UNITED STATES-CANADIAN OUTBREAK

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.

Contents

Storm system

Storm timeline and aftermath

United States

The Niles/Wheatland tornado

Other US Tornadoes

Ontario, Canada

See also

References

External links

Storm 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.
However, during the morning hours, the sun started to peek out and temperatures soared into the mid to upper 80 degrees with high humidity level which is typically seen during the summer months. However, the cold front which accompanied the system set up the stage for severe weather during the late afternoon hours.

Storm 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

'Outbreak death toll'

'State'	'Total'	'County'	'County total'
Ohio	'11'	Licking	1
		Trumbull	10
Ontario	'12'	Simcoe	12
Pennsylvania	'65'	Beaver	3
		Butler	6
		Crawford	11
		Erie	12
		Forest	7
		Lycoming	2
		McKean	4
		Mercer	8
		Northumberland	2
		Venango	8
		Union	2
Totals	'88'
All deaths were tornado-related

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.
It started by touching down in Ohio near the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage County at around 6:30 PM EDT. Gathering strength, it moved quickly into Newton Falls in Trumbull County and also into Warren, Ohio, 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.[1]
As it neared the PA border in Niles and Hubbard township of eastern Trumbull County, it created its first F5 damage. When it reached Mercer County, PA, it was a half-mile (0.8 km) wide monster packing winds estimated at 300 mph (480 km). 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. 95% of Wheatland's business and residential area were destroyed. The town resembled a bombed-out battlefield in the aftermath, and those were the exact words coming from the National Weather Service damage surveyors.One child was born in the event
The tornado finally ended near the city of Mercer, 47 miles (75 km) from where it began its trek, after killing 18 people (11 in Ohio) and injuring 310.
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.

Other US Tornadoes

What may have been (arguably) one of the most impressive tornadic events of the 20th century also occurred during this outbreak. Later rated at F4, this tornado tracked over 69 miles (110 kilometers) of mainly dense forest and wilderness in central Pennsylvania (some outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed however, early in its life). Nothing could stop this monster tornado; it was estimated that at least 90,000 trees were obliterated in the Moshannon/Sproul State Forest. Much of the damage area resembled that of forestry clear-cutting afterwards, except on a much larger scale. The tornado crossed the western branch of the Susquehanna River twice, during its hour and a half on the ground.
At some points, the path width was over 2 miles (3 kilometers) wide. The sheer amount of debris being wrought by this tornado was incredible – tremors were picked up by seismometers in the area, and a reflectivity spike later became visible in the hook-echo on the more primitive Doppler radar of the time (a WSR-57 unit located in State College, Pennsylvania), as the radar itself was actually picking up the hundreds, perhaps thousands of trees flying through the air at any given moment.
The deadliest tornado (which was later rated as an F4) in Pennsylvania occurred in southern Crawford and northern Venango Counties where 23 were killed by this single tornado, the deadliest ever in the state's history. 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. Later in the evening, some of these tornadoes crossed into New York affecting southern Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties the worst. One was an F4 and the other was an F3; nobody was killed but over 20 were injured in New York state.

Ontario, Canada

''For more details on this topic see: The "Barrie" Tornado Outbreak of 1985''
Some of the more notable tornadoes that day struck near Barrie, Ontario in Simcoe County about an hour north of Toronto. Killing 12 and injuring 155, the pair of F4's were some of the most powerful in Canada's history. It was the deadliest tornado outbreak to hit Ontario since the Windsor Tornado during the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974 which killed 8.
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.

See also

★ List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

★ List of Canadian 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

★ NWS Storm Data

★ Website on the May 31, 1985 tornado outbreak

★ NWS Cleveland outbreak page