40th Anniversary of June 1-3, 1980 tornado outbreak (including "The Night of The Twisters" in Grand Island, NE)

[Tim from Springfield, IL]

I know it's out of the sub, but this Wednesday will be the 40th anniversary of the "Night of the Twisters" (June 3, 1980) in Grand Island, NE.

Not as well-known as the GI outbreak is that the tornado threat began right when the calendar turned to June 1980 in this subforum.  With 9 mostly F0 and F1 tornadoes in IN and OH, plus an F2 near Tuscola, IL that injured 7 people around 7AM Sunday, June 1.  The tornado threat increased the next day especially in Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.  Including an F4 along the IA/MO border (from near Lamoni, IA to Powersville, MO), the Crawfordsville, IN F3 (causing 1 death), an F2s in north Indy and in New Palestine, IN.  There was also an F2 near Belvidere, NE, nearly 90 miles southeast of Grand Island.

The storm system moved east into PA the morning of June 3rd and produced the Natrona Heights/Vandergrift/Apollo F4 that injured 140 (but thankfully no deaths).  It also produced the Reedsville, WV F3 that injured 19 in NE WV and far western Maryland.

After the WV/MD tornado, with the exception of one tornado each in VA, NJ and ND, the remaining 7 tornadoes on June 3 all occurred in Grand Island.

Anyone know if the June 2-3, 1980 outbreak from Iowa to Maryland and the Grand Island, NE outbreak were two separate storm systems (or three if you count 6/1/80 in E IL, IN and OH)--or was the same weather system (perhaps a stationary front) responsible for all storms from NE to MD from June 1-3?  Like Wikipedia (FWIW) is implying.  Anyone have any weather maps and models from the June 1-3, 1980 time frame?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Grand_Island_tornado_outbreak

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1980/6/1/map

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1980/6/2/map

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1980/6/3/map

 

[Tim from Springfield, IL]

Also, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the outbreak, the Grand Island Independent newspaper has put together a series of articles (with photos) of reiminiscenses and stories about the outbreak.

https://www.theindependent.com/news/local/night-of-the-twisters-grand-islanders-share-stories-of-1980-tornadoes-as-40th-anniversary-approaches/article_5ee1a9d0-9fb4-11ea-962d-b3ef5871648f.html#14

https://www.theindependent.com/news/local/remembering-the-five-people-killed-that-night/article_730a6ff4-9fb5-11ea-a6db-0735ee6a1a86.html

https://www.theindependent.com/news/local/forty-years-after-the-night-of-the-twisters-south-locust-street-has-come-back-better/article_35375bec-a082-11ea-9d5c-d75cf2660e9d.html

https://www.theindependent.com/news/local/night-of-the-twisters-book-remains-popular-with-grand-island-public-library-patrons/article_469adf8c-a161-11ea-ac0d-23a170d00d89.html

https://www.theindependent.com/news/local/from-the-rubble-grand-island-remembers-the-construction-of-tornado-hill-fundraiser-in-the-works/article_69187a3e-a228-11ea-96e2-2708e0f337c3.html

[Hoosier]

I would consider it all the same setup.  Here are the maps from June 1.  Just change the date in the url to see the other days.

http://mp1.met.psu.edu/~fxg1/NARR/1980/us0601.php

[Chinook]

Using this tool, I have figured out that the series of tornadoes from June 1st-3rd, 1980 can be split up into two parts. Several tornadoes happened in various areas with the first low pressure that tracked from the Plains to New England. The Grand Island tornadoes developed with a new warm sector with a new low pressure in the Plains

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/outbreaks/