It is rare for a town to be hit by a tornado. It is like throwing a dart at a dot; you may eventually hit it, but it might take 10,000 tries. Now imagine if, in one night, you managed to hit the dot on the dart board several times. That is what Grand Island experienced on the night of June 3, 1980, when one supercell thunderstorm sat over the city for several hours and produced numerous tornadoes. These tornadoes took erratic paths in and around Grand Island, leading to one of the most curious severe weather events in history. The oddities of the event sparked a book, and later a movie called The Night of the Twisters. In this special installment of This Week in Weather History, the true story of the "Night of the Twisters" is told that evening in Grand Island.
"A FREAK OF NATURE"
Grand Island is one of the most populous cities in Nebraska, the 4th as of the 2020 census, with a population of around 53,000 residents. As the most landlocked state in the Union, the name "Grand Island" in Nebraska has raised eyebrows. The name derives from French fur traders who referred to the island formed by the Platte River and an associated channel that looped around, an island in the center of Nebraska. In the 1850s, the first settlers of Grand Island came, then the railroad a couple of decades later. Since that point, the city has grown to 33,000 residents as of the 1980 census.
June 3, 1980, was not expected to be a severe weather day in Grand Island. The forecast in the Grand Island Independent that morning read:
Mostly clear Tuesday [June 3] with a slight chance of thundershowers...twenty percent chance of precipitation Tuesday night
That day, a warm front slowly moved into central Nebraska but parked itself over Grand Island by that evening. Temperatures soared into the 80s with dew points rising into the 60s to low 70s, and a moisture-laden airmass was sitting over central Nebraska. This airmass allowed for lots of instability, the measure of the energy of the atmosphere, to build. Instability is measured by Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), any value over 1000 joules per kilogram (j/kg) is considered ample for severe storm development. That evening in Grand Island, CAPE values measured up to 4000 j/kg, an excessively prime atmosphere for severe weather if a storm took advantage of it.
With this prime environment, why didn't forecasters predict severe weather? This was because there was a strong cap in place. The cap is a layer of warm, dry air from the desert southwest that acts as a lid, preventing thunderstorm development. The environment can be as ripe as ever, but if the cap is strong enough, no storm can take advantage of it. Caps are typically broken with 1.) daytime heating eroding it, or 2.) Some forcing mechanism (i.e., a cold front) forces air through the cap and builds storms. Neither of those was sufficient on June 3 to spark widespread storms, so what happened?
It's likely some small scale factors played a role. Perhaps a boundary gave just enough lift to spark a storm, or the temperatures rose enough to allow air parcels to rise on their own. The mechanisms for this are varied, but something conspired on the evening of June 3 to spark a lone thunderstorm northwest of Grand Island. This is seen on the satellite imagery as a towering storm explodes before sunset and meanders southeast for the next several hours.
Now that the storm had developed, what caused it to produce 7 tornadoes in Grand Island? The answer comes in the motion of the storm, which was slow with a capital S. Radar estimates had the average storm speed at just 5-10 mph, which is roughly the speed the average human can walk. It took hours for the storm to clear Grand Island. As it hovered over the city, it produced numerous tornadoes that were twisty due to the slow nature of the storms.
Thus, the ingredients were in place for an evening that those in Grand Island would never forget.
THE NIGHT OF THE TWISTERS
The first tornado began northwest of Grand Island around 8:45 pm. This tornado, rated F-3, went a straight path of 7 miles into the far west edge of Grand Island. Yet, within those 7 miles, the tornado twisted and spun on itself, often looping around over itself as it moved southeast at its glacial pace. Near the intersection of W White Cloud Rd & N Monitor Rd, the tornado nearly twisted over itself several times, leading to significant damage to the farm homes in its path. It was along W White Cloud Rd that the tornadoes took their first of 4 lives, that of Denise Behring (19), who was driving to a relative's house when the tornado struck her in the car.
At 9:00 pm, Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Kelly Buck saw two funnels on the north edge of Grand Island. He relayed the report to the command center, and the tornado sirens began blaring across Grand Island. A Tornado Warning was issued by the National Weather Service, which received reports of an ongoing tornado northwest of town.
Buck witnessed the beginning of tornado #2 near the intersection of Webb & Airport Rds, north of Hwy 2. This tornado was weaker, an F-1, but it was unique nonetheless. This tornado was anti-cyclonic, meaning it rotated clockwise. 99.9% of tornadoes in the northern hemisphere rotate counter-clockwise, making anti-cyclonic tornadoes extremely rare. On June 3, 1980, there would be 3.
Five minutes later, at 9:05 pm, tornado #3 began its path of destruction just a few yards east of tornado #2, north of Webb Road. To add to the chaos, tornado #1 was also still ongoing, and was diving southward toward the Capital Heights neighborhood of far west Grand Island. For 7 minutes, between 9:05 and 9:12 pm, 3 tornadoes were down at the same time, and two of them (#1 and #3) were heading right into Grand Island.
Tornado #3, rated F-3, moved to the north for a few hundred yards before making a 180 and heading south, right into Grand Island. The tornado crossed over fields west of Eagle Scout Park, then it crossed over Hwy 2, then over W Capital Avenue, and into a neighborhood. Once it entered the neighborhoods north of the high school, it made a hard pivot and began moving due east. The tornado at this moment was relatively weak, doing minor damage to dozens of homes off of W Capital Ave.
