#529-533 The Blue Tornado of 1928

 Fun Fact #529

Through Wind, Fire, and Hell Water

Everyday when school got out, the children of Rockford would be sent home in large groups with members of the older classes helping to escort the younger children and this day –September 14th, 1928– was set to be no different. Two of the Children given charges that day were Robert Roos (12) and Edwin Brogren (11) who were to escort a group of 70 kindergarteners (most of them around 6 years old) from Hallstrom School as far as The Elco Tooling plant which employed many of their parents leaving the school. 

Around 10 minutes later (3:15pm) the sky quickly darkened, the wind howled and the rain began to pour. Then they saw what looked like “a Blue Curtain” come and destroy Chair Factory B (burying 20 people inside) as the Tornado ripped up Homes, Roads, and Lives. Realizing what was going on, Robert and Edwin quickly moved the group under a Rail Viaduct and to prevent the kids from panicking started telling Funny stories, and when the wind grew too loud, they made funny faces causing the kids to laugh. They kept this up even as Edwin saw part of his own home fly away, until finally the storm passed them by. They then helped the kids search for their families while getting help for any injured they found along the way until all the children had been safely delivered to a relative. Then Robert and Edwin looked for their families just as Company K (Illinois National Guard) began to arrive.

This “Blue Curtain” the boys saw was the deadliest disaster up to that point in Rockford’s history with “The Blue Tornado of 1928” cutting a 26 mile, while the river and surrounding streams flooded, and even fires sparked in some of the ruins threatening people trapped in the rubble. In total 30 City blocks, 4 Factories, and over 360 Homes were destroyed causing over 18 million dollars in damage (adjusted for inflation). 

Image from the Midway Village Museum Archives (specifically their Timeline PDF)

Fun Fact #530

Doging Torrents of Terror

As disastrous as The Blue Tornado of 1928 was for Rockford, miraculously only 14 people were killed. This is largely because the Tornado’s path swerved just a block and a half before it hit Herman Hallstrom School (almost 1,000 students), then twice more before it hit Brown and Turner Schools (around 600 students between them). Heck further miracles happened such as the case of baby Donald Ebarp (2 years old at the time) found alive, in his crib which was buried in a pile of bricks, boards, and even part of a tree, with only a cut on his head and “a temper” to show for the ordeal. Another man (Malcom Jorgenson) managed to fall 4 stories down an elevator shaft but the building flipped while he was inside allowing him to slide along the side for most of it resulting in a –relatively– soft landing.

In the end, much of the damage to Rockford IL was rebuilt within 3 months, and this Tornado was overall considered a minor one (even though it was listed as an F4 at wind speeds of 260 Mph) of the 7 Tornados which hit Northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin that year with 100s dying in the other 6 twisters. Yet Rockford, even in the middle of redressing it’s own wounds, still found time to help the other cities and towns, with groups like “The Rockford Girls Club (#215)” delivering food, the firemen going to help search and rescue operations just as examples.

Image of City Building Inspector Forrest Lydden organizing search crews  at the site of  the Factory B chair Company.

Fun Fact #531  

The Color Wheel of Worry

The color wheel is quite an amazing thing bringing shades of joy and brightening up almost anyone’s day. However there is a twisted version of it which brings only worry and Terror and that is how Tornadoes are colored. 

Most commonly when someone thinks of a Tornado it's either white (seen with the sun is behind you) or black (sun is behind the Tornado). Yet there are other colors which can appear– most frequently thanks to particles in the air scattering the light making a Red Tornado or if its lots of water (heavy rain or Waterspout) turning it into a green or Blue tint. If you’re really lucky (luck being relative) then Sunset can make the tornado appear yellow or orange. 

 Brown is often when the particles are not moving fast enough to affect all the light hitting the tornado. Which means most Brown Tornados you will see are not actually Tornados but rather Landspouts –super brief and thin cyclones with no Updraft– Dust Devils, and Gustnados none of which are actually Tornadoes but are often Mistaken for one (rarely causing significant damage). 

Image of a (former) Tornado intersecting a Rainbow taken by storm chaser Eric Nguyen in 2004. This was taken as the Tornado was dissipating and in the state known as a “Roper” rather than a true Tornado.

Fun Fact #532

NOT having a Ball

Despite the Color Wheel of worry, the Tornado which hit Rockford in 1928 may not have belonged to any of these normal reasons for it’s odd Blue color. This is because the tornado did not act like a normal Tornado as it turned suddenly at several points along its path –in some places going in directions which steered away from obstacles at the last moment which it would have been able to easily rip up (260 Mph or F4 on Fujita Scale). While the reason is not exactly known, a theory held is that it may have been a Ball Tornado or Tornado which trapped Ball lightning inside. This makes some sense when you think about it as it would have provided the light to show the water suspended in the funnel explaining why it was commonly referred to as “The Blue Tornado”, and whenever the Ball lightning changed direction it would have influenced the wind currents helping to explain its change in direction. Heck, this would even explain how a tornado filled with rain could start fires along its path if the lightning was near the ground.

However the two big problems with this theory is that while Ball lightning is theoretically possible, it's never been witnessed –at least since it was theorized in the 1970s. Then there’s the fact that it’s unclear if the lightning would affect the wind direction enough to change the direction of the whole storm, rather than just the lightning leaving the tornado, although the Lower in the Tornado the lightning hovered the better the odds it would be able to steer the funnel above it.

Photo of lightning and a tornado in 1993 © by Fred Smith with permission from Accuweather. com

Fun Fact #533

Friends and Good Hearts

In the end Rockford’s support of other areas hit by hit by Tornados helped the city bounce back from disaster stronger than it had entered. One good example being the Furniture company workers who lost their jobs now had experience and a good reputation across the Midwest allowing them to start their own carpentry businesses. Later in the year (still 1928!) after Nebraska and South Dakota received similar tornadoes Rockford sent help there too, which led to Nebraska’s Governor (Arthur J. Weaver) declaring that he had discovered what tree was so abundant in Illinois that Rockford was called “The Forrest City”, and declared Rockford the only “Forest of Friends and Good Hearts” in the world.  

For the record Mulberry is the most common followed by Boxelder, Silver Maple, Common Hackberry, Black Walnut, and Rose of Sharon. We are actually one of the few places in the world where you can find Everbearing Blueberries which constantly produce berries as long as the weather is above 30 degrees. But man, I think it was a missed opportunity that we didn't adopt Arthur J. Weaver’s sentiment into Rockford’s culture somehow. 

As always thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day.

Image of a Postcard by the Rockford Art Deli who sells this design and many others for $2 each (needed to say this to get permission to use it).