1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak

This article is about the 1965 tornado outbreak. For other uses, see Palm Sunday tornado outbreak (disambiguation).

Palm Sunday (1965) Tornado Outbreak II

Picture of the "double tornado" that hit the Midway Trailer park killing 33.
Duration	~11 hours
Tornadoes confirmed	47
Max. rating1	F4 tornado
Fatalities	271
Damage	$1.6 billion (2007 dollars)
Areas affected	Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The second Palm Sunday tornado outbreak occurred on April 11, 1965 and involved 47 tornadoes (15 significant, 17 violent, 21 killers) hitting the Midwest. It was the second biggest outbreak on record at the time. In the Midwest, 271 people were killed and 1,500 injured (1,200 in Indiana). It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in Indiana history with 137 people killed.^[1] The outbreak also made that week the second most active week in history with 51 significant and 21 violent tornadoes.

Meteorological synopsis

The tornadoes occurred in a 450 miles (720 km) swath west-to-east from Clinton County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a 200 miles (320 km) swath north-to-south from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The outbreak lasted 11 hours and is among the most intense outbreaks — in terms of number, strength, width, path, and length of tornadoes — ever recorded, including 4 "double/twin funnel" tornadoes.

This is the fourth deadliest day for tornadoes on record, trailing the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974, which killed 315, the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak which killed 322, and the outbreak that included the Tri-State Tornado which killed 747. It occurred on Palm Sunday, an important day in the Christian religion, and many people were attending services at church, one possible reason why some warnings were not received. There had been a short winter that year, and as the day progressed, the temperature rose to 83 °F (28 °C) in some areas of Midwestern United States.

