3/23/13 Omaha Easter Day Tornado of 1913

[Darren Addy]

While it is pretty safe to say that there were no chasers in 1913, there is also no argument that this was a historic Plains thunderstorm event (and well documented for its day).

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/oax/archive/1913_Omaha_Tor/1913-24thstreet.jpg

With Severe Weather Awareness taking place in many parts of the country this week, it is worth remembering how deadly even the early Spring events can be. This storm goes down as the most-deadly in Nebraska history (and was only one of six tornadoes in eastern Nebraska on that day, with three of them making up the Top 3 Deadliest Nebraska Tornadoes (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/oax/archive/1913_Omaha_Tor/topten.php) in history).

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/oax/archive/1913_Omaha_Tor/1913-fashionablehomes.jpg

Here is a great list of links for you anyone who wishes to start their investigation of this event: http://historicomaha.net/archives/easter-tornado-march-23-1913 including chapters from a 1913 book written to record the event.

Image directory of the Omaha tornado with the OAX NWS office: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/oax/archive/1913_Omaha_Tor/

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/oax/archive/1913_Omaha_Tor/1913-plymouth%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20 %20%20%20%20%20tongch.jpg

[Mike McDonald]

My grandfather spent two months in the hospital as the result of a broken hip and other injuries he received from the tornado. He appears on the list of injured that was published in the Omaha World-Herald. The family address doesn't appear in the published list of buildings damaged or destroyed, so I don't know where he was at the time. That detail wasn't passed down over the years. Today there's an on-ramp to I-480 where the family lived in 1913.

My dad and older brother watched the 1968 F-3 tornado pass over our house after having done its damage in West Omaha. The rest of the family was in Lincoln having dinner. Had we skipped dinner we would have gotten to the area about the same time as the tornado.

The 1975 tornado missed the house by several miles. My first "chase" took place in 1977. The sirens sounded, I looked out the window, saw a funnel cloud, went outside and took several pictures. My dad saw the funnel and remarked something to the effect of "they sounded the sirens for that?"

Mike

[Darrin Rasberry]

Did Fujita and crew do an F-scale back-rating based on these photographs, a la the Tri-State twister?

[Darren Addy]

So far, I can find no official word of a "post-mortem" damage survey being done photographically (but that would make an interesting Master's Thesis, wouldn't it?), but there is one uncredited reference to the damage being rated F4 in the book Omaha's Easter Tornado of 1913 (http://books.google.com/books?id=ipFpWNOuhjUC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=1913+Easter+tornado+Omaha+Fujita&source=bl&ots=veqAwQKP_j&sig=Sqk8xnQB7vKbXa_naT3_qUKrvpY&hl=en&ei=_-_rSYaoC-DgtgfAlcSNBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3) by Travis Sing.