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| Tornadoes and their paths on April 11-12, 1965 |
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| Double tornado that hit the Midway Trailer park killing 33. Paul Huffman |
SOURCE The second Palm Sunday tornado outbreak occurred on April 11, 1965 and involved 47 tornadoes (15 significant, 17 violent, 21 killers) hitting the Midwest. It was the second biggest outbreak on record. In the Midwest, 271 people were killed and 1,500 injured (1,200 in Indiana). It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in Indiana history with 137 people killed. The outbreak also made that week the second most active week in history with 51 significant and 21 violent tornadoes. The tornado which hit Midway trailer park is disputed to be an F5, as 25 homes were literally wiped off the face of the earth, with no signs of them ever found.
The tornadoes occurred in a 450 miles (720 km) swath west-to-east from Clinton County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a 200 miles (320 km) swath north-to-south from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The outbreak lasted 11 hours and is among the most intense outbreaks — in terms of number, strength, width, path, and length of tornadoes — ever recorded, including 4 "double/twin funnel" tornadoes.
This is the third deadliest day for tornadoes on record, trailing the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974, which killed 315, and the outbreak that included the Tri-State Tornado which killed 747. It occurred on Palm Sunday, an important day in the Christian religion, and many people were attending services at church, one possible reason why some warnings were not received. There had been a short winter that year, and as the day progressed, the temperature rose to 83 °F (28 °C) in some areas of Midwestern United States.
At around 12:55 P.M.[2], the first tornado touched down in Clinton County, Iowa. It was rated F4 on the Fujita scale and spawned from a thunderstorm cell first detected near Tipton in Cedar County, Iowa, around 12:45 P.M. by radio news reporter Martin Jensen. He was stationed at the WMT Station in Cedar Rapids located some 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Tipton. The station was equipped with a Collins Radio aviation radar mounted on the roof of the station building and was used to support severe weather reports on local and regional newscasts. After detecting the severe thunderstorm, the reporter called National Weather Service offices in Waterloo (which had no radar) and Des Moines to alert them about the storm. The phone call became the first hard evidence for the Weather Service regarding the growing threat of severe storms which spawned dozens of tornadoes over the next 12 hours.
The U.S. Weather Bureau investigated the large number of deaths. Although Radar stations were few and far between in 1965, the severe nature of this storm was identified with adequate time to disseminate warnings. But the warning system failed as the public never received them. Additionally, the public did not know the difference between a Forecast and an Alert. Thus the Tornado watch and Tornado warning programs were implemented. Pivotal to those clarifications was a meeting in the WMT Stations studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Officials of the severe storms forecast center in Kansas City met with WMT meteorologist Conrad Johnson and News Director Grant Price. Their discussion led to the establishment of the official "watch" and "warning" procedures in use since 1965.
As technology has advanced since 1965; warnings can be spread via cable and satellite television, PCs and the Internet, solid-state electronics, cell phones, and NOAA Weatheradio. Dr. Ted Fujita discovered suction vortices during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak. It had previously thought that the reason why tornadoes could hit one house and leave another across the street completely unscathed was that the tornado would "jump" from one house to another. However, Dr. Fujita discovered that the actual reason is most destruction is caused by suction vortices: small, intense mini-tornadoes within the main tornado. READ MORE
1. Meteorological synopsis SOURCE
The tornadoes occurred in a 450 miles (720 km) swath west-to-east from Clinton County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a 200 miles (320 km) swath north-to-south from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The outbreak lasted 11 hours and is among the most intense outbreaks — in terms of number, strength, width, path, and length of tornadoes — ever recorded, including 4 "double/twin funnel" tornadoes.
At around 12:55 P.M.[2], the first tornado touched down in Clinton County, Iowa. It was rated F4 on the Fujita scale and spawned from a thunderstorm cell first detected near Tipton in Cedar County, Iowa, around 12:45 P.M. by radio news reporter Martin Jensen. He was stationed at the WMT Station in Cedar Rapids located some 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Tipton. The station was equipped with a Collins Radio aviation radar mounted on the roof of the station building and was used to support severe weather reports on local and regional newscasts. After detecting the severe thunderstorm, the reporter called National Weather Service offices in Waterloo (which had no radar) and Des Moines to alert them about the storm. The phone call became the first hard evidence for the Weather Service regarding the growing threat of severe storms which spawned dozens of tornadoes over the next 12 hours.
