Today in weather history . . .

[Thomas Loades]

April 19–20 • 1996 — THe 19th sees an outbreak of tornadoes across IL and IN, in which 7 died, all at Ogden, IL, in an F3 tornado. About 40 tornadoes were in this outbreak, which exceeded the average number of tornadoes expected in IL annually. However, the next day, the storms kept moving NE into southern ON. Here, in an area about 50m WNW of Toronto, they spawned two tornadoes — one in the north, from Williamsford to Blantyre; and one in the south, from Arthur to Violet Hill. Both were F3s, and may end up being Canadian records for occurring so far north so early in the season. In fact, snow was on the ground in some of the areas hit.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.skyartpro.com/images/utwst001.jpg
The southernmost of the S ON tornadoes, April 20, 1996. For much of their lives, neither tornado had condensation funnels going much more than a third of the way to the ground, probably because of all the cold, dry air still around, and seeping in from Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. (This was, of course, somewhat hazardous to people in the tornadoes’ paths, who weren't really expecting one that day.)

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Don't forget April 20, 2004. 1 year ago today, another tornado outbreak hit Illinois and Indiana. This one was completely missed by forecasters. When SPC issued the tornado watch it was for an area that was in the general thunder risk on their SWODY1! 8 people died in Utica, Illinois when their shelter in the "sturdiest building in town" collapsed in an F3 tornado.

SPC 2000Z categorical risk graphic:



SPC 2000Z tornado probability graphic:



SPC 0100Z categorical risk graphic:



SPC 0100Z tornado probability graphic:



Wedge tornado at Utica, Illinois:

[Broken External Image]:http://www.wildlifescenicphotos.com/18410022.jpg

More photos: http://www.wildlifescenicphotos.com/utica_...torm_photos.htm

Kankakee tornado photos by Stan Olson: http://www.stansweather.net/2004/04-20-04-chase.php

Kankakee tornado photos by Skip Talbot: http://www.drugrecognition.com/skip/chase/...0420/index.html

WFO Write-Ups:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/events/apr2020...04/apr20tor.php

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn/WeatherEvents/...m_tor/index.htm

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/severe/20Apr04...04/summary.html

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/april%2020_2004.htm

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/events/2004/04...tornadoes.shtml

View attachment c4c6d7e7fd0d9747c4ab668af34c7c01.gif

 

[Ben Cotton]

Other links to 4/20:

Ben Cotton http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~bcotton/wx/chase/20apr04
Mike Kruze http://kruze.dyndns.org/cgi-bin/emAlbum.cg...%20IN%20Tornado

 

[Thomas Loades]

April 21 • 1967 — During an outbreak over the N-central plains, 58 are killed, all in IL. The worst tornadoes were at 1550, as an F4 struck the small town of Belvidere, kiling 24 — 7 at a shopping mall, and at least 13 at the high school, where school buses were thrown around the school, and students about to board them were killed; at 1724, another F4 touched down and slashed through SE Chicago, particularly the suburbs of Oak Lawn and Evergreen — 33 died here, many in vehicles stopped in rush-hour traffic and blown from the road, although 10 children died in a roller rink that was badly damaged. (The one other death was in a tornado at Elgin.)

April 24 • 1908 — Two tornado families in the early and late morning hours kill 91 and 143 people across central LA and MS; the death toll is probably higher as many plantations were struck, and the deaths of black workers and sharecroppers tended to be downplayed (if counted at all) in those days.
• 1993 — 7 die in Tulsa and Catoosa, OK, in an F4 (possibly F3) tornado, masked by dust and low clouds for much of its life, and so rather hard to see — it was probably because of this that many of the deaths occurred at a single truck stop.

 

[Thomas Loades]

April 26 • 1884 —
[Broken External Image]:http://www.tornadochaser.com/photo/anderson1884.gif
A. A. Adams snaps the earliest known photograph of a tornado; the one he captures was roping out near Garnett, KS, and caused one death when it flipped a lumber wagon, killing the driver. The picture has been retouched somewhat — mainly in emphasizing the funnel itself — but that was pretty commonplace at the time. (Not to mention easier, as one only had to draw on the negative plate, which was typically the size of the print.)
• 1989 — The deadliest tornado in recorded history kills 1,300 people in and around the village of Shaturia (or Salturia), Bangladesh. As with the many deadly cyclones that have struck Bangladesh over the years, the frail housing in the area did not provide adequate shelter from the violent winds.
• 1991 — A considerably-sized outbreak over TX/OK/KS/NE/IA yielded scores of videos — up to 100, apparently, on an F5 that affected S Wichita and Andover, KS, alone; also, the portable Doppler radar taken into the field by teams from the University of Oklahoma, and led by OU professor Howard Bluestein, measured winds of in the 270–80-mph range, possibly as high as 287 mph, in a tornado near Red Rock, OK. It was perhaps the most fruitful mission since the radar's first in 1987. The worst tornado of the outbreak was the aforementioned Wichita–Andover event, which killed 17: 13 in the Golden Spur Mobile Home Park (Andover), and 4 in the Greenwich Heights subdivision just NE of McConnell AFB, which was badly damaged. An F4 near Winfield, KS, caused one fatality, as did another F4 (not the Red Rock tornado) when it crossed the Cimmaron Turnpike in Osage Co., OK.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.tornadochaser.com/photo/andoverter.gif
Looking SW as the Wichita–Andover tornado approaches the latter town. Still from a video by Earle Evans which you really should see in motion (if you haven’t already) to fully absorb. Seriously.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
MKC AC 261500
CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK...REF AFOS NMCGPH94O
VALID 261500 - 271200Z

