[2][3] In order to assess the intensity of these events, meteorologist Ted Fujita devised a method to estimate maximum wind speeds within tornadic storms based on the damage caused; this became known as the Fujita scale. A large tornado completely swept away two entire farms. Jun. F5 tornadoes were estimated to have had maximum winds between 261mph (420km/h) and 318mph (512km/h). The morning of May 31st featured a great dealof electricity around the office. This day remains the deadliest tornado outbreak ever documented in Pennsylvania. Of these twenty-one, one was rated an F5, and six were rated F4s. October 1985. I recall being fascinated by how the weather could be so interesting yet so deadly. People were hurt from flying debris. The first hour or so of the shift was comparatively quiet; it took awhile before the first damage and injury/death reports made their way through the teletype circuits (the teletype or "Comms" room through which SELS received most damage reports at the time would close later the same year). National Weather Service If you have any information you would like to share with the NWS, please click here. Preparedness I heard that it felled so many trees that tremors were registered on the Penn State seismograph. I stayed at the weather station a good decision. This was about the only structure untouched. There is a day, a week and beyond that had a profound effect on my life and has forever changed me. Twenty-one tornadoes tracked across Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania during the evening of May 31st. My hometown was Ravenna, OH and Iremember playing ball outside with my sister in our yard and wondering why it was so hot andhumid. At 4:20 PM SELS issued the tornado watch 211, valid at 5pm. I was already deeply interested in weather and hoping to go to college to become a meteorologist. Many farms were destroyed and some were swept completely away. However, in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, conditions usually arent as favorable for tornadoes. Figure 1. Over a dozen tornadoes occurred in Ontario, with at least four F3s and two F4s reported. Some of them 1/2 mile wide. Killer twisters also rampaged through northern Ohio, southwestern New York, and Ontario, in regions unaccustomed to encounters with the most ferocious storms on earth. The original F-Scale historical data base will not change. The 300mb level is about 30,000 feet above the ground. The Pittsburgh staff then had to update the 4PM zone issuance to include the Tornado watch. We'll never know. According to the NWS Cleveland, OH (2019), this is a classic signature of severe weather outbreaks for this region. This tornado is listed as only F3 in the official database. The National Weather Service employee who surveyed the damage from this tornado, Greg Gust, rated the tornado at the very top of the F4 scale. From that point on through the evening, weather conditions worsened. All of us were heartbroken for him. The forecaster even analyzed a dryline (the bumpy blue line through the central Plains) on the 850mb map, showing the leading edge of the dry air. 1. Please try another search. An F5 is the highest intensity rating on the now retired Fujita Scale. Temperatures were in the 80s (F) and dewpoint temperatures (a measure of moisture) were in the upper 60s and lower 70s (F). At least two farms were swept away, and house foundations were left bare. Officially rated F4, this tornado struck the farmstead near Marion, North Dakota causing extreme damage. As I took in all the devastation, I could not understand how so many actually survived. In fact, a few were throwing a party that night. For a horrifying day, a tornado alley cut through Pennsylvania. At around 6:30 p.m. EDT, the only F5 tornado of the day was unleashed upon the cities of Newton Falls and Niles, Ohio in the Greater Youngstown area and then smashed into the small town of Wheatland, Pennsylvania across the state line. A cold front extended south from the low across the western Great Lakes and then through Illinois and Missouri. Additional Links. For much of the area, this Friday was the last day of the school year, but by early afternoon it felt more like the middle of July than the end of May. On storm surveys the next day, Forbes saw stacks of ripped-down trees piled 10 feet high. Several other tornadoes have also been documented as possibly attaining this status, though they are not officially rated as such. Gregg did extensive aerial photography of the 1985 tornado event. This area is very hilly terrain and the tornado did not skip from one hill to the next, but went right down into the valley and up the other side for a far as the eye could see. Wheatland was more industrial, residential and had experienced a F5 tornado. Tales of being in their homes or yards and having little time to react. An EF5 tornado is the strongest designation a tornado can receive. The thunderstorms were supported by a cold front moving east across the northeastern U.S. ahead of a low pressure system moving northeastward through the Great Lakes region. A house was swept away on the outskirts of town. That day, that week forever etched in my mind. Because the distinctions between F4/EF4/T9 and F5/EF5/T10 tornadoes are often ambiguous, the official ratings of numerous other tornadoes formally rated below F5/EF5/T10 or equivalent have been disputed, with certain government sources or independent studies contradicting the official record. I called the Pennsylvania State Police and they gave me an update on the damage that the tornadoes had caused in our area. With vast landmasses beneath subtropical, moisture-laden air surging from the Gulf of Mexico and its polar opposite sagging from Canada, the United States is a world capital of tornadoes. In addition to the Newton Falls-Niles tornado, other somewhat weaker tornadoes affected the counties in Northeast Ohio. In Figure 2, we can see a warm front advecting northward across Ontario and a cold front moving eastward (entering Michigan). Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. As mentioned earlier, wind shear, or more importantly wind shear of the right magnitude and direction, will cause thunderstorms to rotate, which is a precursor to tornado development. I got much of my information from the disc jockeys themselves beforethey put me on the air. NOTE: The National Weather Service in Cleveland is looking for photos, videos, etc from the May 31, 1985 Tornado Outbreak. The storm was developing aloft and remain aloft across all of Clarion County. This tornado stayed on the ground for 45 miles but fortunately killed no people. I have never seen a sounding in Pittsburgh look so bad. I went to the fire department and they told me that tornadoes had touched down near the communities of Tionesta, Marienville, and Tidioute and one had hit Kane directly. The remaining residents have rebuilt their homes and lives and the area remains a beautiful place to live and work. Gangat, Rihaan. Working during the outbreak and witnessing the aftermath helped shape my future career as a broadcast meteorologist. I agreed to stay to help with the extra workload in the event things started to pop. A National Weather Service damage survey was not conducted due in part to the extensive damage and injuries from another tornado in. On May 31st, 1985 I was a wide eyed 14 year old boy living in Punxsutawney, PA. At that time I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I got out of High School and had to go to college. . 43 tornadoes and numerous damaging thunderstorms tore across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario. Pennsylvania Highways: May 31, 1985 Tornado Outbreak May 31, 1985 Tornado Outbreak The end of May is a great time for a kid, as I was in that fifth month of 1985. That evening while watching television (Superman IIto be precise; back in those "old days," the networks aired movies on Fridaynights), a crawl ran across the bottom of the screen that listed several counties in the viewing area that were in a tornado watch (these would have been counties in the northern part of the Harrisburg viewing area). Greg Forbes, myself, Fred [Gadomski], and Paul [Knight] were mesmerized by the radarand, out of the dead silence, Greg pronounced that "People are dying right now." Farms were leveled and a truck was thrown 300yd (274m). The house was just a few blocks from the ballfield where Dave Kostka lost his life saving two youngsters. This was the first time I'd ever heard/seen the term "tornado watch," and I distinctly recall asking my parents what it meant (I think they gave a decent answer, though some of the details now escape me). The outbreak continued east across north central Pennsylvania through late evening. We could see supercells developing north of Lake Erie and racing northeast. 20 farms were destroyed, some of which were obliterated. We had been expecting a severe weather outbreak over parts of the Ohio Valley that day; a weaker disturbance preceding the one responsible for the31 Mayevent had caused two rounds of severe weather in the Kansas City the previous day; one of these sent softball-sized stones through the roof of a co-worker who lived just a mile or so north of where I did around dawn on the morning of the 30th. Unfortunately, the tornadoes that hit Warren, Forest and Venango Counties on that fateful night thirty years ago were very destructive in terms of property and life. So I was familiar with the Allegheny NationalForest and some of the small towns in the area. We flew over Kane which was directly hit. National Weather Service Atlantic was thoroughly devastated. Some Midwestern counties have populations as low as one person per mile. The same supercell dropped another tornado right across the state line in Pennsylvania 15 minutes later and killed 9 people in Big Beaver, Pennsylvania. That said, a powerful tornado that packed winds up to 200 mph took away a house and killed three people in Limerick, Montgomery County, in July 1994, and a killer tornado struck the Philadelphia region, heavily damaging parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties and leaving four people dead, on May 28, 1896. It was taken by a salesman from Erie who later gave his undeveloped film to Buhl Clarke of Hermitage. I was escorted to the helicopter, given a helmet so I could communicate with the crew, and given a seat next to a rear door so I had a window. I volunteered for the Red Cross, and they sent me to Wheatland. Tornado, in one of historys greatest detective feats, measured the immeasurable, Storms disrupt SEPTA rail service; EF-2 tornado damages dozens of homes in Delco, California residents do not sell my data request. REMEMBERA TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONSARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERETHUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. Please note that Figure 11 and the following