Seconds From Disaster 03-17 Tornado Outbreak

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Transcript

00:001974. America is hit by the most destructive tornado outbreak in recorded history.

00:10148 tornadoes rip through 13 states, leaving millions of dollars of damage.

00:18But weather forecasters are unable to predict where or when the twisters will strike.

00:24As a result, five and a half thousand people are injured, 330 are dead.

00:30The nation reels in shock.

00:32I've never seen anything like it and I don't want to again.

00:36A team of meteorologists investigate the aftermath in a bid to provide forecasters with new tools to save lives in the future.

00:47Disasters don't just happen, they're a chain of critical events.

00:51Unravel the clues and count down those final seconds from disaster.

01:11This girl has narrowly escaped being killed by a tornado.

01:15Now, trapped in a sinking camper van, she must cheat death again.

01:30North America. Missouri. Kansas City. April 3rd, 1974.

01:39Meteorologists at the Storm Forecast Center are extremely concerned.

01:45Their radar screens suggest that America's heartland is about to be struck by a massive tornado outbreak.

01:52Twisters hit every country on the planet, but the United States is struck by more than any other, with a thousand each year.

02:01The majority of these are small and they affect an area of the Midwest between the Rockies and the Appalachians named Tornado Alley.

02:09Now the radar is showing worrying signs of a very powerful storm building.

02:15Dry winds have moved inland from the Pacific Ocean and are colliding with humid air driven north from the Gulf of Mexico.

02:23These are perfect conditions for thunderstorms.

02:27However, winds in the upper atmosphere limit thunderstorms from developing, creating unstable atmospheric conditions across a wide area.

02:39The meteorologists study their radar scope for the first signs of tornado activity.

02:46They've seen this kind of build-up before.

02:51On Palm Sunday 1965, 48 tornadoes left a trail of destruction 760 kilometers long in a single night.

03:01The violent storms lasted 12 hours, devastating towns across Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana.

03:08Here the death toll was the greatest. Entire families wiped out.

03:12In total, 1,500 people were injured. 271 died.

03:19The Palm Sunday tragedy exposed the Weather Service's inability to precisely predict where the tornadoes would strike.

03:27Their crude radar revealed where the storms would develop, but there was insufficient data to know which storms would be destructive and which would dissipate without harm.

03:39Nearly 10 years after the Palm Sunday outbreak, tornado prediction has barely improved.

03:46Meteorologists still find it difficult to anticipate where the most powerful twisters will strike.

03:53Now, forecasters face a tornado outbreak far worse than the Palm Sunday tragedy.

04:04One of thousands of cities in the Midwest is Xenia, Ohio.

04:1012.45 p.m.

04:14At Xenia High School, 17-year-old Julie Smith is eating lunch with her friends.

04:20They discuss rehearsals for the school play, unaware that bad weather is heading their way.

04:26Julie's lived in Xenia since she was 7 years old.

04:29It was great. There was one movie theater in town, that's where we all went on dates.

04:35There was one drive-in theater, you know, that the high school had dances.

04:40It was straight out of a postcard. I mean, it really was.

04:4924 kilometers from Xenia in Dayton, Ohio, 37-year-old Lucille Lehman is at work as an office administrator at an electronics company.

05:00She's distracted by thoughts of her daughter, Cecilia, who is recovering from a spinal operation.

05:07Cecilia passes the time at home by preparing the family meal.

05:12She always had lots of friends, always had friends, you know.

05:16She was very talented, she was in theater, and I thought she was going to be my little movie star someday.

05:28By 2 p.m., meteorologists at the Storm Forecast Center are increasingly alarmed by the developing weather.

05:36Menacing thunderstorms have appeared on radar, and they cover a massive area from central Illinois to Tennessee.

05:45Afraid of repeating the mistakes of the Palm Sunday outbreak, they issue tornado warnings to television and radio stations across the central U.S.

05:58They know these warnings often go ignored, but without specific information, it's the best they can do.

06:05The severe thunderstorm warning has been changed to a tornado warning.

