Out of any weather event that has been covered and will be covered on This Week in Weather History, perhaps the most memorable one for many of Omaha's residents is what occurred on May 6, 1975. That Tuesday afternoon, Black Tuesday as some remember it, a violent tornado swept right through the city. In just thirty minutes, neighborhoods were damaged, schools destroyed, and lives changed.
In this installment of This Week in Weather History, let's look back at the state of tornado science, the build-up to the tornado, and the details of the tornado's path through the city.
SEE MORE:
KMTV 10-Year Anniversary of the 1975 Tornado
Interview with David Campbell
TORNADO PREPAREDNESS IN OMAHA
In 1948, two meteorologists at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City successfully issued the first "Tornado Warning" for the base. Since then, the US Weather Bureau (later to become the National Weather Service) began issuing tornado forecasts and warnings. Prior to then, the word "tornado" was banned in official forecasts for fear of causing unwanted panic among the public. Now, there was an urgent need for warnings, and the US Weather Bureau began developing warning systems.
For those living in Omaha at the time, tornado forecasts originally were not taken seriously by the public. The tornado of 1913 was becoming a distant memory for the city, and recent scares had all amounted to nothing. Those living in Omaha and the rest of the central Plains thought of tornado forecasts as something to deal with for spring on the plains.
The plains got an uneasy wake-up call on May 25, 1955, when two nighttime F-5 tornadoes slashed through the towns of Blackwell OK and Udall KS, killing 20 in Blackwell and 80 in Udall. This horror in the middle of the night shook residents of the central Plains into taking actions, and tornado awareness began to be preached. Broadcasters began to disseminate tornado alerts over radio and television, civil defense sirens began to be used for purposes of alerting residents of tornadoes, and weather observers were trained to be able to spot tornadoes.
On June 8, 1966, an F-5 tornado tore through the heart of the Kansas capital of Topeka. The warning system worked brilliantly, though the tornado still took 17 lives, it could have been much worse. Deemed the costliest tornado in the US to that date, the fact that a violent tornado struck a major metropolitan area was not lost on Omaha residents.
After the Topeka tornado, Omaha began to rigorously prepare for tornadoes. By 1975, Omaha had six organizations which were all apart of the severe weather warning apparatus, these were:
- The National Weather Service (NWS) office: Responsible for issuing Tornado Warnings
- Omaha City and County Civil Defense, today the Emergency Management Agency, who communicated between the NWS office and the other partners in the organization
- Radio Emergency Associated Citizens Teams (REACT), a volunteer network of spotters who use citizen band radio frequencies to disseminate information. They are organized by the Civil Defense and trained by the NWS office in tornado spotting.
- The Police Department, which was installed with the NOAA Weather Wire (the main avenue to receive weather alerts) just five days prior to the 1975 tornado.
- The Sheriffs Department
- The news media, who would broadcast tornado alerts and safety tips, this is the era before wall-to-wall severe weather coverage took off, so mostly alerts were shown through screens.
In August 1968 they got to test this out when a tornado struck the Bel Air region in west Omaha near 120th and Center, damaging several homes but killing nobody. Omaha looked on nervously as tornado outbreak after tornado outbreak swept the United States. A year prior to the Omaha tornado, a super outbreak of over 100 tornadoes swept through the eastern US on April 3, 1974.
In 1975, the months leading up to the tornado were spent continuing public awareness about tornadoes. On March 30, KMTV ran a special about severe weather preparedness and what to do if a tornado threatens. This timing was appropriate, as just three days prior on March 27 a small tornado damaged homes in the Stony Book neighborhood near 151st and Z streets. Like the 1968 tornado, no one was killed. These two incidents highlighted that Omaha was vulnerable to tornadoes, and when the big one struck the warning system would be ready.
MAY 6, 1975: THE SET-UP
On the morning of May 6, it was muggy and warm, somewhat unusual for the early part of the month. It was a Tuesday, many were heading off to work or school, some taking note of the atmosphere outside. Other, more seasoned veterans of Omaha, felt a bit uneasy about the day. It had "that feel" to it, that feel before a big severe weather day. James Zoller, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Omaha, also felt that feeling. Impulsively, he stashed a safe with his belongings in a freezer, keeping them safe in case of any storm.
