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On This Day in 1965: Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak
April 10, 2022 at 04:14 PM EDT
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Christian Sayles
One of the largest tornado outbreaks begun nearly 60 years ago today. The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965 saw over 50 tornadoes wreak havoc over the Midwest over the course of three days.
It all began on April 10, 1965, when a powerful low pressure system developed over the Rockies and moved into the north-central Plains by April 11. This system, coupled with a strong jet stream that had sunk across the Great Plains, would induce a plethora of thunderstorms that resulted in tornadoes spinning up from Kansas to Arkansas, not to mention devastating hail up to two inches in diameter.
A total of seven tornadoes would be reported on April 10, with the strongest being an F4 on the Fujita Scale. The F4 tornado would sweep across the town of Conway, Ark., and result in the deaths of six people while leaving a reported 200 injured and an estimated $25 million (roughly $222 million in 2021) in damages alone. Another devasting tornado began in Lowemont, Kan., but would reform over the city of Bean Lake, Mo. This tornado was rated an F3 after it destroyed over 25 trailers while injuring 11 people. Damages from this tornado racked up to about $525,000 ($4.7 million in 2021).
The carnage wouldn’t stop there as the system had begun to intensify as it entered the Corn Belt, feeding off the warm, humid air that was streaming from the Gulf of Mexico. This, coupled with high wind shear, became the catalyst for additionally powerful storms to develop by the early afternoon. The center of low pressure had dropped to 980 millibars or 28.94 inches of mercury. This system was extratropical in that it had characteristics of a tropical cyclone.
A couple cities including Dodge City, Kan., and Peoria, Ill., launched weather balloons or radiosondes to take measurements of the atmosphere where the system was located. Data showed sustained winds reaching 155-185 mph, similar to that of a Category 5 hurricane! This system was able to feed off an extremely unstable environment which would result in devastating blows from multiple tornadic storms.
On April 11 alone, roughly 44 tornadoes were reported, with 17 of the total being rated an F4 on the Fujita Scale. There were many devastating tornadoes, but a storm near Orland, Ind., would spawn two F4 tornadoes both equally as deadly and about a mile wide. Both tornadoes would result in roughly 44 casualties, nearly 600 injuries and roughly $32 million (roughly $285 million in 2021).
The final day of the outbreak saw an additional 4 tornadoes touch down, and two tornadoes rated an F1 swept through Ohio. One of the two tornadoes swept through a farm across Lancaster, Ohio, before striking trailer parks in Dumontville. Thirteen people would be injured and about $750,000 would be loss from this tornado.
Over the course of three days, 55 confirmed tornadoes would cause a total of a little more than $1.2 billion (roughly $9.9 billion in 2022) across parts of the Midwest. A reported 266 people lost their lives while about 3,662 people were injured. When the dust settled, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak would become known as the second largest outbreak on record at the time and remains the fourth deadliest tornado event in history.
Source(s): National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center
Story Image: Destruction in the Manitou Beach–Devils Lake area after the F4 tornadoes of April 11, 1965. (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA)
It all began on April 10, 1965, when a powerful low pressure system developed over the Rockies and moved into the north-central Plains by April 11. This system, coupled with a strong jet stream that had sunk across the Great Plains, would induce a plethora of thunderstorms that resulted in tornadoes spinning up from Kansas to Arkansas, not to mention devastating hail up to two inches in diameter.
A total of seven tornadoes would be reported on April 10, with the strongest being an F4 on the Fujita Scale. The F4 tornado would sweep across the town of Conway, Ark., and result in the deaths of six people while leaving a reported 200 injured and an estimated $25 million (roughly $222 million in 2021) in damages alone. Another devasting tornado began in Lowemont, Kan., but would reform over the city of Bean Lake, Mo. This tornado was rated an F3 after it destroyed over 25 trailers while injuring 11 people. Damages from this tornado racked up to about $525,000 ($4.7 million in 2021).
The carnage wouldn’t stop there as the system had begun to intensify as it entered the Corn Belt, feeding off the warm, humid air that was streaming from the Gulf of Mexico. This, coupled with high wind shear, became the catalyst for additionally powerful storms to develop by the early afternoon. The center of low pressure had dropped to 980 millibars or 28.94 inches of mercury. This system was extratropical in that it had characteristics of a tropical cyclone.
A couple cities including Dodge City, Kan., and Peoria, Ill., launched weather balloons or radiosondes to take measurements of the atmosphere where the system was located. Data showed sustained winds reaching 155-185 mph, similar to that of a Category 5 hurricane! This system was able to feed off an extremely unstable environment which would result in devastating blows from multiple tornadic storms.
On April 11 alone, roughly 44 tornadoes were reported, with 17 of the total being rated an F4 on the Fujita Scale. There were many devastating tornadoes, but a storm near Orland, Ind., would spawn two F4 tornadoes both equally as deadly and about a mile wide. Both tornadoes would result in roughly 44 casualties, nearly 600 injuries and roughly $32 million (roughly $285 million in 2021).
The final day of the outbreak saw an additional 4 tornadoes touch down, and two tornadoes rated an F1 swept through Ohio. One of the two tornadoes swept through a farm across Lancaster, Ohio, before striking trailer parks in Dumontville. Thirteen people would be injured and about $750,000 would be loss from this tornado.
Over the course of three days, 55 confirmed tornadoes would cause a total of a little more than $1.2 billion (roughly $9.9 billion in 2022) across parts of the Midwest. A reported 266 people lost their lives while about 3,662 people were injured. When the dust settled, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak would become known as the second largest outbreak on record at the time and remains the fourth deadliest tornado event in history.
Source(s): National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center
Story Image: Destruction in the Manitou Beach–Devils Lake area after the F4 tornadoes of April 11, 1965. (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA)