It just might be the singular defining event in modern Erie media history.

May 31, 1985: the Albion tornado.

Today local media people are remembering the devastating scene, and the soaring spirit of a community.

First, my story: I was working the evening air shift at WDOE/Dunkirk, NY when the weather radio and AP wire went berserk with tornado warnings for the region. We were giving regular updates, although our listening area in Northern Chautauqua County was not affected as much as the rest of the region. I called into WJET radio where I had worked part-time to get a report on the destruction in Albion as well as the Union City/Corry area.

This morning the Erie Times-News did an anniversary report, and Val Myers weighed in on the memories of that day. 106.3 WCTL had a special Memorial Day edition of its morning show remembering the tornadoes.  WJET/WFXP shows archive video of the worst weather event in Erie history and talked to survivors and NOAA weather forecasters, and WSEE’s Scott Bremner remembers the day.

Earlier this year, Tony Victor who was a reporter at WJET-TV remembered on P&T becoming a journalist/first-responder:

Bob Neely and I drove up on Cranesville only to see it raining down attic insulation from when the tornado actually hit. Many of the news crews were pressed into EMS duties, holding IVs for rescue crews while photogs rolled.

When I say that the Albion tornado was a defining event, I mean that the media response to our public service mandate definitely changed after that day. Soon after WSEE purchased an expensive radar tower, the first in Erie. The master Emergency Broadcast Plan was totally revised in the subsequent years. And no one would take another tornado warning for granted.

If you wish to read an excellent synopsis of all of the events of that day 25 years ago, go to pahighways.com for Jeff Kitsko’s account.

I’d like to hear your remembrances of the Albion tornado.