My previous post on the alleged 100 mile+ paths brought another question to mind - what was the longest tracked tornado in each state that's actually a continuous path, considering so many old ultra-long tracks obviously are not? This consisted of checking SigTor, Storm Data and other articles etc. You'll see that my list is far from complete, omitting anything west of the Great Plains and a number of states that aren't either. My treatment of ones crossing state boundaries is irregular, basically using majorities. It took an inordinate amount of time and many headaches to get this much.
Alabama: If Cordova was continuous, it's that (127.8 miles). Raleigh-Uniontown would be next split with MS, then Jasper 1974 (110) but I'm not sure that was continuous past Jasper. Brent 1973 was a family. I don't believe the idea that the Guin track was >100 miles - apparently there was no damage between S of Columbus and the official start point. So Hackleburg would be next at 103.
Arkansas: Atkins-Clinton-Highland (124). No other reliably recorded AR tornado comes within 50 miles of it (the next appears to be Wynne EF3 from last year at 72.6).
Colorado: probably the 2008 Fort Collins EF3. There are longer tracks on record, but nothing to tell their reliability.
Connecticut: probably the Windsor Locks F4.
Georgia: probably the 22/1/2017 EF3 that passed south of Albany (70.4 miles). There are a lot of old, unreliable records though.
Illinois: the Tri State Tornado (154-219).
Indiana: I don't think the 2002 Ellettsville-Hartford City F3 (122 miles) is reliable despite its recency, it's described as 'skipping'. More than half of the 1990 Albion F4 (104) occurred there. Monticello 1974 was probably three tornadoes. The longest entirely within the state might be the Depauw F5 at 68 miles.
Iowa: if the Gentry MO - Madison Co. IA tornado from 2001 was actually continuous, it's that (76.5 miles), followed by the Winterset tornado from two years ago. There are a lot of older tracks that are longer, but they're just an exercise in join the dots.
Kansas: also a lot of unreliable joined-up tracks. If the Ruskin Heights was actually continuous, then it was the longest at 69.4 miles. Grazulis doesn't say the 25/5/1917 Sedgwick F5 (66.5 miles) was a family though I doubt you can be sure. Ditto for the 20/5/1918 Codell F4 (65.3). The next longest I can find without 'skipping' etc. is actually the 2012 Langley EF4 (50.3).
Kentucky: the 2021 EF4, by a very large margin (the next being the 2012 West Liberty EF3).
Louisiana: the longest reliable one seems to be the 16/12/2019 EF3 that passed north of Alexandria (62.6 miles). I wouldn't rule out either of the F4s from 1908 but there's not much to tell where any path breaks might have been.
Massachusetts: officially it's the Springfield EF3 (37.6 miles), but most sources put the Worcester F4 at 46, it's not clear why the discrepancy exists unless it's the dashed part of the track map made in 1955.
Michigan: the longest is the first F4 from 11/4/1965 (90.3 miles). The second followed only an hour later along nearly the same path (80.5 miles)
Minnesota: the 1993 Comfrey tornado appears to be the most likely (73.5 miles).
Mississippi: Yazoo City (149 miles). Second longest is a more intriguing proposition, as we don't know much about the 130 mile track from 1908.
Missouri: The longest definite path is the 2003 Stockton F3 (86 miles), but the 1880 Finley Creek tornado (96 miles) is an uncertain possibility. The Tri-State tornado was a majority in other states.
Nebraska: ah Nebraska, the land of official tracks that are utter nonsense, like a 176 mile F1 from 1965. The longest certain path is the Hallam tornado (58.6 miles). Berlin (Otoe) from Easter 1913 (65 miles) is a possibility. I don't think either 60+ mile F3 from 1993 was continuous from the descriptions. The 1991 Lawrence tornado was by consensus at least two tornadoes, but it's possible one member could have tracked further than Hallam.
North Carolina: Grazulis describes the 28/11/1988 Raleigh F4 (83 miles) as 'almost continuous'. The 2011 Raleigh EF3 left a 67 mile path.
Ohio: The 23/04/1968 Falmouth tornado had a path of 79 miles (or 71 according to Grazulis), though a decent portion is in KY. The Cygnet tornado from 8/6/53 travelled about 60 miles, though it's 'officially' part of a longer one.
Oklahoma: The consensus seems to be that the 1947 Woodward tornado was continuous between NW of Canadian and Woodward (as per
@locomusic01's article) , but it's not clear how far it extended past Woodward. Grazulis though says the path in OK was up to five tornadoes, but it's not clear if he thinks there were breaks in the pre-Woodward path. If not that would give a likely minimum of 70 miles, though not all in OK. The Grandfield tornado from 10/4/79 has an official length go 74 miles, but Fujita's map only gives 64. The 1960 Prague-Sapulpa tornado has an apparently undisputed length of at least 70 miles and was entirely within OK.
Pennsylvania: the 1985 Moshannon state forest tornado (69 miles)
South Carolina: the 1973 and 1992 tornadoes were families. All the options longer than the 12/4/2020 Aiken County tornado (37.9 miles) seem to be suspect and too far back in the mists of time to make a good judgement.
South Dakota: The June 7 1993 F3 isn't described as 'skipping' but it's not out of the realms of possibility it wasn't continuous.
Tennessee: the 122.5 mile Dresden tornado from 10/12/21 was largely within TN and is clearly far longer than other non-suspect options, and most suspect ones too.
Texas: a very difficult state, as many (like the April 17 1970 outbreak) are families. The 78.3 mile 14/5/2003 F2 (partly in OK) is the longest of the modern era, though the description makes me wonder.
Wisconsin: the NWS says the 16/5/2017 Chetek-Conrath EF3 was the longest in state history and considering that the other options are all probably families I don't see a reason to dispute that.
I think the main thing I learned was that the nearly complete absence of consistent and reliable surveying before very recently makes things quite murky. You'll note a distinct modern bias due to this. When TG said it was a family I went with that, though I'm not convinced all cases of 'skipping' are handovers, they could also be a weaker tornado in a rural area that leaves little trace. But the rarity of genuine very long tracks becomes quite clear when you start digging. Oh, and I've probably made some silly mistake or omissions in the states I have listed.
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