Those who had felt it had a right to. The atmosphere was primed for severe storm development. A cold front was working its way eastward through eastern Nebraska. Ahead of the cold front, temperatures were very warm. As the day progressed, it became evident of a boundary which was laid from northwest to southeast from Nebraska into Iowa. This boundary acts as an enhancement to any storms which interacted with it, and that boundary was placed right over Omaha. Where the boundary intersected the cold front, the tornado potential was maximized, and that would zipper down the front as things evolved to eventually form the storms which produced the Omaha tornado.
COUNTDOWN TO THE TWISTER
All through the morning of May 6, forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Omaha, as well as the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC) in Kansas City (the precursor to the Storm Prediction Center today). At 12:39pm, a Tornado Watch was issued by the NSSFC which included eastern NE and Omaha. Supercells were expected to develop and produce tornadoes in the vicinity of eastern Nebraska.
A half hour later, supercells in northeast Nebraska began producing tornadoes. Just after 1pm, a violent F-4 tornado touched down near Pierce, north of Norfolk, this long-tracked tornado struck the small community of Magnet in Cedar County head on. Nearly every building was damaged or destroyed in town, but no one was killed in the tornado. The Magnet tornado is perhaps most famous for its swirls in the cornfields in Pierce and Cedar Counties, photographed by Ted Fujita himself.
South of the Magnet tornado, an F-3 tornado touched down north of Stanton and missed the community of Hoskins. Extensive damage to farms in Wayne County occurred, but no one was injured or killed in this tornado.
If those in Omaha heard of those tornadoes, it only heightened the sense of the day as the heat of the afternoon. Sounds of distant thunder, rolling clouds, and occasional rain showers clouded the city. Those storms started going severe, and at 2:00pm a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for parts of Douglas County. Those storms occasionally produced large hail, and even a few funnel clouds near Plattsmouth. Ultimately, these storms were scattered, it would be the blob on the radar southwest of town that caught the attention of forecasters in the NWS office.
By 4:00pm, things began to speed up. Shortly after the top of the hour, storm spotters reported a tornado in western Iowa east of Bellevue. At 4:07pm, a Tornado Warning was issued for Pottawattamie County for another tornado sighting near Council Bluffs. This would not be the Omaha tornado.
At 4:14, reports of a possible funnel cloud near Gretna were relayed to the weather service office, and one minute later a Tornado Warning was issued for the Omaha metro. As the tornado touched down at 4:33pm, this gave the city ample lead time for people to take their tornado precautions.
With the issuance of a tornado warning, everyone got into place. REACT spotters fanned out across town, sheriffs and police went on patrol, and sirens were sounded across the city. With the sirens, many took shelter. School had let out a few hours before, so kids were at home when the warning was issued. Traffic thinned on the streets as businesses kept their employees behind to let the storm pass. Omaha braced itself for what was to come.
TORNADO IN OMAHA
At 4:33pm, the first report of a funnel cloud was passed along near 132nd and Q St. This funnel floated over the land before making contact with the ground. Official data mentions the tornado touched down near Werner Park in Sarpy County and moved quickly northeast, moving over what was then mostly still fields. It plowed into 96th and Q St, where it dealt its first major area of damage to apartment buildings. Clocks were stopped at 4:35, the time the tornado passed over.
The tornado, moving in a northeasterly course, then crossed into Ralston. Several homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed in the vicinity of 84th and L St within town. Ralston High School was narrowly missed, with parts of the roof torn off the new school. At this point, the tornado began to turn from moving northeast to a more northerly direction as it approached I-80. Drivers panicked as the tornado headed towards the interstate, and many drove to shelter narrowly missing the others. By this time, the police were tracking the storm, men like David Campbell. At 4:40, it crossed the interstate as the police shut it down. It continued on its due northerly course, paralleling 72nd St.
As it crossed north of the interstate, it began an unobstructed path of fury into the region of 72nd. It's first target was the Westgate neighborhood which lies between I-80 and Center, west of 72nd St. Well-built homes were reduced to rubble, leading one survivor to claim it was like a "bomb went off" in the neighborhood. Homes were demolished, trees shredded, and the area laid unrecognizable. At the center of the neighborhood laid Westgate Elementary School, which bore the brunt of the tornado's fury. Within a few seconds, the school which housed children hours before was reduced to rubble, the entire building had to be condemned.
