Shown here is the second F3 to hit Grand Island (right) and the first F1 to hit the city (left).
Duration
June 3, 1980
Tornadoes confirmed
29
Max. rating1
F4 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2
2 days
Fatalities
6 fatalities, 413 injuries
Damage
$ 300 million (1980 USD)
Areas affected
Midwestern and Northeastern United States
Part of the tornado outbreaks of 1980
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado
The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak, also known as The Night of the Twisters, was a tornado outbreak that produced a series of destructive tornadoes that affected the city of Grand Island, Nebraska, on Tuesday, June 3, 1980. Seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city that night, killing five people and injuring 200.
The name generally referred to by Grand Island area residents for the event, "The Night of the Twisters", comes from the semi-fictionalized book of the same name, loosely based on the June 3rd, 1980 tornadoes, by author Ivy Ruckman, which in turn inspired a made-for-TV movie of the same name that premiered on The Family Channel (now Freeform) in February 1996. While the outbreak is best known for the Grand Island tornado family on June 3, the event as a whole produced 29 tornadoes across two days, causing severe damage as far east as Pennsylvania.[1] In addition to the five deaths that occurred in the Grand Island area, the outbreak injured a total of 413 across seven states.
^Grazulis, Thomas P. (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
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