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Significant Tornado Events

Aaron Rider said:
Speaking of "EF6," I was just thinking about that on a lazy, windy Saturday here in PA. From everything I've read, this is my list of what I consider F5+++ or "F6" tornadoes since the 1950s.

Flint-Beecher MI, 1953
Udall, KS, 1955
Hudsonville, MI, 1956
Dunlap (Sunnyside) IN, 1965
Pittsfield - Strongsville, OH, 1965
Guin, AL, 1974
Brandenburg, KY, 1974
Jordan, IA, 1976
Niles-Wheatland PA/OH, 1985
Bakersfield Valley, TX 1990
Andover, KS 1991
Red Rock, OK 1991
Jarrell, TX 1997
Bridge Creek, OK 1999
Loyal Valley, TX 1999
Harper, KS 2004
Greensburg, KS 2007
Parkersburg, IA 2008
New Wren, MS 2011
Smithville, MS 2011
Philadelphia, MS 2011
Rainsville, AL 2011
Hackleburg-Phil, AL Campbell 2011
El Reno-Piedmont, OK 2011
Joplin, MO 2011
Moore, OK 2011
Vilonia, AR 2014
Holly Springs, MS 2015 [the violence at that drag strip was unbelievable]

Any comments?

As a Pennsylvanian, I obviously wanted to add the Moshannon State Forest tornado...:)
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Smithville is the only tornado in recent memory that I think could be labeled an EF6, see my previous post on it.

talkweather.com

Significant Tornado Events

I looked at GR Level 3 data for the event, and the supercell responsible for the Pampa tornado seemed to be along a "boundary" of some sort, extremely similar to the Jarrell setup of 97. That may play a part in the tornado's erratic movement. Interesting, Pampa's movement was also similar to...
talkweather.com talkweather.com

Of course, Jarrell is likely the other F6/EF6 candidate, and what's interesting is it moved slow, and Smithville moved fast yet both produced similar damage.
 
Austin Dawg said:
It still blows my mind that this happened in the town, I grew up in.

ETA—it was really strange through people. I knew all my life was talked about in this video. My brother lived at the end of Monroe Street, right where the worst damage was across the road from him. The curtains that were set up between the ceiling and the wall were from his house directly across the street from him, there was nothing left.
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I see you're in Leander now. I have an ex who was living there. LOL small world.

How are the people in Smithville doing today?
 
Juliett Bravo Kilo said:
Smithville is the only tornado in recent memory that I think could be labeled an EF6, see my previous post on it.

talkweather.com

Significant Tornado Events

I looked at GR Level 3 data for the event, and the supercell responsible for the Pampa tornado seemed to be along a "boundary" of some sort, extremely similar to the Jarrell setup of 97. That may play a part in the tornado's erratic movement. Interesting, Pampa's movement was also similar to...
talkweather.com talkweather.com

Of course, Jarrell is likely the other F6/EF6 candidate, and what's interesting is it moved slow, and Smithville moved fast yet both produced similar damage.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I suppose I should have had a standard in mind for what I consider an EXTREMELY violent F5. Perhaps something like, ALL or most of the F5 characteristics are there and there in extreme proportions?

For example, I have no doubt that Tuscaloosa was an F5 based on the damage out in the boonies but obviously it was NO Smithville. Similarly, I don't think anyone would dispute that Brandenburg was more violent than Xenia, based on what we know.

Put it this way: when I first read Loco's post on his blog about Pomeroy, it literally terrified me just reading about it.
 
Aaron Rider said:
Thanks. I suppose I should have had a standard in mind for what I consider an EXTREMELY violent F5.

For example, I have no doubt that Tuscaloosa was an F5 based on the damage out in the boonies but obviously it was NO Smithville. Similarly, I don't think anyone would dispute that Brandenburg was more violent than Xenia, based on what we know.
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Yeah, a handful of high-end F5/EF5s I consider to be F6/EF6 worthy, it such a label could be accepted. Might as well list them:

1. Jarrell
2. Smithville
3. Bakersfield Valley
4. El Reno 2011
5. Bridge Creek-Moore 1999 (in Bridge Creek, at least)
 
Juliett Bravo Kilo said:
Yeah, a handful of high-end F5/EF5s I consider to be F6/EF6 worthy, it such a label could be accepted. Might as well list them:

1. Jarrell
2. Smithville
3. Bakersfield Valley
4. El Reno 2011
5. Bridge Creek-Moore 1999 (in Bridge Creek, at least)
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Speaking of El Reno Piedmont, what other tornados completely obliterated concrete stem walls like happened at that trenched house?
 
Aaron Rider said:
I was glad he showcased just how absurdly violent the New Wren tornado was as well.

For my money, there were 6 tornadoes that should definitely have been rated 5s that day. The 4 that were, plus Tuscaloosa and New Wren.

But New Wren may well have been even more violent than Tuscaloosa.
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Tbh, I didn’t even know hardly anything about the New Wren tornado, all I heard about was it should’ve been a HE EF4. This gives me a whole different perspective about not only this tornado. But also how that supercell was in general. Probably the most intense and strongest supercell to ever touch this planet.
 
