The Grand Island Tornadoes
A Look Back at June 3rd, 1980
(The following narrative is a summary of the June 3, 1980 Grand Island, Nebraska tornadoes. All but two pictures included in this account were provided by Dr. Roger Wakimoto of the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Wakimoto's photos and graphics are from 1980, and were used as the basis for assessing tornado paths, intensity and research of this unique event.)
Tornadoes #2 (left) and #3 (right) looking north from North Johnson Drive (roughly Webb and Faidley). Photo by Rod Gartner about 9:00 p.m.
Photo from June 3, 1980. Unknown location and source.
On June 3, 1980, a massive super-cell thunderstorm complex developed just north of Grand Island, Nebraska during the early evening and moved slowly south-southeast at around 8 mph through the city. The outbreak provided the basis for a book and television movie, as well as tornado and engineering research. The storm complex produced 7 tornadoes in and around Grand Island over a period of less than 3 hours. There was one tornado of F4 intensity and 3 others that were rated F3.
Five people were killed, about 200 injured, 475 living units and 49 businesses were destroyed with a total damage of nearly 300 million dollars. Also of note, three of the tornadoes rotated anti-cyclonically or clockwise, a rare occurrence in the northern hemisphere, where over 99 percent of tornadoes rotate cyclonically or counter-clockwise.
Original graphic of the seven tornadoes on June 3rd. The insert in the upper right hand corner depicts the 7th tornado in western Hamilton county.
Photo of the intense damage in Grand Island from the June 3rd tornadoes.
Graphic showing the very complex path and wind patterns of tornado #1, which begin northwest of town before heading into the Capital Heights area.
Close-up graphic of a small section of the tornado #1 damage path. Note the abrupt change in direction of movement (loop in path).
The final stages of tornado #1 (solid line). This tornado passed just west of Northwest High School.
At approximately 8:45 p.m., the first of seven deadly tornadoes set down 11 miles northwest of Grand Island, 3 miles north of Prairie Creek. The 700-yard wide F3 tornado tracked south for 7 miles to 4 miles northwest of downtown Grand Island. While the straight line path was 7 miles, the twisting and erratic movement covered over twice that distance,14.5 miles, over the course of the 49 minutes it was on the ground. Along this path, farm homes were torn apart, a woman was killed while trying to drive to a relative's house, and 25 people were injured.
Aerial photo of tornado path through a farm field. "Swirl" pattern of the tornado circulation is clearly visible.
Aerial photo of tornado path. Note the "swirl" pattern or scour marks.
Damage to a house strewn along the tornadoes path. The Prairie Creek runs along the left side of the picture.
Extensive damage in northwest Grand Island.
Another view of damage in northwest Grand Island.
At 9:00 p.m., a second short-lived tornado set down north of Highway 2 near the intersection of Webb and Airport Road, just east of the first tornado. This short-lived anti-cyclonic tornado, the first of three that evening, moved northeast lifting back into the clouds at around 9:12 p.m.
The third tornado of the evening, the second anti-cyclonically rotating tornado, touched down between Webb Road and Highway 281 just north of Airport Road at 9:05 p.m. This F3-rated, 500-yard wide tornado briefly tracked north, then reversed course to the south, then southeast across northern Grand Island, leaving a 3.5 mile long path of destruction. Most of damage done by this tornado was rated F0, with some F3 damage in the vicinity of the Veteran's home along Capitol Avenue. While there were no fatalities, 40 people were injured by this tornado before it lifted over the center of town around 9:30 p.m.
Graphic depicting the path of tornado #3 through northeast Grand Island. At one point, this tornado was rated an F3.
Front view of broken windows of the Veterans Home.
Overhead view of Veterans Home. Note the extensive damage just east of the building (top of the screen).
Graphic showing path of tornado #3 (dotted line) by the Veterans Home. The wind direction is depicted by the streamlines.
Graphic depicting the core of strongest winds wrapping around the tornado, and inflicting the area just east of the Veterans Home hardest.
