1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak

Infobox tornado outbreak
name=1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak
date=May 31, 1985
image location= May31CLEtracks.gif

Fujita scale survey reports across eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania May 31, 1985 tornado outbreak
duration=~8 hours
fujitascale=F5
tornadoes=41+ confirmed
total damages (USD)=$980 million (2005 USD)or in (CND)=$1 134 839 790.49 billion (2005 CND)
total fatalities=88
areas affected=Southern Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Upstate New York

The U.S. - Canadian Outbreak was a major tornado outbreak that occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, on May 31, 1985. Forty-one tornadoes were counted including 13 in Ontario. It is the largest and most intense tornado outbreak ever to hit this region.

torm system

The tornado outbreak was caused by a powerful low pressure system that traveled across the Midwestern United States during the early hours of May 31. A warm front associated with the storm sparked heavy thunderstorms during the pre-dawn hours. In the morning, the sun came out and temperatures soared into the mid to upper 80 degrees with a high humidity level, conditions typically seen during the summer months. However, a cold front which accompanied the system set up the stage for severe weather during the late afternoon hours.

torm timeline and aftermath

The outbreak lasted roughly from just after 4 PM EDT, when the first tornado touched down in Ontario, until 11 PM EDT when tornadoes struck central and southern Ohio. However, the peak of the outbreak took place during the early evening hours, where the deadliest tornadoes across western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio took place.

In all, 88 people lost their lives. It was the third costliest tornado outbreak in the history of the U.S., where it caused $450 million (1985 U.S. dollars) damage in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. It was also one of the costliest in Canada: damage in Ontario totalled an estimated $100 million USD. The damage would total nearly $1 billion in 2005 US dollars.

United States

The Niles/Wheatland tornado

The small Pennsylvania town of Wheatland was nearly wiped out by a massive tornado, the most violent of the 41 recorded that day. Registering F5 on the Fujita scale, it was also the only F5 in Pennsylvania history. Fact|date=March 2008

It first touched down in Ohio near the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage County around 6:30 PM EDT. Gathering strength, it moved quickly into Newton Falls in Trumbull County causing F3 and F4 damage through Newton Falls and Lordstown. While nearly 400 homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, no fatalities were recorded in Newton Falls, due to storm preparedness of local authorities and its tornado siren. [ [http://www.may311985tornadoes.com/Newton_Falls_OH_News/pages/07_Clayton_Reakes.htm] [http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/swio/pages/content/1985_tornadoes.htm 1985: Northeastern Tornadoes ] ]

As it neared the PA border in Niles and Hubbard townships of eastern Trumbull County, it created its first area of F5 damage. When it reached Mercer County, PA, it was a half-mile (0.8 km) wide funnel with winds estimated at 300 mph (480 km).Fact|date=March 2008 At Wheatland Sheet and Tube, the asphalt was scoured off the parking lot, and shards of sheet metal and routing slips were left wedged beneath the remaining asphalt.Fact|date=March 2008 95% of Wheatland's business and residential area were destroyed.Fact|date=March 2008 According to "Storm Data" from the National Weather Service, the destruction of the town "resembled that of a bombed-out battle field." The tornado finally ended near the city of Mercer, 47 miles (75 km) from where it began its trek, leaving 18 people dead (11 in Ohio) and 310 injured.Fact|date=March 2008

In Ohio, it was the deadliest tornado since the Xenia F5 during the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974. The tornado was also captured on camera by several residents.Fact|date=March 2008 [http://www.may311985tornadoes.com/]

Other U.S. tornadoes

What may have been one of the most impressive tornadic events of the 20th century also occurred during this outbreak [Grazulis, Thomas P. 2001. The Tornado. Norman; University of Oklahoma Press; p. 203] . Later rated at F4, this massive tornado tracked over 69 miles (110 kilometers) of mainly dense forest and wilderness in central Pennsylvania (some outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed early in its life). The maximum width of the damage path from this storm was estimated to be at least 2.2 miles [Grazulis, Thomas P. 2001. The Tornado. Norman; University of Oklahoma Press; p. 203] ; and it was also estimated that at least 90,000 trees were obliterated in the Moshannon/Sproul State Forest. The tornado crossed the western branch of the Susquehanna River twice, during its hour and a half on the ground.Fact|date=March 2008

Tremors were picked up by seismometers in the area, and a reflectivity spike later became visible in the hook-echo on the more primitive weather radar of the time (a WSR-57 unit located in State College, Pennsylvania), as the radar itself was picking up the hundreds of trees flying through the air at any given moment.Fact|date=March 2008

The deadliest tornado (later rated at F4) in Pennsylvania occurred in southern Crawford and northern Venango Counties where 23 were killed by this tornado, the deadliest ever in the state's history.Fact|date=March 2008 In total, 64 people were killed in Pennsylvania alone, by far the deadliest death toll in a tornado outbreak and in a single day for that state.Fact|date=March 2008 Later in the evening, some of these tornadoes crossed into New York affecting southern Chautauqua County, New York and Cattaraugus County, New York. One was an F4 and the other was an F3; nobody was killed but over 20 were injured in New York state.Fact|date=March 2008

Ontario, Canada

Some of the more notable tornadoes that day struck near Barrie, Ontario, about an hour north of Toronto. Killing 12 and injuring 155, these pair of F4's were some of the most powerful in Canada's history. 8 of the deaths occurred in the city of Barrie alone. Another tornado to the south had tracked 65 miles (105km) from near Arthur to just north of Newmarket. It was the deadliest tornado outbreak to hit Ontario since the Windsor Tornado during the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974 that killed 8 people.

The storm produced a total of 13 tornadoes across southern Ontario, one of the largest number of tornadoes recorded ever in the province in a single day.

Tornado table

Confirmed tornadoes

See also

*List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
*List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes

References

*Grant, John G. (1987). "Tornado Watch #211"
*Witten, Donald E. (1985). "May 31, 1985 - A Deadly Tornado Outbreak". "Weatherwise" magazine, 38 (4).

External links

* [http://www.spc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-spc/getsevereplot.pl?Month=05&Day=31&Year=1985 NWS Storm Data]
* [http://www.may311985tornadoes.com/ Website on the May 31, 1985 tornado outbreak]
* [http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/office/localinterest/1985Tornado/1985Tornado.html NWS Cleveland outbreak page]