Easter Week 2006 tornado outbreak sequence

Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence

File:Iowa City Tornado.jpg Iowa City Tornado
Duration	6 days, 5 hours
Tornadoes confirmed	33 confirmed
Max. rating1	F2 tornado
Fatalities	1
Damage	Not yet available
Areas affected	Midwest, Mid-Atlantic States
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence was a tornado outbreak sequence during the days leading up to Easter and continued into the first week after Easter. It was the third major outbreak of April 2006, which has been an unusually busy month for tornado activity.

On April 13, a complex of severe thunderstorms formed in eastern Iowa, bringing many reports of large hail along with unexpected reports of strong tornadoes, some with debris. The worst impacts were felt in and around Iowa City where significant damage and numerous injuries were reported, in addition to at least one death across the region.

Another supercell developed on April 14 across western Indiana, touching down a few tornadoes, although nothing very serious was reported. That system moved eastward over the Mid-Atlantic States on April 15, although no tornadoes were reported there.

While the first system moved eastward, a second system developed over the Upper Midwest and tracked across the Midwest on April 15 and 16. This new system has led to about 40 reported tornadoes, and several have been damaging, although no fatalities were reported from the second system.

That system then tracked into the Mid-Atlantic on April 17, and was mostly a straight-line wind event, although there were a handful of new tornadoes reported across the region.

A third system developed on April 18 and brought even more severe weather, this time farther south in the lower Midwest, mainly Missouri. There were several more tornadoes reported from this one.

The severe weather finally came to an end on April 19 across the South, although some tornadoes occurred isolated if any.

Interestingly, the back side of this system produced heavy snow and blizzard conditions over the High Plains.

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	15	13	5	0	0	0	33

Reported Tornadoes

April 13 Event

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Iowa
F0	NE of Toledo	Tama	0010	unknown	Tornado sighted and confirmed, but remained in an open field with no damage.
F0	Marion	Linn	0042	1 mile (1.6 km)	Public report of a tornado in the area.
F2	Iowa City (1st tornado)	Johnson	0055	4.5 miles (7 km)	First of the Iowa City tornadoes - See section on this tornado.
F0	Newhall	Benton	0058	unknown	Damage reported to several power lines and trees.
F1	Sharon Center	Johnson	0120	3.5 miles (5.5 km)	Damage reported to several outbuildings and many trees in the area.
F1	SE of Hills	Johnson, Washington	0131	5.4 miles (8.7 km)	Tornado reported near Highway 218 and Johnson/Washington County Line heading toward town of Hills. Several houses suffered some damage and a mobile home was destroyed. Extensive tree damage and some outbuildings destroyed.
F0	Iowa City (2nd tornado)	Johnson	0133		One of the Iowa City tornadoes - See section on this tornado.
F1	Anamosa area	Jones	0141	6 miles (9.6 km)	Varying degrees of damage reported to 20+ houses, including a mobile home which was destroyed. Extensive tree damage also reported. One person was injured. At one point a half mile wide.
F0	Muscatine area	Muscatine, Rock Island (IL)	0214	unknown	Spotter reported tornado heading across the Mississippi River. Intermittent path of generally minor damage.
F1	S of Nichols	Muscatine	0214	5 miles (8 km)	1 death - A mobile home was destroyed, killing the occupant.
F1	E of Hills	Johnson	0215	unknown	Brief touchdown in an area already hit by an earlier tornado that evening, causing additional damage.
F1	Nichols	Muscatine	0220	unknown	Tornado confirmed in the town. A barn was destroyed and the local community center lost its roof.
Illinois
F1	Alexis	Mercer	0300	0.8 mile (1.3 km)	Considerable damage in the town, with many roofs blown off houses. Extensive damage to trees and power lines.
Sources: Storm Reports 04/13, Des Moines office, Quad Cities office

April 14 Event (isolated)

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Indiana
F0	Battle Ground area	Tippecanoe, Carroll	0002	3 miles (4.8 km)	Tornado sighted on I-65 near Exit 178. Damage reported to a barn and some trees.
F1	Burney	Decatur	0115	0.6 mile (1 km)	Several houses in town were damaged and one outbuilding was destroyed. Extensive tree damage as well.
Sources: Storm Reports 04/14, Indianapolis office

April 15 Event

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Nebraska
F2	Beatrice area	Gage, Johnson	2133	34 miles (55 km)	Significant damage reported in the area. Debris reported several times by local spotters.
Kansas
F0	E of Onaga	Pottawatomie	2250	unknown	Brief touchdown reported. No damage.
F0	W of Horton	Brown	2338	unknown	Intermittent tornado touchdown. Damage reported to several barns and outbuildings. Difficult to identify in a field of additional straight line wind damage.
F0	NW of Horton	Brown	2343	1 mile (1.6 km)	Minor damage reported, mainly to outbuildings.
F1	Willis	Brown	2347	4 miles (6.4 km)	Several well-built outbuildings destroyed, and at least one house suffered considerable roof damage.
F0	S of Robinson	Brown	2348	unknown	Brief tornado touchdown. Minor damage to one house, plus some tree damage.
F0	S of Tonganoxie	Leavenworth	0105		Brief touchdown reported.
F0	NW of Bonner Springs	Wyandotte	0126	unknown	Tornado sighted along I-70 near Exit 224. No damage reported.
Missouri
F2	N of Osborn	De Kalb	0147	15 miles (24 km)	Major damage to at least one house and a barn.
Sources: Storm Reports 04/15, Omaha office, Topeka office, Kansas City office