Crossing N Broadwell Avenue, the tornado intensified as it moved toward the VA Hospital. Heeding the warning, hospital staff brought all the patients down to the lowest level before it struck. Windows were shattered, debris impaled into the wall, and cars in the parking lot tossed like toys. Moving away from the hospital, it did its greatest damage in the neighborhoods of North Grand Island. Homes were chewed up and spat out, and the entire region looked like a bomb had gone off. No one was killed in this tornado, but 40 people did suffer injuries. Tornado #3 lifted at 9:30 pm, just north of downtown.
At 9:30, tornado #2 and #3 had already lifted, but tornado #1 was not done yet. It slammed into the Capital Heights neighborhood over far west Grand Island. Much like its sister to the east, homes were heavily damaged in the neighborhood. No one was killed, but over a dozen were injured by the tornado. In total, 25 people had injuries from tornado #1.
It is 9:34 pm, and all the tornadoes have lifted. Sirens continued to blare, clouds churned overhead, hail and heavy rain fell. It was far from over as the storm crept into the south side of town.
At 9:46 pm, the 4th tornado began. This one began southeast of Grand Island, near Hwy 34 and Shady Bend Rd. This F-1 tornado, the third and last anti-cyclonic tornado, swung to the southwest before curving northwest. it did damage to a couple of farmsteads before lifting near Hwy 34 west of Stuhr Rd at 9:50 pm.
26 minutes later, at 10:16 pm, tornado #5 began on the east side of Grand Island. This tornado would become the strongest, F-4, and deadliest of the tornadoes on June 3rd. It began it's journey over the Crystal Lake & Eagle Lake neighborhoods, shredding homes and sucking up water like a straw. This tornado moved due west, staying north of Bismarck Road, heading right into town.
One of the first buildings the violent twister struck as it moved into populated areas was Meves Bowl. With ample warning, employees ushered the bowlers into the restrooms well before the tornado hit. One eyewitness described it as feeling like a bomb had gone off. The ceiling collapsed, trapping many inside the building. People had to crawl over broken glass and other debris to escape the Bowling Alley after the tornado moved away. Across the street, homes were obliterated, some swept out of existence. Most residents were sheltering in their basements as homes collapsed on them, trapping many for several hours until rescue came in the early morning of June 4th.
The tornado began hooking southwest, crossing Bismarck Road into more neighborhoods, where similar tales of horror were told. Home after home was torn up, roofs gone, windows shattered, cars tossed, and more. It continued to slowly curve southward as it approached busy Locust Street, almost as if the tornado knew where the highest population centers were. Once it reached Locust Street, it moved due south, right down the business district on the road.
It was along Locust Street where the worst damage occurred, it was also where the other deaths occurred. At the Pagoda Lounge, 30-year-old Ronny Leece was killed, his body being found among the rubble of the building. 17-year-old Robin Larson was thrown from her trailer and killed. Charles Peterson, mid-60s, was killed in his bed. A fourth body was found at the ruins of the Dairy Queen, the final victim in the Night of the Twisters.
Building after building, home after home, was reduced to rubble. The tornado's reign of terror subsided as it hooked southeast off Locust Street and lifted at 10:28 pm south of Highway 34.
Three minutes before tornado #5 ended, 10:25 pm, tornado #6 started. This one hit in the same area as tornado #4, near Shady Bend Rd & Highway 34. A neighborhood off Shady Bend Road & Highway 34 was damaged, with several people being injured. The tornado curved down S Stuhr Rd, where more homes were damaged, and more people were hurt. The tornado swung east, following E Schimmer Rd before lifting southwest of the Hall-Hamilton County bridge at 10:35 pm.
This was the final tornado in the Grand Island vicinity, as tornado #7 (an F-1) occurred in western Hamilton County. Much like the first tornado in the night, the 7th tornado twisted and spun over itself many times as it hit farms south of Philipps. This tornado injured 2 and killed no one. It lifted at 11:30 pm. The storm finally sped up and was absorbed into a bigger cluster of storms working east. The storm made its way to Omaha, where it dropped marble-sized hail & 2" of rain in some spots.
Three hours, five killed, two hundred injured, 475 houses destroyed, 49 businesses too, and 300 million dollars in damage. The "Night of the Twisters" was one of the most destructive nights in Nebraska state history, rivaling the Omaha tornadoes of 1913 & 1975.
AFTER THE NIGHT
Within hours after the tornadoes, help rushed into Grand Island from all sectors, and search-and-rescue began. This lasted through the next several days as the state & national community began to help. Donations rushed into Grand Island from everywhere, and the city began the process of cleaning. Governor Charles Thone toured the devastation the following day and declared Hall County a disaster zone. A week later, President Jimmy Carter toured the damage and granted federal funds to help Grand Island rebuild.
Debris piled up at the local landfill, it became so much that it started to overflow. One idea to dispose of the debris was to bury it in Ryder Park to make a sledding hill. This hill, now known as "tornado hill", is a staple in Grand Island today and is a common place for sledders in the winter.
Since 1980, great strides in meteorology has been made, some due to this tornado. In the 1990s, a new form of radar known as NEXRAD made it easier to spot rotation within storms. Advancements in computer models, satellites, and knowledge about tornadoes has built the weather enterprise up enough to where forecast busts like the one on June 3, 1980, are exceedingly rare.
Today, you'd never know a tornado outbreak hit Grand Island. The population of the city has grown to over 51k, keeping it's status as the 4th largest city in the state.
In 1984, Hastings native Ivy Ruckman decided to write a book based on her cousin's experience in the tornado. Her cousin, Florence Rozendal, had her home destroyed on the southeast side of Grand Island. The book, Night of the Twisters, the first children's book to be written about a tornado, achieved widespread fame and critical acclaim. In 1996, it became a made-for-TV movie, sharing the same title. This is the most famous cultural legacy of any tornado, and remains so to this day.
