The Tornado outbreak of June 14–18, 1992 was one of the largest tornado outbreaks on record, affecting portions of the Central United States from June 14 to June 18, 1992. The outbreak began on June 14 when six tornadoes touched down in Colorado and Idaho. Fifty-eight tornadoes were reported across portions of the Great Plains on June 15, and 65 more were reported over much of the central U.S. on June 16. The 123 tornadoes that touched down on June 15–16 make that two-day span the 5th largest two-day tornado outbreak in U.S. history behind the 1974 Super Outbreak, the May 2004 tornado outbreak sequence, the tornado outbreak of April 14–16, 2011, and the 2011 Super Outbreak. Twenty-eight more tornadoes touched down on June 17, and 13 more touched down on June 18, giving this outbreak 170 confirmed tornadoes.
Meteorological synopsis A major spring storm began developing in the western United States over the weekend of June 13–14, 1992. The storm ejected a minor upper air impulse across the Northern Plains on June 13, triggering severe weather across the extreme northwest corner of South Dakota. Golf ball sized hail and 10 inches of rain destroyed crops and killed over 500 sheep in Harding County, South Dakota. This event preceded the main storm which still was positioned over the western United States. As the storm moved to the east over the next several days, it caused 170 tornadoes in the central United States, including an F5 tornado in Chandler, Minnesota. The storm system finally began to weaken as it moved to the eastern United States on June 18.
Outbreak description On Tuesday, June 16, 1992, eastern South Dakota and southwest Minnesota were heavily impacted by the storm as it moved from the Rocky Mountain Region across the Upper Midwest. At least two dozen tornadoes were reported that day, with more than three times that many reports of large hail and strong winds, causing widespread swaths of damage to crops, buildings, and other personal property across much of eastern South Dakota and southwest Minnesota. The first tornado, spawned by a supercell thunderstorm, touched down in Charles Mix County, South Dakota about 1:00 pm. The last tornado was reported shortly before midnight that evening, ending an 11-hour period of intense severe weather across eastern South Dakota and southwest Minnesota. Until the record was broken in 2010, the 27 tornadoes that touched down in Minnesota on June 16 marked the largest single day tornado outbreak in Minnesota since accurate records started being kept in 1950.
Remarkably, there was only one fatality from this outbreak, that coming from an F5 tornado in Chandler, Minnesota. In addition to the F5, three F4 tornadoes were reported in Murray County, Minnesota, and Mitchell and McPherson counties in Kansas. Damage estimates for the two days were in excess of $160 million.
This outbreak played a large part in a record setting month in June 1992. The 399 tornadoes that touched down in that month was a United States record at the time, breaking the old record of 335 tornadoes set in May 1991. This record was eventually broken, when 543 tornadoes touched down during May 2003. This record, though, would be broken in turn when over 750 tornadoes touched down in April 2011.
Confirmed tornadoes
June 14 event List of confirmed tornadoesF# Location County Time (UTC) Path length DamageIdaho F0E of Burley Cassia 2202 0 miles A brief tornado touched down twice.Colorado F0W of Gill Weld 0026 This tornado occurred near the Greeley–Weld County Airport. F0N of Goodrich Morgan 0027 0 miles Debris persisted for a few minutes. F0SE of Raymer Morgan 0027 0 miles This tornado moved three grain bins for . F0NE of Barnesville Weld 0115 0 miles This and the next event were observed nearly simultaneously. F0N of Fort Morgan Weld 0130 0 miles See previous event.
June 15 event List of confirmed tornadoesF# Location County Time (UTC) Path length DamageKansas F0NE of Plainville (1st tornado) Rooks 2115 This tornado occurred over open land. F1N of Natoma (1st tornado) Osborne 2126 Very minimal damage was reported. F0E of Zurich Rooks 2128 One mobile home was destroyed on the eastern outskirts of Plainville. F1NE of Plainville (2nd tornado) Rooks 2137 This tornado destroyed a double-wide and a feedlot. 