Tornado Outbreak Of June 7–8, 1984

On June 7–8, 1984, a significant severe weather event, known as the Barneveld tornado outbreak, took place across the Central United States from North Dakota to Kansas, generating produced several significant tornadoes including an F5 tornado which traveled through Barneveld, Wisconsin, in the early hours of June 8. The entire outbreak killed at least 13 people across three states, including nine in Barneveld alone. Additionally, a long-tracked F4 tornado—most likely a family—crossed the Missouri–Iowa state line on June 7, killing three. During the outbreak intense tornadoes occurred elsewhere in Iowa, as well as in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In all tornadoes injured 322 people.

Meteorological synopsis

A low-pressure system entered the Midwestern United States on June 7, 1984, and intensified while bringing a surge of moist and humid air coming from the Gulf of Mexico. After most of the affected areas were hit by a mesoscale convective complex earlier during the morning of June 7, the unstable atmosphere, as well as wind shear and high convective available potential energy (CAPE), produced a favorable environment for the development of extensive severe weather with possible tornadoes. Starting at around mid-afternoon, it started to produce several tornadoes across southern Minnesota and northwestern and southern Iowa including three F3s and a long-track F4 which traveled over from extreme northern Missouri to southwest of Iowa City. That tornado killed 3 people including one in Missouri's Harrison County. Another person was killed in Ringgold County in Iowa by an F2 tornado at around 9:00pm CDT. Activity continued through the overnight hours as a new cluster of storms developed across Wisconsin near the Iowa–Illinois borders and produced strong tornadoes including the Barneveld tornado up until the early morning hours of June 8, 1984, before dissipating. Straight-line winds in excess of and very large hail were also reported in eastern Iowa from the storm that went on to drop the tornado in Barneveld, Wisconsin.

Confirmed tornadoes

June 7 event

June 8 event

Eagleville, Missouri/Wright–Delta, Iowa

The first member of a long-tracked, violent tornado family wrecked a trailer in Harrison County, Missouri, killing a man and injuring his wife. The tornado badly damaged farms countywide, destroying many barns and farmhouses. It inflicted F3 damage in Missouri before entering Decatur County, Iowa, and striking Nine Eagles State Park. It destroyed a farmhouse near Leon, causing an injury, and wrecked buildings on 17 farms in Wayne County. Near Corydon it leveled half a motel, along with a truck stop. In all it caused $1,750,000 in losses in Wayne County, injuring half a dozen people there. Near Cambria it headed north, tearing loose a portion of a drive-in theater screen and carrying it to Derby. It was seen aloft near Cariton, Lucas County, just before dissipating, having tracked and injured 10 people. The next member of the family formed over Allerton and ended west of Albia, tracking . A narrow vortex, the funnel was compared to a yo-yo. Hitting Monroe County, it destroyed or damaged 100 farm buildings and did $500,000 in losses there. Causing F2 damage, it also injured three people: a few in a mobile home and another in a barn.

The third and strongest member of the family formed in Mahaska County near Eddyville and headed northeast, striking the small community of Wright. The tornado tore apart two of the 25 homes there and badly damaged the rest. It also destroyed a church, bank, and community center in town, leaving only a few buildings undamaged. According to '' Storm Data'', between Delta and Wright it reduced farmhouses "to piles of rubble", one of which it moved , while flattening outbuildings. In Mahaska County it caused $3.4 million in losses. Entering Keokuk County, it left $25 million in damages there, delivering its worst impacts to northwestern Delta, where Grazulis assessed "near-F5" damage; farms southwest of town received similarly intense damage. In Delta it severely damaged or destroyed an ice-cream vendor, grocery, savings bank, beauty salon, and feed store. Across Keokuk County it badly damaged or destroyed 200 homes, flattened 600 farm buildings, extensively damaged farm equipment, killed 800 cattle and hogs, and hurled an automobile over , fatally ejecting a couple inside. Near South English it lofted a home before dissipating, having traveled and injured 51 people.

Barneveld–Black Earth, Wisconsin

This extremely violent, nocturnal tornado formed near Ridgeway, destroying farm buildings near touchdown. Quickly intensifying, the tornado then widened and hit Barneveld, wrecking about 90% of the village. Only a loud thunderclap alerted residents, for lightning strikes had cut power, disabling tornado sirens. (In actuality, the town did not have a tornado siren that differed from the siren used to activate the town's volunteer fire and emergency management squad. If the siren had been activated, the residents would not have known it was a tornado warning.) In Barneveld the tornado destroyed 170 of the 225 buildings, including 17 of 18 businesses, along with 93 homes, a fire station, a bank, a post office, a library, and three churches (the Congregational United Church of Christ, the Lutheran Church, and the Roman Catholic Church). In addition, it badly damaged 64 other homes and swept away several new ones, indicating F5 damage on a cul-de-sac in a subdivision. According to the National Weather Service, it left "only the foundation" on some homesites. In Barneveld it killed nine people and injured 197 others; the latter represented a third of the population. According to ''Storm Data'', debris in Barneveld was lofted a "considerable distance" and pickup trucks were carried at least . The village's water tower, though damaged, was not toppled by the winds.

The tornado also tore apart 24 more homes between Barneveld and Black Earth. Striking Black Earth, it damaged 16 homes, besides many farm buildings, and destroyed eight, causing three injuries. It later hit the Lodi area, downing trees, damaging five homes, and destroying sheds, along with a few barns, before dissipating. Paperwork from Barneveld was carried . The National Weather Service in Madison reported that the frequency of lightning flashes in the storm exceeded 200 per minute. The flashes produced a strobe-like effect, as mentioned in media reports and books about the disaster. The Barneveld tornado is one of three F5s to hit Wisconsin since 1950, the others being the 1958  Colfax and 1996  Oakfield events. While 26 years had elapsed since the last Wisconsin F5, an F5 tornado in the United States occurred a few years prior, near Broken Bow, Oklahoma, in April 1982 and injured 29 people.Multiple sources:
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Historical perspective

The Barneveld tornado became the most recent F5/EF5 tornado to touch down at night. Group members prior to Barneveld included the Blackwell, Oklahoma, and Udall, Kansas, tornadoes during the 1955 Great Plains tornado outbreak; the tornado that struck downtown Lubbock, Texas, in 1970; and the Tanner and Guin, Alabama, tornadoes from the 1974 Super Outbreak. Later, the Birmingham tornado in April 1998 and the Greensburg tornado in May 2007 also joined that group of violent nighttime tornadoes.

See also

* List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
* List of F5, EF5, and IF5 tornadoes

Notes

References

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:1984 Barneveld, Wisconsin Tornado Outbreak
F5, EF5 and IF5 tornadoes
Tornadoes of 1984
Tornadoes in Iowa
Tornadoes in Kansas
Tornadoes in Missouri
Tornadoes in Minnesota
Tornadoes in North Dakota
Tornadoes in South Dakota
Tornadoes in Wisconsin
Barneveld, Wisconsin Tornado Outbreak, 1984
June 1984 in the United States