Meteorological history | |
---|---|
Formed | August 28,1990 3:15 p.m. CDT |
Dissipated | August 28,1990 3:45 p.m. CDT |
Duration | 30 minutes |
F5 tornado | |
on the Fujita scale | |
Highest winds | >260 mph (116 m/s) |
Overall effects | |
Fatalities | 29 |
Injuries | 353 |
Damage | $165 million [1] 380 million (2024 USD) |
Areas affected | Oswego,Plainfield,Crest Hill,and Joliet |
Part of the tornado outbreaks of 1990 |
The 1990 Plainfield tornado was a devastating tornado that occurred on the afternoon of Tuesday,August 28,1990. The violent tornado killed 29 people and injured 353. [1] It is the only F5/EF5 rated tornado ever officially recorded in August in the United States (unofficially the 1883 Rochester,Minnesota cyclone is considered an F5),and the only F5 tornado to strike the Chicago area. [1] [2] There are no known videos or photographs of the tornado itself;however,in 2011,a video surfaced online showing the supercell that spawned the tornado. [3] The Plainfield tornado was part of a small outbreak that produced several tornadoes in the Northern United States,specifically Kansas,and the Canadian province of Ontario.
The tornado was relatively abnormal,moving southeast instead of the conventional northeast motion of violent tornadoes. The event,as well as its poor warning time,drove advancements in radar technology and forecasting systems to adequately warn residents.
This section includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(August 2020) |
For late August standards, August 28 was a particularly warm and humid day. Temperatures reached into the low 90s °F (32–34 °C; about 11 °F or 6 °C warmer than the normal of 79 °F – 26 °C), but dew points soared into the upper 70s °F (25–27 °C). The presence of such a high dew point did not necessarily predict a severe thunderstorm outbreak; the prior day, similar conditions existed in northern Illinois with the exception of a warmer mid level troposphere. A warmer atmosphere inhibits the rising of surface air through the atmosphere; a requirement for convective precipitation (precipitation resulting from humid surface air ascending to condense in a cooler atmosphere above) to occur. This warmer air aloft can describe either (or both) weak lapse rates, thus weak instability or a capping inversion.
The atmosphere on August 28 was significantly more unstable as the approach of a low-pressure system from the northwest cooled the mid levels (and also caused dynamic lifting) as instability continued to build in the capped, muggy environment, although the wind fields (strong, but out of the west-northwest and unidirectional) were not suitable for significant tornadic development. As a result of the very high low-level temperature and dew point, convective available potential energy (CAPE) values were in excess of 8,000 J/kg; generally, values of 1,500 J/kg are considered to be moderately unstable, whereas values of more than 4,000 J/kg are considered "extreme". The lifted index (LI), the dominant estimate of instability used at the time, was also extreme. Generally, an LI value of −6 °C or below readily supports severe thunderstorm development, but during the day the LI value ranged from −12 °C to −14 °C. Such extreme instability can lead to explosive thunderstorm development, very strong updrafts, and modulates the updraft to better enable tornadogenesis.
Conditions were ripe for severe thunderstorm development, and with both low level and high level steering winds from the west-northwest, the National Severe Storms Forecast Center issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for northern Illinois valid 1:30 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. CDT that night. The NSSFC predicted a derecho-type event for later that night as rapidly developing thunderstorms along a cold front in Wisconsin would be carried by the steering flow into the Chicago area. One of these storms developed supercellular characteristics south of Rockford, steering 30 to 40 degrees to the right of prevailing steering winds. By now, mid-level steering winds had begun to veer, causing a wind profile slightly more favorable for tornadic development. This helped develop a high precipitation supercell.
