As y'all know, I've been an avid weather watcher for essentially my entire life and the May 31, 1985 outbreak of tornadoes sticks in my memory banks very similarly to the April 3-4, 1974 outbreak and the April 25-28, 2011 outbreak. In fact, my Twitter picture is the 6:00 am EDT radar scan from State College when a tornadic cell passed through the KMDT region. My commute that morning was adventurous as I had numerous detours getting to CDHS. A few of my colleagues even commented on seeing wind damage (which upon further review was indeed caused by an F1 tornado!). Here's a satellite loop for the 3 day April 2011 outbreak...Sweet Home Alabama was hardest hit.
(Since the .jpeg will not loop, here is the link that shows the movement of the 3 day outbreak if you're so inclined to view...)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ASevere_Tornado_Outbreak_in_the_Southern_United_States.ogv
We actually had a touch of snow here in south central PA in early April 1974 as hot and humid air was entrenched west of the Appalachians and a nasty polar air mass was on the move from the NW. Four differing air masses collided in the Ohio Valley and the Xenia, OH F5 tornado of 1974 will also be well remembered!
Now, back to May 31, 1985. The longest tornado actually snapped many trees that created a natural path through the state forest called Moshannon near a state park called Parker Dam. After walking many miles through relatively deep and thick PA woodlands, my wife and I emerged into an area that had been recently cleared but in a manner that was quite strange. That's because the trees were snapped in multiple heights and debris was scattered about. A foot trail appropriately called "Tornado Path" ventures along this once meteorological turbulent path in Parker Dam State Park. The longest path in north central PA (#24 below) is the F3-4 tornado that caused that destruction! Take a look at the some of the 66 tornadoes on that day...
In case you're not familiar with the Dr. Ted Fujita Scale or want or need the review, take a gander...
Here is a visible satellite pic of the 1985 squall line that produced these long lived supercells...
May 31, 1998 also made the meteorological term "Derecho" mainstream amongst the wx fanatics...essentially a strong line of fast moving thunderstorms that produced damaging winds in a widespread path...see below...
And unfortunately back to PA...May 31, 1889...Johnstown Flood #1. That was the largest inland flash flood with loss of life for the entire history of the USA!
And with all of that weather history, I'll close by saying that May 31, 2017 was a bittersweet day for me. Not for the weather; it was actually quite benign. As I reflect on my past academic year, I had many wonderful students from the Class of 2017 these past 2 years who I believe were exposed to and appreciated the insights as to how our earth and its systems interact with each other in this wonderful natural world. May the "real" world into which they venture also treat them benignantly.
I'm sure I missed a few infamous May 31 events, but that nasty PA outbreak is ingrained into my deep memory banks. Those of you with family and friends from western PA/Johnstown, I'm sure the 1889 flood is one for memories/stories. Those from southern NY, the derecho was nasty and newsworthy and memorable. And if you're a midwesterner, the 1974 Super-Outbreak is one for your personal books. I'm just happy that as I sit here and touch the keys, a waxing crescent is shining down with only a few high cirrus obstructing an otherwise perfectly blue sky.
That's it...Blue Sky! RIP Gregg Allman. Enjoy!
Smitty
AA: Looking back at some major weather events that occurred on May 31 over the years!
1. 1985 PA Tornado Outbreak
2. 1889 Johnstown Flood
3. 1998 Southern Great Lakes through southern NY and northern PA
4. I also included other very memorable outbreaks for me personally (2011 and 1974, not May 31)
