in Grand Island today. Fictionalized accounts of the event Book In 1984, a semi-fictionalized book version of this significant tornado outbreak by children's author Ivy Ruckman, a native of Nebraska, was released under the title Night of the Twisters. The book told the story of Danny Hatch, a pre-teen and his family, and what happened to them as the event took place. Television film The book inspired a made-for-cable television original movie of the same name, that premiered on February 14, 1996, on The Family Channel (now Freeform). The movie version still centered on the Hatch Family and most of the characters in the book were adapted to the film. However, there were several discrepancies from the movie and the book version. The most notable being the town in the movie is changed from Grand Island to the fictional town of Blainsworth, which Ivy Ruckman reportedly was disappointed about as it took some of the reality out of the actual event. Danny's father's name is changed to Jack in the film (played by John Schneider) and is mentioned to be his stepfather as Danny's real father is revealed to have died in a plane crash when Danny was six years old. One somewhat prominent character in the movie was Bob Iverson (played by David Ferry), who was not included in the book. Danny's mother's occupation is also changed to waitress. The last scene in the film in which the Hatch family tries to outrun a tornado in a car lent to them at a shelter was added specifically for the film and was not in the book, either. Danny and his friend Arthur's (played by Devon Sawa and Amos Crawley) ages are also changed to their mid-teens (though their ages are never mentioned in the film). See also List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks Notes References External links NWS Hastings: 1980 Grand Island Tornadoes GITwisters.com - special of the Grand Island Independent 10-11 News Night of the Twisters An Engineering Analysis of the Grand Island, Ne. Tornadoes- Institute for Disaster Research, Texas Tech University Tornadoes of 1980 Tornadoes in Nebraska Tornadoes in Indiana Tornadoes in Iowa Tornadoes in Ohio Tornadoes in Pennsylvania Tornadoes in Maryland Tornadoes in West Virginia F4 tornadoes by date Grand Island,1980-06-03 1980 in Nebraska Disasters in Nebraska Natural disasters in Nebraska June 1980 events in the United States 1980 natural disasters in the United