THE HISTORY OF TORNADOES IN OHIO COUNTY (Part 1 of 3)

THE HISTORY OF TORNADOES IN OHIO COUNTY

According to US Weather Service records, the worst tornado to hit Ohio County was in 1890.  At that time this F4 storm was commonly called a cyclone. Its’ path is shown in orange on the map below. Note: The color coding shows the strength of the tornado, i. e. F1 as blue; F2 as green; F3 as yellow; and the worst, F4, as orange.

March 27, 1890

Counties:  Ohio, Grayson, Breckinridge, Hardin
F-scale:  F4 (orange on map)
Deaths:  7
Injuries:  40
Path width:  1200 yards
Path length:  60 miles (probably a family of tornadoes)
Time:  8:00pm

Narrative:  Moved east-northeast from seven miles northwest of Hartford.  Many miles of forest were leveled, and small farm communities were wiped out.  Homes were said to have "vanished" near Sulphur Springs (where two people were killed) and near Falls of Rough (where three people were killed).  The last damage was near Rineyville, where two people were killed in one home.

Other tornadoes, as shown on the above map :

February 7, 1904
Counties:  Ohio
F-scale:  F2 (green on map)
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:  5 miles
Time:  3:45am

Narrative:  Moved east-northeast from Dundee to Narrows.  Thirty homes and six businesses were destroyed at Narrows (virtually the entire village).  Twelve more homes were destroyed at Dundee.

December 4, 1916
Counties:  Ohio
F-scale:  F2 (green on map)
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  0
Path width:   100 yards
Path length:  10 miles
Time:  3:30pm

Narrative:  Moved east-northeast seven miles north of Hartford.  This tornado "bounced like a rubber ball" and destroyed several homes.

May 2, 1954
Counties:  Ohio
F-scale:  F1 (blue on map)
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:  25 yards
Path length:
Time:  Noon

Noted discrepancies:  SPC gives a path width of 10 yards, NCDC gives 30 yards, Storm Data says 25 yards.

May 7, 1961
Counties:  Ohio, Grayson (from Hopkins and Muhlenberg)
F-scale:  F3 (yellow on map)
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  9:25am

Grazulis narrative:  Skipped east-northeast from Madisonville to Bremen, Moorman, and on to Beaver Dam.  The Moorman High School gym was unroofed and a small home fell over.

Noted discrepancies:  SPC and NCDC rank this as an F3, Grazulis gives it an F2.  Grazulis does not include Grayson County.  SPC, Storm Data, and NCDC give a time of 9:25am, Grazulis give 8:15am.  SPC and NCDC give a path length of 58 miles, Grazulis give 35 miles (skipping), Storm Data gives 60 miles.  SPC and NCDC give a path width of 880 yards, Storm Data says 1320 yards, Grazulis says 200 yards.  This tornado is very oddly listed at the NCDC website.  NCDC lists Hopkins County at 9:25am, then two entries for Muhlenberg County (one at 9:36am and the other at 9:41am), then two entries for Ohio County (one at 9:48am and the other at 9:56am), then one entry for Grayson County (at 10:17am).  All entries have identical f-scale and path widths values.  Storm Data begins the tornado in McLean County, and thereafter agrees with SPC.  The NCDC end lat/lon of the first Muhlenberg tornado is the same as the NCDC begin lat/lon of the second.  Similarly, the NCDC end lat/lon of the first Ohio tornado is the same as the NCDC begin lat/lon of the second.  All lat/lons are roughly in alignment with each other and with the Grayson County lat/lons.  Will plot a single tornado as close to the given lat/lons as possible.  In the LMK CWFA, only Centertown and Beaver Dam (both Ohio County) are mentioned in the Storm Data narrative.  More research would be nice, especially to determine if this tornado did continue into Grayson County or not.

August 13, 1966
Counties:  Ohio
F-scale:   F2 (green on map)
Deaths:  
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  5:25pm

Noted discrepancies:  SPC/NCDC call this an F2...Grazulis does not list it.

Notes:  Storm Data says this tornado touched down one and a half miles northeast of Hartford and moved northeast for a mile and a half.

