Tornado Hill in Grand Island, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND — On June 3, 1980, Grand Island was impacted by an unparalleled tornado outbreak in meteorological history. Local residents who lived in the community at the time recall what it was like living through the, “Night of the Twisters.”
June 3 would dawn like any other typical day in Nebraska with warm temperatures and higher dewpoints, the National Weather Service called for a slight chance of thundershowers and a 20 percent chance of precipitation during the evening.
The science of tornado formation is still not fully understood today and even less so in the 1980s, so the meteorologists can be forgiven for missing the signs of the outbreak.
Some in the general public still operated under the mistaken belief they should open all of their windows to avoid the low pressure from the tornado from blowing apart their house from the inside out.
Looking at the data in hindsight, while the event itself was unique, the atmospheric conditions that caused it were fairly classic for severe weather in Nebraska. A large scale trough of low pressure was in place over the western United States, with its exit region over Nebraska. Near the surface, winds were streaming out of the south, bringing abundant moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
Across Nebraska, a warm front was lifting from south to north across the state throughout the day, the influx of moisture contributed to atmospheric instability. This frontal boundary would later provide a focusing mechanism for thunderstorm development.
The winds showed a veering profile, blowing out of the southeast at the surface, directly out of the south at 5,000 feet, out of the southwest at 18,000 feet and directly out of the west at 30,000 feet. Any storms that developed would develop large scale cyclonic or counterclockwise rotation, becoming supercells, storms responsible for the majority of tornadoes.
The stage was set for one of the most unique tornado events to ever impact Nebraska.
Weather satellite images at 6 p.m. showed a cumulus field over south central Nebraska, with one updraft sticking out.
Just an hour later a substantial thunderstorm had developed over central Nebraska, with an overshooting top evident even from 1980s satellite photos, this is indicative of an extremely strong updraft. According to the NWS, the storm rapidly developed between 6-8 p.m.
By 8 p.m. the storm had clearly developed into a robust supercell, with the edge of its cloud anvil reaching the Lincoln area. The storm complex was moving slowly, only around 10 mph but it was bearing down on the Grand Island area.
At 8:45 p.m. the first tornado of the night set down 11 miles northwest of Grand Island, three miles north of Prairie Creek. The 700-yard wide twister tracked south for seven miles, lifting four miles northwest of Grand Island.
The twisting and erratic motion along the seven mile path covered over twice that distance, its track was highly unusual as it looped and crossed itself numerous times.
It was on the ground for a total of 49 minutes.
Tragically, 19-year-old Denise Behring was killed in her car by this first tornado. She had been working her shift at the Conestoga Mall, her store closed when the tornado sirens sounded and she was driving home to find shelter at a relative’s home where her parents were.
In all, 25 people would be injured and several farm homes along the path were literally torn apart. The tornado lifted at 9:34 p.m. it would eventually be rated an F-3. Its damage was estimated as $2.5 million at the time.
In what would become a hallmark of the event, the second tornado touched down while the first was still on the ground, at 9:00 p.m. What was strange about this tornado was that it rotated in a clockwise, anti-cyclonic, motion. This is rare, and what is strange is that three of the eventual seven tornadoes were anti-cyclonic.
The second tornado set down north of Highway 2 near the intersection of Webb Road and Airport Road. It was short lived, lasting only 12 minutes and it covered one mile before dissipating. It caused $25,000 in damage and injured five people.
At 9:05 p.m. the third tornado, also anti-cyclonic, touched down between Webb Road and Highway 281. Amazingly, between 9:05 and 9:12 p.m. the first three tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously and the first and third twisters would still be ongoing until 9:30 p.m.
Around 9 p.m., the only known photo of the Grand Island tornadoes was taken by Rod Gartner, of the second and third tornado while he looked north from North Johnson Dr.
The third tornado briefly tracked north, but then reversed course to the south, then southeast and entered northern Grand Island.
While most of the damage was rated F-0, there was F-3 level damage done in the vicinity of the Veterans Hospital, which had most of its windows blown out. While there were no deaths, 40 people were injured along its 3.7 mile path of destruction before lifting over the center of town at 9:30 p.m.
At 9:46 p.m. the fourth tornado and third and final anti-cyclonic tornado touched down near Highway 34 and Shady Bend Road. This tornado tracked to the southwest and then turned north along the west side of Stuhr Road before lifting near Highway 34. It was on the ground for only four minutes.