The U.S. Weather Bureau investigated the large number of deaths. Although Radar stations were few and far between in 1965, the severe nature of this storm was identified with adequate time to disseminate warnings. But the warning system failed as the public never received them. Additionally, the public did not know the difference between a Forecast and an Alert. Thus the Tornado watch and Tornado warning programs were implemented. Pivotal to those clarifications was a meeting in the WMT Stations studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Officials of the severe storms forecast center in Kansas City met with WMT meteorologist Conrad Johnson and News Director Grant Price. Their discussion led to the establishment of the official "watch" and "warning" procedures in use since 1965.
As technology has advanced since 1965; warnings can be spread via cable and satellite television, PCs and the Internet, solid-state electronics, cell phones, and NOAA Weatheradio. Dr. Ted Fujita discovered suction vortices during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak. It had previously thought that the reason why tornadoes could hit one house and leave another across the street completely unscathed was that the tornado would "jump" from one house to another. However, Dr. Fujita discovered that the actual reason is most destruction is caused by suction vortices: small, intense mini-tornadoes within the main tornado. READ MORE
The tornadoes occurred in a 450 miles (720 km) swath west-to-east from Clinton County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a 200 miles (320 km) swath north-to-south from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The outbreak lasted 11 hours and is among the most intense outbreaks — in terms of number, strength, width, path, and length of tornadoes — ever recorded, including 4 "double/twin funnel" tornadoes.
This is the third deadliest day for tornadoes on record, trailing the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974, which killed 315, and the outbreak that included the Tri-State Tornado which killed 747. It occurred on Palm Sunday, an important day in the Christian religion, and many people were attending services at church, one possible reason why some warnings were not received. There had been a short winter that year, and as the day progressed, the temperature rose to 83 °F (28 °C) in some areas of Midwestern United States.
This is the third deadliest day for tornadoes on record, trailing the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974, which killed 315, and the outbreak that included the Tri-State Tornado which killed 747. It occurred on Palm Sunday, an important day in the Christian religion, and many people were attending services at church, one possible reason why some warnings were not received. There had been a short winter that year, and as the day progressed, the temperature rose to 83 °F (28 °C) in some areas of Midwestern United States.
2. Confirmed tornadoes
| Confirmed Total | Confirmed F0 | Confirmed F1 | Confirmed F2 | Confirmed F3 | Confirmed F4 | Confirmed F5 |
| 47 | 0 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 17 | 0 |
List of reported tornadoes - Sunday, April 11, 1965
F# Location County Time (UTC) Path length Damage
(146.4 km) 1 death - One person died one month later from their injuries. 25 farms were affected.
F1 SE of New Hampton Chickasaw, Fayette, Allamakee 19:15 49.9 miles
(79.8 km)
(43.3 km) 50 homes and 65 businesses destroyed or damaged and 40 were injured.
F1 S of Soldiers Grove Crawford 20:45 13.3 miles
(21.2 km) One barn was destroyed
F1 W of Lake Geneva Walworth 21:50 1.9 miles
(3 km)
F4 Crystal Lake McHenry, Lake 21:20 9.1 miles
(14.6 km) 6 deaths - Destroyed large sections of the town including a shopping mall. Damage estimates were at about $1.5 million.
(7.2 km) Some homes were damaged and two planes flipped at Waukegan Memorial Airport.
F3 NE of Knox to S of South Bend Starke, Marshall, St. Joseph, Elkhart 22:45 35.6 miles
(57 km) 10 deaths - 30 cottages were destroyed and 70 others were damaged. 26 homes, one church and one high school were also destroyed. There were 82 people injured.
F3 S of Crown Point to SE of Laporte Porter, Laporte 23:10 33.1 miles
(53 km) Several homes and barns were destroyed and 4 people were injured.
