Manchester, South Dakota
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Manchester, South Dakota was a small town located in South Dakota. In 2003, the town was destroyed by a tornado.
The tragic event occurred on June 24, 2003 when a classic supercell thunderstorm spawned an unforgetable tornado. The storm originated from rich, low level wind shear and a strong jet stream over eastern South Dakota. As it was tracked by storm chasers and scientists, the supercell spawned a violent tornado. The tornado gradually matured, before achieving a maximum intensity of F4 on the Fujita Scale (now it is an EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. During its rampage, a small probe was placed directly in the tornado's damage path. The vortex travled directly over the instrument, and record meteorological data was obtained by the probe. It managed to survive winds in excess of 260 mph (418 km/h) and measured a barometric pressure fall of over 100 milibars near the center of the half-mile wide wedge tornado.
Unfortunately, the town of Manchester, South Dakota was directly in the tornado's damage path. The town which stood on the South Dakota prairie since the 1880s would then be completely obliterated by this amazing map-altering tornado.
To this day, all that remains of Manchester is prairie and farmlands.
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