The fifth tornado of the evening would be the most powerful and the most deadly, it would become known as the “South Locust,” tornado.
It touched down at 10:16 p.m. on the east side of the town in the Eagles Lake and Crystal Lake area. This 1,000 yard wide vortex swept west just north of Bismark Road, before turning southwest north of the Fonner Park area. The tornado continued to move southwest through residential areas until it reached the business district at South Locust St.
From this point, it tracked due south along S. Locust St. until it turned southeast just north of Highway 34. It tracked another half mile before it lifted at 10:28 p.m. The six mile path of the tornado only took 12 minutes to cover.
Homes and businesses were, “obliterated,” along S. Locust St., the tornado was also a killer, taking the lives of four people.
One of them was Overton resident, 25-year-old Danny Davenport. He and his fiancée, Kristi Swanson they planned to marry in September, were driving down S. Locust St. when the tornado struck. They attempted to take shelter under the canopy of the Regal 8 Motel.
Another victim, Robin Larson, 17, was thrown nearly a block from her trailer at the Tipton Trailer Court on S. Locust St. She was discovered in the rubble of a Dairy Queen on the southwest corner of Stolley Park Road. She had moved back to Grand Island only two months before her death.
Charles Peterson, 66, was found dead in his bedroom at 3100 S. Locust St. He sought shelter on the floor near a bedroom wall while his wife took shelter in the bathroom. He had lived in Grand Island since 1967.
Ronnie Leece, 30, was in the Pagoda Lounge that night and was found dead in the rubble of the building. He was a veteran who had spent two and half years in Vietnam, he had lived in Grand Island since 1979.
The damage from the tornado exceeded $200 million and 110 people were injured. The tornado was rated F4, the second highest on the Fujita scale.
Unfortunately, the outbreak wasn’t over yet. At 10:25 p.m. the sixth tornado of the night touched down east of Shady Bend Road, just north of Highway 34. It traveled southwest to near Stuhr Road and then turned southeast to around one mile southwest of the Hall/Hamilton County bridge.
Notably, the fifth and sixth tornadoes were both on the ground from 10:25 p.m. to 10:28 p.m. In total, multiple tornadoes had been on the ground at the same time for 28 minutes of the event.
This tornado was 600-yards wide and tracked four miles over mainly rural areas, though 18 additional injuries did occur. $2.5 million in damage was done and the tornado was rated F2.
At 10:45 p.m. the seventh and final tornado set down southeast of the Hall-Hamilton County bridge. It moved east and northeast over mainly open farmland for just over 13 miles. It still caused $2.5 million in damage and injured two people.
By Thursday morning, St. Francis Medical Center had treated and released 148 people while Lutheran Hospital had treated 118.
According to the American Red Cross, 475 homes were destroyed, that included 357 single-family homes, 33 mobile homes and 85 apartments. Even more homes were damaged. There were 440 homes, 24 mobile homes and 34 apartment units with major damage. Another 1,194 homes, 241 mobile homes and 190 apartments sustained minor damage.
Along with the 49 destroyed business units, 23 businesses sustained major damage and another 35 minor. The damage today would have equaled around one billion dollars.
Clean-up from the disaster would take months, with most of the rubble placed in a landfill that now forms Tornado Hill, a popular biking and sledding spot in Grand Island today.
“I still regard it as one of the most remarkable outbreaks of tornadoes I’ve ever seen,” said Dr. Roger Wakimoto, who was working as a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, under Ted Fujita, the man for which the tornado rating scale takes its name. He said he was surprised by the devastation he saw when he arrived in Grand Island about two days after the storms.
Wakimoto was one of the people who helped to conduct the survey of the tornadoes, their individual paths and the damage they caused.
Wakimoto said he could have called the Grand Island tornadoes one of the most remarkable storms he’d seen.
The event and its aftermath would inform Fujita’s work in understanding tornadoes and how they operate in the years to come.
The event gained its nickname, “Night of the Twisters,” from a semi-fictional account of the event written in 1984 by children’s author Ivy Ruckman, a Nebraska native. The booked inspired a cable television original movie that aired on The Family Channel on Feb. 14, 1996.
The tornado outbreak in Grand Island highlights how unpredictable the weather can be throughout Tornado Alley and why people need to be prepared and have a plan in case the worst comes to pass.