This Day in History -- 1990 Lower Ohio Valley Tornado Outbreak | WeatherBug
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This Day in History -- 1990 Lower Ohio Valley Tornado Outbreak

June 5, 2020
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Fred Allen
Thirty years ago, on June 2, 1990, and not all that unusual across the Ohio Valley, a deadly severe storm outbreak began. It was a day so memorable it broke a record previously held by the 1974 Super Outbreak in Indiana.

The ingredients for the early June severe storm outbreak came together quickly. An unusually strong storm system rolled from the eastern Dakotas to the Great Lakes. A warm and humid air mass flooded the Ohio Valley ahead of a sharp cold front that packed cooler, drier, Canadian air behind it. Add in howling winds aloft, and there was the perfect recipe for an explosion of severe thunderstorms.

Known as the National Severe Storms Forecast Center located in Kansas City, Mo., morning forecasters issued a “High Risk” for a severe storm outbreak with potentially destructive, long-lived tornadoes from eastern Iowa and Missouri to northwestern Ohio and the central Great Lakes. Given the dangers of the situation, forecasters encouraged residents to review severe weather safety rules, find a safe place and listen to radio, television or a NOAA weather radio.

Starting mid-afternoon that fateful June day, 66 tornadoes were spawned from Arkansas to Minnesota and east to Michigan and Ohio. Particularly hard-hit were Illinois and Indiana where a total of eleven intense, violent tornadoes rated F3 or higher touched down. A final strong tornado, rated F3, carved a 10-mile path from La Grange to Jericho, Ky., destroying framed and mobile homes, injuring five people and causing $2.5 million in damage. There were also 54 combined F0, F1 and F2 tornadoes.

The most violent and long-lived tornado with wind exceeding 206 mph touched down around 6:20 p.m. CDT north of Aden, Ill., and traveled 106 miles into Indiana before dissipating southeast of Huron, Ind., at 9:45 p.m. EDT. The tornado littered trees along Interstate 64 in Aden, Ill., killed one person in Browns, Ill., and ripped apart 17 homes and severely damaged Wabash Valley College in Mt. Carmel, Ind. As it passed near Shoals, Ind., the tornado destroyed a cabin. Eleven were injured along its path.

A tornado causing six fatalities and injuring 60 people, the deadliest of the outbreak to hit Indiana since the 1974 Super Outbreak, touched down west of Union, Ind., at sunset. It leveled a home, killing two inside and blew another 30 feet off its foundation, then plowed into Petersburg, Ind. The tornado destroyed more than 230 homes in the city, heavily-damaged an elementary school and lead residents to build makeshift shelters once it passed.  

The tornado risk didn’t wane after sunset either. A scary F4 nighttime tornado developed around 11 p.m. EDT in Bright, Ind., and stayed on the ground for 33 miles. Destroying 50 homes in Bright, Ind., leveling four brick homes, mangling and twisting steel beams, the tornado careened into Harrison, Crosby Township and New Baltimore communities in Ohio before it lifted. By then, it had damaged 800 to 900 homes, the foundation of 32 homes swept clear of debris, damaged 31 businesses and three schools. While no deaths were recorded, 37 people were injured.

The June 2, 1990 Ohio Valley severe storm outbreak produced some very impressive, but sad statistics. Not only did nine people die, but more than 250 were injured. The outbreak finished with a single-day record for tornadoes in Indiana, a feat that surpassed the previous record of 21 set in the Super Outbreak on April 3, 1974. Across Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, the outbreak destroyed 313 homes, 76-percent in Indiana, and damaged 892 homes, 75-percent in Indiana.