On June 7 1984, nine people died and 200 were injured when a tornado slammed into the Iowa County, Wisconsin community of Barneveld. The F5 twister destroyed 90% of the town of 580 residents. What made Barneveld’s tornado rare is it hit overnight. A majority of tornadoes occur between 3 and 9 p.m., and violent tornadoes almost never happen late at night. Many tornadoes show a telltale “hook” shape on radar, but Barneveld’s tornado did not. Meteorologists could see fast-moving storms on radar heading northeast through Grant and Lafayette counties but without the hook, they did not know a tornado was forming. Most people in Barneveld were in bed and didn’t know about the warning unless they happened to be watching television and saw the scrawl on their TV screens. Because power went out a few minutes before the twister hit, Barneveld’s tornado siren never sounded. Lightning flashed so often — more than 200 strikes per minute — that the sky looked like a strobe light, according to the National Weather Service in Madison. The tornado traveled 36 miles for 59 minutes. At its peak, it was nearly a quarter-mile wide. Destroyed were all three of Barneveld’s churches, 93 homes, 17 of the community’s 18 businesses including the library, fire station, bank, post office and municipal building. Barneveld’s water tower was marked by blue paint about halfway up, possibly from a twirling car. A couple sleeping on the upper floor of their house ended up in the basement with their truck on top; they survived. Paper debris including checks, letters, bills and invoices in an area 23 miles wide and 110 miles away.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This Date in Weather History Update
2014: Hail storm causes $400 million in damage in Abilene, TX
2008: F3 tornado strikes Scout camp near Little Sioux, IA
1752: Benjamin Franklin famously flies kite in thunderstorm
1984: Violent tornado outbreak in Russia
The 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak
1944: How weather forecasting impacted D-Day
1925: Temperature reaches 100 degrees in Washington DC
1976: Strong tropical cyclone and 40' storm surge hits India
1921: Cloudburst causes 10' of flooding in Pueblo, CO
1889: Flooding of the Potomac River
1965: Tropical system causes 30k fatalities in Bangladesh
1889: The Johnstown Flood
1879: The Real-life inspiration for "The Wizard of Oz"
1914: Empress of Ireland and Storstad ships collide
1880: 1' of rain falls in less than 2 hours in Brackettville, TX
1896: The third most deadly tornado in U.S. history strikes St. Louis
2008: "Pneumonia Front" causes big temperature drops in Chicago
1987: A fisherman is struck and killed by lightning
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Lore