NOAA, is a shot of the famous Elkhart, Indiana “double tornado” that killed 36 people during the “Palm Sunday Tornado” outbreak. Seven of the ten tornadoes that day were killers, and took 137 lives between 4:45 and 6:30pm. Over 1,700 were inured in the state. The first tornado of the day occurred at about 1 p.m. local time in Clinton County, Iowa. Later rated an F4 (with winds between 207-260 mph) on the Fujita tornado intensity scale, the twister was an omen of what was to come for the rest of the day. By late afternoon, the storm system began to intensify over Indiana and spawned several killer tornadoes. Indiana’s first tornado touched down at round 5:30 p.m., in Koontz Lake. The F4 tornado killed ten people and injured 180. Another tornado in Wakarusa, Ind., tore through the Midway Trailer Park. A third tornado touchdown occurred near Goshen, Ind., where only home foundations indicated that there was once life in the Rainbow Lake community. An 800-yard-wide tornado killed 25 people near Kokomo, Ind., while the communities of Marion and Alto were severely impacted. The storm system rolled to the east and tornadoes moved from Indiana into Ohio, wreaking havoc along the way. A double tornado was spotted near Toledo. Tornadoes continued to develop, and the only F5 tornado (with winds of 261-318 mph) of the day occurred near Elkhart, Ind. Some accounts indicated the famous “double tornado” hit the Sunnyside subdivision killing 36 people, while other eyewitnesses said it actually hit the Midway trailer park. High winds had taken out telephone and electrical lines, leaving residents with no way of receiving warnings of the tornado. With telephone lines down, emergency personnel in Elkhart could not warn southern Michigan communities of the danger approaching their area. In Michigan, tornadoes hit as far north as Ottawa County, just east of Grand Rapids. All but three of the southern tier Michigan counties (Berrien, Cass and St. Joseph) were hit by tornadoes. Near Detroit, a mile-wide tornado hit Milan, Mich. Among other damage, the tornado destroyed Wolverine Plastics, the town’s top employer. When officials of the U. S. Weather Bureau (known today as the National Weather Service) investigated the high number of fatalities, they were somewhat surprised by the reason—a failure in communicating the approaching storms to the public and community officials. At that time, the weather radars were few and far between. The 1950s-vintage radars (converted from aviation use) were only able to identify tornadoes if they picked up the tell-tale “hook echo” characteristic, but the radars weren’t to blame. The danger in the storm system was identified early on and the Bureau disseminated warning information quickly. However, most of the public never received the warnings and those that did could not tell the difference between a forecast and an alert. To reduce public confusion, the Weather Service launched its current Tornado Watch (conditions are prime for tornado development) and Tornado Warning (a tornado is on the ground or eminent) program. The agency began a massive public education effort to help prevent a repeat of the terrible toll of the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak. ]]>
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