CYBERPACE REPORT # 9 - March 5, 1998

Bill Weber - WEB Site http://www.geocites.com/~billweber/

TORNADOES ENVOKE FEAR AND FASCINATION

"Everyone to the basement a cyclone (tornado) may be coming" was one of the first lessons of fear in my early childhood. Those were back in the days when there were no radios, TV and weather stations to warn people of severe weather conditions.

As children we had been told, by our parents and others, about the terrible power of tornadoes and how in a matter of minutes they could destroy homes and kill people and other life in their path .Yet there was that fascination of how ordinary oats or wheat straws could be driven into trees and building like nails by this awesome force.

This writer has never in his 78 years of life ever actually experienced being within a tornado but has seen the results of, talked with and read enough about that experience to know that it is something very terrifying. Most of the tornadoes in our area usually occur during the April-June period.

Merriam-Webster definition: - tornado \tor-na-do\ n, pl -does or -dos : a violent destructive whirling wind accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud that moves over a narrow path.

There are hundred to thousands of WEB sites on the Internet with information about tornadoes. Just go to your favorite search engine, type in the word -tornado- and you can spend hours going from WEB site to Web site learning about this fascinating subject. I do not intend to list all such WEB sites but here are a few to whet your curiosity.

Here is a story about Feb 24th 1998 tornado in Florida where 39 people were killed..
Miami Herald http://www.herald.com/

Here's his story, told largely by his guardian.

Jonathan and his 4-year-old sister, Destiny, lived with Shirley Driver at 1400 Fair Oaks Ave., a block outside the Kissimmee city limits. Driver, 68, is their great-grandmother. She is raising them. Family trouble.

Soon after bedtime Sunday night, the tornadoes arrived. Destiny and Driver were asleep in one bedroom of the wood-frame house. Jonathan was alone in the another bedroom.

Driver:
''I heard the wind roar. We just got slammed. I knew it was a tornado. I grabbed Destiny. The walls were going. The roof came off. ''Destiny said, 'Grandma, you're holding me too tight,' but I couldn't let go.''

The tornado did its work and passed, though the wind still howled and rain still came in great, blustery torrents. Driver stood amid her crumbled house. She still held Destiny very, very tightly.

But the other child was missing, blown away. Young Jonathan, lost in the havoc.

''I've got to find Jonathan,'' Driver howled, mostly to the wind. ''I've got to find Jonathan.

''Somebody help me.''

A few neighbors arrived, including Steven Vernelson.

Driver:
''I looked. Lord, I looked for Jonathan. I didn't care if I cut my foot. As long as I found him, I didn't care. But I couldn't find him.

''Finally, Steven saw just this little foot, over there by the tree. We saw him all folded up in the mattress like in a cocoon. He didn't move. We thought he was dead.

Driver spent the night in the hospital. Heart palpitations. Jonathan was fine.

''He had a magic carpet ride and never knew it,'' said his Delbert Gassert,
Jonathan's uncle.

On Tuesday afternoon, Driver returned to her homesite for the first time since the storm. She saw devastation, nothing recognizable as a house. She saw the spot where Jonathan was found.

Arriving in a relative's van, she reached over and grabbed the hand of her sister, Janice Gassert, who lives nearby.

''Oh my gosh,'' Driver said, and her eyes watered. ''Jonathan lived through that.''

Other relatives and even some strangers also made pilgrimages to visit the site of this . . . event.

The mattress and the sheet were still there, against the tree trunk, nearly invisible, deep within the mound of wallboard and furniture and tree limbs and a wrecked Ford Thunderbird.

That anyone could be injected so deeply into this seemed astonishing.

''I think God has something special planned for this boy,'' Janice Gassert said. ''I really believe there's a special plan.''

A few feet away, one of Driver's old phonograph records sat atop the wreckage, left there by the wind. It was a recording by the Raker Evangelistic Party, a gospel group.

The first song on the album was called, Oh Lord, You've Been So Good To Me.

