The Pennsylvania Tornado Outbreak May 31, 1985

Overview Weather System Warnings, Lead Time and Video Wheatland Tornado – Pennsylvania’s Only F5 Other Significant Tornadoes Damage and Videos What Have We Learned? What Has Improved?

Storm Summary 41 confirmed tornadoes Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, southern Ontario Largest and most severe in this region May have been more than 41 88 deaths, 65 in PA (in 11 different counties) Worst in Pennsylvania history in terms of death and damage All in only about 8 hours...

Week of May 27, 1985 The week was unseasonably warm and humid in the eastern Great Lakes region Numerous tornado watches had been issued that week, associated with scattered afternoon thunderstorms throughout the region – mostly convective On May 31, tornado watch had been issued for 18 counties in western PA, stretching from Ohio border inland into Elk, Cameron and Potter counties, for the window of 5 to 11PM.

May 31, 1985 Dawn: A strong low pressure system was centered over Minnesota. Cold front extended south from the low into the western Great Lakes region. Late Morning: Low moved west to east into the northern Great Lakes region, and dry line tracked into western Ohio. Noon: Temperatures soared due to diurnal heating. Noon temperature at Erie was 85 degrees, with Cleveland reporting 87 and Youngstown reporting 82. Instability aloft began to produce favorable conditions for severe weather generation, upper level winds increase.

May 31 continued Early Afternoon: Daytime heating continued, spurring the development of thunderstorms along the cold front. First storms began to develop in southern Ontario. Strong upper level winds moving east begin to collide with strong low level jet winds moving southwest, and spin begins to develop in the atmosphere. Late Afternoon: The afternoon was hot, sticky and beautiful for most of the region until around 3PM because the air mass remained stable. The lid shifted in response to strong upper level winds and huge thunderstorm systems began to form along the cold front boundary. Cumulonimbus development was extremely rapid and without much warning.

May 31 continued First tornadoes developed in Southern Ontario around 2-3PM. Over a dozen tornadoes occurred there, with at least four F3s and two F4s reported. By 3-4PM, thunderstorm developing shifts to northeastern Ohio. First warning of the day for the region was a severe thunderstorm warning for Ashtabula County, issued at 4:10PM. Things only got worse from here…. By 5PM, several tornadoes are on the ground in Pennsylvania, including two F-4s in Erie County.

Satellite Image from ~ 4:45pm

May 31 continued ~6:30PM, an F5 touches down in Ravenna, Ohio. Tornado stays on the ground for 47 miles, destroying large chunks of Newton Falls, Niles and Hubbard, Ohio, and leveling Wheatland, Pennsylvania. This is Pennsylvania’s only F5 to date. The storm system moves eastward through the evening, producing several smaller tornadoes. The night concludes with one final tornado touching down around midnight near Tobyhanna.

Storm Tracks

First Warning for Erie County BULLETIN ACTIVATE EBS TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE PA 513 PM EDT FRI MAY 31 1985 EXPIRES 530 PM COUNTIES AFFECTED PA ERIE THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ERIE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING UNTIL 530 PM FOR THESE COUNTIES IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA...SOUTHERN ERIE A TORNADO WAS SIGHTED BY STATE POLICE NEAR PENNSIDE...SOUTH OF ALBION IN ERIE COUNTY AT 505 PM...MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. Note: Significant documentation that most clocks in the Albion area stopped at 5:05 PM – almost 10 minutes before the warning was issued….

WSR-74C Radar

Third Warning for Erie County BULLETIN ACTIVATE EBS TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE PA 620 PM EDT FRI MAY 31 1985 EXPIRES 700 PM MAY 31 1985 COUNTIES AFFECTED PA ERIE AND CRAWFORD THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ERIE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING UNTIL 700 PM FOR THESE COUNTIES IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SOUTHERN ERIE AND NORTHERN CRAWFORD. AT 620 PM ERIE WEATHER RADAR SHOWS NEW TORNADOS ON THE GROUND WEST OF ALBION AND CONNEAUTVILLE PENNA. MOVING TOWARDS THE EAST AT 35 MPH. ANOTHER TORNADO SOUTH OF SPARTANSBURG MOVING INTO WARREN COUNTY AND ONE NORTH OF OIL CITY MOVING INTO NORTHERN FOREST COUNTY.

WSR-74C Radar

Watch Video 1

Wheatland, PA Tornado Pennsylvania’s only F5 18 killed, 310 injured Worst tornado in the US in 1985 Traveled 47 miles through 3 counties (2 in Ohio, 1 in PA) Nearly half mile wide funnel, 300+ mph winds Strong enough to strip asphalt off a parking lot Destroyed 95% of Wheatland

Other Significant Tornadoes F4 in Clearfield/Clinton/Centre Counties – destroyed over 90,000 trees in Black Moshannon State Forest, picked up on seismographs, only picked up on State College radar because of the flying trees… F4 in Atlantic (Crawford/Venango) – 16 dead, destroyed grain mill, chair factory, phone towers, post office, school and 371 homes and barns. Poultry farm lost over 160,000 birds. Lasted over an hour, 56 miles. F4 in Albion (Erie) – 12 dead, leveled a 2 block by 10 block section of town, destroyed a mobile home park. F4 in Waterford (Erie) – 90 buildings destroyed, farm house was seen flying through the air, no deaths. F4 in Venango/Forest - 7 dead, many from vehicles being thrown off Highway 36.

Watch Video 2

Watch Video 3

Watch Video 4

Albion

Note: Look closely at the tree with the debris…

This street had only 2 story houses…

Classic F4 damage

The oddness of tornado damage…

Atlantic Post Office

Damage $1 billion in TODAY’S dollars Prior to 2005 hurricane season (Katrina, Rita, Wilma), was one of top 10 costliest US natural disasters Destroyed homes, schools, infrastructure, forest land, and almost the entire town of Wheatland. Presidential Disaster Area Large amount of damage/deaths in mobile homes Total Tornadoes F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 43 4 11 7 12 8 1

What Have We Learned? We needed better radar WSR-74C only used when storms were expected Was not very good at detecting through rain Radio and 911 systems needed updating Most 911 Centers in PA didn’t have redundancy Most deaths were areas with poor radio coverage Systems got overloaded – didn’t learn of the widespread devastation to until 12 hours later More evidence that mobile homes are not a safe place to be in a tornado – get out if severe weather is coming!

What Has Improved? Better radar -- Not necessarily better radar coverage WSR-88D “Doppler” radar came online in 1988, did not require the drawing on of echoes Had better velocity mode improved tornado detection Emergency call centers now have redundancy Weather alerts to cell phones, better tv warnings Some radio coverage has improved, particularly for weather radios (Perhaps) better education on severe weather dangers