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	0	15	10	5	17	0	47

List of reported tornadoes - Sunday, April 11, 1965
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Iowa
F4	NE of Tipton	Cedar, Clinton, Jackson	18:55	91.5 miles (146.4 km)	1 death - One person died one month later from their injuries. 25 farms were affected, one of which had every building leveled. Pieces of a farm house were carried for over a mile.
F1	SE of New Hampton	Chickasaw, Fayette, Allamakee	19:15	49.9 miles (79.8 km)
Wisconsin
F1	SE of Monroe	Green, Rock, Dane	20:00	27.1 miles (43.3 km)	50 homes and 65 businesses destroyed or damaged and 40 were injured. Over 400 cars were damaged or destroyed.
F2	S of Watertown	Jefferson	20:30	14.5 miles (23.2 km)	3 deaths - Deaths were from occupants of a car that was thrown. 28 others were injured. Structures were destroyed on 20 farms.
F1	S of Soldiers Grove	Crawford	20:45	13.3 miles (21.2 km)	One barn was destroyed.
F1	W of Lake Geneva	Walworth	21:50	1.9 miles (3 km)	Homes and structures were damaged near Williams Bay.
F1	NW of Elkhorn	Walworth	21:55	1 mile (1.6 km)	One barn was destroyed
F1	W of Tomah	Monroe	22:14	2 miles (3.2 km)	Several farm buildings were destroyed
Illinois
F4	Crystal Lake	McHenry, Lake	21:20	9.1 miles (14.6 km)	6 deaths - Destroyed large sections of the town including a shopping mall. 45 homes were destroyed and 110 were damaged in a single subdivision. Some of the homes were completely swept away. Damage estimates were at about $1.5 million.
F2	N of Gurnee	Lake	21:50	4.5 miles (7.2 km)	Several homes were damaged and two planes flipped at Waukegan Memorial Airport. Falling trees damaged some homes and two others lost their roofs.
F1	Geneva	Kane	22:00	0.3 mile (0.5 km)	About a dozen homes were heavily damaged
F1	Zion	Lake	22:04	0.5 mile (0.8 km)
Indiana
F3	NE of Knox to S of South Bend	Starke, Marshall, St. Joseph, Elkhart	22:45	35.6 miles (57 km)	10 deaths - 30 cottages were destroyed and 70 others were damaged along Koontz Lake. 26 homes, one church and one high school were also destroyed. There were 82 people injured. Severe damage took place in the town of Wyatt.
F3	S of Crown Point to SE of Laporte	Porter, Laporte	23:10	33.1 miles (53 km)	Several homes and barns were destroyed and 4 people were injured.
F4	W of Wakarusa to NW of Middlebury	Elkhart	23:15	21.2 miles (34 km)	14 deaths - Tornado first touched down and caused severe damage in the Wakarusa area. Destroyed the Midway Trailer Park in Dunlap and numerous other homes in the Middlebury area. Some homes were completely swept away. Was photographed as a double funnel. An airplane wing was found 35 miles away in Centerville, Michigan. 1st of 2 tornadoes hitting the town of Dunlap and the Elkhart region.
F4	NE of Goshen to W of Orland	Elkhart, LaGrange	23:40	21.6 miles (34.6 km)	5 deaths - Dozens of homes were demolished in the Rainbow Lake and Shore areas, several of which were completely swept away.
F4	Manitou Beach-Devils Lake, Michigan (1st tornado)	Steuben, IN, Branch, MI, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw	00:00	90.3 miles (144.5 km)	23 deaths - Starting just south of the Indiana-Michigan state line, the massive tornado caused extensive damage to the Manitou Beach region and southwestern suburbs of Detroit. First of two violent tornadoes to affect the same large portion of Lower Michigan. Damage from the two tornadoes was difficult to separate.
F4	SE of Lafayette to W of Russiaville	Tippecanoe, Clinton	00:07	21.8 miles (34.9 km)	Several homes and other buildings were destroyed or damaged. Homes were completely leveled in Mulberry and Moran.
F4	SE of South Bend to NE of Shipshewana	St. Joseph, Elkhart, LaGrange	00:10	37 miles (59.2 km)	36 deaths - Second violent tornado struck the Dunlap/Elkhart region in just over an hour. The Sunnyside subdivision was completely destroyed, with many homes swept away. The Kingston Heights subdivision was also devastated. 6 of the victims were killed when the tornado demolished a truck stop. Affected rescue efforts after the first tornado. Also was witnessed as a double funnel tornado. Was rated an F5 but downgraded to a F4.
F4	Russiaville to SE of Marion, Indiana and Greentown, Indiana	Clinton, Howard, Grant	00:20	48 miles (76.8 km)	25 deaths - Large sections of Russiaville, Greentown, southern Kokomo and Alto were destroyed. 90% of the structures in Russiaville were damaged or destroyed. The tornado was up to a mile wide when it struck Alto and Kokomo, where hundreds of homes were destroyed. Many homes were destroyed and swept away as the tornado stuck multiple subdivisions in the Greentown area. A hospital had its roof torn off south of Marion, and a shopping center was destroyed. Over 800 people were injured.
F4	SE of Crawfordsville to Arcadia	Montgomery, Boone, Hamilton	00:50	45.7 miles (73.1 km)	28 deaths - 80 homes were destroyed and over 100 people were injured between Crawfordsville and Arcadia. Tornado was up to a mile wide and threw cars over 100 yards.