Copyright © 1998 The Miami

Herald

Did you know that all tornadoes have a rating based upon their destructiveness? It is called "The Fujita Scale" which measures a tornado on a scale from 0 to 5 based upon the amount of damage inflicted upon man-made structures. You CANNOT look at a tornado and determine its intensity. For more info and a detailed chart go to: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/2430/tornado.html

One very interesting WEB site is, TORNADOES IN WISCONSIN A photo and essay guide to some of the more interesting tornadoes in Wisconsin over the past 100 years. These are fascinating and detailed stories of Wisconsin tornadoes. I am printing a few paragraphs from each story but do not intend to publish the complete story or you would probably not go to their delightful WEB page at: http://www.wx-fx.com/

NEW RICHMOND June 12th, 1899 F5 The worst tornado disaster in Wisconsin history, this storm virtually leveled New Richmond. Frightful Calamity Befalls New Richmond Sitting on the Willow River, New Richmond, a prosperous town of 2500 people, was considered one of the prettiest places on the Wisconsin Central line. June 12th was a Monday and the streets were filled with residents and outsiders alike waiting for the afternoon circus parade. Further west, a deep low pressure area was pushing east across the Dakotas, and a Mr. Outran of the Weather Bureau issued a warning for the possibility of violent rain and wind storms or cyclones (tornadoes), though as was written then, "...men are slow to believe they might be the unwilling victims of like disasters."

An excellent eyewitness account of the tornado's formation from Dr. O. F. Thomas of Lakeland:

It was warm and oppressive that afternoon, and around four o'clock, clouds began to gather in the west and overspread the sky. It rained briskly for twenty minutes, hailstones mixed with the rain but they were not large and there were not many of them. The sky cleared somewhat in the southwest, leaving only a thin haze, of the color of the fleecy clouds sometimes seen on a fair day. Upon this was a singularly formed cloud. Lowering and dark, it had a well defined margin at the base, but with the upper part less distinct, as it had some other dark clouds for a background. What appeared the most peculiar were two inverted cones which hung from its eastern end. The westward cone suddenly lengthened out three or four times its original length then suddenly drew back while the rest of the cloud seemed in violent commotion. This was repeated three or four times while the whole formation was moving rapidly to the east. The cloud formation did not extend to the earth until it reached the lake (Lake St Croix),

At this time, many people were on the streets and along the sidewalks of New Richmond, soon to be heading home for dinner. As the storm bore down upon the town, panic and confusion broke out. People ran through the streets shouting, "We are doomed! A cyclone is coming! Flee to your cellars!" The noise of the approaching funnel grew louder and the darkness deeper. One by one, buildings were wrenched and twisted from their foundations, crushed and scattered by the relentless winds. The roar was so deafening beneath the vortex that the cracking and crashing of buildings, the banging of tin roofs, the falling thuds of masonry, and the bombardment of the earth with timbers, trees, iron machinery, and every movable object, were not distinguishable but lost in the greater roar of the elements. To observers further away, the destruction was like rapid detonations of thunder, or the cracking of many rifles in battle, heard in the midst of the deeper, constant roaring. One man, who had the presence of mind to hide in an open cistern, had looked up into the funnel but said it was impossible to see anything.
The air was simply a stifling whirling darkness. Final statistics: 117 killed, over 200 hundred injured. Tornado path length: 30 miles; width up to 300 yards. Damage exceeded $300,000. Tornado was rated F5 by the Tornado Project. For full story go to New Richmond: http://www.wx-fx.com/

ROCK COUNTY November 11th, 1911 F4
Part of a late season outbreak that produced at least nine significant tornadoes.. Cyclone Leaves Death and Desolation in its Wake Tornadoes are not confined only to spring and summer but may occur almost any month of the year. Late season outbreaks, although rare, are often violent and devastating. .

November 11th, 1911 was unseasonably warm with temperatures into the seventies reaching southern Wisconsin. Strong southerly winds gusted throughout the afternoon. Around 4pm, storms raced across Rock County catching most of the residents unawares, spawning a tornado that cut an 18 mile long swath of destruction followed by drenching rains. To add to the misery of the storm victims, sleet, snow, and strong northwest winds followed closely on the heels of the tornado creating near-blizzard conditions, the temperature falling to zero by midnight.

