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This Day in Storm Chasing & Severe Storms History

Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson

EF5
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Anyone who has a Weather Guide calendar has been seeing stuff like this for years. Those calendars are a great source of weather history material (and imagery).
 
Quite a few events on May 22:

1981: Binger/Cordell, Oklahoma tornadoes (the famous "Wizard of Oz" tornado)

1995: Pampa, Texas tornadoes (separate event from June 8)

2004: Hallam (record width), Daykin and Beaver City, Nebraska tornadoes

2007: Hill City, Kansas tornado

2008: Hoxie/Grainfield/WaKeeney, Kansas and Windsor, Colorado tornadoes

2010: Bowdle, South Dakota tornado
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...ve/2010-events/may-22-2010-bowdle-sd-tornado/

2011: Joplin, Missouri EF5 and Zena, Oklahoma tornadoes

2016: Texas Panhandle and Southwest Kansas tornadoes
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...xas-panhandle-and-southwest-kansas-tornadoes/
 
Last edited:
For May 24:

1973: Union City, Oklahoma tornado
https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/about/events/40thanniversary/stories/unioncity.html

1989: Blytheville, Missouri and Stanhope/Liscomb Iowa tornadoes
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...missouri-and-stanhope-liscomb-iowa-tornadoes/

1994: Miami, Texas tornado

1998: Wakita, Oklahoma tornadoes

2002: Vernon, Texas tornado

2004: Thayer County, Nebraska and Albany/Bethany, Missouri tornadoes

2008: Hennesey/Douglas/Perry, Oklahoma tornadoes

2010: Faith, South Dakota tornadoes

2011: Oklahoma tornado outbreak: El Reno, Canton, Chickasha

2016: Dodge City and Scott City, Kansas tornadoes
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...6-dodge-city-and-scott-city-kansas-tornadoes/
 
For May 25:

1965: Pratt, Kansas tornado
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...960s-events/may-25-1965-pratt-kansas-tornado/

1987: Gruver, Texas tornadoes
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...0s-events/may-25-1987-gruver-texas-tornadoes/

1997: Holyrood/Anthony/Perth, Kansas tornadoes

1999: Roswell, New Mexico tornado

2008: Parkersburg/New Hartford, Iowa tornadoes

2011: Missouri/Illinois tornado outbreak

2012: Russell and LaCrosse, Kansas tornadoes

2016: Bennington, Abilene and Chapman, Kansas tornado
https://stormtrack.org/weather-libr...ennington-abilene-and-chapman-kansas-tornado/
 
For May 31, some of the lesser known ones (that I am familiar with):

1985 - Pennsylvania outbreak (including Wheatland F5, Moshannon State Forest F4 and Watsontown F4, et al)
1998 - Pennsylvania outbreak (including Lyons, PA F3) ... part of a two day multi-state severe weather outbreak)

More well known (if anyone on Stormtrack is not familar with these, I would be surprised):

2000 - Campo, CO
2013 - El Reno, OK
 
I'm very familiar with the 5/31/85 outbreak as I was 22 and living in n.e. Ohio. Was glued to the TV that evening and awed by the destruction just an hour away from me.
 
I believe the Wheatland F5 started in Ohio. I know folks up near Allenwood who still talk about that tornado.
 
You believe correctly, the Wheatland tornado originally touched down in the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage County, OH and later devastated parts of Newton Falls and Niles before heading into PA.
 
On this day back in 1994, a nocturnal tornado hit the area of Limerick, PA in Montgomery County (my county of residence). It was part of a family of tornadoes that hit in the state of Maryland as well as locations in Chester County, PA. Effects included the destruction of 15 homes in The Hamlet housing development and severely damaging 15 more. There were three fatalities (a mother/father/10 month old baby) and at least 25 injuries. Many people were asleep when the tornado occurred. Identifiable lofted debris was found 35 miles away. The local NWS office rated this tornado a F3. I have spoken to some of the LEOs that were first on-scene and also in nearby communities, and, the tornadic damage may hve started in Royersford, PA (it was surveyed as straight-line in that location, but, one police officer was in his car which was lofted a city block and dropped, all without rolling at all). Few pictures exist of this tornado, but, the damage pictures can be found by searching for Limerick tornado.
 
Today is the 33rd anniversary of the the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 airplane crash at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). It occurred around 6:05 P.M. CDT on August 2, 1985. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Accident Board determined that the cause of the incident was wind-shear associated with an intense thunderstorm downdraft that occurred at the north end of the airport along runway 17 Left (17L). Today we know this intense, localized downburst as a microburst, a weather phenomenon that was not well understood at the time of the accident. The events on August 2, 1985, likely helped to drive the need to reform aviation weather safety. A full writeup on this event can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/fwd/delta191

For me this in one of these events that I remember where I was when it happened. I was 10 years old and playing in my backyard about 10 miles away from the crash site. I remember seeing the storm in the distance hearing the sound of the plane crashing (although it could have been thunder). I can't help put wonder if this played a role in my fascination with severe weather.
 
Randy Jennings said:
Today is the 33rd anniversary of the the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 airplane crash at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). It occurred around 6:05 P.M. CDT on August 2, 1985. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Accident Board determined that the cause of the incident was wind-shear associated with an intense thunderstorm downdraft that occurred at the north end of the airport along runway 17 Left (17L). Today we know this intense, localized downburst as a microburst, a weather phenomenon that was not well understood at the time of the accident. The events on August 2, 1985, likely helped to drive the need to reform aviation weather safety. A full writeup on this event can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/fwd/delta191

For me this in one of these events that I remember where I was when it happened. I was 10 years old and playing in my backyard about 10 miles away from the crash site. I remember seeing the storm in the distance hearing the sound of the plane crashing (although it could have been thunder). I can't help put wonder if this played a role in my fascination with severe weather.
Click to expand...


Incredible that with today’s knowledge and Doppler radar technology we could still have a plane crash like in Mexico on Tuesday 7/31/18, just two days before the 33rd anniversary of the crash you noted, in which a downburst is again the suspected culprit of the accident...
 
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