06:113.20 p.m. Lucille Lehman drives from work to her home in the center of Xenia to care for her kids after school.

06:24As she flicks through the channels on her radio, Lucille catches a warning that tornadoes are expected in the area.

06:31She hurries home as quickly as possible.

06:38By 3.30 p.m., the bad weather is deteriorating.

06:42More than 20 twisters have been spotted moving across Tornado Alley, but so far, none of them have struck a city.

06:50Then, a massive twister appears on the outskirts of Xenia.

06:54Despite the warnings, thousands of people in the city are unaware of the impending disaster.

07:07A volunteer spotter sees it and immediately radios it in to the weather service.

07:13Yeah, we just had a tornado touchdown outside of town on Interstate 55. You copy that?

07:19At the Storm Forecast Center, this is the call they dread.

07:30Hold on, hold on. Touchdown in Xenia. That's heading straight for the center of town.

07:373.32 p.m. In Xenia, Ohio, a tornado has just touched down and heads straight for the center of town.

07:45A tornado has just touched down and heads straight for the center of the city.

07:51At the high school, 2,000 kids have finished lessons for the day.

07:56But Julie Smith and 11 other teenagers in the drama group rehearse the school play in the auditorium.

08:06At the same time, Julie's father Albert is driving to pick up his daughter after rehearsal.

08:15He's unaware a tornado is heading straight for the center of the city.

08:28At the high school, Julie's friend Ruth suddenly runs into the auditorium.

08:36Excited to see the twister, the teenagers run to the corridor.

08:41What is that?

08:43In my mind, I pictured the Wizard of Oz, you know.

08:46Oh, this little itty-bitty thing that we could go look at.

08:52But as the tornado approaches the school, they realize just how massive it really is.

08:58I remember thinking I was surprised there was no funnel.

09:02You know, no little itty-bitty thing.

09:10The children are frozen with fear.

09:14I think we were all shocked at what we saw.

09:18This huge thing that we couldn't even see the ends of it coming right at us.

09:25Oh, my God.

09:37It sounded like something evil.

09:45And I remember thinking, I can't believe I'm going to die this way.

09:49I'm going to die in a tornado.

09:533.45 p.m. The Xenia tornado continues its trail of destruction.

10:01The home of Lucille Lehman and her four children now lies directly in its path.

10:07Following government advice, Lucille opens the windows, hoping it will save the house from destruction.

10:14As the family looks in awe at the approaching twister, the powerful wind suddenly hits.

10:234.00 p.m. The tornado passes through the city and heads northeast into the countryside.

10:32In its wake, Xenia has been turned to matchwood.

10:38The tornado is now in the middle of the city.

10:42Lucille and her two children are trapped inside the house.

10:46In its wake, Xenia has been turned to matchwood.

10:52Hundreds of people now lie injured.

10:57In Xenia High School, the 12 teenagers who only moments ago were rehearsing the school play

11:03are now in shock, covered in cuts from flying debris.

11:08One of them is Julie Smith.

11:11I remember thinking how lucky I was to be alive.

11:15And I wondered how many people had died.

11:19Across Xenia, 33 people are dead.

11:24Many others lie trapped under collapsed buildings.

11:29The house of Lucille Lehman and her four children has taken a direct hit and been totally destroyed.

11:3614-year-old Joe was thrown clear of the house, but is in shock.

11:41His mother and three sisters lie trapped in the remains.

11:45Cecilia, recovering from spinal surgery, is pinned under the crushing weight of a water heater.

11:56Neighbors pull Joe's eldest sister, Stephanie, from the wreckage.

12:02Then they rescue his youngest sister, Denise.

12:07As Lucille frees herself, she's overwhelmed by what she sees.

12:12You know, everything around me was level.

12:18She tries to help her daughter, Cecilia, who's still trapped.

12:24I could move my hands, but my lower half of my body was pinned. My legs felt numb.

12:32Xenia's roads are impassable, and there is no sign of the emergency services.