The Saddest Case of All

The saddest accident of the entire tornado devastated district was the killing outright of three members of the Schmitt family. The two girls, Alice, aged 19, and Regia, aged 9, were in the house when the storm hit the house, completely demolishing it and hurling the girls through a space of nearly 50 rods (800 ft), where they were both found within a few feet of each other. Alice received terrible injuries and death was instantaneous. The clothing she wore was completely torn from her with the exception of a corset, the stays of which were driven deep into her body. In addition to this, her neck was broken, also both arms and limbs. The youngest of the family, Regia was hurled head-first into a hog wallow and her body forced into the mud. When found her shoulders were submerged and it was with great difficulty that she was extricated. The body was terribly mangled, the neck, both hips, ribs and arms being broken. She, too, died instantly. Mr. Schmitt was in the barn at the time and was hurled to the earth with terrific force, his neck being broken and suffering internal injuries. The boy, Albert, had a severe gash in his leg which bled profusely and when found, he was nearly dead for want of blood. Late Sunday afternoon it was found that peritonitis had developed and an operation was performed by Dr. Edden, but after examining the body critically, the doctor stated that the unfortunate little fellow must die. A tramp, who happened to drop in seeking shelter from the rain, was in the barn with Mr. Schmitt when the storm struck. He had the presence of mind grasp the floor of the barn with his hands and the entire structure was blown over him. He did not receive a scratch and was first to bring the sad news to friends of the family in Hanover--The Janesville Daily Gazette.

Final statistics: 9 killed, 50 injured. Tornado path length: 18 miles, width: 400 yards. Damage exceeded $500,000.

The Tornado Outbreak of September 1924 According to available information, six tornadoes ripped across northern Wisconsin on September 21st, 1924 The first tornado touched down three miles southeast of Rice Lake and traveled northeast for 8 miles to near Campia. One person was killed outright and a second may have died later from injuries.

Rated F3. 1 killed, 15 injured. Path length 8 miles, path width 300 yards.

The second tornado touched down two miles north of Chetek where barns and several hundred trees were destroyed. The tornado (possibly one of several, this may have been the first family of tornadoes) moved north-northeast for 40 miles, causing little serious damage until seven miles southwest of Couderay where two two children were killed when their home was destroyed.

Rated F2. 2 killed, 10 injured. Path length 40 miles, path width 300 yards.

The third tornado was almost certainly a family of tornadoes given the long track of 65 miles and the lack of alignment of damage along a single path in Clark County. The first funnel touched down two miles southeast of Augusta in Eau Claire County, and moved northeast through Clark County to 2 miles north of Chelsea in Taylor County. Near Rib Lake. 20 farms were destroyed and another thirty were heavily damaged.

Rated F4. 18 killed, 50 injured. Path length 65 miles, path width 400 yards.

The fourth tornado struck in Bayfield County at 3:45 pm and moved northeast from near Lake Namekegon to the east of Sanborn. The newspaper account of this event:

The storm, similar to one which hit the Marengo valley 25 years ago (I could find no account of this previous storm) struck Sanborn about 4:30 pm Sunday, destroying everything in a 300 foot strip. Starting at the Frank Milanowsky place, six miles southeast of here, the twister destroyed the barn and then jumped half a mile to the Jake Makis farm, where haystacks were scattered and the barn demolished. From there it jumped to the Joseph Shefchik farm where another barn was wrecked. It took the roof off the Richard Oliphant home, battered in part of the walls, and injured Mildred Taylor, a 13 year-old neighbor girl.

The John Hill place, in which Hill, his wife, a nephew, Victor Flander, and Jacob Solma, a visitor, were killed outright was visited next. The house was crushed by the wind, catching the occupants beneath the wreckage. Mrs. Solma, the only one to escape alive , is at the Ashland General Hospital with a crushed chest. Rated F4. 7 killed, 20 injured. Path length 25 miles, path width 200 yards.

The fifth tornado was brief, unroofing a hotel and destroying a barn in Oneida County.

Rated F2. No injuries. Path length 2 miles.

The sixth "official" tornado of the day touched down five miles south of Tomahawk moved northeast to Three Lakes 35 miles away. This too was probably a family of tornadoes. Five deaths occurred in Oneida County, three in one family in a home five miles west of Starks. A child was killed while running for shelter south of Tomahawk.

Rated F3. 6 killed, 20 injured. Path length 35 miles, path width 200 yards.

BERLIN April 3rd, 1956 F4 Part of a widespread severe weather outbreak that produced at least 33 significant tornadoes from Oklahoma to Michigan, killing 214 people. People were floating around on the ceiling....