REF WW NR 181 VALID TIL 19Z.

THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF SVR TSTMS THIS AFTN AND TONIGHT OVR PTNS OF MUCH OF OK..CNTRL AND ERN KS..CNTRL AND SE NEB...WRN MO...AND NWRN AR. THE HIGH RISK AREA IS TO THE RT OF A LN FM 40 WSW LTS GAG 30 W RSL 50 SW EAR LBF 50 N K20 OFK OMA 20 E SZL 40 E SGF PGO 20 S ADM 40 WSW LTS.

OUTBREAK OF SVR TSTMS WITH DMGG TORNADOES IS EXPCD OVR THE NRN PTNS OF THE SRN PLAINS AND MUCH OF THE CNTRL PLAINS...WITH OTHER SVR TSTMS EXPCD THROUGH THE RMDR OF THE PLAINS RGN AND ALG THE GULF COAST.


PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY MO
400 AM CDT FRIDAY APRIL 26 1991

...OUTBREAK OF TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TODAY INTO TONIGHT OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES...

THE NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS FORECAST CENTER IN KANSAS CITY MISSOURI IS FORECASTING AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES TODAY INTO TONIGHT OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS AND THE LOWER MISSOURI VALLEY.

THE STATES WHICH ARE MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THE BRUNT OF THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND TORNADO ACTIVITY INCLUDE MOST OF OKLAHOMA AND KANSAS...PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...AND PARTS OF SOUTHERN NEBRASKA.

A LOW PRESSURE AREA OVER NORTHEAST COLORADO IS FORECAST TO DEEPEN RAPIDLY AND MOVE NORTHEAST INTO THE DAKOTAS BY TONIGHT. A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS MUCH OF THE GREAT PLAINS TODAY INTERACTING WITH A WARM AND MOIST AIRMASS.

A STRONG UPPER LEVEL JET STREAM IS FORECAST TO EXTEND FROM NEW MEXICO ACROSS THE TEXAS PANHANDLE INTO KANSAS AND IOWA...WHILE STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS AT THE SURFACE BRING WARM AND MOIST AIR NORTHWARD ACROSS MUCH OF THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES. THIS SITUATION LIKELY WILL RESULT IN AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND DAMAGING TORNADOES FROM NEBRASKA ACROSS KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA INTO NORTHERN TEXAS.

THERE IS ALSO A LIKELIHOOD OF A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT OVER PORTIONS OF NORTHERN NEBRASKA...SOUTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA...SOUTHERN MINNESOTA...IOWA...MISSOURI...AND ARKANSAS.

IT IS EMPHASIZED THAT THIS IS A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION FOR PARTS OF OKLAHOMA...KANSAS...NORTHERN TEXAS...AND SOUTHERN NEBRASKA. DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS WEATHER SYSTEM AS THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP OVER THE PLAINS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS.

ALL PERSONS IN THE THREATENED AREA ARE URGED TO REVIEW SAFETY RULES...AND LISTEN TO RADIO...TV...OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WATCHES OR WARNINGS. THIS IS A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION FOR THE AFFECTED AREAS AND SHOULD BE MONITORED CLOSELY.

...LARRY WILSON...
NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS FORECAST CENTER


Andover's community website page about the tornado: http://www.andovernet.com/tornado/
Good info about that tornado except they have one mistake-they say the tornado recieived "the second-highest classification on the scale" when in fact it recieived the highest, F5.

 

[Tony Laubach]

This day back in 1991 kicked off my storm chasing obsession... it was the day I watched Andover unfold...

 

[Scott Olson]

April 26th, 1991 - An F5 Tornado destroyed the Golden Spur Mobile home park. Meanwhile 70 other tornadoes devastated parts of OK/KS.
The F5 Tornado was intercepted by mobile radar and had winds measured at 286 MPH. The highest registered yet.