F4 W of Wakarusa to NW of Middlebury Elkhart 23:15 21.2 miles
(34 km) 14 deaths - Destroyed Midway Trailer Park in Dunlap and numerous other homes. Was photographed as a double funnel. 1st of 2 tornadoes hitting the town of Dunlap and the Elkhart region.
(34.6 km) 5 deaths - A dozen homes were demolished
F4 Manitou Beach-Devils Lake, Michigan (1st tornado) Steuben, IN, Branch, MI, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw 00:00 90.3 miles
(144.5 km) 23 deaths - Starting just south of the Indiana-Michigan state line, the massive tornado caused extensive damage to the Manitou Beach region and southwestern suburbs of Detroit. First of two violent tornadoes to affect the same large portion of Lower Michigan.
F4 SE of Lafayette to W of Russiaville Tippecanoe, Clinton 00:07 21.8 miles
(34.9 km) Several homes and other buildings were destroyed or damaged.
F4 SE of South Bend to NE of Shipshewana St. Joseph, Elkhart, LaGrange 00:10 37 miles
(59.2 km) 36 deaths - Second violent tornado struck the Dunlap/Elkhart region in just over an hour. Destroyed an entire subdivision of the town of Dunlap. Affected rescue efforts after the first tornado. Also was witnessed as a double funnel tornado. Was rated an F5 but downgraded to a F4.
F4 Russiaville to SE of Marion, Indiana and Greentown, Indiana Clinton, Howard, Grant 00:20 48 miles
F4 SE of Crawfordsville to Arcadia Montgomery, Boone, Hamilton 00:50 45.7 miles
(73.1 km) 28 deaths - 80 homes were destroyed and over 100 people were injured.
F4 W of Montpellier, IN to N of Spencerville, OH Blackford, IN, Wells, Adams, Mercer, OH, Van Wert 01:10 52.5 miles
(84 km) 4 deaths - F4 damage was observed in Keystone in Wells County. Crossed into Ohio where it destroyed five homes and damaged five others.
F4 N of Grand Rapids Ottawa, Kent 22:54 20.6 miles
(33 km) 5 deaths - 34 homes were destroyed and nearly 200 others damaged. Nearly 150 were injured and damage amounts were estimated at almost $15 million.
F1 N of Middleville Allegan, Barry 00:05 19.5 miles
(31.2 km) 1 death - A trailer and 5 homes were destroyed while 25 others were damaged.
(22.7 km) 4 homes were destroyed and 22 others damaged. 17 people were injured.
F4 Manitou Beach-Devils Lake, Michigan (2nd tornado) Branch, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw 00:40 80.5 miles
(128.8 km) 21 deaths - Second tornado to hit the same areas 30 minutes after being affected by the first tornado. Total damage estimates from the two tornadoes were $32 million. Over 550 homes and 100 cottages were destroyed in total.
F4 N of Lansing Clinton, Shiawassee 01:15 21 miles
(33.6 km) 1 death - Several homes were severely damaged or destroyed.
(24.1 km) Several farm buildings and livestocks were destroyed.
(0.16 km) One of three tornadoes to struck the area where it caused damage to several buildings including the library.
F2 SW of Unionville Tuscola 02:00 9 miles
(14.4 km) Damage to a firehall and lumberyard.
F4 Toledo (northern sections) Lucas, OH, Monroe, MI 02:30 5.6 miles
(9 km) 18 deaths - Numerous homes in the northern suburbs of Toledo were completely destroyed. There were reports of twin tornadoes during the event. Damage amounts were estimated at $25 million.
(24 km) 4 deaths - Affecting Rockaway, 4 homes were destroyed and three others were damaged.
F4 S of Oberlin, Ohio to Strongsville Lorain, Cuyahoga 04:05 22 miles
(35.2 km) 18 deaths - Extensive damage to Pittsfield and Strongsville. Damage amounts were estimated at $5 million. Also witnessed as a double tornado.
F1 S of Cedarville Greene 04:50 0.1 mile
(0.16 km)
(61.4 km) Several farm buildings were destroyed.