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So destructive was the tornado of March 23, 1914 [sic 1913], it received the special attention and investigations of the United States weather bureau and through the courtesy of Dr. George M. Chappell, director of the Iowa weather and crop service, and of postmaster Reynolds, local observer, the author is enabled to give, in this article, the results of such investigations by the bureau, including local data.

At Harlan the barometer in charge of postmaster C. A. Reynolds on March 22, 1913, the day before the storm, read 30.48 inches and on March 23, in the evening immediately preceding the storm, it read 29.20. A reading of 30 inches is normal. This fall in the barometer was, therefore, unusual and signified a dangerous condition of the atmosphere. During the same period there were likewise remarkable conditions of temperature. At Harlan the government thermometer on March 22, 1913, indicated seven degrees above zero and on March 23, 1913, at seven P. M. the thermometer had risen to seventy degrees above zero, which was an extraordinary rise, particularly for March.

The tornado that passed through the city of Omaha, on the evening of Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, was undoubtedly the most destructive to life and property that ever occurred in the Missouri valley and probably one of the most destructive in the history of the country. The storm, attended by a pendant, funnel-shaped cloud, first struck the city at its extreme southwest limit, Fifty-fourth and Frances streets, and the storm track extended from that point northeast across the western and northern portions of the city to Cut Off lake, which is located near the Missouri river and in the extreme northeast portion of the city. The length of the tornado path, between the points named being about five miles, and its width, in the line of destruction across the city, varied from about one-fifth to one-fourth of a mile. The length of time consumed in the passage of the tornado across the city can not be exactly ascertained, but it is believed to be about thirteen minutes. The funnel cloud passed Fortieth and Farnum streets at 5:49 P. M. and Twenty-fourth and Lake streets at 5:55 P. M., having traveled slightly more than two miles during that interval. The distribution of the wreckage and debris leaves unmistakable evidence of rotary winds, and the presence of a whirl in the cloud at the points in the path where the greatest violence was shown and the greatest destruction occurred; this was particularly the case at the Sacred Heart Convent, at Thirty-sixth and Burt streets, in Bemis Park, and at Twenty-fourth and Lake streets. At other points along the path, in the more open places, the wreckage and debris lay in a general direction coincident with the path, that is, from the southwest to the northeast. A terrific grinding, roaring noise that was distinctly heard several blocks distant from the path accompanied the storm.

The total number of persons killed in Omaha was ninety-four; this includes those instantly killed, and those whose deaths resulted from injuries received. The number of persons seriously and slightly injured will run into the hundreds. The greatest number of persons killed in any locality was in the vicinity of Twenty-fourth and Lake streets; that section being the most thickly populated, and the houses there being of poorer construction, were generally completely demolished. The number of animals killed was thirty-three horses, four cows and five mules. The number of houses completely demolished was six hundred, and one thousand one hundred and twenty-nine were partially destroyed or badly damaged. The estimated property loss, including homes, furniture, personal property, wiring, poles, street cars, trees, fences, etc., is about three and one-half million dollars.

The following meteorological conditions were noted in connection with the passage of the storm, it being borne in mind that this station for which the data are given is southeast of and about one and one-fourth miles distant from the nearest point within the path of the tornado. The barometer which had begun to fall on the 22d, continued to fall steadily during the day up to the moment of the passage of the storm, at which time the lowest pressure was recorded, then the pressure began to increase rapidly with marked fluctuations in its movement upward. At 7 A. M. the pressure was 28.51 inches; at noon, 28.36; at 4 P. M. 28.17. The lowest pressure, 27.93, was recorded as the tornado passed, and at 7 P. M. it had increased to 28.12. At 7 A. M. the temperature was 40 degrees, and continued rising until 4 P. M.. when the minimum for the day, 68 degrees, occurred. The sky was overcast from the early morning with cumulo-stratus clouds, until the middle of the afternoon when for an hour or so, it was only partly obscured. About 4:30 P. M. the sky again became overcast, and grew more and more threatening and ominous in appearance until the terrible storm, approaching from the southwest, burst upon the city. At 5:10 P. M. distant thunder was heard, and rain began to fall which continued until 7:35 P. M., falling heavily at intervals, small hail mingling with the rain from 5:40 P. M. to 5:50 P. M. The prevailing wind for several hours preceding the storm was from the south, but for a period of fifteen minutes before the storm struck it became very changeable, with increasing velocity, and blew from all directions, but the general direction maintained during the passage of the tornado was from the southwest. The extreme velocity of the wind recorded at the station during the storm was thirty-four miles an hour, occurring at 6:17 P. M.

As a further description of the meteorological elements accompanying the tornado, there are included herein the notes of the observations made by Prof. A. E. Schmitt, a member of the faculty of Creighton University, who kindly furnished them, and as the university from which his observations were made is located at Twenty-fifth and California streets, or within eight blocks of the tornado path, it is thought that his observations would add to the value of this report. Professor Schmitt says:

"My attention was first called to the gathering of a storm at 4:30 P. M. when the cirrus sheet, which was spreading across the sky, were covered by the cirrus, and a few scattered fractocumuli were scudding at a moderate altitude from southwest to northeast. At about 5:10 a light rumble of thunder. There were, however, as far as I saw, no passages of lightning between clouds and earth at any time before the tornado passed. At approximately 5:30 the clouds had lifted from the horizon everywhere, except for a very short stretch in the southwest. This last fact, the peculiar color of the clouds--a muddy buff--and the time of day led me to suspect somewhat the approach of a tornado, but as the wind had shown no signs of veering, as I thought it should, and the season was so early for a storm of this character. I abandoned the idea and returned to my desk. A quarter of an hour or so later the pronounced strengthening of the wind, and pelting of light hail at my windows, and the flickering of the electric light brought me out once more. And there was the funnel-shaped cloud coming down the hill southwest of us at about Fortieth street. I looked at my watch--it was just 5:49. In front the funnel was sharply defined even to the very ground and its circulation, counter-clockwise, upward and extremely violent, was easily discernible. On either side, however, and in the rear, rolling clouds of dust and vapor hid the outlines of the funnel.