12:39So neighbors are left to rescue Cecilia on their own.

12:48Julie's father, Albert, missed the tornado strike.

12:53As he enters Xenia, he sees that the city has been destroyed.

12:58Somewhere in this debris is his daughter, but he has no idea if she is alive or dead.

13:19At the Lehman house, the neighbors finally release Cecilia from the rubble.

13:23Once I could feel the weight of things being removed, I knew I was going to be okay.

13:33I just remember lying there, being grateful that I'm alive, being thankful to the people that dug me out.

13:544.47 p.m.

13:57On the outskirts of Monticello, Indiana, another monster tornado begins to form.

14:05As the twister rips through farmland, five girls sleep as Donald Richards drives his camper van home.

14:13The group have spent a week touring historical sites and are exhausted.

14:18Karen Stott remembers the trip well.

14:21We had gone to soak up church history and that was the last day of our trip.

14:26We'd been there a couple of days and it was time to come home.

14:305.05 p.m.

14:33The enormous tornado cuts its way through the Indiana countryside, building in power.

14:42Inside the camper van, Donald Richards and the five girls have no idea that the twister is just behind them.

14:49As it gains on the van, the tornado builds in strength and speed.

14:56As they begin to cross the Tippecanoe River, the twister finally catches them.

15:02It picks up the van and tosses it over 15 meters into the river below.

15:08When it hits the water, the vehicle starts sinking fast.

15:13When the bus went down, I saw two people, my teacher and my friend.

15:18I never saw anybody else. I don't know where they were.

15:22Karen's friends are seriously injured.

15:25They were unable to get away.

15:28They were not able to fight for themselves.

15:35As the van sinks deeper into the river, Karen manages to get out of it.

15:40Struggling against the ferocious winds, she somehow summons the strength to swim to shore.

15:48I had to fight very hard to survive, and my drive to survive was extremely strong.

15:55And I just began swimming as hard as I could.

15:59I truly saw my life go right before my eyes, but I somehow, by the grace of God, did not die.

16:07As the tornado moves across open country, Karen finally reaches the riverbank.

16:13She's exhausted, but alive.

16:17Her friends are less lucky. The bus sinks beneath the water.

16:22It's the only way to get to shore.

16:25It's the only way to get to shore.

16:28It's the only way to get to shore.

16:31Her friends are less lucky. The bus sinks beneath the water.

16:44In Xenia, Albert finally reaches his daughter's high school to discover it's been totally destroyed.

16:55He's told there were no survivors.

17:01Albert is grief-stricken.

17:06He drives aimlessly through the devastated city.

17:14He finds it hard to believe that his daughter is dead.

17:31Suddenly, he sees a figure.

17:38It's Julie. She's alive.

17:51Are you okay?

17:55I'll never forget the look on his face.

17:58I'll never forget the look on his face.

18:01I'll never forget him crying, and I'll never forget...

18:10him giving me the hug.

18:18The violent storms continue until 5 a.m. the following morning.

18:22In total, 148 tornadoes rip through Tornado Alley.

18:27Six of them are thought to be F5s, the most powerful twisters known to man.

18:36As day breaks on April 4th, the scale of the devastation is shocking.

18:41Just as the meteorologists had feared, this outbreak is far worse than the Palm Sunday tragedy of ten years earlier.

18:49Damage to property is estimated to be over $600 million, $2.3 billion in today's money.

18:59Five and a half thousand people have been injured.

19:03Three hundred and thirty are dead.

19:10President Nixon visits Xenia in an effort to offer support to the shattered community.

19:16He goes to the wrecked school where Julie Smith and the drama group were so lucky to survive.

19:24As communities across America reel in shock, the Army and Air Force are called in to help clean up the thousands of smashed homes.

19:34Once again, the Weather Service's inability to accurately predict tornado strikes has resulted in tragedy.

19:46Now, by going deep into a scientific investigation, we can reveal how the tragic events of the 1974 outbreak changed tornado forecasting forever.

