United States-Canadian Outbreak Totally Explained

Everything about United States-canadian Outbreak totally explained

The U.S. - Canadian Outbreak was a major tornado outbreak that occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, on May 31, 1985. Forty-one tornadoes were counted including 13 in Ontario. It is the largest and most intense tornado outbreak ever to hit this region.

Storm system

The tornado outbreak was caused by a powerful low pressure system that traveled across the Midwestern United States during the early hours of May 31. A warm front associated with the storm sparked heavy thunderstorms during the pre-dawn hours. In the morning, the sun came out and temperatures soared into the mid to upper 80 degrees with a high humidity level, conditions typically seen during the summer months. However, a cold front which accompanied the system set up the stage for severe weather during the late afternoon hours.

Storm timeline and aftermath

The outbreak lasted roughly from just after 4 PM EDT, when the first tornado touched down in Ontario, until 11 PM EDT when tornadoes struck central and southern Ohio. However, the peak of the outbreak took place during the early evening hours, where the deadliest tornadoes across western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio took place.
In all, 88 people lost their lives. It was the third costliest tornado outbreak in the history of the U.S., where it caused $450 million (1985 U.S. dollars) damage in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. It was also one of the costliest in Canada: damage in Ontario totalled an estimated $100 million USD. The damage would total nearly $1 billion in 2005 US dollars.

United States

Outbreak death toll>

State	Total	County/City	County/City total
Ohio	11	Licking	1
Ohio	11	Trumbull	10
Ontario	12	Barrie	8
		Dufferin	2
		Simcoe	2
Pennsylvania	65	Beaver	3
		Butler	6
		Crawford	11
		Erie	12
		Forest	7
		Lycoming	2
		McKean	4
		Mercer	8
		Northumberland	2
		Venango	8
		Union	2
Totals	88
All deaths were tornado-related

The Niles/Wheatland tornado

The small Pennsylvania town of Wheatland was nearly wiped out by a massive tornado, the most violent of the 41 recorded that day. Registering F5 on the Fujita scale, it was also the only F5 in Pennsylvania history.
   It first touched down in Ohio near the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage County around 6:30 PM EDT. Gathering strength, it moved quickly into Newton Falls in Trumbull County causing F3 and F4 damage through Newton Falls and Lordstown. While nearly 400 homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, no fatalities were recorded in Newton Falls, due to storm preparedness of local authorities and its tornado siren.
   As it neared the PA border in Niles and Hubbard townships of eastern Trumbull County, it created its first area of F5 damage. When it reached Mercer County, PA, it was a half-mile (0.8 km) wide funnel with winds estimated at 300 mph (480 km). At Wheatland Sheet and Tube, the asphalt was scoured off the parking lot, and shards of sheet metal and routing slips were left wedged beneath the remaining asphalt. 95% of Wheatland's business and residential area were destroyed. According to Storm Data from the National Weather Service, the destruction of the town "resembled that of a bombed-out battle field." The tornado finally ended near the city of Mercer, 47 miles (75 km) from where it began its trek, leaving 18 people dead (11 in Ohio) and 310 injured.
   In Ohio, it was the deadliest tornado since the Xenia F5 during the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974. The tornado was also captured on camera by several residents.(External Link

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Other US Tornadoes

What may have been one of the most impressive tornadic events of the 20th century also occurred during this outbreak. Later rated at F4, this massive tornado tracked over 69 miles (110 kilometers) of mainly dense forest and wilderness in central Pennsylvania (some outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed early in its life). The maximum width of the damage path from this storm was estimated to be at least 2.2 miles ; and it was also estimated that at least 90,000 trees were obliterated in the Moshannon/Sproul State Forest. The tornado crossed the western branch of the Susquehanna River twice, during its hour and a half on the ground.
Tremors were picked up by seismometers in the area, and a reflectivity spike later became visible in the hook-echo on the more primitive weather radar of the time (a WSR-57 unit located in State College, Pennsylvania), as the radar itself was actually picking up the hundreds of trees flying through the air at any given moment.
The deadliest tornado (later rated at F4) in Pennsylvania occurred in southern Crawford and northern Venango Counties where 23 were killed by this tornado, the deadliest ever in the state's history. In total, 64 people were killed in Pennsylvania alone, by far the deadliest death toll in a tornado outbreak and in a single day for that state. Later in the evening, some of these tornadoes crossed into New York affecting southern Chautauqua County, New York and Cattaraugus County, New York. One was an F4 and the other was an F3; nobody was killed but over 20 were injured in New York state.

Ontario, Canada

For more details on this topic see: The "Barrie" Tornado Outbreak of 1985 Some of the more notable tornadoes that day struck near Barrie, Ontario, about an hour north of Toronto. Killing 12 and injuring 155, these pair of F4's were some of the most powerful in Canada's history. 8 of the deaths occurred in the city of Barrie alone. Another tornado to the south had tracked 65 miles (105km) from near Arthur to just north of Newmarket. It was the deadliest tornado outbreak to hit Ontario since the Windsor Tornado during the Super Outbreak of April 3, 1974 that killed 8 people.
The storm produced a total of 13 tornadoes across southern Ontario, one of the largest number of tornadoes recorded ever in the province in a single day.

