Hoosier Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I've put together a list of some of the more notable tornado outbreaks in the Lakes/OV region from 1950-2013. I started off with well over 50 events and have narrowed it down to 25, which wasn't easy as there was a lot to choose from. Before I get into the countdown, some rules and notes... For purposes of this thread, I define the subforum region as the entire states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio. Additionally, the area of Minnesota covered by ARX, the area of Iowa covered by ARX and DVN, and the area of Missouri covered by DVN, LSX and PAH (basically se MN, e IA, e MO). Things I looked at to come up with the rankings for each outbreak were number of tornadoes, total path length of all tornadoes, number of strong tornadoes, number of violent tornadoes and number of fatalities. These categories are subject to error (we all know about the issues with rating tornado intensity but path length can be a source of error as well as some tornadoes were given artificially long path lengths even if there were clear breaks in damage, particularly in older events) but this is the way I went about it. Did not want to mess with path width or anything else. In some cases, other factors such as time of year/climatology were considered in coming up with rankings. Generally speaking, I used a 6 hour rule in determining the number of tornadoes for each event. That is, if there was more than a 6 hour break in between tornado occurrences, any tornadoes that occurred after that break did not count toward the total. However, I bent this rule in one case which will be explained when the time comes. Tornadoes that began outside the subforum and crossed in were counted, but only the portion that happened in this subforum was counted toward the total path length and fatalities. The same process applies to tornadoes that started in this subforum and crossed out. Highly localized outbreaks did not make the list for the most part. As mentioned at the beginning, it was tough to narrow this down and I may include a list of honorable mentions at the end. Severeplot images are provided to show tornado tracks and intensities, but the numbers on the bottom of those images will differ from what I have in many cases as Severeplot picks up on tornadoes that happened outside of the subforum boundaries. Also, any tornadoes that went unrated do not show up on Severeplot. Ok, enough rambling. Drumroll please. #25 - March 5-6, 1961 19 tornadoes 325 miles 9 F2+ 0 F4+ 1 fatality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 #24 - May 31, 1985 11 tornadoes 117 miles 7 F2+ 3 F4+ 11 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 #23 - November 10, 2002 25 tornadoes 174 miles 9 F2+ 1 F4+ 5 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 #22 - October 18-19, 2007 37 tornadoes 197 miles 16 EF2+ 0 EF4+ 3 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 #21 - May 8, 1988 51 tornadoes 407 miles 14 F2+ 0 F4+ 0 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlogin Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Nice work--Looking forward to the rest-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Nice work--Looking forward to the rest-- Thanks. I'll try to do about 5 per day. It became difficult to rank some of these as numbers were relatively similar in various categories, so you could argue that things could be shifted up or down. Another issue was how to deal with outbreaks that produced many fatalities but not many tornadoes. Overall I'd say I placed slightly less emphasis on fatalities compared to the other stuff, and one must bear in mind how much the warning process has improved compared to the early years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 #20 - June 7-8, 1984 13 tornadoes 209 miles 10 F2+ 2 F4+ 10 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 #19 - March 12, 1976 21 tornadoes 209 miles 12 F2+ 0 F4+ 4 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Illinois Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Great list so far can't wait to see the rest it'll be interesting to see where you rank last novembers tornado outbreak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 #18 - April 23, 1968 12 tornadoes 224 miles 8 F2+ 3 F4+ 14 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 Great list so far can't wait to see the rest it'll be interesting to see where you rank last novembers tornado outbreak High...very high. A little hint...9 out of the 12 calendar months will be represented on this list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 #17 - February 29, 2012 21 tornadoes 209 miles 14 EF2+ 1 EF4+ 9 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 #16 - June 5-6, 2010 39 tornadoes 202 miles 14 EF2+ 1 EF4+ 8 fatalities There appears to be a couple plotting errors in Illinois on Severeplot, which results in the EF2+ count showing 16 instead of 14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #15 - March 20, 1976 23 tornadoes 259 miles 9 F2+ 3 F4+ 2 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #14 - March 11-13, 2006 35 tornadoes 345 miles 13 F2+ 1 F4+ 2 fatalities In the first post I mentioned the 6 