20:02A day after the tornado outbreak, Dr. Ted Fujita from the University of Chicago races to work.

20:10The storm that caused so much suffering could provide him with a unique opportunity.

20:18Fujita is convinced that an investigation into the outbreak could save lives in the future.

20:24At the university, Fujita rushes his students and staff into a meeting.

20:30He tells the team his radical plan.

20:33If his hunch is right, they might learn more about tornadoes in the next few days than meteorology has learned in decades.

20:42In the group is Fujita's father, Dr. Ted Fujita.

20:45If his hunch is right, they might learn more about tornadoes in the next few days than meteorology has learned in decades.

20:53In the group is Fujita's prodigy, Greg Forbes.

20:57Even at that time, Dr. Fujita had the reputation of being Mr. Tornado.

21:01If there was any one person that you looked to for studying tornadoes, Dr. Fujita was it.

21:11Fujita explains his plan to the team.

21:15Looking over the paths of the tornadoes, he hopes to photograph patterns of debris left on the ground,

21:21and build up a complete picture of the twister's strength and behavior.

21:26By matching this data to radar images taken during the outbreak,

21:30Fujita hopes to discover clues that will help meteorologists predict where and when tornadoes will strike in the future.

21:39His earlier research has taught him that in Tornado Alley,

21:43twisters are normally caused when humid winds from the Gulf of Mexico move north and collide with colder, drier winds from the west.

21:52As the warm wind rises, it converges with these colder winds, causing horizontal rotation.

21:59Heat from the ground, produced by the sun, makes the warm air rise even further.

22:05Finally, it pushes itself up through the colder layer, creating a funnel that spins upward as a tornado.

22:14These violent funnels can cause devastating damage, striking any American state.

22:20But they predominantly hit Tornado Alley in the spring and summer.

22:26In 1974, meteorologists monitor Tornado Alley with radar.

22:32The images generated by this radar help them recognize early signs of storms which are likely to generate twisters.

22:40But the scans are too crude to reliably predict the exact locations where the most dangerous tornadoes will form.

22:48Gathering data in real time on the ground is also difficult.

22:52Tornadoes are unpredictable, appearing and disappearing in minutes.

22:56Even if it was possible to get monitoring equipment into them, it would almost certainly be destroyed.

23:02Tornadoes are the big mystery phenomena.

23:05Nobody flies an airplane into a tornado and lives to report their measurements, so a lot of unknown.

23:14If Fujita's plan works, they could help hundreds of people survive tornadoes in the future.

23:21But with a cleanup operation already underway, Fujita and his team must work fast.

23:27The question is, where do they start?

23:30We gathered up newspapers, we called National Weather Service offices and got reports.

23:37We put little dots on the map so we didn't have to just go randomly looking at every square mile of the whole state of Illinois and Indiana and Ohio and so forth.

23:48The following morning, the team divides into groups.

23:52Greg and a colleague rush to their hired plane.

23:55They only have a narrow window of opportunity before vital evidence left by the tornadoes disappears forever.

24:03We needed to get out there pretty quick before they started cleaning up the debris and sort of muddying over the clues that the tornadoes had left.

24:13Within 45 minutes, Greg Forbes is at the scene of the first tornado.

24:18The chaos beneath him is bewildering.

24:21But as patterns start to emerge from the debris, Forbes realizes that Fujita's plan might just work.

24:32Determined to find some good in the wake of this disaster,

24:35student Greg Forbes from the University of Chicago is flying over the paths left by the tornadoes to photograph the debris.

24:43Despite decades of tornado analysis, very little is known about these dangerous phenomena.

24:52Forbes is stunned by what he sees.

24:55Louisville, Kentucky and Xenia, Ohio have been laid bare by the tornadoes.

25:00By photographing this destruction, Forbes can determine the precise direction, power and speed of the tornadoes.

25:07He can then compare these pictures to radar images taken during the tornado outbreak.

25:13This could reveal which cloud formations are associated with the most destructive tornadoes

25:19and help meteorologists better predict where the most dangerous twisters will strike.

