23 Years Ago: The Only F-5 Tornado to Occur in August: Plainfield, IL

On this date in 1990, an F-5 tornado struck the community of Plainfield, IL, causing extensive damage.  The tornado killed 29 people and injured over 300 more.  To this day it is still the only F-5 (now called EF-5) tornado known to occur anytime during the month of August in the United States.

Steve L., the pilot of a Cessna 172, took the aerial photos above and below along the damage path in Plainfield a few days after the tornado took place:

The path of destruction was 16 miles long and 600 yards wide at one point as the tornado tracked from Northwest to Southeast across the area during the late afternoon hours:

The National Weather Service (NWS) was heavily criticized for failing to warn of the tornado in this particular event.  Back at the time, the area that is now covered solely by the NWS Office in Chicago was split between that office and one in Rockford, IL.  The Rockford office performed quite well, giving advanced warning of a tornado that was produced by the same thunderstorm over that part of the region.  As the storm moved into NWS Chicago's area of responsibility, the warning performance degraded significantly.

The NWS's own "service assessment" report following the event was rightfully hard on the Chicago office, as you can see in the excerpt below:

At the time that was the harshest criticism I had ever read in a NWS service assessment (of itself), and I don't think it's been surpassed to this date (if anything, the NWS has become "easier" on itself in subsequent service assessments).

In its defense, the NWS in Chicago pointed out that the Storm Prediction Center (which was then called the National Severe Storms Forecast Center) had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch instead of a Tornado Watch for the region that afternoon.

While "only" one supercell storm produced tornadoes within the watch area on that day, the Plainfield EF-5 tornado was one of them.  Hence the reason that I always caution folks not to let their guard down, particularly when dealing with an isolated, supercell storm.

You can be that residents of the area will never forget that day, nor are they likely to let their guard down "just because" there isn't a Tornado Watch in effect - and who can blame them, especially after seeing images like these:

This was also one of the last tornadoes to be examined by the late Dr. Ted Fujita, the preeminent tornado researcher and damage survey pioneer of our lifetime (creator of the Fujita "F-Scale").

You may find it surprising that the F-5 rating was arrived upon by Dr. Fujita's examination of damage to a corn field, rather than by any structural damage within the city itself:

Dr. Fujita gave a presentation on the Plainfield tornado as shown in the following YouTube video.  This was one of his last formal presentations which was held at the 3rd Tornado Symposium in Norman, OK back in 1991.  I had the great pleasure of attending that meeting and seeing his presentation in person.  If you have the time and interest, I highly recommend viewing it at some point as it gives a lot of great information on this event:

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Tornado "Drought" Continues Across U.S. - Going Crazy in Canada

I was rather amused by a tweet that I saw yesterday from a person that I follow here in the U.S.: "Dear Canada, can we please have our tornadoes back?"

I guess they're a little bored with July's pronounced lack of tornadoes and severe weather here in the states.  In fact, we're currently on pace to record the lowest number of tornadoes in the month of July since records have been kept in 1950.  So far this month, we've only had 12 tornadoes in the U.S. (preliminary number),  compared to 103 last year and a 3 year average of 122.  

Meanwhile, up North in Canada, it's tornadoes gone wild!  Yesterday was no exception, as shown by the following impressive photos and video taken near Balgonie, Saskatchewan by Greg Johnson:

You can see more on Greg's website, TornadoHunter.com.

As I always like to point out, it takes as little as 1 event to blow away a "trend" when it comes to severe weather, and the monthly tornado count is no exception.

Widespread severe weather is forecast across the Great Lakes today and the Ohio Valley into New England tomorrow.  While damaging winds will be the primary threat, there is also a chance of tornadoes.  It would take 12 tornadoes to prevent July 2012 from becoming the new "record low" tornado month.  The previous record low was 23 in both 1950 and 1951.

I digress, but I can't help but think of this funny story every time I hear the words "Saskatchewan, Canada".  I was chasing a severe storm with a tornado on the ground in the middle of nowhere in central Nebraska in June of 1990.  Myself and my chase partners were the only people in sight for miles, when all of the sudden an elderly man drove up in an older model 4 door sedan and asked "Pardon me, is this the road to Saskatchewan, Canada?".  I stopped taking pictures of the tornado (which I don't even think he noticed) long enough to pull out the road atlas (yes, kiddies, this was well before cellphones and GPS mapping technology) and confirm that yes, in a round about way, he would eventually make it to Saskatchewan on that road!

