Palm Sunday 1965 - The Forgotten Super Outbreak

April 11th, 1965.
Its a beautiful sunny afternoon across northern Indiana and residents all across the state are beginning to venture outdoors to enjoy the pleasant spring weather after a long and brutal winter. None of them could have imagined that in just a few short hours they would be at the center of one of the worst tornado outbreaks in American history.

On April 11th, 1965, a catastrophic tornado outbreak would devastate the midwestern states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, producing over 50 tornadoes and claiming the lives of 266 people, causing apocalyptic levels of destruction matched only by the 1925 Tri-state tornado and the 1974 and 2011 Super Outbreaks. In this video we will discuss the fascinating meteorology that caused this devastating and often overlooked tornado outbreak, the people it impacted, and the scientific breakthroughs that happened in its aftermath. This is the true story of the 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes: The Forgotten Super Outbreak.

F Scale explanations:
F0 Light Damage (40-72mph)
F1 Moderate Damage (73-112mph)
F2 Significant Damage (113-157mph)
F3 Severe Damage (158-206mph)
F4 Devastating Damage (207-260mph)
F5 Incredible Damage (261-318mph)

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Sources:

All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

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[SandyMacGowan]

My late father worked as a darkroom tech for the Elkhart Truth back in those days. He was the one who developed and printed those photos of the Midway twin funnels photographed by photographer Paul Hoffman. In all likelihood, dad was the first to lay eyes on those images. I’ve always been very proud of his role in history.

[haworthlowell]

I rode that storm out in Alto, Indiana. Will never forget the sound, the smell, the devistation of that evening. We had one of the few standing houses and several gathered there to await help and what was to happen next.
Tornados are amazing in some of the things they do; in our back yard we found a washer & dryer setting side by side, like you could start laundry like any other day. There was a fishing boat, still had the motor on the back and very little damage, the most amazing thing was there a rod & takle box setting in it like it had never moved. They found the owner; it had traveled almost 30 miles.
When we finally, very late that night, left to go to a safe place my dad's car was almost out of gas, he found a tanker truck and asked the guy if he could buy some gas. The guy told him the gas was for emergancy personel and not rubberneckers. My dad showed him the two broke windows in the car and told him where we were coming from. We got a full tank of gas and told he hoped everything worked out for us.
Took us six months to rebuild, I stayed the summer at my grandparents farm in eastern Indiana, watched another tornado miss the farm by half a mile. Wasn't one of my favorite years.

[Artfanbookfan]

That "twins" photo is one of the most famous images in storm history.

[susannaseay]

I was in first year of nursing school in South Bend. They had us go to the basement of the hospital and wait there, they told us we might be needed in the ER if they got swamped. We were petrified since we didn't know anything yet. Once the alerts were over we went back to our dorm and tried to call our parents. I phone booth per floor so we had to wait in line. I called my parents who lived about halfway between Tipton and Kokomo. The got huge hail but not damage. My father died the following Wednesday, it was the last time i got to talk to him so that day is etched in my memory.

[Whitikow-cylh]

My mom was 10 years old at the time of this. Living in Northern Indiana her whole life, She has never forgotten it.

[dennim]

I live in Northeast Indiana. I will never forget that night. I stood in the front yard with my dad and neighbors. Our neighbor pointed up and said “Kids go in the house, those are tornadoes.” We were spared in our locality but later we drove to the area and I saw the damage they did north of us and in Michigan. I was eight years old and I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

[susanduncan]

As someone who went through this outbreak, it will never be forgotten. We lived in Russiaville, Howard County. We lost three souls . It still hurts to think about that day.

[DoyleBloss]

I remember this very well! I was drafted into the army and was ordered to report for duty the following Tuesday after the tornadoes ravaged our area near Middlebury. One guy that reported with me had lost his home and only had the clothes on his back when we had to report on Tuesday April 13 1965. I will never forget. I had relatives that were killed and several that were badly injured.

[weathermanofthenorth]

It's one of those outbreaks where you have iconic photos and videos taken. But then it does not receive much attention. This was very well made!

[briansmith]

I was in this event at 15 years old. We saw the double tornado. At the time experts believed a double tornado was impossible.
Thanks 🙂

[Jdwubleu]

Finally someone who mentions this outbreak! It was insane how tornadoes go forgotten so fast. Thank you for making this awesome video! I really enjoyed it!