The "HP" supercell produced multiple funnel sightings, hail damage, and damaging winds south of Rockford before heading southeast toward Will County and dropped a rain wrapped tornado. This is why many in the path did not see the actual tornado but more of a wall of water and dark clouds coming toward them. As the storm continued south it produced a 16-mile (26 km) swath of damage ranging from F1 to F5 intensity. The National Weather Service in Rosemont, Illinois, serving all of Central and Northern Illinois at the time, did not issue a Tornado Warning until 10 minutes after the tornado had hit Plainfield. Despite radar technology being less developed than now, the storm had a well defined hook echo on radar imagery, a signature often correlated with tornadic supercells.
The tornado formed from a supercell thunderstorm, which initially formed in the vicinity of Janesville in south central Wisconsin, shortly after 12 p.m. CDT. It produced a tornado near Pecatonica, Illinois in Winnebago County, about 15 mi (24 km) west of Rockford, that touched down at about 1:42 p.m. CDT. That tornado did not last long; however, the storm continued to move southeast towards the Aurora area, and spawned four short-lived, predecessor tornadoes in southwestern Kane County, between 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. Within that time period, the storm also struck the Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove at about 3:05 p.m., lasting until 3:10 p.m., where propeller planes were flipped, and the control tower was evacuated, but no injuries were reported. [4] [5]
Continuing to move to the southeast, starting at about 3:15 p.m., the supercell spawned the principal tornado, touching down near Oswego in Kendall County, and rapidly strengthening into a F2 and F3 tornado as it approached Will County. The tornado traveled southeast into Wheatland Township, Will County, near the Wheatland Plains subdivision, northwest of Plainfield. At 3:25 p.m. CDT in Wheatland Township, [5] the tornado damaged nearly all of the homes in the Wheatland Plains subdivision where there were several injuries, including one child who had to be airlifted to Loyola University Hospital in Maywood and later died of injuries. Twelve homes were destroyed in Wheatland Plains.
Past Wheatland Plains, the tornado continued to strengthen as it tore across open farmland, and reached F5 intensity in this area. A narrow swath of very intense ground scouring was observed, as mature corn crop was completely stripped from the ground, leaving nothing but bare soil behind. Several inches of topsoil were removed as well. As the tornado crossed US-30, a 20-ton tractor-trailer was thrown more than half a mile from the road, killing the driver. Three other motorists were killed in this area as their vehicles were thrown from the road. Some cars were picked up and carried considerable distances through the air. It was determined that the tornado reached its peak strength in this area, and the F5 rating was based on the extreme ground scouring that occurred. Beyond this point, the ground scouring became less pronounced as the tornado weakened slightly as it approached Plainfield at high-end F4 intensity. [6] [7]
The tornado struck Plainfield, Illinois, around 3:28 p.m. Around 3:30 p.m. the tornado directly struck the Plainfield High School, killing a science teacher and two maintenance workers. [4] Students who had been out practicing for the fall football programs ran into the high school to take shelter a few minutes before the storm hit. After an alarm was pulled by a dean in the main office, the volleyball players preparing for a game in the gymnasium rushed to the nearest door and took shelter in the hallway. It has been reported that as soon as the last player was through the door, a coach quickly closed it, only for it to be immediately ripped back off by the storm. The gymnasium proceeded to fall apart and crash down, which filled the gap in the doorway. They took shelter in the same hallway as the football team, and once the tornado had passed, that was the only hallway left standing in the building.
The tornado then demolished the Plainfield School District Administration building, where the wife of a custodian was killed. The tornado crossed Route 59 (Division Street) and ripped into St. Mary Immaculate Church and school, claiming an additional 3 lives; the principal of the school, a music teacher, and the son of the cook at the rectory. Fifty-five homes were destroyed in Plainfield itself, a few of which were swept away. A grocery store east of the high school was badly damaged. Gravestones in the nearby cemetery were toppled, and a metal dumpster was found wrapped around the top of a partially debarked tree. Damage in Plainfield was rated as high-end F4. [6]
The storm then worked its way southeast towards the large city of Joliet, damaging homes in the Crystal Lawns, Lily Cache and Warwick subdivisions and killing five more people: one in the Lily Cache subdivision of Plainfield, and two each in the Crystal Lawns and Warwick subdivisions; an additional three people would later succumb from injuries sustained during the storm. The tornado ripped through the Grand Prairie Elementary School (Plainfield School District), causing significant damage. Observers watched from the doors at the Louis Joliet Mall, as the tornado passed just southwest of them. Sixty-nine homes were destroyed in Crystal Lawns, 75 homes were destroyed in Peerless Estates, 55 homes were destroyed in Lily Cache, and 50 homes were destroyed in Warwick. Most of the homes in Peerless Estates and Warwick were newly built.
