The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak, also known as The Night of the Twisters, was a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

outbreak that produced a series of destructive tornadoes that affected the city of

Grand Island, Nebraska Grand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 53,131 at the 2020 census. Grand Island is the principal city of the Grand Island metropolitan area, which consists of Hall, Merrick, ...

, on Tuesday, June 3, 1980. Seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city that night, killing five people and injuring 200. The name generally referred to by Grand Island area residents for the event, "The Night of the Twisters", comes from the semi-fictionalized book of the same name, loosely based on the June 3rd, 1980 tornadoes, by author

Ivy Ruckman Ivy Ruckman (May 25, 1931 – June 8, 2021), formally Iva Mae Myers Ruckman, was an American author of books for children and young adults. Her works include ''Melba the Brain'' and ''Night of the Twisters'', inspired by a 1980 tornado event, the ...

, which in turn inspired a

made-for-TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

of the same name that premiered on The Family Channel (now Freeform) in February 1996. While the outbreak is best known for the Grand Island tornado family on June 3, the event as a whole produced 29 tornadoes across two days, causing severe damage as far east as

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. In addition to the five deaths that occurred in the Grand Island area, the outbreak injured a total of 413 across seven states.

Outbreak description

The outbreak began on June 2, producing strong tornadoes in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, including one that struck the east side of

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. One fatality occurred near

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only cha ...

. Tornado activity continued on June 3, with additional strong tornadoes touching down in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. Over a span of three hours on the evening of June 3, 1980, a slow-moving

supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (s ...

complex moving across

, spawned several tornadoes. The resulting outbreak was one of the most unusual in United States history: The supercells moved over the city at only ; of the seven tornadoes, three of them were

anticyclonic An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon defined as a large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from abov ...

; and the tornadoes did not move in a straight line, with most looping back over their own path at least once.

Confirmed tornadoes

June 2 event

June 3 event

Aftermath

The tornadoes in

killed five, injured 200, and caused an estimated more than $285 million (

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

) ($1.02 billion 2022 USD) in damage. In Nebraska,

Tornado warning A tornado warning ( SAME code: TOR) is a severe weather warning product issued by regional offices of weather forecasting agencies throughout the world to alert the public when a tornado has been reported or indicated by weather radar within the ...

s allowed people to get to safety in time, which prevented a higher death toll. The South Locust Street area in Grand Island was hardest hit, struck by the fifth tornado of the night (an F4 tornado). Much of the rubble and debris left by the tornadoes was placed in a landfill that now forms Tornado Hill, a popular biking and sledding spot in Grand Island today.

Fictionalized accounts of the event

Book

In 1984, a semi-fictionalized book version of this significant tornado outbreak by children's author

, a native of Nebraska, was released under the title ''Night of the Twisters''. The book told the story of Danny Hatch, a pre-teen and his family, and what happened to them as the event took place.

Television film

The book inspired a made-for-cable television original movie of the same name, that premiered on February 14, 1996, on The Family Channel (now Freeform). The movie version still centered on the Hatch Family and most of the characters in the book were adapted to the film. However, there were several discrepancies from the movie and the book version. The most notable being the town in the movie is changed from Grand Island to the fictional town of Blainsworth, which Ivy Ruckman reportedly was disappointed about as it took some of the reality out of the actual event. Danny's father's name is changed to Jack in the film (played by John Schneider) and is mentioned to be his stepfather as Danny's real father is revealed to have died in a plane crash when Danny was six years old. One somewhat prominent character in the movie was Bob Iverson (played by David Ferry), who was not included in the book. Danny's mother's occupation is also changed to waitress. The last scene in the film in which the Hatch family tries to outrun a tornado in a car lent to them at a shelter was added specifically for the film and was not in the book, either. Danny and his friend Arthur's (played by

Devon Sawa Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. Sawa began acting when he was a teenager and appeared in several films in the 1990s including ''Little Giants'', ''Casper'', '' Now and Then'', '' Wild America'', ''Idle Hands'', an ...

and Amos Crawley) ages are also changed to their mid-teens (though their ages are never mentioned in the film).

Notes

References

External links

NWS Hastings: 1980 Grand Island Tornadoes

GITwisters.com - special of the ''Grand Island Independent''

An Engineering Analysis of the Grand Island, Ne. Tornadoes- Institute for Disaster Research, Texas Tech University
{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-06-03 Grand Island Tornado Outbreak Tornadoes of 1980 Tornadoes in Nebraska Tornadoes in Indiana Tornadoes in Iowa Tornadoes in Ohio Tornadoes in Pennsylvania Tornadoes in Maryland Tornadoes in West Virginia F4 tornadoes by date Grand Island,1980-06-03 1980 in Nebraska Disasters in Nebraska Natural disasters in Nebraska June 1980 events in the United States 1980 natural disasters in the United States