Didn’t John Robinson intentionally not mention the E Wicker Street home during the Vilonia? From what I can remember, Marshall didn’t even survey that home and wasn’t made aware of it during the survey.
I don’t care too much for Tim, but I will say he has my full upmost respect as he has made a significant impact on the way we view tornadoes today. And some of his calls have been spot on. Joplin being one of them.
Hard to leave that can of worms unopened because I'm genuinely curious now... why so? I've conversed with him on multiple occasions and he's always seemed nice and willing to answer my questions. If you aren't comfortable sharing your views publicly then please consider sending me a PM, I'd love to hear your reasons.
That aerial image of the damage in Bremen never ceases to amaze me. Truly extreme contextual damage present here. Ground scouring, wind rowing, granulation, trees debarked and stubbed, and vehicles thrown/mangled.
That house in Bremen is not what it seems. It’s a concrete slab resting on top of a CMU foundation that has a gravel/aggregate fill inside the empty space. It’s not a true slab foundation home, and the wind was able to get under the slab as a result of this. People use this house as the main reasoning for “shoulda been EF5” in regards to Mayfield while not understanding the weird construction utilized here.
Ethan Moriarty (June First youtube channel) seems to agree with the sentiment that the home in Bremen constitutes EF5 damage, albeit very baseline. I trust his calculations, which is why I personally believe it's hard to deny Mayfield's EF5 intensity. Also, the argument given against EF5 intensity, if I recall correctly, was the fact that it was only the home and a tree still stood about 35 yards away from the home, which is not a good argument in my opinion. Either way, I definitely agree with you that it was not nearly as egregious of a snub as Goldsby, Chickasha, Vilonia, or Tuscaloosa.
That’s fair. The tree argument is some genuine bs, but I can’t ignore the fact that there’s a slab resting on a gravel-filled CMU foundation. That foundation issue is hinted at in the text referring to the “awesomely strong” house. From what I heard, the house was essentially a “DIY” project that was put together by the land owner. You don’t ever really see construction like that, and probably for good reason.
Out of all the places the Mayfield tornado hit, the only place I could actually see an EF5 rating being applied would be Cambridge Shores. Unfortunately, the contextual damage wasn’t what you would typically expect to see in an EF5. The construction quality of some of the homes though were pretty good. But construction quality and contextual damage need to overlap for a fair and conclusive rating. Some of the tree debarking was impressive however if I recall. I do think the wind speed of 170 MPH was too low at that place. Definitely high end EF4 worthy in my opinion.
Agreed. The construction quality along the path was overwhelmingly poor for the most part. I do however hold the opinion that Mayfield produced truly extreme contextual damage that ranks fairly high with some of the egregiously underrated EF4s.That’s fair. The tree argument is some genuine bs, but I can’t ignore the fact that there’s a slab resting on a gravel-filled CMU foundation. That foundation issue is hinted at in the text referring to the “awesomely strong” house. From what I heard, the house was essentially a “DIY” project that was put together by the land owner. You don’t ever really see construction like that, and probably for good reason.
In a nutshell, I don’t deny that Mayfield had EF5 winds, but I can’t identify a single “slam dunk” EF5 damage point along the path that seals the deal, and I dug pretty deep. It’s just not a very clear-cut case of underrating compared to other more egregious examples.
I genuinely don’t know if i’ve ever seen a NWS office as lazy and non thorough as MEG.
I believe the dislodged walkway came from the first area of extremely intense damage. I can’t recall which house though on this block it happened at though.