"I timed the forward progress of the funnel cloud after it had passed California street and found it to be approximately four hundred feet per sixteen seconds. It was just 5:49 when I first saw the cloud at about Fortieth and Farnum and it was 5:55 when it crossed Twenty-fourth street. It moved on much more deliberately than I had expected, the lower extremity dragging considerably behind the rest of the cloud. It was rather dark immediately in front of the funnel, hut surprisingly light outside the path. The clouds above us hung very low and rushed by at great speed, but showed no gyratory motion. Immediately behind the storm the sky was clear up to the cirrus sheet. Above the funnel the cumulonimbus was banked mountain high, much higher than I have ever seen it after the passage of a severe thunderstorm. Before long streamers of mist hung down almost to the ground. At the same time the clouds over Council Bluffs had a similar appearance."

During the evening of Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, several tornadoes moved from Nebraska across the Missouri river into Iowa. In a preliminary report on the general weather conditions that prevailed in Nebraska during the month of March, the section director, United States weather bureau, Lincoln, Nebraska, says:

"There was a rather rapid procession of warm and cool periods, due to the movement of energetic cyclones eastward, with the center near this section. On the 23d one of these was central over southeastern Nebraska in the late afternoon, and between 5 and 6 P. M. Several distinct tornadoes formed and moved northeastward across the eastern part of the state."

The storm that devastated such a large part of the city of Omaha, a report of which is given in the preceding article, crossed the Missouri river just north of Council Bluffs, moving northeastward through Pottawattamie county, and over southeastern Harrison, Shelby, Carroll, Greene, southern Webster, Hamilton, northwestern Hardin, Franklin, Bremer, Fayette, southeastern Winnebago, northeastern Clayton and Allamakee. Another storm, which originated near Bellevue, Nebraska, crossed the river near Lake Manawa, just south of Council Bluffs, and moved northeastward up Mosquito creek, and west of Harlan, Shelby county. The storm that passed through Berlin, Nebraska, and Mills county, Iowa, crossed the river south of Pacific Junction and moved northeastward over Mills and Pottawattamie counties, and east of Harlan, Shelby county. A fourth storm, or the Yutan, Nebraska, tornado, crossed the river near DeSoto on the Nebraska side into Harrison county, Iowa, near California Junction, thence northeastward across the county. Another tornado is reported from Burt county, Nebraska, which may have crossed the river north of Tekamah, Nebraska, into Monona county, Iowa, but if so it was too high to have caused much, if any damage. While all of these storms were undoubtedly typical tornadoes in Nebraska, most of the manifestations on this side of the river indicated, over the larger part of these courses, straight line squalls. The storms that passed north of Council Bluffs, over Lake Manawa and through Mills county, did, however, show tornadic characteristics through a part of their course, but it is believed that after passing through Shelby county the funnel clouds did not reach the earth, although the tornado roar was heard up in the clouds all along the storm track to the northeastern part of the state. Not only was the roar heard along the main course of the storms, but it attended many local storms in various parts of the state, indicating a violent disturbance above the earth. The several storms crossed the river within a few moments of each other. The Omaha storm struck the Iowa side about 6 P. M. and the Lake Manawa and Mills county storms about 6:15 P. M., and the disturbance passed off over the Mississippi river about midnight. During those hours, severe, and in many places destructive, wind squalls occurred in all parts of the state except the northwestern counties, as shown on the accompanying chart, the original of which was furnished by the secretary of a local tornado insurance company. As said before, the storms in Mills, Pottawattamie, Shelby and eastern Harrison counties were undoubtedly of a true tornadic character, and in those counties the damage done was great. In Pottawattamie county there were seventeen people killed at Council Bluffs, two at Weston, two at Gilliat, and three at Neola. In Mills county there were five killed near Glenwood, and in Harrison county there were two killed at Logan and two at Beebetown, making a total of thirty-three killed, and there were more than one hundred injured. The property loss in the state is estimated to be more than one million dollars.

The morning weather map of March 23d showed a well defined area of low barometric pressure over Colorado, moving east or a little north of east. The center of this disturbance crossed the Missouri river, north of Omaha a few minutes after the passage of the tornado. Over Iowa the atmospheric pressure decreased all day, or until after the passage of the storm center, which crossed the Missouri river about 6 P. M. and the Mississippi river about midnight The temperature was moderately low during the forenoon but rising slowly until about 4 P. M. when it began rising rapidly, attaining a maximum at Des Moines of sixty-six degrees at 8:30 P. M. Rapid changes in cloudiness were observed from 4:30 P. M. to 8 P. M., accompanied by increasing wind velocity, falling barometer and rapidly rising temperature. Just preceding the passage eastward of the storm center, severe thunderstorms occurred.

Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, November, 2019 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 67-72.

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