Tornado number 4, the third anti-cyclonic tornado of the evening, set down near Highway 34 and Shady Bend Road at 9:46 p.m. This tornado tracked southwest to just northeast of the intersection of Stuhr and Shimmer Roads, then turned north on the west side of Stuhr Road before lifting near Highway 34 at 9:50 p.m. At 10:16 p.m., the deadliest and most powerful tornado of the evening touched down on the east side of Grand Island, in the Eagles Lake and Crystal Lake areas. This 1000-yard wide F4 tornado swept west, just north of Bismark Road, crossed Shady Bend and Stuhr Roads, before turning southwest across Bismark Road north of the Fonner Park area. The tornado continued to move southwest through residential areas until it reached the South Locust Street business district at Locust and Fonner Park Road. From this point, the tornado moved due south along South Locust until it turned southeast a few blocks north of the intersection of South Locust and Highway 34. The tornado then crossed Highway 34 and tracked another half mile southeast before ending at 10:28 p.m. During the few minutes the tornado tracked along Locust Street, the damage was most devastating, and homes and businesses were "obliterated." The 6-mile long tornado track that took 12 minutes to cover, and resulted in four fatalities, one in a trailer home, one in a frame home, one in a lounge and the last under a collapsed awning near a motel. In addition, 110 others were injured along the storms violent track.
Hand analyzed map of the early stages of tornado #5 near the Merrick County line east of town. The tornado moved west and just north of Bismark Rd.
Aerial view of the damage from tornado #5.
Damage just east of Grand Island with tornado #5. Note the huge trees fallen into the lake.
Aerial photo of the bowling alley (Meves Bowl) on East Bismark Rd.
Graphic depicting path of tornado #5, the "South Locust Tornado". This tornado was rated an F4 on the Fujita scale.
The 6th tornado, rated F2, spun up east of Shady Bend Road just north of Highway 34 at 10:25 pm. This tornado moved southwest to near Stuhr Road south of Highway 34, then turned southeast traveling south of Shimmer Road to about 1 mile southwest of the Hall-Hamilton County bridge. This 600 yard wide tornado tracked 6 miles over rural areas injuring another 18 people before ending at 10:35 pm.
Aerial view of scour marks from one of the tornadoes just southeast of Grand Island.
Farmstead destroyed. Note the incredible tree damage as well as to structures.
Kmart (now Skagway on South Locust) was spared major damage and served as a command post for post-storm operations.
Damage in rural areas southeast of town.
More scour marks from one of the tornadoes southeast of Grand Island.
As the thunderstorm complex moved south toward Interstate 80 during the late evening, it made a left turn to the east, usually indicating the end of severe weather. Not so in this case. About the time the storm turned in direction, the 7th and last tornado touched down at 10:45 p.m. southeast of the Hall-Hamilton County bridge. The tornado swept east and northeast over open farmland for 13.4 miles before ending at 11:30 p.m.
Meteorologists and technicians and the Grand Island National Weather Service (NWS) Office at the airport monitored radar, satellite and surface weather conditions and issued warnings throughout the event. The tornado warnings turned into Severe Thunderstorm and Flash Flood Warnings overnight as the huge super-cell moved east. For their outstanding service during the storm, the entire staff of the Grand Island NWS was awarded a Department of Commerce Unit Citation. The pictures below depict some radar, satellite and surface wind information from June 3, 1980 as seen by the staff of the NWS office at the airport.
Picture of the wind recording printout from the NWS office in Grand Island. A peak gust of 60 mph was recorded from the east.
Series of satellite images of the storm. The storm developing around 6:15 pm and eventually had cloud tops temperatures of 60 below zero (C).
Radar view of tornado #1 at 9:01 p.m. The tornado center is the large hole (dot) on the left side. The radar site is on the right side.
Tornado #1 continues west (left) of the radar. Tornado #3 is just southwest of the radar (clockwise finger-like depiction). Time is 9:22 p.m.
Radar view of the formative stages of tornado #5 at 10:16 p.m. The "curly-Q" or "wrapped" image south of the radar is the tornado.
Now 25 years years later, the memories of June 3, 1980 live on in the minds and memories of so many who survived the event, and the families and friends of the five people who perished. For many of us, June 3 1980, will simply be known forever as the real "Night of the Twisters".
