The May 31st, 1985 Tornado Outbreak
On May 31st, 1985, a tornado outbreak took place across the great lakes region, with tornadoes touching down in both Canada (southern Ontario) and the United States (eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York). This outbreak would be one of the most violent in this area, and one with the biggest legacy.
The Environment
The forecast for this one was an interesting one. On the day of, the forcast called for a Moderate risk for the area, but later downgraded to a slight risk (back then, there was only a Slight, Moderate, and High risk categories), due to a lack of confidence. Ironically, this downgrade happened right as storms were maturing in southern Ontario. Why did we see this downgrade? Well the forecasters saw the potential for severe weather, lots of cape was available, and there was plenty of shear/spin in the atmosphere in the upper levels of the air. so the potential was there, but the issue they had was if storms would even fire? And for a while, they weren't. There was a capping force (dry air just above a layer of warm, moist air) only a few thousand feet above the surface, which was stopping storms from firing. Now this layer would erode, but forecasters were unsure if this layer would erode in time for storms to mature and produce monsters.
A brief Synopsis
A brief Description
The Tornadoes
The Damages
The Legacy
Other Information