Daulatpur–Saturia tornado

The Ganges Basin, comprising the entirety of Bangladesh, is frequented by severe weather.{{cite journal|author=Mallapaty|first=Smriti|date=12 April 2019|title=Nepali scientists record country's first tornado|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01159-w|journal=Nature|doi=10.1038/d41586-019-01159-w|pmid=32277167|s2cid=146701694|access-date=23 April 2019|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417101005/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01159-w|url-status=live}} Storms that are capable of producing tornadoes in this region are most common during the pre- and post-monsoon months.{{cite journal|last1=Peterson|first1=R. E.|last2=Mehta|first2=K. C.|title=Climatology of tornadoes of India and Bangladesh|journal=Archives for Meteorology, Geophysics and Bioclimatology, Series B|date=December 1981|volume=29|issue=4|pages=345–356|doi=10.1007/BF02263310|bibcode=1981AMGBB..29..345P|s2cid=118445516}} An average of six tornadoes occur annually in Bangladesh, with peak activity in April.{{cite web|first1=Bimal Kanti|last1=Paul|first2=Rejuan Hossain|last2=Bhuiyan|publisher=University of Colorado|year=2014|access-date=August 8, 2019|title=The April 2004 Tornado in North-Central Bangladesh: A Case for Introducing Tornado Forecasting and Warning Systems|url=https://hazards.colorado.edu/uploads/basicpage/qr169.pdf}} The pre-monsoon months (March to May) display the most favorable conditions for severe weather. During this time, convective available potential energy—an indicator of atmospheric instability whereby higher values denote a greater likelihood of thunderstorms—and wind shear are conducive to the development of rotating thunderstorms.{{cite journal|last1=Yamane|first1=Yusuke|last2=Hayashi|first2=Taiichi|last3=Dewan|first3=Ashraf Mahmmood|last4=Akter|first4=Fatima|date=March 2010|title=Severe local convective storms in Bangladesh: Part I. Climatology|journal=Atmospheric Research|volume=95|issue=4|pages=400–406|doi=10.1016/j.atmosres.2009.11.004|bibcode=2010AtmRe..95..400Y}} Instability is greatest over West Bengal, India, and adjacent areas of Bangladesh. Storms frequently develop in this region and travel southeast across the country. These storms are locally referred to as norwesters or Kalbaisakhi.{{cite journal|journal=Atmosphere|first1=Samarendra|last1=Karmakar|first2=Abdul|last2=Mannan|first3=Dewan Abdul|last3=Quadir|volume=5|issue=1|date=July 2015|title=Trends in maximum temperature and thunderstorms, their correlation and impacts on the livelihood of Bangladesh|pages=113–129}}

On 25 April 1989, a {{cvt|1000|hPa|inHg|2}} area of low pressure propagated over Bihar and West Bengal, India, with a trough extending east across Bangladesh and into Manipur, India. The system remained largely stationary throughout the day through 26 April. On that day, another low approached from Madhya Pradesh, and in conjunction with a ridge over China, the pressure gradient became tighter across Bangladesh. Warm, moist air flowed northeast from the Bay of Bengal while cool, dry air flowed south from the Himalayas. In the upper-levels of the atmosphere above the low, strong westerly winds from the jet stream created ample wind shear, a key factor in the development of supercell thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. The jet stream became particularly intense on 26 April, with a sounding from Dhaka observing {{convert|240|km/h|mph|round=5|abbr=on}} winds at a height of {{convert|10.6|km|ft|abbr=on}}. An established dry line over western Bangladesh served as a focal point for thunderstorm development. By 12:00 UTC, all the aforementioned factors served to produce severe thunderstorms across the country.