F4	W of Montpellier, IN to N of Spencerville, OH	Blackford, IN, Wells, Adams, Mercer, OH, Van Wert	01:10	52.5 miles (84 km)	4 deaths - F4 damage was observed in Keystone in Wells County. Crossed into Ohio where it destroyed five homes and damaged five others.
Michigan
F4	N of Grand Rapids	Ottawa, Kent	22:54	20.6 miles (33 km)	5 deaths - 34 homes were destroyed and nearly 200 others damaged near the northern suburbs of Comstock Park and Alpine. Nearly 150 were injured and damage amounts were estimated at almost $15 million.
F1	N of Middleville	Allegan, Barry	00:05	19.5 miles (31.2 km)	1 death - A trailer and 5 homes were destroyed while 25 others were damaged.
F3	NE of Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	00:30	14.2 miles (22.7 km)	4 homes were destroyed and 22 others damaged. 17 people were injured.
F3	Hastings	Barry	00:40	14.1 miles (22.6 km)	15 homes were damaged and barns and garages were leveled.
F4	Manitou Beach-Devils Lake, Michigan (2nd tornado)	Branch, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw	00:40	80.5 miles (128.8 km)	21 deaths - Second tornado to hit the same areas 30 minutes after being affected by the first tornado. Tornado leveled what was left standing from the first tornado. Total damage estimates from the two tornadoes were $32 million. Over 550 homes, 1 church, and 100 cottages were destroyed in total.
F4	N of Lansing	Clinton, Shiawassee	01:15	21 miles (33.6 km)	1 death - Several homes were severely damaged or destroyed, one of which was swept away.
F2	W of Ithaca	Montcalm, Gratiot	01:25	15.1 miles (24.1 km)	Several farm buildings and livestocks were destroyed. One home was nearly leveled.
F2	Alma (1st tornado)	Gratiot	01:30	0.1 mile (0.16 km)	One of three tornadoes to struck the area where it caused damage to several buildings including the library, which had it's roof torn off. A telephone repair facility was destroyed as well.
F2	Alma (2nd tornado)	Gratiot	01:30	0.5 mile (0.8 km)
F2	E of Alma	Gratiot	01:30	1 mile (1.6 km)
F2	SE of Bay City	Bay	01:50	9.9 miles (15.8 km)	Tornado tore the roof off homes and an auto dealership. Trailers and barns were destroyed as well.
F2	SW of Unionville	Tuscola	02:00	9 miles (14.4 km)	Damage to a firehall and lumberyard. Barns were also destroyed.
Ohio
F4	Toledo (northern sections)	Lucas, OH, Monroe, MI	02:30	5.6 miles (9 km)	18 deaths - Numerous homes in the northern suburbs of Toledo were completely destroyed, several of which were completely swept away. 5 people were killed when the tornado picked up a bus and slammed it upside down onto the pavement. Boats and cars were thrown onto and into buildings. A paint factory and department store were destroyed as well. Two people were killed on the Lost Peninsula in Michigan .There were reports of twin tornadoes during the event. Damage amounts were estimated at $25 million.
F4	N of Lima	Allen, Hancock	02:30	32.5 miles (52 km)	13 deaths Numerous homes and farms were destroyed along the track.
F4	N of Sidney	Shelby	03:00	18.4 miles (29.4 km)	3 deaths - Affected Anna, Swanders and Maplewood where 25 homes were destroyed and 20 others heavily damaged. Several train cars were derailed.
F3	SE of Tiffin	Seneca	03:15	15 miles (24 km)	4 deaths - Struck Rockaway, where 4 homes were leveled and three others were damaged.
F4	S of Oberlin, Ohio to Strongsville	Lorain, Cuyahoga	04:05	22 miles (35.2 km)	18 deaths - Extensive damage to Pittsfield and Strongsville. Pittsfield was nearly entirely destroyed and 6 homes were completely swept away there. Tornado struck Grafton at F2 strength before re-intensifying and striking the north side of Strongsville. In Strongsville 18 homes were leveled, some of which were cleanly swept from their foundations. 50 others were badly damaged in town. Damage amounts were estimated at $5 million. Was listed as an F5 by Grazulis. Also witnessed as a double tornado.
F1	S of Eaton	Preble	04:15	0.1 mile (0.16 km)
F1	Brunswick	Medina	04:30	8.2 miles (13 km)	One home was destroyed and several others were damaged in Brunswick.
F2	N of Delaware	Union, Delaware, Morrow	04:30	22.2 miles (35.5 km)	4 deaths - Tornado struck the towns of Radnor and Westfield. 4 were killed in Radnor and 22 were injured in Westfield. 25 homes were destroyed.
F1	S of Cedarville	Greene	04:50	0.1 mile (0.16 km)
F1	Ashville to Somerset	Pickaway, Fairfield, Perry	05:30	38.4 miles (61.4 km)	Several farm buildings were destroyed along the path. A dozen trailers were destroyed at a sales lot in Dumontville.
Georgia
F1	SW of Grassdale	Bartow	09:50 (04/12)	2 miles (3.2 km)
West Virginia
F2	N of Princeton	Mercer	11:30 (04/12)	0.1 mile (0.16 km)
Sources: Tornado History Project Tornado Data for April 11, 1965, Tornado History Project Tornado Data for April 12, 1965, NWS Detroit Storm Data