25:23Over two days, Forbes documents as much evidence as possible.

25:28He knows how important this survey could be.

25:31I knew that there was the potential that what I was studying there could help with future tornado episodes and perhaps save lives.

25:43When Forbes returns to the University of Chicago, he'll be able to see what's going on.

25:49When Forbes returns to the University of Chicago, he shows the team the photos from his aerial survey.

25:57Debris is scattered over large areas from the force of the tornado.

26:02But as Forbes examines the images in detail, he discovers a number of puzzling phenomena.

26:08It has long been reported that the destruction left by a tornado can sometimes leave houses completely untouched.

26:16This photo is dramatic evidence of this strange phenomenon.

26:21The prevailing theory is that some tornadoes miss buildings because they occasionally lift into the air.

26:28But Fujita isn't convinced by this idea.

26:31He asks the team to send a team to investigate.

26:34Fujita isn't convinced by this idea.

26:37He asks the team to study the photographs in greater detail and search for further explanation.

26:45Another bizarre anomaly is found in Monticello, Indiana.

26:50The Monticello tornado behaved normally for the first 21 kilometers.

26:56But then it did something extremely unusual.

26:59Just when it should have died out, it gained a new lease of life

27:05and traveled for a total of 195 kilometers, killing 19 people,

27:13including Karen Stott's friends who drowned in the Tippecanoe River.

27:21The aerial photographs present Forbes and Fujita with other questions they can't answer.

27:28Since the 1950s, the government has advised the public to open windows before tornadoes strike.

27:35The belief is that opening windows balances the pressure inside and outside the structure and stops it from exploding.

27:44Watch this demonstration.

27:47Low pressure in the vortex causes walls and roofs to explode outwards.

27:53This occurs because of higher pressure inside.

27:58But nowhere in the aerial photographs can Forbes and Fujita see evidence of debris exploding in all directions, as the government suggests.

28:08While the team search for answers, Forbes and Fujita move on to the next stage of the investigation, a ground survey.

28:16By collecting evidence on the ground, they hope to gather more precise information about the behavior and the timings of each tornado.

28:25Fujita heads to Xenia, Ohio. Forbes goes to Louisville, Kentucky.

28:33One of the most important pieces of evidence are stopped clocks.

28:39They show the exact time the tornado hit.

28:42And allow Forbes to accurately compare the destruction on the ground to images of cloud formations captured on radar.

28:51One of the primary things that we were looking for was the time that it hit,

28:57so that we could then relate that to the known times of the images that were snapped to the radars.

29:05Forbes also speaks to eyewitnesses, who give them the information they need.

29:09Forbes also speaks to eyewitnesses, who give detailed descriptions of how the tornado destroyed buildings.

29:16We were looking for any kind of idiosyncrasies, things like missiles.

29:23Asking them what happened, what did they see, what did they experience.

29:28Knowing those kind of things could help us relate where the tornado occurred in relation to the parent thunderstorm.

29:34Then, in Xenia, Fujita has a breakthrough.

29:38He hears of a 15-year-old boy called Bruce Boyd,

29:42who filmed the Xenia tornado for over two minutes using a home movie camera.

29:47Fujita can't believe his luck.

29:50In 1974, film of tornadoes is extremely rare.

29:54We didn't have video cameras at the time that are so pervasive today.

29:58We didn't have all sorts of movies of hundreds of tornadoes per year that are captured on film.

30:05By studying the moving images of the twister,

30:08they use a process called photogrammetry to analyze the movement of debris caught in the funnel.

30:14This helps them to assess speed, direction and power.

30:18It's a technique that gets dramatic results.

30:22In 1965, Fujita used it on photographs of tornadoes taken during the Palm Sunday outbreak.

30:29His study of the images helped develop the Fujita, or F scale, which is still used around the world today.

30:37An F1 causes minor damage and can down power lines.

30:42An F2 can roll a car.

30:44An F3 can overturn a train.

30:47The F4 is monstrous and can flatten well-constructed houses.