Around 12:30 UTC, a tornado touched down near Daulatpur in the Manikganj District and traveled east, soon striking Saturia. It caused tremendous damage across a {{convert|150|km2|mi2|abbr=on}} area covering three upazilas, with Saturia being hardest-hit.{{cite news|last=Angwin|first=Richard|date=28 April 2014|title=The deadliest tornado remembered|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/weather/2014/04/deadliest-tornado-remembered-20144249293887609.html|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=2 May 2019}} Its path was about {{convert|80|km|abbr=on}} long.{{cite book|last=Cerveny|first=Randy|year=2006|title=Freaks of the Storm: From Flying Cows to Stealing Thunder: The World's Strangest True Weather Stories|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/freaksofstormwor00cerv/page/272 272]|isbn=1-56025-801-2|quote=a tornado cut a long track, up to a mile wide, through about fifty miles of the poor country [Bangladesh]. The Bangladeshi towns of Salturia [sic] and Manikganj were leveled and about eighty thousand people were left homeless.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/freaksofstormwor00cerv/page/272}} A World Meteorological Organization news letter noted the tornado as F3 on the Fujita Scale. However, the stated wind estimate of {{convert|338|to|418|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} would rank it as an F4.{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences|first1=Akram|last1=Hossain|first2=Samarendra|last2=Karmakar|year=1998|volume=22|issue=1|pages=109–122|title=Some Meteorological aspects of the Saturia tornado, 1989—A case study}}{{cite journal|first1=Roger|last1=Edwards|first2=James G.|last2=LaDue|first3=John T.|last3=Ferree|first4=Kevin|last4=Scharfenberg|first5=Chris|last5=Maier|first6=William L.|last6=Coulbourne|s2cid=7842905|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|doi=10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00006.1|pages=641–653|title=Tornado Intensity Estimation: Past, Present, and Future|date=May 2013|volume=94|issue=5|issn=0003-0007|eissn=1520-0477|bibcode=2013BAMS...94..641E|doi-access=free}}

According to the World Meteorological Organization in 2017, the tornado killed roughly 1,300 people and injured 12,000. In 2022, this death toll was challenged in a paper authored by Dr. Fahim Sufi with the Australian Government, Dr. Edris Alam with the University of Chittagong, and Dr. Musleh Alsulami with the Umm al-Qura University, where it was stated the deadliest tornado in Bangladesh history was the 14 April 1969 Dhaka, Bangladesh tornado, which killed 922 people.{{cite journal|last1=Sufi|first1=Fahim|last2=Alam|first2=Edris|last3=Alsulami|first3=Musleh|date=22 May 2022|editor1-last=Ishizaka|editor1-first=Alessio|title=A New Decision Support System for Analyzing Factors of Tornado Related Deaths in Bangladesh|url=https://www.academia.edu/84087463|journal=Sustainability|publisher=Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute|volume=14|issue=10|page=6303|doi=10.3390/su14106303|access-date=12 August 2023|doi-access=free|bibcode=2022Sust...14.6303S|archive-date=9 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909162342/https://www.academia.edu/84087463|url-status=live}} This new publication still keeps a Bangladesh tornado as the deadliest in history, just not this specific tornado. Damage was extensive, as countless trees were uprooted and every home within a six square kilometer area of the tornado's path was completely destroyed. An article in the Bangladesh Observer stated, "The devastation was so complete, that barring some skeletons of trees, there were no signs of standing infrastructures". Approximately 80,000 people were left homeless. A second tornado struck the Narsingdi District, killing 5 people and injuring 500 others.

{{Portal|Weather}}

• 1925 tri-state tornado – The deadliest tornado recorded in the United States
• 1996 Bangladesh tornado
• 2013 Brahmanbaria tornado
• List of Asian tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• Lists of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

{{Reflist}}

• [http://bangladeshtornadoes.org Bangladesh and East India tornado prediction site]

{{1989 tornado outbreaks}}

{{10 deadliest tornadoes worldwide}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Daulatpur-Saturia tornado}}

Category:Tornadoes in Bangladesh

Category:Tornadoes of 1989

Category:April 1989 in Bangladesh

Category:1989 disasters in Asia