hour rule that was used. This is the one case where I bent it as there was a 6 hour and 1 minute gap between the end time and start time of two of the tornadoes in Illinois on March 11 into March 12 (there were actually some tornadoes occurring outside the region during that time). That is really within the "margin of error" and I felt it silly to get hung up over 1 minute. Many tornadoes occurred just west of the subforum in this event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #13 - May 10-11, 2003 46 tornadoes 391 miles 14 F2+ 0 F4+ 1 fatality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #12 - May 15-16, 1968 21 tornadoes 199 miles 12 F2+ 2 F4+ 27 fatalities Going on tornado numbers alone, this one wouldn't rank as high but the number of fatalities elevates the ranking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #11 - April 19-20, 1996 69 tornadoes 238 miles 17 F2+ 0 F4+ 1 fatality Note: largest tornado outbreak on record in Illinois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwburbschaser Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 I notice lot of March events so far, and I'd imagine that you aren't done with the month yet either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #10 - January 24, 1967 23 tornadoes 140 miles 20 F2+ 2 F4+ 5 fatalities This was an unusual January outbreak for so far north. This outbreak is responsible for 2 of the 3 F4s that have occurred in the region in the month of January since 1950. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #9 - December 18, 1957 25 tornadoes 191 miles 22 F2+ 3 F4+ 17 fatalities This was a very impressive outbreak especially by December standards. I wrestled with the order of this and #8 but this one occurred over a much smaller area than #8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 #8 - April 3, 1956 20 tornadoes 251 miles 16 F2+ 3 F4+ 28 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 #7 - March 2, 2012 31 tornadoes 289 miles 13 EF2+ 2 EF4+ 41 fatalities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 #6 - June 8, 1953 9 tornadoes (1 unrated) 215 miles 8 F2+ 4 F4+ 142 fatalities This event probably had more tornadoes than shown (I guess you can say that in many instances). The high ranking on my list is largely due to the violent tornado and fatality counts. The Flint-Beecher tornado is one of five on record in the region to result in over 100 fatalities and the only such tornado in the post 1950 era (1896 St. Louis, 1899 New Richmond WI, 1917 Mattoon-Charleston IL, 1925 Tri State). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900hurricane Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Nice list, very interesting! Down to the top five now. One and two are easy to guess, and I imagine 6/2/90 and 11/17/13 will be included as well. After that though, my knowledge of the tornado history of this area becomes a little lacking. 5/25/11 had a whole bunch of tornadoes, but most of them weren't anywhere near the significance of some of the others on on this list. May 18th was somewhat similar with a decent number of tornadoes, but none of real significance, at least in this particular area. Maybe November 22, 1992? That would probably be my guess. Of the remaining five, I'd guess a ranking as follows. 5) November 22, 1992 4) November 17, 2013 3) June 2, 1990 2) April 11, 1965 1) April 3, 1974 We'll see how well I do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 #19 - March 12, 1976 21 tornadoes Did the F3 tornado in 1976 hit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore? Sandstorm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Nice list, very interesting! Down to the top five now. One and two are easy to guess, and I imagine 6/2/90 and 11/17/13 will be included as well. After that though, my knowledge of the tornado history of this area becomes a little lacking. 5/25/11 had a whole bunch of tornadoes, but most of them weren't anywhere near the significance of some of the others on on this list. May 18th was somewhat similar with a decent number of tornadoes, but none of real significance, at least in this particular area. Maybe November 22, 1992? That would probably be my guess. Of the remaining five, I'd guess a ranking as follows. April 21st, 1967 (Belvidere/Oak Lawn) is my guess for being the other one out of the top 5. Ranks high on fatalities and number of violent/significant tornadoes. http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1967/4/21/map Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornadotony Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Did the F3 tornado in 1976 hit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore? Sandstorm! No. That tornado is misplotted on the SPC database. According to Grazulis, it was an F4 that traveled 25 mi from far east central Lake County near the Ross and Ainsworth communities, across Porter County near South Haven and between Valpo and Chesterton, into NW La Porte County. It passed S of the Dunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 Remaining 5 have been mentioned...the question is what order. I may reveal numbers 1 and 2 at the same time. Drama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.