figures do not depict actual radar observations, but rather hand-drawn depictions of the supercells by NWS meteorologists. The 12Z soundings showed a strong cap with very unstable air abovethe cap. Tragically, these tornadoes killed 66 people in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The combination of moisture, instability, lift, and wind shear were present across a large area of the northeastern U.S. on May 31st. Nothing was happening on our side of the lakes. Of the 59 tornadoes in the United States, 50 are officially rated F5 on the original Fujita scale (with dates of occurrence between May 11, 1953, and May 3, 1999), and nine are officially rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale (with dates of occurrence between May 4, 2007, and May 20, 2013). I can only image the forecasters that surveyed the tornado damage from the May 31st, 1985 outbreak felt the same as I did when they viewed the destruction. A few days after the tornado outbreak a group of us toured a part of the path of the Moshannon tornado and the damage in Kane. They had their hunting camp in Clearfield County near Parker Dam State Park. The storms were the result of high levels of atmospheric instability present in an environment favorable for tornadic thunderstorms, triggered by the passage of a strong late-spring cold front. I'll never forget all the sirens going off as it was hitting. Following are several images of what the thunderstorms looked like to meteorologist on radar. The most EF5/F5 tornadoes in a single year. I will never forget the young man who was at his grandparents farmhouse with his fianc (he was to be married the next day). I was fascinated bythe power of the atmosphere. [15][16] From 1950 to 1970, tornadoes were assessed retrospectively, primarily using information recorded in government databases, as well as newspaper photographs and eyewitness accounts. And Im sure the carpet cleaning crew wondered why the weather station was so busy on a Friday night in between semesters. I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia and was in high school in May 1985. After issuing the early Convective Outlook, I went home to bed. Tragically, the tornadoes hit where people live. Rated F4 by Grazulis. The Penn State Campus Weather Service was on top of the outbreak. They were there to get everything ready for the Penn State Department of Meteorologys 50th Anniversary Celebration and Reunion just two weeks later. I called the Erie WSO to let them know about the serious strengthening of the storms and he said I have two hook echoes on my radar. Below is a collection taken from the NWS Cleveland, OH archive for this event, unless otherwise stated, these pictures are courtesy of Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 4: Collection of newspaper clippings from The Herald (2015): According to the NWS Cleveland, OH, the strongest of the tornadoes on May 31st touched down at the Ravenna Arsenal in eastern Portage County around 6:35 pm EDT. So in twenty minutes we went from no echoes on the radars to two tornadoes. [10][11] Additionally, because tornado ratings are damage-based, many tornadoes capable of causing F5/EF5/T10+ damage, such as those that move through rural areas, may receive lower ratings because their strongest winds do not strike any suitable damage indicators. Rip Currents, ABOUT in meteorology from 1992-1996, and in the summer of 1995, worked at the National Severe Storms Lab and participated in the VORTEX project--at the time, the biggest tornado field project ever. It mowed down just about every tree in the forests, in a path more than a mile wide at times, and stacking fallen trees atop each other piled 10 feet high.. These scales the Fujita scale, the Enhanced Fujita scale, the International Fujita scale, and the TORRO tornado intensity scale attempt to estimate the intensity of a tornado by classifying the damage caused to natural features and man-made structures in the tornado's path. Please try another search. First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The tornado finally lifted south of the town of Mercer after damaging or destroying more than a thousand homes. Between this scan and the next one at 4:55 PM, the cells had strengthened rapidly. National Weather Service The F5 rating is widely accepted. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Twenty-one tornadoes tracked across Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania during the evening of May 31st. More than one. Five other tornadoes also affected Crawford County on this day. I then rode in the PSP helicopter with him as we toured the areas near Dempseytown in Venango County that were hard hit by a tornado. Just before dawn on May 31, 1985, a warm front lifted across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and temperatures soared into the 80s in Cleveland and Erie, according to the National Weather Service account. Resulting in 34 deaths, the Xenia tornado was the deadliest of all tornadoes from this outbreak and remains among the top 10 costliest U.S. tornadoes on record (approximately $250 million in 1974). In fact, since May 31, 1985, only two tornado days have been deadlier in the entire United States. In all, 16 people died in this area. The second F4 that went through Corry in Eastern Erie County touched down at 5:25 PM. The Tri-State Tornado of March 25, 1925. Around 10pm, during one of the top-of-the-hour commercial and news breaks, the top story was that there had been deadly tornadoes earlier that evening in Ohio and Pennsylvania, though details remained sketchy at that point. That went on continuously for many hours. Twenty-one tornadoes tracked across Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania during the evening of May 31st. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ERIE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING UNTIL 530 PM FOR THESE COUNTIES IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIASOUTHERN ERIE A TORNADO WAS SIGHTED BY STATE POLICE NEAR PENNSIDESOUTH OF ALBION IN ERIE COUNTY AT 505 PMMOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. The entire trip took approximately 90 minutes and the amount of destruction and loss as viewed from the air was unbelievable. Yet here we were at 3:30 in the afternoon and not one shower had popped yet on the radar. I drove to Tionestaon Saturdaymorning to meet the helicopter. THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. The former Peter J. Schmitt Co. and Golden Dawn stores donated 100 cases each of paper towels, personal care items, diapers and canned vegetables. Five farms had all buildings swept away, homes were "absolutely reduced to kindling," and lumber was scattered for miles. On June 3rd, the Federal Government declared a state of emergency for the state of Pennsylvania. The tornado destroyed nearly the entire town of Wheatland, and seven more people were killed. Several F2 and one F1 tornado were also reported. At 850 mb (Figure 3), very warm/moist air was surging north into the Ohio Valley and a dryline was observed over the western Great Lakes and Midwest. This composite chart (courtesy Rihaan Gangat, NWS Pittsburgh) shows an expansive area of negative values with a bullseye of the lowest LIs (most unstable air) over eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania. In the weeks and months that followed, my legislative offices assisted people and communities obtain any state aid that was available. We assumed that this would be a dynamics drivenevent and the greatest dynamics were located closer to the surface low moving over Sault Saint Marie. May 31, 1985 Tornado Outbreak: 34th Anniversary. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. I was shaking so bad and didn't know where to go or what to do. All NOAA, A slow-moving storm system will continue rounds of low elevation rain showers and higher elevation rain/snow over the Ohio Valley and Northeast through midweek. The tornado finally lifted south of the town of Mercer after damaging or destroying more than a thousand homes. This storm went on to produce a F4 tornado with a track of over 60 miles across portions of Clearfield, Centre, and Clinton counties. That summer experience exposed me to careers in scientific research; I realized for the first time that I could actually make a living studying tornadoes. In Ohio, this was the worst event since the April 3-4th, 1974 outbreak that killed thirty-seven in Xenia. Thomas P. Grazulis Ted Fujita), or meteorological research institutions (i.e. Nine people were killed in the business district of Niles. It just felt unusual to me that day, so much so that I actually noticed it while we wereplaying catch. Quoting the original survey report produced by NOAA in 1985, perhaps the lesson to be learned from the 1985 outbreak is that under the proper atmospheric conditions, major tornadoes can occur irrespective of the location or terrain. This tornado is only listed as an F5 by the NCDC Technical Memorandum, and is not listed at all by Grazulis or any other sources, and is therefore a possible typographical error in the memorandum. An entire wall of a home was carried for 14mi (23km). I thanked him for the report and told him I would pass the information onto the Harrisburg WSO who had warning responsibility for Clinton. The F3 across Big Beaver and into Butler County touched down at about the exact same time as the F4 in Moshannon State Forest around 7:35 PM. This event was the deadliest tornado outbreak of the 1980's; killing 89 people in total, injuring more than 1,000 others, and racking up more than $600 million in property damage. I used up my entire career severe tornado quota on my first severe weather shift as a lead forecaster. In total, the Niles, OH to Wheatland, PA F5 tornado of May 31, 1985 impacted three counties in Ohio and two in Pennsylvania. The night of May 31, 1985 started a lifelong fascination inme with extreme weather, especially knowing that the F5 tornado had started on the easternend of my hometown. It was the only F5 twister in Pennsylvania history. A few, such as the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, are widely accepted as F5/EF5/T10+ tornadoes, despite not being rated as such in official records. Itbegan to hail and I heard my neighbor yell. Well-built homes were swept away in four counties with F5 damage in the town of Pomeroy. High 46F. This is the earliest estimated F5 that can be verified in the U.S. according to Grazulis. More than 10 tornadoes touched down in Ontario. I attended PSU for a B.S. The visible satellite loop in Figure 9 shows the development and explosive growth of thunderstorms across southern Ontario, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western New York on the afternoon of May 31st. I remember him saying the question was not whether there was a tornado, but how strong was the tornado?
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