The tornado struck the southeast sector of Berlin at approximately 1:40pm after damaging at least three farms south and west of the city. It came within a few yards of the high school where four hundred students were in class. The terrified students watched the tornado churn towards the high school, but the funnel veered to the right, barely missing the school. Witnesses saw cars and buildings lifted and carried through the air.

COLFAX DUNN COUNTY June 4th, 1958 F4 One of four intense tornadoes that race across northwest Wisconsin at over 50 mph It was so sudden. It was so awful....

While remembered as the Colfax tornado, the massive tornado which struck on June 4th, 1958 caused extensive damage across all of Dunn County in northwest Wisconsin. That evening, weather conditions produced intense supercells which produced four tornadoes over a 120 mile path from St. Croix county to Marathon county. At least three of these tornadoes caused F4 damage (based on research by the Tornado Project since the Fujita scale had yet to be invented) and at times were half-a-mile wide, monsters by Wisconsin standards. The first tornado touched down at 6:30CST southwest of Woodville in St Croix County. Moving east at an average of 52mph, the tornado killed Art Peterson, a farmer, on the St Croix line, crossed into Dunn County and destroyed a construction crew trailer camp (working on the future I-94) killing Ruth Rusch, the wife of a worker and injuring twelve others. Just east of there, the tornado destroyed several farms and claimed another life. Crossing CTH K, Roy and Margaret Larson and son Earl were killed when a silo toppled upon them as they rushed from the barn to the house. The tornado grazed the north side of Menomonie, flattening barns and farmhouses, before plowing through the village of Cedar Falls, leaving only three buildings standing. The twister then turned to the northeast into its most destructive phase, leveling farms, outbuildings--everything in its path. The tornado struck Colfax at 7:07pm, entering the village along STH 40, missing most of Main Street except at the southern end, laying waste to the southeast section of the village. In Colfax, the tornado destroyed 60 buildings, killed 12 people, and injured many more. The tornado continued in a northeasterly direction, demolishing 12 farmhouses in a one-and-a-half mile stretch along the town road before lifting five miles out of Colfax.

OSHKOSH April 21st, 1974 F4
Back Home
Death Denied in the Nick of Time After herding the rest of his family into the basement to escape an oncoming tornado, Gordon Hagstrom realized that his little girl, Stephanie, was missing. He searched and found the 4 year old in the bathroom. But as he went to grab her, the tornado swept the roof off their house and she was sucked up toward the violent twister.

"I lunged for her as she was being raised up and I grabbed onto the sink to keep from being sucked up too," he said. "Then --I don't know how -- I made my way back downstairs with her."

A few seconds later it was all over. Their furniture and other belongings were scattered for blocks. "The whole thing lasted about 30 seconds. It was unbelievable," Nevers said. "We're lucky to be alive."

Mary was treated for lacerations. Her mother, who had just returned from the hospital that morning found herself back at the hospital with a broken hip, caused by her fall.

Copyright Rusty Kapela All rights reserved

Calvin Phillips was watching a basketball game on television when the tornado hit. "I was sitting in a chair in my living room when I heard the storm warnings on TV. I looked out of the back door and I saw the funnel cloud approaching real fast."

Phillips and his wife made it to the basement just in time. The basement door left its hinges from the strong winds and hit Phillips in the leg as he went down the steps. He could see daylight above the basement floor. As the tornado passed over the floor was actually jumping. "After it ended we went upstairs and saw nothing but open sky. I considered myself and my family lucky to be alive. If I hadn't looked out the back door we all could have been killed. It's the first time in my life I ever saw a tornado and I hope it's the last!"

Copyright Rusty Kapela All rights reserved

Final statistics: 0 killed, 35 injured. Path length: 25 miles, path width: 200yds. Rated F4.

LOMIRA/BROWNSVILLE April 21st, 1974 F3
Early spring storms race across eastern Wisconsin killing two and injuring dozens more.

The first tornado touched down north of Burnett at 3:00pm, moved northeast across the Horicon Marsh, crossing the intersection of Highways 41 & 49 east of Brownsville at 3:26pm. There, the tornado plowed through Club 49, destroying the restaurant--customers, alerted at the last moment, just managed to make it into the basement--and continued through nearby Kindt Lumber, scattering thousands of board-feet of lumber across US Hwy 41. All 9 buildings within the facility were heavily damaged and the highway was closed for several hours until snowplows were able to clear the debris. With typical overstatement, the local newspapers claimed all buildings at Kindt were destroyed when nearby captioned photos showed F2 to minimal F3 damage. The tornado lifted a short while later southeast of Eden.

The second tornado touched down near Burnett around 3:30pm but had been first sighted as a funnel cloud a little west of Columbus at 3:00pm. This tornado moved parallel to the earlier storm, across the Horicon Marsh, and through the village of Lomira, crossing Hwy 41 at 3:50pm. Within the village, several houses, garages, a church steeple, and the American Legion building were damaged.

Just outside of Lomira, the Ray Hilt farm was hit first. The family had been celebrating son Ronnie's First Communion when the sirens were sounded. They managed to get to the basement only to discover that their daughter was missing. After the storm passed she was found hiding under a bed in an upstairs bedroom. The brick house had lost its roof and had shifted so doors which were closed could not be opened, and open doors could not be closed. A cement stave silo had been reduced to rubble.

The tornado demolished a barn across the road and carried debris across the adjoining car lot. Moving northeast, it scrambled machinery at Schraufnagel Implement, ripped half of the roof from the American Legion clubhouse, tossing the debris under the Hwy 67 overpass. The tornado then caused extensive house and garage damage on South Water and Grove streets.

Few people were luckier than Martin Enderle that afternoon. Martin had been in a camper parked at the east end of the home, when he heard the tornado siren. As he ran into the house, he and his wife saw trees flying over the house. They dashed into the basement and moments later, the whole thing was over. The camper that Martin had been in was blown on its side and had been heavily damaged. Their home had been lifted off its foundation, flipped over, and set on its roof with the front door facing the backyard. The stairs which he and his wife had just run down were now jutting up crazily toward the sky. Luckily, neither of them were hurt. Afterwards, Mrs. Enderle said, "God was with us. If we hadn't gotten to the basement when we did, neither of us would be here."

This tornado, or a series of tornadoes spawned by this one storm, moved northeast across Fond du Lac county, killing a woman near Campbellsport, when she was thrown from her mobile home. The storms moved into Sheboygan county, killing an infant and causing extensive damage in Howards Grove.

Final statistics: 2 killed, 18 injured. Tornado path length: first tornado 28 miles,
second tornado 58 miles (probably a family of tornadoes produced by one supercell),
maximum path width 200yds. Damage for both tornadoes exceeded $2,000,000.

BARNVELED June 7th-8th, 1984 F5

A devastating tornado strikes in the middle of the night, part of a widespread severe weather outbreak that spawns over 40 tornadoes in the upper Midwest. It sounded like 100 jets coming down...

Local Storm Report (LSR)

Cindy Schaller had been awakened by the beep from a smoke alarm: "Then there was the most incredible crash of thunder and lightning I have ever heard in my life. I can't describe how horrible that noise was--like it was right on top of your head. I looked out the window and saw are little birch tree bent over to the ground. We were all awake by now--Melanie and Mark were in their bedrooms upstairs, and Melissa had been downstairs with her boyfriend watching TV. Melanie screamed, 'Tornado!'--and whatever possessed her to know it was a tornado, I don't know, I guess it was because the house was shaking. You could hear glass breaking too. Melanie started for the stairs, with Mark right behind her; but he didn't know that Melissa was downstairs so he went into her room and tried to find her. My husband Bob had stepped into the bathroom to put his slacks on.

"It must be a tornado,' I thought, but for a very fleeting instant, I was afraid it was a nuclear bomb. I've never felt anything like it and I hope I never do again. Things were flying through the air and hitting me, and then I could feel myself falling. At that point something very heavy hit me and kind of pushed me, probably part of the roof; the force of the blow tore my lower back open, splitting the skin. There is fear and then there is terror, and that was terror. 'The next thing that hits me is going to kill me,' I thought. I had no doubt in my mind that the next blow I felt was going to be the deadly blow. I remember falling and more things hitting me--and then, all of the sudden, it was quiet."