Outbreak description

At around 12:55 P.M.^[2], the first tornado touched down in Clinton County, Iowa. It was rated F4 on the Fujita scale and spawned from a thunderstorm cell first detected near Tipton in Cedar County, Iowa, around 12:45 P.M. by radio news reporter Martin Jensen. He was stationed at the WMT Station in Cedar Rapids located some 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Tipton. The station was equipped with a Collins Radio aviation radar mounted on the roof of the station building and was used to support severe weather reports on local and regional newscasts. After detecting the severe thunderstorm, the reporter called National Weather Service offices in Waterloo (which had no radar) and Des Moines to alert them about the storm. The phone call became the first hard evidence for the Weather Service regarding the growing threat of severe storms which spawned dozens of tornadoes over the next 12 hours.

Illinois

A tornado touched down at Crystal Lake, Illinois, where it destroyed several subdivisions and a golf course. It grazed a junior high school before destroying several homes in a small community (Colby's Home Estates). There, 145 homes were damaged - 45 beyond repair - as well as a shopping center: Crystal Lake Plaza on Route 14. Five people were killed. The tornado then crested a hill and destroyed the small community of Island Lake, killing one person before ascending back into the clouds at 3:42 P.M. This was one of the few F4 tornadoes that occurred during this outbreak.

Indiana

Northern Indiana tornado tracks. Map showing the confirmed paths of the Palm Sunday tornadoes with Fujita scale intensity.

The tornado count increased as the day progressed. Several touched down in Indiana, many of them fatal. Individual supercells spawned as many as 5 violent tornadoes as they tracked west to east. The first touched down at around 5:30 P.M. in Koontz Lake, Indiana. This F3 tornado killed 10 people and injured 180. The tornado moved northeast toward La Paz and Lakeville where it damaged LaVille Jr.-Sr. High School, which was under construction. The tornado continued towards Wyatt and destroyed twenty homes.

Another tornado formed near the St. Joseph County-Elkhart County border. It tracked east-northeasterly, striking Wakarusa, Indiana, where it killed a child. The tornado moved toward Nappanee, northern Goshen, and the Midway trailer park. Elkhart Truth reporter Paul Huffman captured a series of photographs as the twin-funneled, F4 tornado moved past Goshen. One-half hour later, a second F4 tornado struck Dunlap to the north and devastated the Sunnyside Housing addition and the unoccupied Sunnyside Mennonite Church. The death toll from the Sunnyside Housing Addition was 28 people, with another six killed at a truck stop at the intersection of Highways 15 and 20. The Palm Sunday Tornado Memorial Park now exists near this location, at the corner of County Road 45 and Cole Street in Dunlap. Most of the 36 people killed in the tornado had no warning because the high winds had knocked out telephone and power grids. For the first time in the U.S. Weather Bureau's history, all nine counties in the northern Indiana office's jurisdiction were under a tornado warning. This is called a "blanket tornado warning." Both tornadoes were officially rated as F4 according to the National Weather Service records. However, the Dunlap tornado was previously rated F5.

