Tornado in Wiener Neustadt in 1916

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The tornado in Wiener Neustadt 1916 was a tornado that devastated parts of Wiener Neustadt on July 10, 1916 with a strength of F4 / T8 . At least 34 people were killed. It was the strongest documented tornado in Austria to date .

The event

In the early afternoon of July 10, 1916, a thunderstorm cell formed in the Schneeberg area , which, due to the considerable wind shear, soon developed into a super cell with pronounced mesocyclones . A funnel cloud formed. Two tornadoes were observed, although it is unclear whether the two united in the devastating tornado or whether only one intensified and the other dissolved. The first damage was documented in Peisching in the Piestingtal , about 15 kilometers west-northwest of Wiener Neustadt. The tornado is said to have formed on a slope in the village. From here a continuous aisle was created to the Leitha east of Wiener Neustadt. In Dreistetten a few houses were severely damaged and it came to the first personal injury: A soldier on home leave was swirled through the air and suffered a serious leg injury. The cyclone moved east-southeast at a speed of approximately 40 m / s. It crossed a small ridge and caused forest damage before reaching the heated stone field . Over the Wiener Neustädter Flugfeld there was a clear change of direction to the southeast. Possibly it came here to the union with the windpants coming from the north. The tornado has now crossed residential areas in Wiener Neustadt. He devastated Josefstadt with an intensity of F2 on the Fujita scale and changed his direction of movement to east. It reached intensity F4 over the Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik and destroyed most of the old factory. At the Daimler plant , the intensity was still F2. Shortly before the Leithaau near Lichtenwörth , the tornado felled trees for the last time and finally dissolved. The tornado occurred between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., exact details for its beginning and resolution are not known.

He covered a total of around 20 kilometers. The average diameter of the tornado was 300 meters, its maximum extent with damaging effects was 600 meters and the maximum diameter observed was 1000 meters. According to current calculations, it can be concluded that the tornado reached a wind speed of more than 300 km / h. Since there are no direct measurements of the wind speed, the assessment of the wind speed and the intensity on the TORRO and Fujita scales was made based on the damage pattern.

consequences

The northern districts of Wiener Neustadt were devastated and the newly erected telegraph and telephone poles were destroyed, then the tornado hit the Wiener Neustadt locomotive factory, where it claimed most of the lives. A total of at least 34 fatalities and 328 injuries were mourned, the financial damage amounted to 900,000 crowns.

The tornado is still considered the most devastating weather event in Austria and the strongest tornado on Austrian soil to date. The tornado ranks fourth on the European list according to the number of deaths.

root cause

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Wiener Neustadt is located in the southern Vienna Basin and also on Steinfeld . The Wiener Neustädter Bergkranz is located around Wiener Neustadt. Cold air flows down from the mountains and hills into the warm pool air. As a result, supercells are constantly forming in Wiener Neustadt, which sometimes produce tornadoes.

In addition to the Mühlviertel and the Graz Basin, the area around Wiener Neustadt is one of the most endangered areas for tornadoes in Austria.

More tornadoes near Wiener Neustadt

In addition to the 1916 tornado, there were and still are tornadoes near Wiener Neustadt, e.g. B .:

  • 1903: Wiener Neustadt, the spinner on the cross was badly damaged.
  • November 23, 1930: Wiener Neustadt, a tornado formed in the city area
  • February 18, 1946: Föhrenwald, major forest damage, 305 hectares of forest are destroyed, Föhrenau was built from the wood of the kinked trees, building damage in Wiener Neustadt.
  • June 14, 2007: As a result of a severe thunderstorm, an alleged tornado formed northwest of Wiener Neustadt, which was also reported in the media. There was no damage whatsoever and after further investigation it turned out that it was just a pronounced tail cloud .

memory

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Katharina Amstler: Climatological-statistical elaboration of tornado events in Europe. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna 2011, p. 73 f.
  2. ↑ In Wr. Neustadt storms are researched. In: orf.at . February 2, 2012, accessed March 21, 2020.
  3. ^ The 1916 Tornado - an exhibition. In: WN24.at. July 1, 2016, accessed March 21, 2020 .