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Severe Weather History: First Radar Indicated Tornado Signature on this Date in 1953...

The above YouTube video shows the first ever radar indicated tornado signature (also known as a "hook echo"). It was captured on this date back in 1953 on a radar being tested by the Illinois State Water Survey in Champaign, IL.  

The parent thunderstorm went on to produce the tornado shown below:

Needless to say, technology has advanced quite a bit since the 1950s and 1960s when meteorologists and forecasters sat in darkened rooms watching for the latest sweep of the radar scope, hoping to make something out on the blurry screens.

In a recent post I described the benefits of the latest round of radar technology, dual polarization, which is currently being launched at National Weather Service radar sites around the country.   You can view that article by going here.

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22nd Anniversary of Hesston, KS Tornado and Related Outbreak...

It's hard (for me) to believe that it was 22 years ago today that a strong tornado struck the town of Hesston, KS. I lived just to the South and was working at KAKE-TV in Wichita.  I was on duty that day so I couldn't chase, but at least I was able to track the tornado outbreak that was taking place across the central U.S. and help keep our viewers informed of what was going on.

The Hesston tornado was just one of just 59 tornadoes to touch down on March 13th, 1990.  Two of those tornadoes were rated F-5 intensity, with another pair rated F-4 intensity.  There were 10 F-3 tornadoes as well.

The tornado that struck Hesston initiated near Pretty Prairie just after 4:30pm CDT, producing a nearly three-quarter mile wide path of damage near Haven, which was rated F-4 intensity.

By the time the tornado reached Hesston, it caused F-5 intensity damage in the city.  Despite the impressive size and strength of the tornado, only 1 person was killed.  That had been the first tornado death in Kansas since 1984.

The following YouTube video is very impressive and well worth the watch.  It contains several different photos and videos at various vantage points along the path of the tornado.  At approximately 4:30 into the video, you can see the original tornado begin to diminish and merge with a newly formed tornado to the immediate right:

The newly formed tornado also went on to produce violent, F-5, damage before diminishing just to the Northeast of Goessel.  The parent thunderstorm would then produce at least 3 more tornadoes as the storm continued into Northeast Kansas.

That same outbreak produced several tornadoes in Oklahoma, including this one near Wakita:

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Is "National Weather Person's Day" Legit or Did Somebody Just Make it Up?

When I first heard of "National Weather Person's Day" some years back I thought it was just a random day that had been created by one of the greeting card companies to bring in some extra cash before Valentine's Day.  Or perhaps it was created by a shameless "Weather Person" somewhere that was just looking for breakfast in bed one day per year.

Alas, I was wrong - there is actually some historical significance involved!  So, all of you history buffs out there - turn off The History Channel HD for a minute and check this out:

John Jeffries, circa 1784

On this date back way back in 1745, a man named John Jeffries was born in Boston.  He later became a physician, serving as a surgeon with the British Army in Nova Scotia and New York during the American Revolution.

Not only was Jeffries a skilled physician and surgeon, but he also had a "thing" for the weather.  He loved to take and record weather observations wherever he was stationed.  In 1784, he flew the first known "weather balloon" to a height of 9,000 feet over London, taking readings on a thermometer, barometer and a hygrometer (a device used to measure humidity).

Rendering of Jeffries Over the English Channel

So, National Weather Person's Day was created to commemorate Jeffries' birthday and celebrate his feats as one of the world's first weather observers.

We've certainly come a long way in weather science since Jeffries' trip over London in the 1780s!

Weather balloons are now launched at least twice per day at over 800 locations all around the world.  The data is then fed into giant supercomputers that perform millions (or even billions) of calculations per second and spit out detailed forecast models of what the weather is likely to do anywhere from one hour to 360 hours in the future.  It is up to your local weather person to interpret that data and develop an accurate forecast so that you can plan your day, your birthday party, outdoor wedding, etc.

We now have sophisticated weather radars powerful enough to detect a flock of birds on a clear day and the rotating winds of a supercell thunderstorm about to spawn a tornado on a stormy day.  Severe weather warnings issued by your local weather person (or persons) are saving lives, giving some 20+ minutes advanced warning in many cases.

So, if you're in the neighborhood of Amherst College today, be sure to stop by the Archives Section of the library and sign the guest book for the John Jeffries collection.