30–40 head of cattle died. Two injuries occurred in the double-wide. Grazulis classified the tornado as an F2. F0N of Natoma (2nd tornado) Osborne 2146 This tornado lasted only a minute. F0SE of Bloomington (1st tornado) Osborne 2251 Tornado occurred over open country. F1SE of Bloomington (2nd tornado) Osborne 2251 Several farms were damaged. F1SE of Osborne (1st tornado) Osborne 2315 F1SW of Osborne Osborne 2334–2337 F1S of Osborne Osborne 2340 This tornado felled a number of large trees. F1Osborne area Osborne 2345 Trees and roofs were badly damaged. F1SE of Osborne (2nd tornado) Osborne 2355 F2SE of Corinth Mitchell 2356 F1SE of Mankato Jewell 2359 F2NE of Tipton (1st tornado) Mitchell 0002 F1SW of Webber Jewell 0006 F1NE of Tipton (2nd tornado) Mitchell 0007 F2E of Mankato Jewell 0009 F2E of Tipton Mitchell 0010 F4SW of Beloit (1st tornado) Mitchell 0030 F1NW of Lovewell Jewell 0035 F2SW of Beloit (2nd tornado) Mitchell 0035 F2SW of Beloit (3rd tornado) Mitchell 0038 F1SW of Beloit (4th tornado) Mitchell 0040 F3SW of Beloit (5th tornado) Mitchell 0045 F1SW of Beloit (6th tornado) Mitchell 0055 F0N of Republic Republic 0100 F1SW of Beloit (7th tornado) Mitchell 0105 F1SW of Simpson Mitchell 0135 F1SE of Simpson Cloud 0152 F1NE of Simpson Cloud 0158 F1S of Delphos Ottawa 0235 F3W of Delphos Ottawa 0252 F4McPherson McPherson 0335 F1NW of Miltonvale Cloud 0337 F2Roxbury McPherson 0340 F1SE of Roxbury to NW of Ramona McPherson, Marion 0509 F1SW of Elmo Dickinson 0520 F0SW of Abilene Dickinson 0538 F1E of Enterprise Dickinson 0648 F0S of Solomon Dickinson 0705 South Dakota F2S of Philip Haakon 2210 F0NE of Raymond Clark 0005 F0SE of Bristol Day 0250 Nebraska F1Doniphan Hall 0020 F2SW of Osceola Polk 0045 F2N of Hampton Hamilton 0055 F0N of Schuyler (1st tornado) Colfax 0115 F2N of Schuyler (2nd tornado) Colfax 0115 F3SE of Milligan to W of Milford Saline, Seward 0155 F1W of West Point Cuming 0250 F1SW of West Point Cuming 0255 F1SE of West Point Cuming 0300 F3W of Malcolm Seward 0315 F1N of Bancroft Cuming 0320 F1NW of Tecumseh Johnson 0458 F1NW of Johnson Johnson 0512 F1SW of Burr Otoe 0530 Sources:
June 16 event List of confirmed tornadoesF# Location County Time (UTC) Path length DamageSouth Dakota F2W of Mitchell (1st tornado) Davison 1930 F2W of Mitchell (2nd tornado) Davison 1930 F0NE of Letcher Sanborn 2023 F2SW of Fedora Miner 2025 F3SW of Oldham Miner 2045 F3S of Arlington Kingsbury, Brookings 2135 F0W of Oldham Kingsbury 2137 F3W of Fort Thompson Buffalo 2215 F0SW of Pickstown Charles Mix 0003 F0NE of Tripp Hutchinson 0110 F1Bridgewater (1st tornado) McCook 0130 F1Bridgewater (2nd tornado) McCook 0130 F1Brookings area Brookings 0130 F1NE of Rutland Lake 0145 F0SW of Centerville Clay 0150 F2Colton Minnehaha 0200 Iowa F1NE of Cedar Falls Black Hawk 2003 F3NW of Logan to N of Dow City Harrison, Crawford 0230 F0SE of Perkins Sioux 0255 F0S of Ida Grove Ida 0348 F0NE of Soldier Monona 0401 F2NE of Oakland Pottawattamie 0500 F2SW of Dumfries Mills 0514 F0Harlan area Shelby 0545 Nebraska F0SW of Hemingford Box Butte 2120 F0W of Alliance Box Butte 2151 F1SE of Ainsworth Brown 2215 F1N of Newport Rock 2315 F1SW of Anselmo Custer 2317 F0SE of Anselmo Custer 2323 F1NW of Gates Custer 2335 F1SE of Naper Boyd 2338 F1NE of Butte Boyd 2350 F1Hartington Cedar 0147 F2NE of Oakland Burt 0400 F0S of Western Saline 0405 F0NE of Waverly Lancaster 0423 Minnesota F5S of Leota to E of Lake Wilson Nobles, Murray, Lyon 2200 1 death – See article on this tornado – 40+ people were injured. F4E of Lake Wilson Murray 2218 F3S of Clarkfield Yellow Medicine 2230 F2NE of Hadley Murray 2230 F3NW of Currie Murray, Lyon 2300 F2E of Amiret Lyon 2318 F3NE of Tracy Redwood 2325 F1SW of Milroy Redwood 2355 F2NE of Danvers Swift 2358 F3W of Wabasso Redwood 0010 F2N of Vesta Redwood 0025 F2S of Delhi Redwood 0025 F1W of Redwood Falls Redwood 0030 F2E of Delhi Redwood 0040 F2W of Bechyn Renville 0050 F2NW of Bechyn Renville 0125 F2W of Sacred Heart Renville 0200 F1NW of Jasper Pipestone 0200 F2S of Chandler Murray 0210 F2W of Slayton Murray 0220 F3SE of Clarkfield Yellow Medicine 0240 F2S of Danube Renville 0330 F2E of Westbrook Cottonwood 0330 F1SE of Leavenworth Brown 0400 F3Cokato Wright 0410 F2N of Maple Lake Wright 0420 F2NW of Foley Benton 0450 North Dakota F0E of Bismarck Burleigh 2320 Sources:
Non-tornadic events In addition to the severe weather, another devastating weather event was taking place across northeastern South Dakota. Heavy rains were occurring in an area already saturated by previous rains. Over a two- to three-day period in mid-June 1992, 15 to 20 inches of rain fell in the Clear Lake-Watertown area of northeast South Dakota, resulting in widespread flooding throughout the area, and major downstream flooding of the Big Sioux River.
See also List of Minnesota weather records List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks List of Storm Prediction Center high risk days
References