The tornado then moved towards Crest Hill. At 3:38 p.m. the storm ripped through the Crest Hill Lakes Apartment complex, where it caused F3 damage and claimed another eight lives, destroying one apartment building and half of another apartment building. [4] Neither have been rebuilt. The tornado also ripped through the Colony West subdivision, destroying 12 townhomes, none of which have been rebuilt either. A married couple died while in their car on Cedarwood Drive outside the apartment complex. The tornado then destroyed three apartment buildings on Elizabeth Court. Three more homes were destroyed in Bridalwreath, southeast of Elizabeth Court. Homes were damaged on Arden Place, and two high tension wire structures were destroyed at Douglas Street and Palladium Drive West.
Further southeast, the tornado continued to lose strength and lifted near Woodlawn Avenue and Campbell Street in Joliet. The parent thunderstorm continued until it crossed over the Indiana border, where it dissipated around 4:30 p.m.
The Plainfield Tornado caused over $165 million worth of damage. As the storm tore through Plainfield, nine people were killed (one additional victim would die afterward, from carbon monoxide poisoning, while guarding his home after the storm). The remaining victims were from Joliet and Crest Hill. In all, a total of 29 people would die because of the tornado. A total of 353 people were also injured in storm. This was the deadliest tornado event in the region since the 1967 Oak Lawn tornado.
The Plainfield Tornado challenged both meteorologists and citizens in terms of tornado preparedness. Substantial safety measures have been enacted in the years following the tornado; among the improvements are frequent and regular tornado drills performed in schools.
After the tornado, meteorologists studying tornadic patterns in the area found that a major tornado (F3 or higher) strikes Will County about every 12 to 15 years. There have been no major tornadoes in the county since 1990. However, an F1 tornado swept through the historic Cathedral Area in the near west side of Joliet on April 20, 2004. The most recent major tornado to strike the Chicago metropolitan area was an EF3 tornado that struck just north of the county line with DuPage county on June 20, 2021. [8]
The development of NEXRAD (Next Generation Radar) has contributed greatly to the ability of meteorologists to recognize tornadic activity. Whereas previous generations of radar could show only reflectivity data and no direct information on air flows, although tornadic supercells and tornadic signatures such as the hook echo and bounded weak echo region (BWER) were identifiable, NEXRAD contained the ability to detect the wind speed and direction inside the storm. The ability to see rotation inside a storm on both the microscale (tornadic) and mesoscale (supercellular) measurements has allowed forecasters to issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings in more timely fashion and with a higher probability of detection.
In the months following the tornado, the National Weather Service was heavily criticized for providing no warning of the approaching tornado. [4] The NOAA Disaster Survey Report was highly critical of the forecast process within the Chicago office as well as coordination with local spotter networks and the preparedness of these groups. [5] [9] Prior to 1990, the National Weather Service in Chicago was responsible for providing forecasts for the entire state of Illinois.
