June 2, 1990 Tornado Outbreak - Biggest On Record

Today marks the anniversary of our biggest tornado outbreak on record.  Although it wasn't as devastating as the Palm Sunday Outbreak or the Super Outbreak, this event is notable for a few reasons.  First, 37 tornadoes set a new record for most tornadoes in a single outbreak.  Second, 20 of the 37 tornadoes were rated F2 or greater.  To put that in some perspective, it "normally" takes 3 or 4 years to accumulate that many strong tornadoes.  Third, this event produced multiple violent F4's, joining 4/11/1965 and 4/3/1974 as the only days with multiple violent tornadoes in the state (since 1950).  Unfortunately, 8 people were killed.

Here is a map of the approximate tornado tracks:

Here are some images courtesy of Nick Smith:




June 2, 1990 Convective Outlook

   



Early Evening Radar Depicting Scattered Supercells



Dubois County Tornado "Bonanza" One For The Record Books

With 2 confirmed tornadoes on Wednesday, Dubois county raised its 2011 total to 8 tornadoes.  If that seems like a lot, you are correct.  That is the most tornadoes in any Indiana county in one year since records have been kept.  What is perhaps more amazing is that it is more tornadoes than Dubois county had in the previous 40 years COMBINED!  Increased reporting and surveying with time likely plays a role but it seems that this has been a real hot spot this year.

Here is a list of Dubois county tornadoes from 1950-2010:

Preliminary count of 50 tornadoes in 2011, breaking the all-time record of 49

So far there have been 50 tornadoes documented in the state this year, which breaks the previous record of 49 set in 1973 and 1990.  This number may rise as additional surveys of Wednesday's damage are done.