-Scott.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Originally posted by Scott Olson
April 26th, 1991 - An F5 Tornado destroyed the Golden Spur Mobile home park. Meanwhile 70 other tornadoes devastated parts of OK/KS.
The F5 Tornado was intercepted by mobile radar and had winds measured at 286 MPH. The highest registered yet.

-Scott.

Actually, Scott, it wasn't the Andover/Golden Spur tornado that was measured by the mobile Doppler. It was the Red Rock, Oklahoma tornado, which recieved an official rating of F4 because of the damage it did, even though 286 MPH is within the F5 wind speed range.

 

[Thomas Loades]

Originally posted by Tony Laubach+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tony Laubach)</div>

This day back in 1991 kicked off my storm chasing obsession... it was the day I watched Andover unfold...[/b]

That reminds me — I left it out of its rightful entry, but the April 21, 1967, event (and the Oak Lawn, IL tornado in particular) proved to be a pivotal moment for Tim Marshall, after which he became focused on tornadoes:
<!--QuoteBegin-[i
StormTrack Magazine[/i], Jan./Feb. 1997]I had just arrived home from school. I think Mom said something about a tornado hitting a school at Belvidere but that was a long ways away. Besides, my grandparents were over for dinner, so I was occupied with other things. About 5pm, it was getting dark. There were other reports of tornadoes causing damage in other towns in northern Illinois. I looked outside and remember seeing the overcast low clouds had a sculpted appearance with different shades of grey becoming darker towards the western horizon.

At 5:24pm, a tornado formed about four miles west of my house at 103rd Street and 83rd Avenue in Palos Hills. The wind began to pick up and sheets of rain and small hail reduced visibility’s to near zero at my house. As the tornado passed to our north (we couldn’t see it) strong west winds from the rear flank downdraft destroyed my tree house and peeled some siding off a neighbors house. My mom told us to go to the crawl space, but it was over before you knew it. The rest of the night, sirens wailed. The tornado traveled 16 miles in 16 minutes before reaching the shores of Lake Michigan at 79th Street. No one really knows when the tornado dissipated after that.

 

[Scott Olson]

Originally posted by Andy Wehrle+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Andy Wehrle)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-Scott Olson

April 26th, 1991 - An F5 Tornado destroyed the Golden Spur Mobile home park. Meanwhile 70 other tornadoes devastated parts of OK/KS.
The F5 Tornado was intercepted by mobile radar and had winds measured at 286 MPH. The highest registered yet.

-Scott.

Actually, Scott, it wasn't the Andover/Golden Spur tornado that was measured by the mobile Doppler. It was the Red Rock, Oklahoma tornado, which recieved an official rating of F4 because of the damage it did, even though 286 MPH is within the F5 wind speed range.[/b]

Guess the limitations of having only a damage based system. The Oklahoma Climatological Survey has it listed at F5 as well.
Seems reasonable that a greater measured windspeed would supercede the lack of any substatial structure to destroy.

-Scott

 

[Dan Cook]

My grandparents lived in Oak lawn at the time and my grandpa took pictures of the damage to their old house; they lost the roof.

I'll see if they still have any copies.

 

[Thomas Loades]

April 29 • 1985 — That lovable little scamp of a tornado observatory, TOTO, got run over by the organizing Ardmore, OK, tornado. He records a 10-mb pressure drop and 67-mph winds before losing consciousness. And yet he actually recorded stronger winds (80 mph) at 0.8 of a mile from the Cordell, OK, tornado on May 22, 1981. After this, sadly (well — maybe not), TOTO was put down, stuffed, and mounted at the NOAA headquarters from 1986 on.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nssl/images/nssl0132.jpg
The perpetrator speeds away from the accident scene, S of Ardmore, OK, April 29, 1985.

April 30 • 1991, event.

May 1 • 1930 — a tornado passing S of Kickapoo, KS, tosses a home aloft, disintegrating it and killing one occupant, then throwing the other just over a mile. It's the furthest substantiated distance a human has been carried by a tornado. He dies not long after being found.

 

[Thomas Loades]

May 3 • 1999 — Ah, hell, most of you were there, weren't you? But lest we forget: 5 more people (aside from the 36 who died at Bridge Creek/Newcastle/Moore/OKC) died when an F4 hit Haysville and S/W Wichita, KS, this evening, and 3 people were killed when they sought what they thought would be shelter under overpasses; a fourth, technically, when his car was blown out from underneath one.

 

[Thomas Loades]

May 4 • 1961 — Neil Ward make a historic storm chase of a supercell near Geary, OK, that produces a large tornado. He takes 8-mm film and photographs of the storm. Possibly the first nowcasters were a highway patrol officer, and the crew of a WSR station in Oklahoma City, whom the officer contacted via CB radio. The officer both guided Ward to the storm and was following it for spotter purposes.