As the Chicago office was overwhelmed with its workload, no warnings were issued by the office until 2:32 p.m. – nearly an hour after the first tornado was sighted southeast of Rockford. A second severe thunderstorm warning was issued almost an hour later at 3:23 p.m., but this provided no indication that a tornado was on the ground and did not mention the area where the tornado had tracked. No tornado warning was issued until after the tornado lifted. Even though the Chicago office had an "add-on" Doppler improvement that was developed in 1974, that device had been disabled by a lightning strike before the August 28 storm. [10]
As a result of the lack of a warning, many meteorologists today refer to the "Plainfield Syndrome" as the idea that it's better to issue too many warnings and be wrong, than to miss one critical warning, as was the case for the Plainfield Tornado. [11]
After the 1990 tornado, the National Weather Service reduced the Chicago office's workload by creating an office in Romeoville, Illinois in 1993, [12] as well as in Lincoln, Illinois in 1995, [13] and allowing offices in the Quad Cities, St. Louis, Missouri, Indianapolis, Indiana and Paducah, Kentucky to issue forecasts for their respective areas.
In the years following the disaster, a permanent Tornado Plainfield Victim Memorial located in Plainfield, Illinois was erected, thanking those who aided in its recovery. A dedication ceremony is held at this location where hundreds gather every year, including both survivors and victims' family members. The 30th anniversary memorial was held at this location on August 28, 2020, as church bells rang at exactly 3:28 PM. [14]
A tornado warning is a public warning that is issued by weather forecasting agencies to an area in the direct path of a tornado, or a severe thunderstorm capable of producing one, and advises individuals in that area to take cover. Modern weather surveillance technology such as Doppler weather radar can detect rotation in a thunderstorm, allowing for early warning before a tornado develops. They are also commonly issued based on reported visual sighting of a tornado, funnel cloud, or wall cloud, typically from weather spotters or the public, but also law enforcement or local emergency management. When radar is unavailable or insufficient, such ground truth is crucial. In particular, a tornado can develop in a gap of radar coverage, of which there are several known in the United States.
A tornado watch is a statement issued by weather forecasting agencies to advise the public that atmospheric conditions in a given region may lead to the development of tornadoes within the region over a period of several hours. In addition to the potential for tornado development, thunderstorms that develop within the watch area may contain large hail, straight-line winds, intense rainfall and/or flooding that pose a similar damage risk as the attendant tornado threat.
A severe thunderstorm watch is a statement issued by weather forecasting agencies to advise the public that atmospheric conditions in a given region may lead to the development of severe thunderstorms within the region over a period of several hours. The criteria for issuing a watch varies by country, and may also include torrential rainfall and tornadoes. A watch may also be issued several hours ahead of the arrival of a mature and organized complex of storms, or more clustered or discrete storm activity.
A severe thunderstorm warning is a type of public warning for severe weather that is issued by weather forecasting agencies worldwide when one or more severe thunderstorms have been detected by Doppler weather radar, observed by weather spotters, or reported by an emergency management agency, law enforcement, or the general public. Unlike a watch, a warning is issued to areas in the direct path of active severe thunderstorms, that are expecting a direct impact typically within an hour. Severe thunderstorms can cause property damage and injury due to large hail, high winds, and flooding due to torrential rainfall. The exact criteria to issue a warning varies from country to country.
On April 10–12, 1965, a historic severe weather event affected the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The tornado outbreak produced 55 confirmed tornadoes in one day and 16 hours. The worst part of the outbreak occurred during the afternoon hours of April 11 into the overnight hours going into April 12. The second-largest tornado outbreak on record at the time, this deadly series of tornadoes, which became known as the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, inflicted a swath of destruction from Cedar County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a swath 450 miles long (724 km) from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The main part of the outbreak lasted 16 hours and 35 minutes and is among the most intense outbreaks, in terms of tornado strength, ever recorded, including at least four "double/twin funnel" tornadoes. In all, the outbreak killed 266 people, injured 3,662 others, and caused $1.217 billion in damage. In 2023, tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis created the outbreak intensity score (OIS) as a way to rank various tornado outbreaks. The 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak received an OIS of 238, making it the fourth worst tornado outbreak in recorded history.
