estimated at $5 million. Also witnessed as a double tornado.
F1 S of Eaton Preble 04:15 0.1 mile
(0.16 km)
F1 Brunswick Medina 04:30 8.2 miles
(13 km)		 One home was destroyed and another one was damaged.
F2 N of Delaware Union, Delaware, Morrow 04:30 22.2 miles
(35.5 km)		 4 deaths
F1 S of Cedarville Greene 04:50 0.1 mile
(0.16 km)
F1 Ashville to Somerset Pickaway, Fairfield, Perry 05:30 38.4 miles
(61.4 km)		 Several farm buildings were destroyed.
Georgia
F1 SW of Grassdale Bartow 09:50 (04/12) 2 miles
(3.2 km)
West Virginia
F2 N of Princeton Mercer 11:30 (04/12) 0.1 mile
(0.16 km)
Sources:

Tornado History Project Tornado Data for April 11, 1965, Tornado History Project Tornado Data for April 12, 1965, NWS Detroit Storm Data

Outbreak description

At around 12:55 P.M.[2], the first tornado touched down in Clinton County, Iowa. It was rated F4 on the Fujita scale and spawned from a thunderstorm cell first detected near Tipton in Cedar County, Iowa, around 12:45 P.M. by radio news reporter Martin Jensen. He was stationed at the WMT Station in Cedar Rapids located some 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Tipton. The station was equipped with a Collins Radio aviation radar mounted on the roof of the station building and was used to support severe weather reports on local and regional newscasts. After detecting the severe thunderstorm, the reporter called National Weather Service offices in Waterloo (which had no radar) and Des Moines to alert them about the storm. The phone call became the first hard evidence for the Weather Service regarding the growing threat of severe storms which spawned dozens of tornadoes over the next 12 hours.

Illinois

A tornado touched down at Crystal Lake, Illinois, where it destroyed several subdivisions and a golf course. It grazed a junior high school before destroying several homes in a small community (Colby's Home Estates). There, 145 homes were damaged - 45 beyond repair - as well as a shopping center: Crystal Lake Plaza on Route 14. Five people were killed. The tornado then crested a hill and destroyed the small community of Island Lake, killing one person before ascending back into the clouds at 3:42 P.M. This was one of the few F4 tornadoes that occurred during this outbreak.

Indiana

The tornado count increased as the day progressed. Several touched down in Indiana, many of them fatal. Individual supercells spawned as many as 5 violent tornadoes as they tracked west to east. The first touched down at around 5:30 P.M. in Koontz Lake, Indiana. This F4 killed 10 people and injured 180. The tornado moved northeast toward La Paz and Lakeville where it destroyed a high school under construction. The tornado continued towards Wyatt and destroyed twenty homes.

Another violent tornado formed near the St. Joseph County-Elkhart County border. It tracked east-northeasterly, striking Wakarusa, Indiana, where it killed a child. The tornado moved toward the towns of Nappanee, Goshen, and Dunlap. Elkhart Truth reporter Paul Huffman captured a series of photographs as this rare double tornado moved past Goshen, IN; one of these photos is pictured above. One-half hour later, a second tornado devastated the Sunnyside Housing addition and the unoccupied Sunnyside Mennonite Church. The death toll from the Sunnyside Housing Addition was 28 people, with another six killed at a truck stop at the intersection of Highways 15 and 20. The Palm Sunday Tornado Memorial Park now exists near this location, at the corner of County Road 45 and Cole Street in Dunlap. Most of the 36 people killed in the tornado had no warning because the high winds had knocked out telephone and power grids. For the first time in the U.S. Weather Bureau's history, all nine counties in the northern Indiana office's jurisdiction were under a tornado warning.[2] This is called a "blanket tornado warning."[2] Both tornadoes were officially rated as F4 according to the National Weather Service records. However, the second Dunlap tornado was previously rated F5.[2]

90 miles (140 km) to the south, at just past 7:30PM, another massive tornado slammed into the town of Russiaville, Indiana. Most of the town was destroyed, leaving several dead. The storm churned into nearby Alto, obliterating it completely, before striking the southern edge of the larger city of Kokomo. As the tornado continued east, it killed ten more people in Greentown, Indiana, most of whom had been riding in automobiles that were hurled across the landscape. More destruction ensued in Marion, Indiana, then through Wells and Adams County destroying many more homes and businesses. In Berne, Indiana it cut a path through the northern part of the small city damaging homes and businesses including a bowling alley, grocery store and lumber yard before the storm crossed into Ohio.