Charlie Aschliman recalled the night before the tornado (Thursday night):
We went to bed around 11 o'clock. I fell into a dead sleep--I guess the storm started up a little later because Susan, my wife, had to go get Matthew out of his bed. Both of the boys did not like storms; the older one, Micheal, would just get out of his bed and come in and sleep with us when it stormed, but Matthew was two years old and he'd always start crying. So Sue brought him in and put him in our bed and then went to the bathroom, and while she was in there, that's when she heard it coming.

She came running out of the bathroom, screaming at me to grab Michael and get to the basement--all I remember is just waking up, I didn't even hear anything. It was already hitting town when I got out of bed.

Susan had a hard time finding Matthew because the power was out and he was on the other side of the bed. I had Michael and we were ahead of her, but we didn't know by how much; we had to run all the way through the hall, out through the living room by the front door of the house, a good fifty steps--and from there, we had to go down into the basement. And as we were running down the basement steps, I could hear windows shattering and two-by-fours snapping. It was on us. I just kept running, carrying Michael. After it was all over with, I set Micheal up over the cement wall, because the house was gone and there was no way you could walk out through the basement, it was just plastered with garbage--I set him up and then I boosted myself out over the foundation. We didn't know where Susan and Matthew were. We walked a little ways and then we heard her screaming"--Matthew had been ripped from her arms when the house blew away--"Sue screaming that Matthew was hurt. Susan kept saying, 'We've got to get Matthew help--he's hurt.

'Let's go down to the fire station," I told her, because it was only a block or so away. We figured that it was like a fallout shelter--they always say that a brick building would be the place to go to for safety. You know, we didn't know if anyone was alive anymore, and when we got down to the fire station...in the lightning, we could see that it was gone too."

Mary Ann Myers was missing three generations of her family: two daughters still at home, Jill and Anita; her grandson Joey--Anita's son; and her mother-in-law Anne who shared the house with them. Final statistics: 9 dead; 200injured; path width 400 yards; length 36 miles;
damage over 40 million dollars. OAKFIELD July 18th, 1996 F5

A perspective on this storm from survivors and the effects on Oakfield and surrounding areas. Oakfield Case Study by the University of Wisconsin "Be prepared, the block is gone..." This will be an ongoing project and as time permits.

This tornado represents a special case because I witnessed it first hand as a stormchaser. I've been chasing storms for twenty years and have seen numerous tornadoes, but until July 18th, 1996, I had never seen a big tornado. As I chased this storm across central Wisconsin, I was increasingly convinced that it would produce a tornado but never imagined it would produce a violent tornado only ten miles from my house. As sometimes happens during an intense chase, I was not entirely sure where I was when the tornado touched down in a field to the west. Even as the tornado plowed through Oakfield spinning up clouds of debris, I did not realize it was going through Oakfield, but had perhaps skirted around the south side of the village. At this point the chase was everything--an opportunity of a lifetime. Passing through the north end of Oakfield, I saw trees down, but no evidence of the destruction in the heart of the village. I followed the tornado across Fond du Lac County to near Eden where the storm dissipated. I could have continued pursuit of the storm but did not, having run out of film, videotape, and almost out of gas. I rushed back to Fond du Lac to develop the film, elated by this incredible chase. Only then did I learn the truth, that Oakfield had been devastated. I felt like I'd been drenched with ice water. Were there fatalities? No one knew. Guilt set in. While I'd been having the chase of my life, people's lives were being violently upended, and these were people I knew. Later, when I learned that no one had been killed, I found some perspective on that day. As a stormchaser, I had done my "job", that is, fully documented the storm. That information went to the National Weather Service, the National Severe Storms Laboratory, and is now in wide use for spotter training. Hopefully, it advanced our knowledge of severe weather just a bit more. All in all, it was an amazing experience, one that taught me a great deal. That is my story, these are the stories of the people who lived the Oakfield tornado at ground zero: AGAIN GO TO TORNADOES IN WISCONSIN WEB PAGE AT FOR FULL DETAILS ON THESE STORIES: http://www.wx-fx.com/

For up to the minute information on weather in the nations or your locality check with the National Weather Service-Maps update every 1-5 minutes
http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/main.html

Another interesting site is the USA Today Web page. Daily Tornado & Severe Storm Warnings
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wtwist0.htm

For local weather reports throughout the world go to:
http://www.weather.com