April 16 Event

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Illinois
F1	SW of Warrensburg	Macon	1935	1 mile (1.6 km)	Several houses were damaged. One grain bin and numerous outbuildings were destroyed.
F0	W of Assumption	Christian	2008	0.1 mile (150 m)	Brief tornado touchdown observed by a tornado spotter. No damage reported.
F0	N of Assumption	Christian	2030	0.1 mile (150 m)	Tornado sighted on the ground by a county elected official. No damage reported.
F2	SW of Dieterich	Effingham	2209	4 miles (6.4 km)	Several outbuildings were destroyed along with a barn and several garages. Extensive tree damage also reported.
F1	S of Humboldt	Coles	2215	5 miles (8 km)	Significant damage reported on a farm, including a barn destroyed. Several other buildings were destroyed near I-57.
F2	Wheeler area	Jasper	2221	1.5 miles (2.4 km)	One mobile home was destroyed, and several houses and outbuildings also suffered damage.[[1]]
F0	W of Rardin	Coles	2245	1 mile (1.6 km)	Tornado caught on videotape in an open field. No damage reported.
F1	Robinson	Crawford	0006	0.1 mile (150 m)	Tornado touched down at the end of a straight line wind path. Damage was reported to several houses and a church along Highway 1A. Extensive tree damage also reported.
Sources: Storm Reports 04/16

April 17 Event (isolated)

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
North Carolina
F1	N of Whiteville	Columbus	2105	1 mile (1.6 km)	Many trees down and a vehicle was destroyed. Several houses were damaged by fallen trees.
Sources: Storm Reports 04/17

April 18 Event (isolated)

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Missouri
F?	W of Chillicothe	Livingston	0015
F?	Chillicothe	Livingston	0024		Rain-wrapped tornado reported in the town. Damage of unknown degree reported.
F?	S of Chillicothe	Livingston	0028		Unconfirmed tornado. Debris reported along US 65.
F?	Spickard	Grundy	0042		Tornado on ground according to the local fire department.
Illinois
F0	W of Lincoln	Logan	0520	1 mile (1.6 km)	Two people were injured in an overturned semi-trailer on I-55.
Sources: Storm Reports 04/18

Iowa City tornadoes

Several tornadoes touched down in Iowa City in the evening of April 13 between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. CDT (0030-0230 UTC). The tornadoes affected several parts of town and were likely multiple tornadoes. At least 30 people were injured in the city, but no one was killed in Iowa City (one death was reported southeast of the city in a rural area).

View of damage to downtown

Downtown was hit the hardest, with several buildings suffering heavy damage, and the courthouse and Saint Patrick's Church - one of the local Roman Catholic parishes - both lost their roofs after the tornado hit. Several people were reportedly trapped in collapsed buildings but were rescued. The church had just finished Holy Thursday services but the parishioners were all safely in the basement of the rectory at the time. Good Friday and subsequent services continued as scheduled in the undamaged areas.

It was a Thursday night, which is normally a busy time for the bars of downtown Iowa City. Fortunately the tornadoes struck relatively early in the evening, and downtown was not as packed as it might have been had the tornado struck a few hours later. There were a few reports of looting, mainly at establishments where liquor was sold/stored. After it was certain the storms had passed (and in some cases, before) a few University of Iowa students threw impromptu "Tornado Keggers" from venues undamaged by the storm.

The Iowa National Guard was mobilized and local law enforcement was maximized to prevent crime such as looting in the area. Gas leaks were also reported in the downtown area. The University of Iowa was also hard hit by the tornadoes - the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house was nearly destroyed and had to be evacuated, and several other buildings suffered lesser damage. The school was closed the next day as a result.

Another hard hit area was the south side of town, particularly along Riverside Drive (US 6) south of downtown. The commercial area was heavily damaged, with damage reported to several shopping centers and plazas, several big box stores and numerous fast food restaurants - at least one of which, a historic 54-year old Dairy Queen restaurant , was destroyed. Many cars parked in the parking lots also sustained damage. In a parking lot downtown, cars were overturned or crushed from where they had been parked.

Electricity was cut to about 7,000 customers in the area, but most power was quickly restored after the tornadoes, high winds and hail.

The National Weather Service stated that five, possibly six tornadoes were present in Iowa City that night. The first confirmed tornado was a high-end F2, which was the tornado that swept through the downtown area. This was the first tornado on record to strike the University. The second tornado was given a preliminary F0 rating.

Several interesting things happened as a result of the tornadoes:

• UI President David Skorton cancelled classes on Friday, April 14.
• Also on Friday, area governments declared a joint state of emergency for Johnson County
• The Daily Iowan (the University newspaper) continued coverage through the weekend, days on which the newspaper does not traditionally print.
• The television program Tonight with Bradman beat all the local affiliates by providing coverage all night long. The host, Bradley Laborman along with a skeleton crew showed video of the disaster and took phone calls from tornado victims. Pieces of the broadcast of TWB are available on iTunes.

See also

• Tornadoes of 2006
• List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

External links

• Storm Prediction Center
• University of Iowa release page - includes news releases, image galleries and statements
• National Weather Service overview