From May 2 to 8, 1999, a large tornado outbreak took place across much of the Central and parts of the Eastern United States, as well as southern Canada. During this week-long event, 152 tornadoes touched down in these areas. The most dramatic events unfolded during the afternoon of May 3 through the early morning hours of May 4 when more than half of these storms occurred. Oklahoma experienced its largest tornado outbreak on record, with 70 confirmed. The most notable of these was the F5 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado which devastated Oklahoma City and suburban communities. The tornado killed 36 people and injured 583 others; losses amounted to $1 billion, making it the first billion-dollar tornado in history. Overall, 50 people lost their lives during the outbreak and damage amounted to $1.4 billion. For these reasons, the outbreak is known in Oklahoma as the May 3rd outbreak or the Oklahoma tornado outbreak of 1999.
An extremely devastating and deadly tornado outbreak sequence impacted the Midwestern and Northeastern United States at the beginning of June 1953. It included two tornadoes that caused at least 90 deaths each—an F5 tornado occurring in Flint, Michigan, on June 8 and an F4 tornado in Worcester, Massachusetts, on June 9. These tornadoes are among the deadliest in United States history and were caused by the same storm system that moved eastward across the nation.
A deadly tornado outbreak occurred in Central Texas during the afternoon and evening of May 27, 1997, in conjunction with a southwestward-moving cluster of supercell thunderstorms. These storms produced 20 tornadoes, mainly along the Interstate 35 corridor from northeast of Waco to north of San Antonio. The strongest tornado was an F5 tornado that leveled parts of Jarrell, killing 27 people and injuring 12 others. Overall, 30 people were killed and 33 others were hospitalized by the severe weather.
The 1985 United States–Canada tornado outbreak, referred to as the Barrie tornado outbreak in Canada, was a major tornado outbreak that occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, on May 31, 1985. In all 44 tornadoes were counted including 14 in Ontario, Canada. It is the largest and most intense tornado outbreak ever to hit this region, and the worst tornado outbreak in Pennsylvania history in terms of deaths and destruction.
During the evening hours of March 28, 2000, a powerful F3 tornado struck Downtown Fort Worth, Texas, causing significant damage to numerous buildings and skyscrapers as well as two deaths. The tornado was part of a larger severe weather outbreak that caused widespread storms across Texas and Oklahoma in late-March, spurred primarily by the moist and unstable atmospheric environment over the South Central United States as a result of an eastward-moving upper-level low and shortwave trough. The tornado outbreak was well forecast by both computer forecast models and the National Weather Service, though the eventual focal point for the severe weather—North Texas—only came into focus on March 28 as the conditions favorable for tornadic development quickly took hold.
The 1967 Oak Lawn tornado outbreak was a destructive tornado outbreak and severe weather event that occurred on April 21, 1967, across the central Midwest, in particular the towns of Belvidere and Oak Lawn, Illinois, United States. Locally known as 'Black Friday,' it was the largest tornado outbreak of 1967 and has been described by NWS Chicago as "Northern Illinois' worst tornado disaster". The outbreak produced numerous and significant (F2+) tornadoes, with ten of them in Illinois alone. Included was one of just six documented violent (F4/F5) tornadoes in the Chicago metropolitan area since the area was first settled.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2006. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Brazil and Australia. Tornadic events are often accompanied with other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.
On on June 7–8, 1984, a significant severe weather and tornado event took place across the central United States from North Dakota to Kansas. The tornado outbreak produced several significant tornadoes including an F5 tornado which traveled through Barneveld, Wisconsin, in the early hours of June 8. The entire outbreak killed at least 13 people across three states including 9 in Barneveld alone.
The March 2009 tornado outbreak sequence was a series of tornado outbreaks which affected large portions of the Central, Southern, and Eastern United States from March 23 to March 29. A total of 56 tornadoes touched down during the event, two of which were rated as EF3.