Tornado Table

Confirmed tornadoes

F#	Location	County/Regional Municipality	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Ontario
F0	Leamington area	Essex	unknown	unknown
F2	N of Wiarton	Bruce	2050	unknown
F3	N of Hopeville	Grey	2200-2215	10.6 miles (17 km)
F3	Mansfield area	Dufferin, Simcoe	2215	25 miles (40 km)
F0	N of Alliston	Simcoe	2215-2230	0.6 miles (1 km)
F4	N of Arthur to W of Mount Albert	Wellington, Dufferin, Simcoe, York,	2215	66.8 miles (107 km)	4 deaths
F4	Barrie area	Simcoe, Barrie	2230	6.2 miles (10 km)	8 deaths
F1	Wagner Lake area	Durham	0000-0030	unknown
F1	Reaboro area	Peterborough	0000-0030	unknown
F2	Ida area	Peterborough	0000-0030	unknown
F3	Rice Lake area	Northumberland	0000-0030	unknown
F1	Minto area	Wellington	0000-0030	unknown
F3	Alma to Hilsburgh	Wellington	0015	20.6 miles (33 km)
Ohio
F4	NE of Monroe City, OH to NE of Ivarea, PA	Ashtabula, OH, Erie, PA	2059	14 miles (22.4 km)	12 deaths
F3	SE of Bundysburg to NE of Colebrooke	Trumbull, Ashtabula	2105	15 miles (24 km)
F4	SE of Cornelion, OH to SE of Eagle Rock, PA	Trumbull, OH, Mercer, PA, Crawford,, Venango, Forest	2117	56.2 miles (89.9 km)	16 deaths
F2	NE of Dorset, OH to W of Steamburg, PA	Ashtabula, OH, Crawford, PA	2128	10 miles (16 km)
F5	W of Newton Falls, OH to W of Mercer, PA	Portage, OH, Trumbull, Mercer, PA	2230	47 miles (75.2 km)	18 deaths
F1	SW of London	Madison	2306	0.5 miles (0.8 km)
F3	N of Johnstown to W of West Carlisle	Licking, Coshocton	2315	29 miles (46.4 km)	1 death
F2	S of Salem to W of East Palestine	Columbiana	2335	15 miles (24 km)
F1	NE of Frazeysburg	Muskingum, Coshocton	2350	11 miles (17.6 km)
F1	W of East Sparta	Stark	0045	0.2 miles (0.32 km)
F1	SW of Cedar Mills	Adams	0105	2 miles (3.2 km)
Pennsylvania
F2	SE of Linesville	Crawford	2110	4 miles (6.4 km)	1 death
F3	S of Saegertown to NE of Centerville	Crawford	2123	23 miles (36.8 km)	2 deaths
F4	SE of Waterford, PA to SE of Panama, NY	Erie, PA, Warren, Chautauqua, NY	2125	28 miles (44.8 km)
F3	S of Centerville	Crawford	2212	8 miles (12.8 km)
F4	SE of Shamburg to SW of Owls Nest	Venango, Forest	2230	29 miles (46.4 km)	7 deaths
F1	S of Pittsfield	Warren	2230	5 miles (8 km)
F2	SW of Chaffee to E of Halsey	Forest, Elk, McKean	2250	19 miles (30.4 km)
F3	S of Tidioute	Warren	2330	17 miles (27.2 km)
F4	N of Sabula to NW of Jersey Shore	Clearfield, Clinton, Centre	2335	69 miles (110.4 km)
F2	SW of Dotter	Venango	2354	6 miles (9.6 km)
F0	S of Emlenton	Venango, Clarion	2356	5 miles (8 km)
F4	NW of Brookston to E of Glen Hazel	Warren, McKean, Elk	0000	29 miles (46.4 km)	4 deaths
F3	NW of Darlington to E of Sarverville	Beaver, Butler	0010	39 miles (62.4 km)	9 deaths
F3	NW of Bastress to NE of Springton	Lycoming, Union, Northumberland	0125	19 miles (30.4 km)	6 deaths
F0	W of Manor	Indiana	0153	6 miles (9.6 km)
F1	NW of Freeland	Luzerne	0245	11 miles (17.6 km)
F1	NW of Tobyhanna	Monroe	0405	0.2 miles (0.32 km)
New York
F3	E of Jamestown	Chautauqua	2225	13 miles (20.8 km)
F1	N of Norfolk	St. Lawrence	0230	5 miles (8 km)
Sources:Tornado History Project Storm Data - May 31, 1985 The "Barrie" Tornado Outbreak of 1985

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