Wednesday, June 09, 2010

1953 Ohio Tornado Photos

It was back in 1953, June 8th to be exact, that another tornado outbreak occurred in Ohio and Michigan which killed many people.  Here are two photos of the tornado from different locations.  The first was taken at Hopkins Airport.  The second was taken in Wood county; the same county where last weekend's tornado resulted in many fatalities.

Tornado warnings didn't exist in 1953.  In fact, it was illegal to mention the word "tornado" prior to World War II.  The tornado pictured below was an F4 with winds of over 260 miles per hour.   The tornado touched down in Birmingham, Ohio around 8:30PM and continued east.

It approached Hopkins Airport and continued into the western suburbs.  Damage was reported from West 130th to West 117th and Bellaire where 100 homes were leveled.  The tornado was around a 1/2 mile wide as it approached West 45th street around 10PM.  Damage from West 28th to West 25th and Detroit was incredibly severe.  Five people were killed in one home at Franklin Circle.  The tornado, now retreating back into the cloud, passed directly over Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland.  The funnel cloud moved out over Lake Erie at East 40th street and fell apart.  A total of 18 deaths were reported across Ohio on June 8th.

An interesting footnote on the tornado outbreak:  Many thought that the tornado outbreak resulted from the atomic testing in Nevada.  A congressional investigation was pushed but never materialized.  Photos and material credit:  Dick Goddard




The tornado track from tornadohistoryproject.com


Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Northern Ohio Tornado Outbreak on June 5th and 6th

The tornado outbreak this past weekend across northern Ohio was somewhat of a rarity in that it resulted in fatalities.  The last tornado in northern Ohio that resulted in a death was in 2002. Prior to that, it was in the mid 1980s.

The Wood County tornado in northwestern Ohio Saturday night was upgraded to an EF4 by the National Weather Service.  It first touched down near I-80 and Oregon Road (East of Perrysburg) at 11:15 PM EDT and then moved through the south side of Moline and then near Metcalf Airport. The tornado then crossed the northwest side of Millbury into Ottaway County following Trowbridge Road and lifted at 11:30 PM EDT just west of Clay Center. At least 50 buildings were damaged or destroyed.  Here is a map of the path and damage with the radar loop as the tornado passed through.  The tornado recap is as follows:




The complete update from the National Weather Service is HERE



3 Other tornadoes were also confirmed in northern Ohio. Here is a basic map with path length, width and wind speeds.  The EF4 was the Wood County tornado.  The EF0 moved through Richland county 2 miles north of Lucas.  The northern EF1 tornado touched down southwest of Andover near the intersection of Mann Road and Creek Road traveling ENE.  The southern EF1 tornado developed in Holmes county 2 miels northwest of Berlin and moved southeast to Walnut Creek, Ohio then onto Sugarcreek in Tuscarawas County.  All information is courtesy of the National Weather Service HERE ON THEIR WEBSITE. Click on "previous version" numbers for the details of each tornado.