1993 Salt Lake City, Utah Tornado

**1993 Salt Lake City, Utah Tornado**

The ***1993 Salt Lake City, Utah Tornado*** was an extraordinarily powerful, costly, and extremely violent F5 tornado that destroyed parts of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah In the overnight hours of August 16 and 17 of 1993. The tornado killed 3,279 people, injured over 547,000 others and caused $5 billion (1994 USD) in damages.

## Meteorological Synopsis

The tornado was a part of a larger storm system that formed over the Quad-state Area (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico). The system produced Heavy rainfall, causing substantial flooding, and produced damaging wind. Utah had been reporting weak tornadoes since the 15th, but all of them were F0 or F1. On August 16, The NWS noted Temperatures in the mid 80s and Dew points in the 70's. Instability and Shear were expected to be favorable for violent tornadoes, especially during the nighttime hours. As the day progressed, conditions got more and more favorable for a large, widespread, significant tornado outbreak, and at 6:00 PM MST, PDS Tornado Watch #265 was issued for a large portion of Northern Utah, Including Salt Lake County. Discrete supercells started to form in Northern Utah around 7:00 PM, many of which spawned tornadoes, but many were small, short lived, weak tornadoes which only produced minor damage.

## Tornado development and track

At around 11:10 PM, a lone supercell was noted going eastbound toward Salt Lake City. The cell produced heavy rainfall, which caused flooding to the already saturated ground. Doppler Radar found strong rotation in the storm. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 11:30 PM for all of Salt Lake county as the cell continued to pick up steam as it moved East. At 11:45, a strong hook echo was noted on NWS Doppler radar, indicative of very strong rotation in the supercell. In addition, Several reports of a funnel like cloud flooded the National Weather Service office. At 11:53 PM, a team of storm chasers reported a tornado on the ground near Copperton, tracking NNE at 28 MPH. Although thin, the tornado was powerful, destroying an outbuilding and killing 3 people in a trailer home. The tornado rapidly intensified to F4 strength, destroying homes and turning cars into airborne missiles. The tornado then hit South Lake Regional Airport, Lifting up small planes and tossing them about. The tornado continued NNE, heading directly towards Downtown Salt Lake City. A Mobile doppler reported winds of 300 MPH from the storm, and also reported extreme structural damage to buildings, often ripping well built homes off their foundation and leaving little to no debris where the house once stood. The tornado then directly hit a High School, almost completely destroying it. In a twist of luck, classes were expected to begin the next day. The tornado then crossed I-215, ripping up asphalt from the road and tossing street signs miles from where they were. The tornado then hit a Convenience store, where

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20 people were riding out the storm. All 20 people in the store died when the tornado ripped the store off its foundation. the tornado then tracked into Salt lake city, completely destroying homes. At this time, a Mobile doppler recorded wind speeds of an incredible 354 MPH. Foundations on which homes once stood were found to have been dislodged and swept away, making it the absolute strongest tornado ever. The tornado directly hit Downtown as a 2 mile wide monster, bigger than the entire downtown. The tornado damaged all of downtown and completely destroyed around 95%. Skyscrapers were picked up and tossed. Trees became airborne missiles, killing anyone in their path. 3,100 people are estimated to have died in downtown, making this tornado the deadliest on record. As the tornado left downtown, it considerably weakened, with F3 Damage reported in a neighborhood. The tornado then dissipated over Grandview Peak at 12:42 AM.

## Aftermath

On August 18, then president Bill "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" Clinton visited the decimated remains of Salt lake city, and noted that the devastation was, In most

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Cases, Total and complete.

The tornado killed 3,279, injured over 547,000, and cost over $5 Billion dollars in damages.