Early-May 1965 tornado outbreak sequence

Early-May 1965 tornado outbreak sequence

Tornado tracks through Minneapolis–Saint Paul on May 6
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	May 5–8, 1965
Tornadoes confirmed	72
Max rating1	F5 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	3 days, 7 hours, 2 minutes
Damage	Estimated $51 Million
Casualties	13 fatalities, 770 injuries
Areas affected	Great Plains and Midwestern United States
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

¹Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The early-May 1965 tornado outbreak sequence was a major severe weather event that affected much of the Central United States on May 5–8, 1965. For four consecutive days, tornado outbreaks produced at least three significant (F2+) tornadoes each day, and at least two violent (F4–F5) tornadoes on three of the four days. The entire sequence generated 37 significant tornadoes, including at least nine violent tornadoes, one of which was rated F5. On May 5, two F4s struck Iowa, including a long-tracked tornado family that injured 11 people. On May 6, an outbreak of six strong tornadoes, four of them violent F4s, affected Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and has been nicknamed "The Longest Night", killing 13 people and causing major damages—at the time the most damaging single weather event in Minnesota history. Three of the six tornadoes occurred on the ground simultaneously, and two of them hit the section of Minnesota State Highway 100 (now Interstate 694) and University Avenue in the city of Fridley. Both Fridley tornadoes damaged 1,100 homes and destroyed about 425; total losses reached $14.5 million, $5 million of which was to the Fridley school system.

On May 7, three significant tornadoes hit portions of the Upper Midwest, and beginning early on May 8, a major tornado outbreak affected the Great Plains states, particularly in Nebraska and South Dakota. The outbreak on May 8 produced numerous significant, long-lived tornadoes, including at least three violent tornadoes, two of which were actually long-tracked tornado families. A very large F5 tornado struck Tripp County in South Dakota, and two major F4s tracked across parts of Greeley and Antelope Counties in Nebraska. One of the F4s struck the small village of Primrose, almost totally destroying the settlement, causing possible F5 damage, and killing four people. Additionally, a high-end F3 obliterated a farm in Gregory County, South Dakota, and may have been an F4 as well. Many of the individual tornadoes on May 8 moved north and northwest, an unusual trajectory for supercells in this part of the Great Plains. Many of the long-tracked tornadoes on this date, rather than single tornadoes, were probably tornado families like the two long-lived F4s.