Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak of June 1990

The Lower Ohio Valley Tornado Outbreak is a tornado outbreak that occurred in southern Illinois, central and southern Indiana, southwestern Ohio, and northern Kentucky on Saturday June 2 and Sunday June 3, 1990. By the end of the outbreak during the early morning hours on June 3, 66 tornadoes had struck the Ohio River Valley including seven of F4 intensity. One F4 tornado trekked 94 miles from southeastern Illinois into southern Indiana killing one person.

Thirty-seven tornadoes occurred in Indiana, a record for a single day. It eclipsed the previous record of 21 set during the Super Outbreak in April, 1974. [Intellicast. [http://www.intellicast.com/Almanac/Midwest/June/ June in the Midwest.] Retrieved on 2006-10-24.] Twelve tornadoes struck Illinois. [National Weather Service Office Indianapolis, Indiana. [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/?n=june2_1990tor June 2, 1990 Tornado Outbreak.] Retrieved on 2006-10-24.]

Event

The Storm Prediction Center put out a high risk for severe weather over much of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and northern Kentucky. A notable feature of this outbreak is that there was a sector of weak tornadoes north of Terre Haute, Indiana while a sector of strong and violent tornadoes developed south of the city. This could perhaps be atrributed to the storms in central Indiana having weaker helicity -- a measurement of storm rotation -- resulting in many of the storms farther to the north being left-moving supercells. These types of supercells are generally weaker than their right-moving counterparts.

Confirmed tornadoes

Effects

Petersburg, Indiana was the hardest hit town affected by the outbreak. It was one of two towns in Indiana that were hit by an F4 tornado. Six of the 12 people killed in Indiana were in Petersburg.

Other hard hit towns were Bedford, Indiana and Newton, Illinois. Bedford was the other town struck by an F4 tornado. One person was killed and nearly 50 more were injured. Newton also received extensive damage, but no one was killed.

ee also

* List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

References

External links

* [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/?n=june2_1990tor June 2, 1990 Tornado Outbreak] (National Weather Service - Central Indiana)
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE6DD1631F937A35755C0A966958260&scp=5&sq=Indiana%20tornadoes&st=cse New York Times article on the outbreak]