30:52Finally, the most feared and rarely sighted F5 can have wind speeds of up to 512 kilometers an hour.

31:01The F5 is the most powerful wind known to man.

31:08Dr. Fujita and his prodigy, Greg Forbes, return to Chicago with Boyd's unique film of the Xenia tornado.

31:17When they analyze the footage, they find startling evidence for a phenomenon that Fujita has long suspected but has never been able to prove.

31:27He believes that some tornadoes actually have a number of smaller funnels,

31:32which dance around the parent as it plows its destructive path.

31:37The Boyd movie is certainly very spectacular.

31:39It periodically has a couple of multiple funnels that are dancing around,

31:45pirouetting about each other in the midst of revolving about the parent tornado.

31:49Bruce Boyd's film perfectly captures these multiple funnels in action.

31:57The investigation makes progress in other areas too.

32:01After hours of painstaking analysis,

32:03the team find no evidence in the aerial photos of buildings exploding in every direction as previously thought.

32:12But they discover that debris caught in the funnel of a tornado can act as high-velocity missiles,

32:19which can seriously damage structures.

32:22These missiles, combined with the power of winds exceeding 322 kilometers an hour,

32:28explain why buildings are destroyed.

32:31They're actually being blown over with massive force,

32:35although to a bystander, it looks like they're exploding.

32:43Forbes immediately realizes the significance of this.

32:46Not only does government advice to open windows do nothing to save buildings,

32:51it actually puts people's lives at risk,

32:54because they waste precious moments when they should be finding shelter.

32:58This new information will help save many lives in the future.

33:17The team then get lucky.

33:20They discover a second piece of film, capturing a tornado in action.

33:24In Parker, Indiana, news cameraman Wally Hubbard was caught in a hailstorm and forced to stop his car.

33:32Spotting a tornado, he instinctively reached for his news camera.

33:37Forbes and Fujita study debris captured in Hubbard's film.

33:42They take precise measurements of wreckage caught in the funnel using photogrammetry.

33:48Their analysis of the images confirms that wind speeds inside the Xenia tornado

33:54reached a spectacular 483 kilometers an hour.

33:58Their research finally explains why some buildings remain intact.

34:03Their research finally explains why some buildings remain untouched during a strike.

34:09But critically, they discover that multiple funneled tornadoes hold another deadly secret.

34:16The addition of the smaller funnels can make some tornadoes even more dangerous,

34:21because they add another destructive layer of wind.

34:25By revolving about the parent tornado and having its own circulation,

34:28that would add yet another layer of additional wind speeds.

34:38This is an important leap in understanding twisters.

34:42But it isn't the breakthrough that will help scientists better predict tornadoes in the future.

34:48They decide that to find the forecasting tools they need,

34:52they will have to go back to the radar images recorded during the outbreak.

34:56As Forbes searches these images for clues,

35:00his attention is drawn to cloud patterns called hook echoes.

35:04They're given this name because of their distinctive hook shape.

35:07Weather radar was first introduced across the US in the 1940s.

35:12Since then, these hook-shaped cloud formations have often been observed during a tornado outbreak.

35:19However, the hooks vary,

35:21and meteorologists are unable to pinpoint which hooks create the most dangerous tornadoes.

35:31As Forbes looks through the radar images,

35:34he hopes he has enough information to make the breakthrough he's searching for.

35:39We went and printed every image from those radar microfilms,

35:43and then categorized what was the shape of the parent echo.

35:47Was it a well-defined hook echo with a little curly Q at the end,

35:51or was it some more kidney bean shape, or was it something else?

35:55Sure enough, Forbes sees a connection.

35:59Each of the six F5 tornadoes formed during the outbreak

36:04was created from a hook echo which lasted between five and seven hours.

36:09This is what Forbes and Fujita have been searching for.

36:12By looking for long-lasting hook echoes during an outbreak,

36:16meteorologists will now be able to predict with accuracy

36:20where and when the most lethal tornadoes will strike.

36:26We've never had anything like this before.

36:31After this discovery, which will save countless lives in the future,

36:36Fujita turns to the final mystery of the April 3rd outbreak.

36:40The Monticello tornado.

36:43It was unusual in that it was a very, very long tornado.

36:47It just kept going and going and going.

36:50I would never have predicted that that particular thunderstorm

36:53would have produced a 100-mile-plus tornado path.

36:57Why did the Monticello twister travel so far?

37:02Forbes and Fujita go back to the aerial photos and search for anything

37:06which might explain why it continued for over 160 kilometers further than usual.

37:13It is Fujita who spots something out of the ordinary.

37:17As well as the normal twisting marks left by a tornado,

37:21he finds evidence of a completely different type of ground damage.

37:26There were some places in the damage pattern from the super outbreak

37:30that didn't quite fit the tornado pattern.

37:33Fujita proposes that this ground damage was caused

37:37by dramatic bursts of air dropping from directly above,

37:41a phenomenon he calls downdrafts.

37:45When warm air rises in a thunderstorm, it eventually cools

37:49and begins to fall back to earth.

37:52Fujita's theory is that sometimes this cool air rushes back at great speed,

37:57descending rapidly downward.

37:59This cool air rushes back at great speed,

38:02descending rapidly down the trailing edge of a thunderstorm in a destructive burst.

38:08He believes that if a downdraft had combined with a tornado in Monticello,

38:13the tornado could have been given an injection of energy

38:16that allowed it to travel further than usual.

38:20The photographic evidence of a downdraft in Monticello is tantalizing,

38:25but it isn't enough to prove that they exist.

38:30Despite this disappointment,

38:33Forbes and Fujita's hard work produces a spectacular map

38:37of the entire tornado outbreak.

38:40Each black mark represents the path of a tornado in miles.

38:45They reveal that the total distance covered by all the twisters

38:49is 4,000 kilometers.

38:54Fujita's investigation into what becomes known as the super downdraft

38:57is a scientific milestone.

39:01It is the most comprehensive study of tornadoes ever undertaken

39:05and amasses a wealth of new data.

39:09It debunks the dangerous myth

39:12that opening windows stops houses from exploding

39:17and proves there's no scientific evidence that tornadoes skip.

39:21It reveals that tornadoes sometimes form unpredictable multiple funnels.

39:27And most importantly of all,

39:30the investigation also proves that the longest lasting hook echoes

39:34create the most dangerous twisters.

39:37This becomes a vital tool in the prediction

39:40of the most lethal tornadoes

39:43and gives meteorologists a much better chance

39:46of warning the public in the future.

39:48On several levels, the super outbreak went a long way

39:52toward eventually reducing casualties from tornadoes.

39:58Dr. Fujita publishes a report on his findings.

40:02It receives great acclaim from the scientific community.

40:06But Fujita was never able to prove his radical downdraft theory

40:11or explain why the Monticello Twister traveled for over 190 kilometers.

40:16Then, one year after the super outbreak,

40:21he receives an unexpected phone call.

40:24A plane carrying 124 people has inexplicably crashed.

40:30The National Transportation Safety Board

40:33want to know if freak weather conditions could have been responsible.

40:37Although Fujita has no way of knowing it,

40:40this seemingly impossible theory

40:42will lead him to solve the downdraft mystery once and for all.

40:49Dr. Fujita from the University of Chicago

40:52has gathered data from the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history.

40:57His findings have changed meteorology's understanding of tornadoes forever.

41:02It was one of those defining moments

41:05that got people aware of what was going on.

41:08It was one of those defining moments

41:11that got people aware of the tornado problem

41:15and helped set in motion steps toward improving the situation.

41:20However, Fujita was unable to solve one puzzle.

41:25Why the tornado that hit Monticello

41:28traveled for 195 kilometers, over 160 further than usual.

41:34A year after the super outbreak, Fujita is called to New York

41:39to help investigate the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 66.

41:44As the passenger jet approached JFK's runway,

41:48it mysteriously slammed into the ground,

41:51killing 115 passengers and crew.