Michigan and Ohio

Outbreak death toll
State Total County County
total
Iowa 1 Cedar 1
Illinois 6 McHenry 6
Indiana 138 Adams 1
Boone 20
Elkhart 62
Grant 8
Hamilton 6
Howard 17
Lagrange 10
Marshall 3
Montgomery 2
St. Joseph 3
Starke 4
Wells 2
Michigan 53 Allegan 1
Branch 18
Clinton 1
Hillsdale 6
Kent 5
Lenawee 9
Monroe 13
Ohio 60 Allen 11
Cuyahoga 1
Delaware 4
Hancock 2
Lorain 17
Lucas 16
Mercer 2
Seneca 4
Shelby 3
Wisconsin 3 Jefferson 3
Totals 261
All deaths were tornado-related

With the telephone lines down, emergency services in Elkhart County, Indiana, could not warn Michigan residents that the tornadoes were headed their way. The radar operator at the U.S. Weather Bureau, at Detroit Metro Airport, observed that the thunderstorms over northern Indiana and western Lower Michigan, were moving east-northeast at 70 mph (112 km/h). In Michigan, tornadoes hit as far north as Kent County, Michigan, just north of Grand Rapids. Of the southernmost counties of Michigan, all but three (Berrien, Cass, and St. Joseph counties) were hit. Two F4 tornadoes struck Hillsdale County and destroyed about 200 cottages along Baw Beese Lake. Many people escaped harm as they were in church instead of out at the lake. Later, the Manitou Beach-Devils Lake area in Lenawee County was hit by two tornadoes (both an F4) in a span of a little more than 30 minutes, causing numerous fatalities (including a family of six). The local dance pavilion on Devils Lake was demolished, it had just recently been rebuilt after having been destroyed by a fire on Labor Day in 1963. One of the tornadoes damaged parts of Onsted; in the nearby village of Tipton, which suffered a direct hit, 94% of the town's buildings were damaged or destroyed.

One or two F-4 tornadoes struck the then-Village of Milan, south of Ann Arbor, straddling the county line in southeastern Washtenaw County (York Township) and northwestern Monroe County (Milan Township). One tornado destroyed the Wolverine Plastics building on the Monroe County side of town (then, the top employer in the village), completely removing the roof in the process. That or the other tornado then struck and seriously damaged the Milan Junior High School and the adjacent, disused (since 1958) senior high school, at Hurd and North streets, on the Washtenaw County side of Milan. Milan became a city in 1967; opened a new Middle School in 1969, which replaced the old Junior High School; and the 1900 building that housed the former junior and senior high schools was eventually demolished.

Tornadoes continued from Indiana into Ohio where additional fatalities occurred across the state border. A double tornado was sighted near Toledo, Ohio. The same weather system devastated northern parts of the city with F4 tornado damage. Five people were killed when a tornado flipped over a bus on the Detroit-Toledo Expressway (today's Interstate 75). Other violent tornadoes occurred near the Indiana/Ohio border.

At around 11 P.M., a tornado touched down in Lorain County, Ohio and struck Pittsfield, Ohio, killing seven and destroying most structures. The same tornado caused severe damage to homes in Grafton. When the storm reached Cleveland, Ohio, it diverged into two paths about a 1⁄2 miles (800 m) apart." Several witnesses also saw two funnels merging into one similar to the Dunlap tornado.[2] Large trees laying 50 feet (15 m) apart were felled lying in different directions. The storm also displayed F4 damage near Strongsville where homes simply disappeared. This tornado killed 18 people and was also previously rated as an F5 before being lowered to an F4 by NWS officials.

The last tornado occurred at 12:30 A.M. on April 12. It moved along a 30 miles (48 km) path south of Columbus, Ohio, causing F2 damage.

Aftermath

The U.S. Weather Bureau investigated the large number of deaths. Although Radar stations were few and far between in 1965, the severe nature of this storm was identified with adequate time to disseminate warnings. But the warning system failed as the public never received them. Additionally, the public did not know the difference between a Forecast and an Alert. Thus the Tornado watch and Tornado warning programs were implemented. Pivotal to those clarifications was a meeting in the WMT Stations studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Officials of the severe storms forecast center in Kansas City met with WMT meteorologist Conrad Johnson and News Director Grant Price. Their discussion led to establishment of the official "watch" and "warning" procedures in use since 1965.

As technology has advanced since 1965; warnings can be spread via cable and satellite television, PCs and the Internet, solid-state electronics, cell phones, and NOAA Weatheradio.

Suction vortices

Dr. Ted Fujita discovered suction vortices during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak. It had previously been thought the reason why tornadoes could hit one house and leave another across the street completely unscathed was because the tornado would "jump" from one house to another. However, Dr. Fujita discovered that the actual reason is most destruction is caused by suction vortices: small, intense mini-tornadoes within the main tornado.

Casualties

In the Midwest, 271 people were killed and 1,500 injured (1,200 in Indiana). It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in Indiana history with 138 people killed.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Weather Events: 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak Part I: The Beginning". www.islandnet.com. http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/events/1965palmsun_torn.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-14. 
  2. ^ a b c d http://homepages.wmich.edu/%7Eb1naftel/outbreak65.html

External links

Further reading