Blown Away Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 6/3/2007
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Cache was placed June 3rd 2007 on the 27th anniversay of the 1980 tornados. Cache is located across the street from the site of the former Meves Bowl. Below are photos take of Meves Bowl after the storm.




Note undisturbed bowling balls on rack at right of photo.

On June 3, 1980, a massive super-cell thunderstorm complex developed just north of Grand Island, Nebraska during the early evening and moved slowly south-southeast at around 8 mph through the city. The outbreak provided the basis for a book and television movie, as well as tornado and engineering research. The storm complex produced 7 tornadoes in and around Grand Island over a period of less than 3 hours. There was one tornado of F4 intensity and 3 others that were rated F3. Five people were killed, about 200 injured, 475 living units and 49 businesses were destroyed with a total damage of nearly 300 million dollars. Also of note, three of the tornadoes rotated anti-cyclonically or clockwise, a rare occurrence in the northern hemisphere, where over 99 percent of tornadoes rotate cyclonically or counter-clockwise. At approximately 8:45 p.m., the first of seven deadly tornadoes set down 11 miles northwest of Grand Island, 3 miles north of Prairie Creek. The 700-yard wide F3 tornado tracked south for 7 miles to 4 miles northwest of downtown Grand Island. While the straight line path was 7 miles, the twisting and erratic movement covered over twice that distance,14.5 miles, over the course of the 49 minutes it was on the ground. Along this path, farm homes were torn apart, a woman was killed while trying to drive to a relative's house, and 25 people were injured.At 9:00 p.m., a second short-lived tornado set down north of Highway 2 near the intersection of Webb and Airport Road, just east of the first tornado. This short-lived anti-cyclonic tornado, the first of three that evening, moved northeast lifting back into the clouds at around 9:12 p.m. The third tornado of the evening, the second anti-cyclonically rotating tornado, touched down between Webb Road and Highway 281 just north of Airport Road at 9:05 p.m. This F3-rated, 500-yard wide tornado briefly tracked north, then reversed course to the south, then southeast across northern Grand Island, leaving a 3.5 mile long path of destruction. Most of damage done by this tornado was rated F0, with some F3 damage in the vicinity of the Veteran's home along Capitol Avenue. While there were no fatalities, 40 people were injured by this tornado before it lifted over the center of town around 9:30 p.m. Tornado number 4, the third anti-cyclonic tornado of the evening, set down near Highway 34 and Shady Bend Road at 9:46 p.m. This tornado tracked southwest to just northeast of the intersection of Stuhr and Shimmer Roads, then turned north on the west side of Stuhr Road before lifting near Highway 34 at 9:50 p.m. At 10:16 p.m., the deadliest and most powerful tornado of the evening touched down on the east side of Grand Island, in the Eagles Lake and Crystal Lake areas. This 1000-yard wide F4 tornado swept west, just north of Bismark Road, crossed Shady Bend and Stuhr Roads, before turning southwest across Bismark Road north of the Fonner Park area. The tornado continued to move southwest through residential areas until it reached the South Locust Street business district at Locust and Fonner Park Road. From this point, the tornado moved due south along South Locust until it turned southeast a few blocks north of the intersection of South Locust and Highway 34. The tornado then crossed Highway 34 and tracked another half mile southeast before ending at 10:28 p.m. During the few minutes the tornado tracked along Locust Street, the damage was most devastating, and homes and businesses were "obliterated." The 6-mile long tornado track that took 12 minutes to cover, and resulted in four fatalities, one in a trailer home, one in a frame home, one in a lounge and the last under a collapsed awning near a motel. In addition, 110 others were injured along the storms violent track. The 6th tornado, rated F2, spun up east of Shady Bend Road just north of Highway 34 at 10:25 pm. This tornado moved southwest to near Stuhr Road south of Highway 34, then turned southeast traveling south of Shimmer Road to about 1 mile southwest of the Hall-Hamilton County bridge. This 600 yard wide tornado tracked 6 miles over rural areas injuring another 18 people before ending at 10:35 pm. As the thunderstorm complex moved south toward Interstate 80 during the late evening, it made a left turn to the east, usually indicating the end of severe weather. Not so in this case. About the time the storm turned in direction, the 7th and last tornado touched down at 10:45 p.m. southeast of the Hall-Hamilton County bridge. The tornado swept east and northeast over open farmland for 13.4 miles before ending at 11:30 p.m.

Information obtained from the NOAA National Weather Service web site.

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Nebraskache Member

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vs fghzcrq unir n frng naq guvax nobhg vg.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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