[stevecagle]

I was a little boy of 4 and I have a few memories of that day. We lived Speedway Indiana on the Westside of Indianapolis. Dad was working that day on the engine test stands at Allison's.
I remember Mom listening to the AM radio, maybe the power was out. I remember her putting some things in the basement - probably flashlights and heavy blankets to cover ourselves with, and I clearly remembered her telling me, "If I tell you to go, you get to the basement corner and cover up... and SCOOT!"
That's all I remember from almost 60 years ago but it made an impression. Thank you for this detailed history and photos of that day. I think the weather was rough for us but the closest tornado was the one hitting Lebanon. If course when you're living through it, you don't know if you'll be next. Severe weather warning is so much better today - lessons learned and technologies advanced so much from these past tragedies.

[iamsteve]

This is, without a doubt, the best analysis of the Palm Sunday tornadoes that I have ever seen. Thank you for taking the time to produce such an informative documentary.

[mariannemccurdy]

Horrible Horrible time 😢....I was 7 and we had been in Anderson, Indiana at my Aunt and Uncle's for a family dinner after church. We left and was headed back to our church in Swayzee for the evening service. As we sat listening to the pastor, Mr. Breedlove, the neighbors across the street from the church, burst through the door and said, "Everyone get to the basement!! A tornado just hit Greentown and is on its way here!!!" We went down into the church basement and waited. I was crying, scared out of my mind. After a while, we went back up to the auditorium and said our goodbyes and went home. My dad's best friend's daughter and her family came home with us. They had recently moved into a subdivision just outside the city limits of Greentown and they still came to church in Swayzee, about 15 miles away from where they moved to. Bob worked at Chrysler, the plant in Kokomo. My dad worked for the county department in Marion Indiana. He was part of the road crew. He knew he would be called out to help in the 'clean up'. Before he did that, he took Bob over to his house in the new subdivision outside of Greentown. Tina, his wife, would stay at our house with the baby Michelle, until he returned. When he came back, he had a wallet sized picture of Michelle that had been tucked into the corner of the bedroom dresser. He handed it to Tina and said, "This is all that's left of our home." She collapsed into his arms and then I realized how bad the storm had been. The next few days were pretty intense. Daddy was out helping clear debris and aiding in the search for people who were missing since the storm. He had a hard time getting over some of the things he had seen. Some were people we knew. It was devastating for many.

[Lumintly]

Getting double tapped by tornadoes is crazy

[donnaralph]

I was 12 years old when the tornado hit Comstock park, Michigan! My Dad was sleeping due to shift he worked, the sky turned a yellow greenish color, my mom went upstairs woke my Dad up, and he looked at sky and said. Get your asses in basement now! We had National Guard around and the damage was great! We however had no damage, our neighbors garage however was in our backyard

[carolhanson]

This was my birthday in '65 and a few of us kids decided to go to Michigan because the bars were open on sunday. Later, as we headed back to Indiana, one of the guys remembered that he had left his class ring in a restroom in Michigan, so we went back to get it. This is what saved us from being caught in the twin tornadoes. It was the grace of God ❤

[musicful]

I remember how this affected Paul, a boy in my first grade class in Toledo, OH. His mother died in a tornado spawned by this terrible storm. Sometime after this storm passed by, another thunderstorm began in the area. We were quietly reading when thunder sounded. Paul began to whimper and cry when he heard it. I will never forget hearing the teacher say, “It’s alright Paul!” It was alright, and I’ve thought about Paul many times over the years and prayed that God would help him resolve his pain and fears.🙏🏼

[wxwatcher]

It was never forgotten by the many who experienced this violent outbreak first-hand and survived to tell their stories. My mother is one of them and she has vivid memories of the southern Michigan portion mentioned in this video, where multiple tornadoes hit the same places within a very short period of time. She has described in detail the horrific scene countless times during the many decades since. Thank you for sharing this brief summary of the highlights.

[nancyaustin]

Yep. My sisters and I were home by ourselves that afternoon/evening, as our parents had gone 20 miles away to visit relatives. We didn’t know enough to go to the basement, but luckily the 2 tornadoes that struck Manitou Beach passed about 1/2 to 1 mile away from us. Will never forget that night and seeing all the damage a few days later—I had scary dreams about tornadoes for many years afterward.