90 miles (140 km) to the south, at just past 7:30 p.m., another massive tornado slammed into the town of Russiaville, Indiana. Most of the town was destroyed, leaving several dead. The storm churned into nearby Alto, obliterating it completely, before striking the southern edge of the larger city of Kokomo. As the tornado continued east, it killed ten more people in Greentown, Indiana, most of whom had been riding in automobiles that were hurled across the landscape. More destruction ensued in Marion, Indiana, then through Wells and Adams County, destroying many more homes and businesses. In Berne, Indiana, it cut a path through the northern part of the small city damaging homes and businesses including a bowling alley, grocery store and lumber yard before the storm crossed into Ohio.

Michigan and Ohio

Outbreak death toll

State	Total	County	County total
Iowa	1	Cedar	1
Illinois	6	McHenry	6
Indiana	138	Adams	1
		Boone	20
		Elkhart	62
		Grant	8
		Hamilton	6
		Howard	17
		Lagrange	10
		Marshall	3
		Montgomery	2
		St. Joseph	3
		Starke	4
		Wells	2
Michigan	53	Allegan	1
		Branch	18
		Clinton	1
		Hillsdale	6
		Kent	5
		Lenawee	9
		Monroe	13
Ohio	60	Allen	11
		Cuyahoga	1
		Delaware	4
		Hancock	2
		Lorain	17
		Lucas	16
		Mercer	2
		Seneca	4
		Shelby	3
Wisconsin	3	Jefferson	3
Totals	261
All deaths were tornado-related

With the telephone lines down, emergency services in Elkhart County, Indiana, could not warn Michigan residents that the tornadoes were headed their way. The radar operator at the U.S. Weather Bureau, at Detroit Metro Airport, observed that the thunderstorms over northern Indiana and western Lower Michigan, were moving east-northeast at 70 mph (112 km/h). In Michigan, tornadoes hit as far north as Kent County, Michigan, just north of Grand Rapids. Of the southernmost counties of Michigan, all but three (Berrien, Cass, and St. Joseph counties) were hit. Two F4 tornadoes struck Hillsdale County and destroyed about 200 cottages along Baw Beese Lake. Many people escaped harm as they were in church instead of out at the lake. Later, the Manitou Beach-Devils Lake area in Lenawee County was hit by two tornadoes (both an F4) in a span of a little more than 30 minutes, causing numerous fatalities (including a family of six). The local dance pavilion on Devils Lake was demolished, it had just recently been rebuilt after having been destroyed by a fire on Labor Day in 1963. One of the tornadoes damaged parts of Onsted; in the nearby village of Tipton, which suffered a direct hit, 94% of the town's buildings were damaged or destroyed.

One or two F-4 tornadoes struck the then-Village of Milan, south of Ann Arbor, straddling the county line in southeastern Washtenaw County (York Township) and northwestern Monroe County (Milan Township). One tornado destroyed the Wolverine Plastics building on the Monroe County side of town (then, the top employer in the village), completely removing the roof in the process. That or the other tornado then struck and seriously damaged the Milan Junior High School and the adjacent, disused (since 1958) senior high school, at Hurd and North streets, on the Washtenaw County side of Milan. Milan became a city in 1967; opened a new Middle School in 1969, which replaced the old Junior High School; and the 1900 building that housed the former junior and senior high schools was eventually demolished.

Tornadoes continued from Indiana into Ohio where additional fatalities occurred across the state border. A double tornado was sighted near Toledo, Ohio. The same weather system devastated northern parts of the city with F4 tornado damage. Five people were killed when a tornado flipped over a bus on the Detroit-Toledo Expressway (today's Interstate 75). Other violent tornadoes occurred near the Indiana/Ohio border.

At around 11 P.M., a tornado touched down in Lorain County, Ohio and struck Pittsfield, Ohio, killing seven and destroying most structures. The same tornado caused severe damage to homes in Grafton. When the storm reached Cleveland, Ohio, it diverged into two paths about a 1⁄2 mile (800 m) apart." Several witnesses also saw two funnels merging into one similar to the Dunlap tornado. Large trees laying 50 feet (15 m) apart were felled lying in different directions. The storm also displayed F4 damage near Strongsville where homes simply disappeared. This tornado killed 18 people and was also previously rated as an F5 before being lowered to an F4 by NWS officials.

