1955 Udall tornado

Tornado in Kansas and Oklahoma, US May 2025 1955 Udall tornado Car wrapped around large tree by tornado. Udall, Kansas - NARA - 283886.jpg The image shows the wreckage of a car wrapped around a tree that has been stripped of most of its branches. A vehicle that was wrapped around a large tree in Udall, Kansas. May 25, 1955 261 to 318 mph (420 to 512 km/h) F5 80Deadliest in the state of Kansas 273 $2.225 million 2225000 1955https://www.weather.gov/ict/toptenkstors Top Ten KS Tornadoes NOAA NWS Wichita Tornadoes of 1955 and 1955 Great Plains tornado outbreak On May 25, 1955, an extremely violent tornado moved across southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma, destroying the town of Udall, Kansas. The tornado would be the deadliest in Kansas history. In total, 75-77 residents of Udall were killed and 270 were injured, with a total fatality count of 80, and a total injury count of 273. About 70% of the population of Udall was killed or wounded. Prior to the touchdown of the Udall tornado, another F5 tornado produced by the same storm hit Blackwell, Oklahoma. Meteorological synopsis During May 25, a maritime Tropical (mT) air mass pushed northward through Oklahoma, covering the entire state by 6:30 P.M. At that time, a low-pressure area was situated over the Oklahoma Panhandle.Staats Wayne F. Turrentine Charles M. 1956-12-01 Some Observations and Radar Pictures of the Blackwell and Udall Tornadoes of May 25, 1955 https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/37/10/1520-0477-37_10_495.xml?tab_body=pdf Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society en 37 10 495–505 10.1175/1520-0477-37.10.495 1956BAMS...37..495S 0003-0007 free subscription The lifted index value was between -9 and -11 in Oklahoma and Kansas.North America Tornado Cases 1950 to 1959 https://bangladeshtornadoes.org/UScases50to59.html 2025-03-06 bangladeshtornadoes.org Scattered thunderstorms occurred throughout the day in western Oklahoma, with damaging winds and hail reported. Earlier in the day, an F4 tornado had killed two people.US Department of Commerce NOAA The Great Plains Tornado Outbreak and Blackwell Tornado of 25-26 May 1955 https://preview.weather.gov/oun/events-19550525 2025-03-06 preview.weather.gov EN-US Two separate severe weather warnings were issued in the area in the afternoon. However, due to technology at the time, TV stations showed no indication of the impending danger.Sommerfeld Rachel March 1, 2015 A Tale of Two Twisters: Udall and Greensburg https://www.ksn.com/news/a-tale-of-two-twisters-udall-and-greensburg/ March 10, 2025 KSN The supercell that produced the Udall tornado was first spotted on radar north of Oklahoma City at around 6:50 P.M. It would first produce an F5 tornado that would hit Blackwell, Oklahoma, before going on to produce another F5 that would devastate the town of Udall, Kansas. Tornado summary About 30 minutes after producing the Blackwell tornado, the same supercell produced this large and violent and long-tracked tornado just east of the first tornado track near the Kansas/Oklahoma border. It proceeded northward across Sumner and Cowley Counties. The town of Udall was especially hard hit with F5 damage that included the disintegration of numerous structures and homes all across the town. Even the town's water tower was toppled. The funnel, about 1300 yd m out wide, hit Udall at around 10:30 p.m. CDT. Half of the town's population was killed or injured. Numerous homes and businesses were destroyed, many of which were swept away, including a 30-by-40 foot concrete block building that was obliterated, with the foundation left mostly bare of any debris. Vehicles were thrown hundreds of yards and mangled beyond recognition, including a pickup truck that was wrapped around a tree and stripped of everything but its frame and tires.Grazulis Thomas P Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 July 1993 The Tornado Project of Environmental Films 1-879362-03-1 St. Johnsbury, VT The Udall public school building sustained major damage, with beams snapped and blown away.The Indefinitive List of the Strongest Tornadoes Ever Recorded (Pre-1970): Part II | http://extremeplanet.me/2013/04/20/the-indefinitive-list-of-the-strongest-tornadoes-ever-recorded-pre-1970-part-ii/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20130731074041/http://extremeplanet.me/2013/04/20/the-indefinitive-list-of-the-strongest-tornadoes-ever-recorded-pre-1970-part-ii/ 2013-07-31 2013-06-23US Department of Commerce NOAA Info on the Udall Kansas tornado https://www.weather.gov/ict/udall 19 October 2020 www.weather.gov EN-US1955 Udall Tornado | Wichita Eagle http://www.kansas.com/2010/02/10/1174869/1955-udall-tornado.html dead https://web.archive.org/web/20131119071847/http://www.kansas.com/2010/02/10/1174869/1955-udall-tornado.html 2013-11-19 2013-10-09 The tornado later dissipated after traveling over 50 mi km out from the Oklahoma border to southeast of Wichita. Almost immediately, volunteers and rescue workers descended into the darkness to aid the survivors. Ambulances and automobiles of all kinds rushed the growing numbers of injured to hospitals in three neighboring towns. The closest hospitals were William Newton and St Mary's Hospitals, 17 miles southeast in Winfield, the former of which took in 129 patients that night. Several were taken to St Luke's Hospital in Wellington, 23 miles to the southwest, while the remainder were taken to three hospitals in Wichita to the northwest.Minick, Jim. "Without Warning". p. 81, 85. Aftermath This tornado was the deadliest in the state's history. In Udall, 75-77 people were killed, and 270 were injured, which meant that about 70% of Udall's population were casualties of the tornado.Smith Michael The Greensburg Miracle – Where There's Life, There's Hope https://www.vaisala.com/sites/default/files/documents/The%20Greensburg%20Miracle%20-%20Where%20There%20is%20Life%20There%20is%20Hope.PDF March 7, 2025 Damage totals were over $2 million, with only one building in the entire town remaining habitable after the tornado. Among the people who helped with the cleanup were the crew of the film Picnic, which was being filmed in Halstead.Shaffer Bill The Summer of Picnic Kansas Heritage Spring 2005 13 1 https://www.kshs.org/publicat/heritage/2005spring_shaffer.pdf https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://www.kshs.org/publicat/heritage/2005spring_shaffer.pdf 2022-10-10 live 14 September 2016 The Udall tornado sparked changes in the issuance of tornado warnings and technology.Nyman Jeremiah March 3, 2015 History Lessons: The devastating 1955 Udall tornado https://www.ksn.com/news/history-lessons-the-devastating-1955-udall-tornado/ March 10, 2025 Comparisons have been drawn with the Greensburg tornado, with improved technology and information relaying being credited with the relatively low death toll in Greensburg. See also List of F5, EF5, and IF5 tornadoes Notes note References March 2025 1955-05-25 Category:1955 in Kansas 05-25 Category:Cowley County, Kansas 1955-05-25 Category:1955 natural disasters in the United States