November 19, 1970
Counties:  Ohio
F-scale:  F2 (green on map)
Deaths:  0
Injuries:  18
Path width:  600 yards
Path length:  37 miles (skipping)
Time:  10:25pm

Notes:  This tornado likely touched down in eastern Muhlenberg County and traveled roughly northward through western Ohio County, including the Echols, Rockport, and Hartford areas, and into far eastern Daviess County around Whitesburg.  In the Rockport and Echols area the tornado was up to a quarter mile wide.  It destroyed a dozen houses and half a dozen mobile homes, damaged 40 other houses and several barns to some degree, and injured eleven people.  In Hartford two children were hospitalized when their trailer was overturned.  The tornado did its worst in Whitesville in Daviess County, damaging much of the town.

Noted discrepancies:  SPC lists Ohio and Daviess counties...NCDC lists only Ohio County...Grazulis lists Muhlenberg and Ohio counties.  SPC/NCDC lat/lon list this tornado as touching down in Daviess County, and provide no liftoff lat/lon.  Grazulis has the tornado starting in Muhlenberg County east of Greenville and he lifts it at Hartford in Ohio County (nowhere near the SPC/NCDC lat/lon).  SPC and NCDC list no injuries, Grazulis and Storm Data list 18.  SPC gives a path length of 1/10 of a mile (obviously wrong), NCDC gives nothing, and Grazulis gives 20 miles.  SPC gives a path width of 10 yards, NCDC and Grazulis give nothing.  Storm Data mentions tornado-like damage at Whitesville in Daviess County.

April 27, 1971
Counties:  Ohio (from McLean and Hopkins)
F-scale:  F1 (blue on map)
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:  34 miles
Time:  5:45pm

Noted discrepancies:  Only Hopkins County is listed at NCDC.  SPC gives a path width of 10 yards, NCDC give 30 yards.  SPC and NCDC agree on a path length of 36 miles, suggesting the tornado must have continued beyond Hopkins County.  Storm Data lists a path length of 34 miles.  The SPC/NCDC liftoff lat/lon is in Oho County but makes no sense for a tornado coming from Hopkins and McLean counties, especially without passing through Muhlenberg County.  Interestingly, though, SvrPlot gives a very realistic plot for this tornado.  Storm Data says the tornado touched down near Slaughters in Hopkins County, proceeded to Sacramento in McLean County, and then went on to Prentiss in Ohio County.

Notes:  Will use the Storm Data description.

April 27, 1971
Counties:  Ohio, Butler
F-scale:  F3 (yellow on map)
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:  11 miles
Time:  6:10pm CST

Notes:  There is considerable disagreement among data sources regarding the end point of this tornado (despite excellent agreement on the touchdown point).  After further research, it has been decided that this tornado touched down west of Cool Springs and north of Wysox in Ohio County.  It proceeded to the east-southeast through Little Bend (near Mining City) and into Butler County.  This project will end the tornado about two miles into Butler County.  Damage was found as far east as the Reedyville and Roundhill areas along the Butler County/Edmonson County line, however these locations are not really in line with the earlier known tornado locations, and also there have been no damage reports found between the end point described above and these two locations.  Damage in Roundhill and Reedyville may have been from straight-line winds or a separate small tornado.  At this tornado's touchdown point in Ohio County a witness said it "swerved" as it approached his house, just grazing the home but destroying the garage and a nearby barn.   Multiple vortices may have been visible.  The tornado was witnessed at Little Bend and was described as being about 17 yards wide while moving at about 40mph (and accompanied by large hail).   In this area a barn was destroyed and roof shingles were found embedded two inches deep into an oak tree.  Will not disagree with the official strength ranking of F3, but it sounds like this tornado was a minimal F3 at best.

Noted discrepancies:  SPC and NCDC rank this as an F3, Grazulis call it an F2.  SPC and NCDC list a path width of 20 yards, Grazulis says 50 yards, Storm Data 14 yards.

April 28, 2002
Counties:  Ohio
F-scale:  F1 (blue on map)
Deaths:
Injuries:
Path width:
Path length:
Time:  2:40am

Noted discrepancies:  SPC lists a path width of 30 yards...NCDC and Storm Data say 100 yards.

Notes:  Storm Data takes this tornado from five miles west of Centertown, on Shrull Lane, to Hartford.