On the other hand, I guess you could take the easy way out and just shoot an e-mail or send a tweet to your favorite local weather person and thank him or her for their service today.  They get lots of negative press when things don't go quite as expected (although that doesn't happen as often now as it did even 10 or 15 years ago), so I'm sure they'd appreciate some positive feedback on this special day that they share with John Jeffries...

Oh, and to my dear wife:  how about waffles instead of pancakes next time?


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Hurricane Andrew - 19 Years Ago Today

The focus right now is on Hurricane Irene, and rightly so.  Let's not forget, however, the 19th Anniversary of the Hurricane Andrew strike on Florida (and later Louisiana).


The Florida landfall took place at about 4:40 a.m. EDT today, August 24th, 1992, near Elliott Key, with winds of 165 mph and a minimum pressure of 926 millibars (27.30 inches of mercury).

Total damage caused by Andrew was estimated at $26.5 billion ($41.5 billion in 2011 dollars).  At the the time, Andrew was only the third Category 5 hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States.


Due to the extensive damage and casualty rate (23 direct fatalities; 39 indirect fatalities) caused by Andrew, that particular storm name was retired by the National Hurricane Center and will never be used again.


Let us not forget what kind of damage a powerful hurricane can do as we closely monitor the progression of Irene in the coming days.  She may not reach category 5 intensity, but she will certainly be a major storm, with major impact along much of the U.S. East Coast (including much heavier populated areas than those affected by Andrew).




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The Weather's Role in Bin Laden's Taste of Justice

Who says the weather doesn't affect almost everything?  It even played a significant role in the recent (and highly successful), raid on Usama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

The image below is a screen capture (click to enlarge) of the weather observations from the airport in Islamabad, Pakistan from this past Saturday, April 30th.  This location is about 30 miles from Abbottabad, where Mr. Bin Laden was introduced to justice by one or more Navy SEALs on Sunday night.

As you can see by examining the above weather data, not only was the visibility low throughout the day, but thunderstorms and 25+ mph winds also plagued the area.  None of these conditions are ideal for conducting operations via low flying, fast moving Black Hawk helicopters.

As widely reported, it was for this reason that the mission (which had originally been planned for Saturday night), was moved to Sunday night (U.S. time).  The weather was forecast to clear, winds were forecast to be nearly calm and visibility was forecast to improve enough for safe operations, yet still remain within a range that limited sight by the naked eye on the ground.  All of that is exactly what came to pass on Sunday night.

Another added benefit of the Sunday night operation was the presence of a new moon, which meant little to no additional brightness in the sky to possibly tip-off the inhabitants of the compound (or their protectors) that a surprise was coming.

All throughout history, we've heard the tales of the role that weather (and weather forecasting) has played in significant military events.  This is just the most recent example.  I'm certainly glad to echo the reports that the mission was successful, and every U.S. soldier returned safely to base.

20th Anniversary of 4-26-91 Tornado Outbreak

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the deadly April 26th tornado outbreak of 1991.  This event caused 54 tornadoes, 21 deaths and 308 injuries, as well as over $250 million in damage across central and southern portions of the U.S.

The map below shows severe weather reports from that day (tornado tracks in red, hail reports in green, severe wind reports in blue:

A close-up image of the longer track tornadoes in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska is shown below:



One of the more memborable tornadoes of that day struck southeast Wichita and Andover, Kansas.  The series of stills below shows the tornado as it moved into the Andover area:

...and below is a video of the same tornado:

A large number of the fatalities that day took place at the Golden Spur mobile home park in Andover, which was almost completely destroyed.

Other significant tornadoes took place that day in Nebraska and Oklahoma.  The most notable tornado in Oklahoma, dubbed "Red Rock" was also well documented:

The event was well forecast, actually several days in advance.  Early on the morning of the event, a rarely used "High Risk" forecast was issued by the NSSFC (now the SPC), warning residents all across the Plains of the major event that was to come:

The first tornado watch of the day for the Wichita / Andover area included the rarely used wording:  "This is a Particularly Dangerous Situation with the Possibility of Very Damaging Tornadoes...", as shown below:

Ironically enough, 20 years later, today, April 26, 2011, another rarely issued "High Risk" of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes is being forecast for parts of the southern and central U.S.  The event expected to unfold today is quite a distance to the South and East of the 1992 episode, but very threatening just the same.