The last tornado occurred at 12:30 A.M. on April 12. It moved along a 30 miles (48 km) path south of Columbus, Ohio, causing F2 damage.

Aftermath

The U.S. Weather Bureau investigated the large number of deaths. Although Radar stations were few and far between in 1965, the severe nature of this storm was identified with adequate time to disseminate warnings. But the warning system failed as the public never received them. Additionally, the public did not know the difference between a Forecast and an Alert. Thus the Tornado watch and Tornado warning programs were implemented. Pivotal to those clarifications was a meeting in the WMT Stations studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Officials of the severe storms forecast center in Kansas City met with WMT meteorologist Conrad Johnson and News Director Grant Price. Their discussion led to establishment of the official "watch" and "warning" procedures in use since 1965.

As technology has advanced since 1965; warnings can be spread via cable and satellite television, PCs and the Internet, solid-state electronics, cell phones, and NOAA Weatheradio.

Suction vortices

Dr. Ted Fujita discovered suction vortices during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak. It had previously been thought the reason why tornadoes could hit one house and leave another across the street completely unscathed was because the tornado would "jump" from one house to another. However, Dr. Fujita discovered that the actual reason is most destruction is caused by suction vortices: small, intense mini-tornadoes within the main tornado.

Casualties

In the Midwest, 271 people were killed and 1,500 injured (1,200 in Indiana). It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in Indiana history with 138 people killed.^[3]

See also

• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak
• 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak

References

• Thomas P. Grazulis (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991, A Chronology and Analysis of Events. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-00-7 (hardcover)
• King, Marshall (April 10, 2005). "One for the books". The Elkhart Truth, The Elkhart Truth Online Edition
• National Climatic Data Center Accessed 2009-03-31.
• Deedler, William King, (March 2005). "Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak: April 11, 1965". The National Weather Service, Detroit/White Lake National Weather Service Office

External links

• 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak (Keith C. Heidorn)
• The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak Story (NWS Detroit, MI)
• Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak (Blake Naftel - Internet Archive)
• April 11, 1965, Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak (NWS Indianapolis, IN)
• The Palm Sunday Story April 11, 1965 (NWS Northern Indiana)
• Full map of 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak The Tornado History Project

Further reading

• Palm Sunday tornadoes of April 11, 1965, by Tetsuya T. Fujita and Dorothy L. Bradbury, with C. F. Van Thullenar. Chicago Satellite & Mesometeorology Research Project, University of Chicago, 1970. There is no ISBN available; Library of Congress Control Number: 70017916.
• The Night of the Wicked Winds: the 1965 Palm Sunday tornadoes in Ohio, by Roger Pickenpaugh. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 2003. ISBN 0-9709059-3-9 (paperback).
• Winds of fury, circles of grace: life after the Palm Sunday tornadoes, by Dale Clem. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997. ISBN 0-687-01795-5 (alk. paper)
• The Mighty Whirlwind, by David Wagler. Aylmer, Ontario: Pathway Publishing Corp., 1966. There is no ISBN available; Library of Congress Control Number: 67112646.
• The Palm Sunday Tornado, by Timothy E. Bontrager, 2005. A novel by an author whose grandparents died in the tornado. For details see www.timothybontrager.com.
• Fujita, Tetsuya T., et al. (1970). "PALM SUNDAY TORNADOES OF APRIL 11, 1965" [4]. Monthly Weather Review, 98 (1), pp. 29–69.
• Night of the Wind: The Palm Sunday Tornado of April 11, 1965, by Dan Cherry. Adrian, Michigan: Lenawee County Historical Society, 2002. A collection of interviews and eyewitness accounts from the Devils Lake area, located in northwest Lenawee County. There is no ISBN available; Library of Congress Control Number not available.