Nearly four decades later, the scenes of destruction from the communities we call home are just as stunning as the day we first saw them.

On May 31, 1985 - also a Friday - 41 tornadoes gouged their way from southern Ontario through western New York, eastern Ohio and western PA.
The worst: an F5 that traveled from Portage County through Newton Falls, Lordstown, Niles, Hubbard and into Mercer County. It left 95 percent of Wheatland in ruins. The tornado took 18 lives, injured more than 300 and did some of the most violent damage a tornado can do.

It remains the only F5 ever recorded in Pennsylvania.

Other local tornadoes included an F3 in northern Trumbull County, wiping out dozens of homes and mangling vehicles.
An F2 tore through northern Columbiana County, destroying many homes and farm buildings.

A potent cold front, extreme instability and lots of wind shear helped trigger the outbreak.