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Tornado outbreak of May 19–22, 1957
Weather event in the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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From May 19–22, 1957, a tornado outbreak took place across the US Central Plains. A total of 59 tornadoes were reported from Colorado to the Mississippi Valley.[note 1][note 2] The most destructive tornado of the severe weather event—likely part of a long-lived family—was rated at F5, the highest level, and is often called the Ruskin Heights tornado, after the site of its worst damage, a suburb and housing development in southern Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, a powerful F4 tornado virtually destroyed Fremont, Missouri, claiming seven lives, and an F3 tornado killed eight others in and near Belgrade, Missouri. A pair of F4s—one in Minnesota, the other in Kansas—also neared F5 intensity. In all, 59 people were killed during the outbreak, including 44 in the Ruskin Heights tornado.
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Background
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The outbreak coincided with elevated tornado activity: the period May 19–26 was one of the most intense to date, since the founding of the United States Weather Bureau. At 00:30 UTC (7:30 p.m. CDT) on May 20, a 75-to-80-knot (86 to 92 mph; 139 to 148 km/h) mid-level jet stream bisected dew points of 65 °F (18 °C), coincident with a 986-millibar (29.1 inHg) low-pressure area and warm front over southeastern Nebraska. Soundings and surface weather observations indicated a robust, unstable warm sector, showing 3,000 j/kg of surface-based convective available potential energy (CAPE) and the presence of strong wind shear. Favoring supercells, this setup led to the then largest one-day total of tornadoes in Weather Bureau history. At 17:00 UTC (12:00 p.m. CDT) the Severe Local Storms Unit (SELS) in Kansas City had already issued a severe weather watch, mentioning tornadoes, for the Kansas–Nebraska state line and its environs. Subsequent updates covered much of the eastern Great Plains, from the Green Country to southeastern Nebraska. Upon formation, severe thunderstorms traveled at up to 42 mph (68 km/h), attended by extremely large hail.[1][3]
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Outbreak statistics
Confirmed tornadoes
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Several unconfirmed tornadoes were also reported:
- May 20: tornadoes were reported south of Solomon Rapids, Kansas, and east of Concordia, Kansas.[5]
Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991.[6][note 3] 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments.[10][note 4] Numerous discrepancies on the details of tornadoes in this outbreak exist between sources. The total count of tornadoes and ratings differs from various agencies accordingly. The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.
May 19 event
May 20 event
May 21 event
May 22 event
Williamsburg−Spring Hill, Kansas/Ruskin Heights–Raytown, Missouri
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
This violent, long-tracked, multiple-vortex event was likely a family of tornadoes. Forming near Williamsburg, it moved northeastward through several counties, producing near-continuous damage; a single tornado was likely present for 50 mi (80 km) or more. Around Homewood, the tornado was attended by up to 10 tentacle-like vortices or satellite tornadoes, producing major damage to rural property and carrying gravestones miles away. Passing near Ottawa, Rantoul, and Spring Hill, it leveled many homes and caused seven fatalities. It also damaged a drive-in, motel, and truck stop. South of Wellsville, the tornado may have dissipated and reformed; it then continued uninterruptedly for the rest of its life.
Along the Kansas–Missouri border the tornado followed a near-straight line, causing $1 million in losses in Kansas. Affecting the southern suburbs of Kansas City, it entered Missouri, tearing through Martin City, Hickman Mills, and Ruskin Heights, along with the northeastern side of Grandview. Housing incurred F5 damage, besides some businesses at a shopping center. Some areas were reportedly "swept clean", and a newly built brick school in Ruskin Heights was badly damaged. 85% of Martin City was uninhabitable. In all the tornado claimed 37 lives in Missouri and injured 500 or more people. Debris from Hickman Mills was found in Iowa, 165 mi (266 km) away, and other debris was carried aloft 30,000 ft (9,100 m; 5.7 mi; 9.1 km).
Historically, the 1957 F5 was not the only significant tornado to affect the area: an F3 tornado also affected Martin City and nearby Holmes Park on May 23, 1946, destroying or damaging chicken coops, silos, a marketplace, barns, and homes. The tornado killed a couple and injured five people.[104]
Fremont–Van Buren, Missouri
A cyclic supercell was likely responsible for this deadly, violent tornado, which probably formed over remote parts of the Mark Twain National Forest. The tornado, possibly a member of a long-lived family, did little or no damage before Fremont. Entering town, the tornado rendered unusable all but seven structures, causing "F5-appearing" damage. Hardest hit were schools, businesses, and homes on the eastern side of Fremont, along and near the railroad; these were poorly built, so the tornado was rated F4, but F5 winds could have occurred. A three-story brick school was nearly leveled, and trees in town were partly debarked. In all, the tornado badly damaged or destroyed 50 homes in Fremont, while causing lesser damage to 31 others. The tornado also severely damaged a dozen other buildings in town, as well as eight small businesses. Past Fremont, the tornado remained intense, damaging structures in Van Buren at "near-F3" intensity. In Van Buren the tornado destroyed 25 homes and severely damaged 35 more. It also badly damaged or destroyed 91 other structures and caused significant damage to three small businesses. In all, it damaged about half of Van Buren. Its path may have been 25 mi (40 km) long. Six of the seven fatalities were at Fremont, where over 25% of the population was killed or injured.[105]
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See also
Notes
- An outbreak is generally defined as a group of at least six tornadoes (the number sometimes varies slightly according to local climatology) with no more than a six-hour gap between individual tornadoes. An outbreak sequence, prior to (after) the start of modern records in 1950, is defined as a period of no more than two (one) consecutive days without at least one significant (F2 or stronger) tornado.[2]
- All damage totals are in 1957 United States dollars unless otherwise noted.
- Historically, the number of tornadoes globally and in the United States was and is likely underrepresented: research by Grazulis on annual tornado activity suggests that, as of 2001, only 53% of yearly U.S. tornadoes were officially recorded. Documentation of tornadoes outside the United States was historically less exhaustive, owing to the lack of monitors in many nations and, in some cases, to internal political controls on public information.[7] Most countries only recorded tornadoes that produced severe damage or loss of life.[8] Significant low biases in U.S. tornado counts likely occurred through the early 1990s, when advanced NEXRAD was first installed and the National Weather Service began comprehensively verifying tornado occurrences.[9]
- The Fujita scale was devised under the aegis of scientist T. Theodore Fujita in the early 1970s. Prior to the advent of the scale in 1971, tornadoes in the United States were officially unrated.[11][12] Tornado ratings were retroactively applied to events prior to the formal adoption of the F-scale by the National Weather Service.[13] While the Fujita scale has been superseded by the Enhanced Fujita scale in the U.S. since February 1, 2007,[14] Canada used the old scale until April 1, 2013;[15] nations elsewhere, like the United Kingdom, apply other classifications such as the TORRO scale.[16]
- All dates are based on the local time zone where the tornado touched down; however, all times are in Coordinated Universal Time and dates are split at midnight CST/CDT for consistency.
- All starting coordinates are based on the NCEI database and may not reflect contemporary analyses
- The listed width values are primarily the average/mean width of the tornadoes, with those having known maximum widths denoted by ♯. From 1952 to 1994, reports largely list mean width whereas contemporary years list maximum width.[17] Values provided by Grazulis are the average width, with estimates being rounded down (i.e. 0.5 mi (0.80 km) is rounded down from 880 yards to 800 yards.[18][19]
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