First Radar Detected Tornado

"Don Skaggs looks at the new display commemorating the first time a tornado was tracked by radar. Skaggs was the radar engineer on April 9, 1953, when that tornado was tracked. The display was unveiled at the Illinois Water Survey in Champaign on Thursday; it includes photographs, information about the tornado, and a report about the event." Photograph by Robert K. O'Daniell, The News-Gazette, August 30, 2001.

The APS-15 radar located on top of the Illinois State Water Survey building at the University of Illinois – Willard Airport. Photograph from the CSU-CHILL National Weather Radar Facility.

The first time a tornado was detected on radar occurred on April 9, 1953. On that date, Don Skaggs, a radar engineer at the Illinois State Water Survey, observed tests being run on the research radar unit. He noticed an interesting reading on the radar during this after-hours test, which he promptly recorded on a 35mm camera. This series of photographs documented the first observation of tornadic activity on radar by capturing what is now known as the "hook echo." Damage reports from the corresponding area later validated the findings from the radar footage. This discovery led to a network of radar sites spread across the nation to predict and locate tornadoes.

As the storm passed a short distance north of the radar, an appendage became visible on the parent echo. Within a few moments, the echo appendage began to curl into a hook shape seen here. Photograph from the CSU-CHILL National Weather Radar Facility.