The tornado crossed Center and continued northeast, straight towards Bergen-Mercy Hospital. Inside, staff and patients were sent diving for cover as the tornado approached. Those such as David Campbell watched in horror as the tornado hit the hospital head on. Windows were smashed, furniture thrown around inside, and parts of the roof and walls were torn off. Cars were piled on top of each other like toys in the parking lot, many of them destroyed. The building alone was $5,000,000 in damages.
Just to the east of the hospital sat perhaps one of the greatest near-misses of the tornado. Across 72nd was the Aksarben racetrack, where over 8,000 people were gathered to watch horse races that afternoon. The races were stopped due to the warnings, and as the winds began to pick up many ducked for cover beneath the seats. Those taking shelter watched in awe as the massive funnel, at times nearly half a mile wide, emerged from the rain as it narrowly missed the track. Robert Dunn captured some of the clearest images of the tornado as it skimmed past the racetrack. After the tornado passed, the races resumed. If the tornado had been just a quarter mile further east, the racetrack would have been hit and many more lives probably lost.
As the tornado neared Pacific just west of 72nd, it added human life to the devastation toll. As the tornado struck the El Matador restaurant, today Fernandos, a young waitress was working the evening shift. Pamela Myers was thrown from the building into a nearby ditch, where she potentially drowned after a water main break. It was the first of three lives the tornado would claim.
Crossing Pacific, the tornado struck the Post Office, then Nebraska Furniture Mart, then much smaller than the sprawling complex it is today. Workers fled for shelter as the tornado crossed into the complex. The damage at NFM was major, and 80 of the 90 post office cars were destroyed.
At 4:45pm, five minutes after the tornado crossed I-80, it crossed Dodge St at the intersection of 72nd. It was here where some of the most significant damage was dealt, with buildings razed to the ground. Crossroads Shopping Center was grazed, with minor damage done to a few windows in the Sears department store. Other buildings at the intersection were not so lucky, and were significantly damaged.
At 70th and Dodge, the Downtowner Motor Inn could house over 400 guests in the large complex. Guests scrambled for the hotel basement minutes before the tornado struck, some tried to flee in cars. Although there were heavy injuries, no one was killed at the inn. The building was never rebuilt.
As it continued north, the United Methodist Church near Cass St was damaged, as was the neighboring Temple Israel Jewish Synagogue. It then struck the Lewis and Clark Junior High School where windows were smashed out, 50 students and teachers hunkered down in the hallway as the tornado swept through.
Curiously, the tornado took a sudden westward swing as it approached Creighton Prep, almost as if it had an agenda to hit the school. Studies on this leftward turn suggest a downburst of air pushed the tornado briefly westward, right where Creighton Prep was. The school suffered significant damage.
It then crossed into residential sections of town near 72nd and Blondo, here homes were razed to the ground like everywhere from Q St and Westgate. Several survival stories of people barely making it to shelter were had, some suffering injuries but no one was killed. Unfortunately, as it continued further north, Margaret Baker likely never heard the tornado coming as the elderly woman was hard of hearing, she would be the second life taken by the Omaha tornado.
The final life was 38-year-old Roy Kramar. He was killed at a gas station near 69th and Maple St. Some claimed he went to the roof to watch the tornado pass, but others dispute this. Despite the loss of 3 precious lives, the fact it was not more has mystified those ever since given the 58,000 people impacted by the tornado. Many attribute this to advanced lead time with the tornado warning, and the excellent communication among the groups tracking the tornado.
The tornado finally gave out near Benson Park, where one 15-year-old girl at the time remembered seeing the green hue associated with tornadoes as her and her mother took shelter. The tornado missed her home by a few blocks, but she remembers everyone helping each other out once the tornado finally lifted.
25 minutes, 9 miles, 3 lives lost, over 100 injured. Hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed as the tornado cut a path through the busiest part of the metro. Today, it is the 9th costliest tornado in US history, just behind the Topeka KS tornado of 1966.
