On Thursday, March 27, 1890, a major tornado outbreak struck the Middle Mississippi Valley. To this day, this outbreak is still one of the most deadly tornado events in United States history. At least 24 significant

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 ...

es, several of which were generated by cyclic

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, were recorded to have spawned from this system, and at least 146 people were killed by tornadoes that day, including a devastating F4 tornado that struck Downtown

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, killing at least 76 people and injuring at least 200 others.

Background and impact

At 8:00 a.m. EST (13:00 UTC) on March 27, a vigorous low-pressure center of at most was in progress over central

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. Ahead of the low, an

unstable In numerous fields of study, the component of instability within a system is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds. Not all systems that are not stable are unstable; systems can also be mar ...

air mass advected northward from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, while a

warm front A warm front is a density discontinuity located at the leading edge of a homogeneous warm air mass, and is typically located on the equator-facing edge of an isotherm gradient. Warm fronts lie within broader troughs of low pressure than cold f ...

positioned itself across Kentucky, southern Illinois, and south-central Missouri. By 8:00 p.m. EST (01:00 UTC), the low had deepened somewhat and tracked generally eastward across north-central Illinois, yielding a pressure of at Louisville, Kentucky, an hour earlier. A

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Northern ...

encountering the warm, moist air mass over the

Mississippi River Valley The Mississippi embayment is a physiographic feature in the south-central United States, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It is essentially a northward continuation of the fluvial sediments of the Mississippi River Delta to its conflue ...

produced favorable

wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizont ...

for the development and growth of tornado-producing

s over the warm sector. As a result, numerous long-lived tornado families occurred in a triangular region from St. Louis, Missouri, eastward to Louisville and southward to

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

. In addition to 24 F2+ tornadoes, many other weaker tornadoes likely occurred but went unrecorded.

Confirmed tornadoes

March 27 event

Metropolis, Illinois/Sheridan–Blackford–Dickson–Delaware, Kentucky

This long-tracked, violent tornado family formed from the same

as the Bird's Point F3. One or more members of the family may have been the same as the Bird's Point tornado and touched down in Missouri, west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, before entering Kentucky. After passing through McCracken County, the tornado traversed the Ohio River as a waterspout to strike the opposite shore at Metropolis, Illinois. In Metropolis the tornado destroyed 100 buildings, killed one person, and caused $150,000 in losses. The tornado reportedly carried water "as high as the rooftops" as it passed over the Ohio River. Unconfirmed rumors suggested that two

Gypsies The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

were killed in a nearby settlement and that a Gypsy woman was found distant. Three confirmed deaths occurred on farms and in homes from just northeast of Metropolis to near Bay City. Another death occurred on the eastern bank of the Ohio River, in Kentucky. The tornado reportedly was "greenish" in appearance as it entered Livingston County, killing at least three and possibly as many as 11 people. In Crittenden County the tornado caused six deaths, five of which occurred in a home at Sheridan. Between

Blackford Blackford might refer to: People with the surname *Charles Minor Blackford (1833–1903), an American lawyer *Hosea Blackford, a fictional character in books by Harry Turtledove *Ian Blackford, a Scottish politician *Isaac Blackford (1786–1859), ...

and Dixon the tornado destroyed several dozen farms and miles of timberland; widespread F4 damage occurred in this area. Eight or more fatalities were reported in Webster County. A train derailed as it struck downed trees near Sebree, causing three indirect fatalities. Five people in one family were killed near

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. The tornado finally dissipated as a

downburst In meteorology, a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially, that is, in straight lines in all directions from the area of impact at surface level. Capable of pro ...

in West Louisville, causing F2 damage, one fatality, and $50,000 in losses there.

Louisville, Kentucky

This devastating tornado may have first touched down in

Harrison County, Indiana Harrison County is located in the far southern part of the U.S. state of Indiana along the Ohio River. The county was officially established in 1808. Its county seat is Corydon, the former capital of Indiana. Harrison County is part of the Lo ...

, but records with which to verify the precise location are sparse. The tornado is estimated to have developed just west of Shively shortly before 8:00 p.m. CST (01:00 UTC). Its trajectory varying between northeast and north-northeast, it approached Louisville at a speed of . In Louisville observers witnessed a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

to their southwest, noting that the cloud was of "extreme blackness" and lit by lightning. Heavy rainfall preceded the tornado itself, suggestive of a high-precipitation (HP) supercell, and surface temperatures rose to . In Louisville the tornado generated its first significant damage in the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

neighborhood, then part of Parkland, near the intersection of 28th and Dumesnil Streets. In this area the tornado caused its only instance of F4 damage, leveling a couple of homes. Afterward, the tornado weakened as it entered Downtown Louisville, yet widened from . The most extensive damage occurred in a swath from the intersection of 34th Street and the Algonquin Parkway to the western half of the central business district, including Crescent Hill. Numerous unreinforced buildings, often multi-story, collapsed, including the Falls City Hall, where 44 or more fatalities occurred—one of the highest death tolls due to a single building collapse from a tornado in U.S. history. Some sources placed the toll at 55 in the Falls City Hall. Throughout the path, wreckage caught fire, burning several people to death. Century-old oaks and a water tower were downed as well. At one location the tornado wrenched and snapped iron railings. Across Louisville, the tornado destroyed at least 766 buildings (US$2½ million worth of property—a little over $1 billion in current dollars), including 532 residences, 32 manufacturers, 10 tobacco warehouses, three schools, a pair of public halls, seven rail depots, and five churches. After impacting Louisville, the tornado ended as a

in Jeffersonville, Indiana, opposite Louisville beside the Ohio River. In Jeffersonville widespread F2 damage, 20 minor injuries, and $500,000 in losses occurred as 18 or more structures were destroyed or damaged, principally within a few blocks of the riverfront. In all, the tornado killed an estimated 76 to 120 people and was one of the top 25 deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history until May 22, 2011. It was relegated to 26th when the May 22, 2011, tornado in

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jas ...

, killed 158.

Aftermath and recovery

Following the tornado at Louisville, then-

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

president Clara Barton arrived to assist the recovery. Electric trolleys were used to compensate for a shortage of hearses. The City of Louisville, while declining outside aid, also established 60-man work crews to sift through wreckage for survivors. Three days after the disaster—on March 30,

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...

—as many as 45 separate funeral services were conducted in Louisville.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

* — Historical tornado damage images and narrative from the University of Louisville Photographic Archives
"The Great Cyclone of 1890: Tragedy Struck Louisville"
— Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush
"Louisville, KY Tornado, Mar 1890"
at GenDisasters.com {{DEFAULTSORT:1890-03-27 Middle Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak F4 tornadoes by date Middle Mississippi Valley,1890-03-27 Tornadoes of 1890 Tornadoes in Missouri Tornadoes in Illinois Tornadoes in Kentucky Tornadoes in Indiana Tornadoes in Tennessee History of Louisville, Kentucky 1890 natural disasters in the United States March 1890 events