From May 3 to May 11, 2003, a prolonged and destructive series of tornado outbreaks affected much of the Great Plains and Eastern United States. Most of the severe activity was concentrated between May 4 and May 10, which saw more tornadoes than any other week-long span in recorded history; 335 tornadoes occurred during this period, concentrated in the Ozarks and central Mississippi River Valley. Additional tornadoes were produced by the same storm systems from May 3 to May 11, producing 363 tornadoes overall, of which 62 were significant. Six of the tornadoes were rated F4, and of these four occurred on May 4, the most prolific day of the tornado outbreak sequence; these were the outbreak's strongest tornadoes. Damage caused by the severe weather and associated flooding amounted to US$4.1 billion, making it the costliest U.S. tornado outbreak of the 2000s. A total of 50 deaths and 713 injuries were caused by the severe weather, with a majority caused by tornadoes; the deadliest tornado was an F4 that struck Madison and Henderson counties in Tennessee, killing 11. In 2023, tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis created the outbreak intensity score (OIS) as a way to rank various tornado outbreaks. The tornado outbreak sequence of May 2003 received an OIS of 232, making it the fourth worst tornado outbreak in recorded history.
The 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado was a large, long-lived and exceptionally powerful F5 tornado in which the highest wind speed ever measured globally was recorded at 321 miles per hour (517 km/h) by a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar. Considered the strongest tornado ever recorded to have affected the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, the tornado devastated southern portions of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States while near peak intensity, along with surrounding suburbs and towns to the south and southwest of the city during the early evening of Monday, May 3, 1999. Parts of Bridge Creek were rendered unrecognizable. The tornado covered 38 miles (61 km) during its 85-minute existence, destroying thousands of homes, killing 36 people, and leaving US$1 billion in damage, ranking it as the fifth-costliest on record not accounting for inflation. Its severity prompted the first-ever use of the tornado emergency statement by the National Weather Service.
The following is a glossary of tornado terms. It includes scientific as well as selected informal terminology.
The 2011 Philadelphia, Mississippi Tornado was an extremely powerful and fast-moving multi-vortex tornado that touched down in eastern Mississippi on the afternoon of April 27, 2011. Part of the historic 2011 Super Outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak on record, this was the first of four EF5 tornadoes to touch down that day and the first such storm in Mississippi since the 1966 Candlestick Park tornado. While on the ground for 30 minutes, it traveled along a 28.28-mile (45.51 km) path through four counties, leaving behind three deaths, eight injuries, and $1.1 million in damage.
Throughout the evening hours of April 9, 2015, an extremely violent and long-lived multiple-vortex tornado tore through the communities near Rochelle and in Fairdale, Illinois. Part of a larger severe weather event that impacted the Central United States, the tornado first touched down in Lee County at 6:39 p.m. CDT (23:39 UTC). It progressed through the counties of Ogle, DeKalb, and Boone before finally dissipating at 7:20 p.m. CDT. Along the tornado's 30.14-mile (48.51 km) path, numerous structures were heavily damaged or destroyed, especially in the small town of Fairdale where two fatalities and eleven injuries were recorded. A few well-constructed homes were swept completely away, indicative of peak winds near 200 mph (320 km/h), the upper bounds of an EF4 tornado. In the aftermath of the event, hundreds of citizens assisted in cleanup and recovery efforts. Economic losses from the tornado reached $19 million.
On June 13, 2022, an exceptionally high-topped and powerful supercell impacted the Chicago metropolitan area, with a height of 60,000–70,000 ft (18–21 km) as measured by multiple NEXRAD sites. The system, spawned from an extremely unstable environment, brought widespread severe downburst winds exceeding 80 mph (130 km/h) across Cook and DuPage counties, leading to numerous flight delays and cancellations at O'Hare International Airport. The supercell was part of the same complex of storms that produced a powerful derecho across Indiana and Ohio, where wind gusts reached 98 mph (158 km/h) at Fort Wayne International Airport. The entire storm event caused a total of 3.4 billion dollars of damage.
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