41:54Could the crash have been the result of freak weather conditions?

41:57Fujita starts by analyzing the telemetry details

42:01stored in Flight 66's black box.

42:04He then studies black box data from other planes flying that day

42:09and from atmospheric readings taken on the ground.

42:12He builds up a picture of what may have happened in the air

42:16before the plane crashed.

42:18Fujita is surprised by what he finds.

42:21A series of small dashed lines

42:23which he calls microbursts,

42:26interfered with a number of planes that day as they landed at JFK.

42:31It was these microbursts that literally pushed Flight 66 into the ground,

42:36just short of the runway.

42:39He quickly discovered that there were some fairly small diameter

42:43but very intense downdrafts that were occurring

42:46in a pulsing mode over the airport.

42:48That allowed some of the airplanes to land without incident,

42:52others having great difficulty, and one crashing.

42:56Realizing that other planes could be in danger,

42:59Fujita publishes his findings.

43:03The aviation industry rapidly upgrades radar

43:07at airports across America

43:10in order to detect this atmospheric anomaly

43:13before it can be used to launch a new aircraft.

43:15It's easier to detect this atmospheric anomaly

43:18before it kills again.

43:21For Fujita, it's a double victory.

43:25His research proves that the ground damage

43:28seen in Monticello a year earlier,

43:30caused by dramatic bursts of air,

43:33can be attributed to a downdraft.

43:38It was this freak atmospheric anomaly

43:41which energized the Monticello tornado

43:43and caused it to travel for 195 kilometers

43:46with devastating consequences.

43:53This is the final piece of Fujita's puzzle.

44:00Finally, we can reveal the critical chain of events

44:04which plunged 13 American states into a catastrophic clash

44:08with the power of Mother Nature.

44:11April 3rd, 1974.

44:15Winds move inland from the Pacific Ocean

44:18and Gulf of Mexico,

44:21creating highly unstable atmospheric conditions

44:24across Tornado Alley.

44:27Forecasts suggest America is about to be hit

44:30by the worst tornado outbreak in a decade.

44:33But meteorologists don't know exactly where or when

44:36the most dangerous tornadoes will strike.

44:38They send out blanket warnings,

44:41but they're too general and too late.

44:44By 3.30 p.m., a tornado touches down

44:47on the outskirts of Xenia, Ohio.

44:52Many people are taken by surprise.

44:55They waste valuable time opening windows

44:58to prevent their houses from exploding.

45:01Xenia is obliterated by high-velocity missiles and winds.

45:09Incredibly, some buildings survive

45:12the tornado's multiple funnels.

45:15At 4.47 p.m., a tornado touches down

45:18on the edge of Monticello, Indiana.

45:21The population is caught unaware.

45:24It kills 19 people.

45:27Turbocharged by a downdraft,

45:30this tornado then travels across open country

45:33for a further 170 kilometers.

45:39At 5 a.m. on April 4th, the outbreak finally ends.

45:43Sixteen hours after it began,

45:46cities are reduced to matchwood.

45:49148 tornadoes cause $600 million worth of damage.

45:55Five and a half thousand people are injured.

45:59330 are dead.

46:04Dr. Ted Fujita died in 1998.

46:09Greg Forbes is employed by the Weather Channel

46:13and continues his work as a meteorologist.

46:18His ability to predict the weather today

46:21is greatly enhanced by modern technology.

46:24High-quality satellite images

46:27can show developing weather in real time,

46:30and mobile Doppler radar can probe deep inside tornadoes.

46:35The benefits to the public as a result of this

46:38new tools came as a direct consequence

46:41of lessons learned from the 1974 super outbreak.

46:45A dedicated radio service now broadcasts

46:48the latest severe weather information,

46:51and tornado sirens have been installed

46:54across America's heartland.

46:57Dr. Fujita's investigation was an early stepping stone

47:01towards science's understanding of tornadoes.

47:04To this day, his findings still play a part

47:08in saving lives around the world.

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