Brice W said:
Tbh, I didn’t even know hardly anything about the New Wren tornado, all I heard about was it should’ve been a HE EF4. This gives me a whole different perspective about not only this tornado. But also how that supercell was in general. Probably the most intense and strongest supercell to ever touch this planet.
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It’s definitely one of the strongest supercells to touch the planet in human history. Another one from that day that deserves mentioning would be the cell that produced Philadelphia, Cordova, Rainsville and Ringgold all in a row.

Im assuming that there was some supercell millions of years ago that made anything we’ve seen look laughable in comparison though, I mean, just imagine. We’ve only had good scientific data for these things for about 40-50 years. The planet’s been around much longer than we have. We can say with almost absolute certainty there was some moment prehistorically where a super outbreak that dwarfed even 2011 occurred.
 
Brice W said:
Tbh, I didn’t even know hardly anything about the New Wren tornado, all I heard about was it should’ve been a HE EF4. This gives me a whole different perspective about not only this tornado. But also how that supercell was in general. Probably the most intense and strongest supercell to ever touch this planet.
Click to expand...
Tornado Talk had a GREAT article about the insane damage of the New Wren tornado but it is now, unfortunately, you guessed it, Patreon Only. Used to be free within the last year or so. It was a monster in its own right.

Long story short is NWS Memphis just missed miles of damage, including the most violent damage. While it's tempting to cite the fact that they were overwhelmed after an outbreak of such size, but they also did the same thing with Holly Springs in 2015.
 
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slenker said:
It’s definitely one of the strongest supercells to touch the planet in human history. Another one from that day that deserves mentioning would be the cell that produced Philadelphia, Cordova, Rainsville and Ringgold all in a row.

Im assuming that there was some supercell millions of years ago that made anything we’ve seen look laughable in comparison though, I mean, just imagine. We’ve only had good scientific data for these things for about 40-50 years. The planet’s been around much longer than we have. We can say with almost absolute certainty there was some moment prehistorically where a super outbreak that dwarfed even 2011 occurred.
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I'm struggling to remember which supercells produced which tornadoes that day. Does anyone know of a list somewhere?
 
Aaron Rider said:
I'm struggling to remember which supercells produced which tornadoes that day. Does anyone know of a list somewhere?
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Unsure, but I’m pretty sure that
1. Same cell produced New Wren EF3 -> Smithville EF5 -> Probably produced another but I’m unaware
2. Hackleburg EF5 cell produced an EF3 afterwards (or maybe the Great Smoky Mountains TN EF4)
3. Cullman EF4 cell produced Flat Rock EF4 afterwards, iirc.
4. Tuscaloosa EF4 cell produced Ohatchee EF4 afterwards, then produced some other EF3s.
5. Philadelphia EF5 cell produced Cordova EF4, then Rainsville EF5, then Ringgold EF4. Probably the most impressive one IMO.
6. Bridgeport EF4 was its own cell.
7. Enterprise was its own cell I believe, but Rose Hill/Yantley EF4 could’ve come out of this one as well.
8. Lake Martin EF4 was its own cell.

I’m sure I missed a couple violent tornadoes here, but we had 3 cells officially produce more than one violent tornado, probably more like 4-5 though. Truly unbelievable. The day lives in infamy for a damn good reason.

Also, I’m of the belief that pretty much every single HE EF4 that day outside of the Great Smoky Mountains, Enterprise and Lake Martin most certainly achieved EF5 intensity but didn’t hit anything to fully deserve the rating, given the atmospheric parameters that existed for them.
 
Celton Henderson did a great video synopsis of the Smithville, MS tornado. I just watched it. It took all I had not to break. He did a great job with it too!
 
Aaron Rider said:
Tornado Talk had a GREAT article about the insane damage of the New Wren tornado but it is now, unfortunately, you guessed it, Patreon Only. Used to be free within the last year or so. It was a monster in its own right.

Long story short is NWS Memphis just missed miles of damage, including the most violent damage. While it's tempting to cite the fact that they were overwhelmed after an outbreak of such size, but they also did the same thing with Holly Springs in 2015.
Click to expand...
MEG was also responsible for surveying the 3/31/2023 McNairy County, TN long-tracker. At first I honestly thought they were doing a decent job with the survey - credit where credit is due, their survey of this tornado was far more thorough than their "surveys" of New Wren 2011 and Holly Springs 2015. But of course, this wouldn't be NWS Memphis if they didn't find some other way to screw it up...

Enter the damage in Purdy. Specifically, to that of the Purdy Community Center, a small but well-built brick building that was completely leveled and all but slabbed. Do you know what damage description they gave this DI? 145MPH EF3, "interior walls remain standing"

"interior walls remain standing"
2145518

Now, I don't work for the NWS or anything, but does anyone else see where these allegedly still standing interior walls are? Because I sure don't...

Some may assume that "maybe the photo is post-cleanup" but I find that too to be a highly unlikely scenario, as the survey date for this DI specifically states it was surveyed the day after the tornado.

Not to mention, this occurred nearby:
1740222925842-png.34055


As another user put it: "Just MEG doing MEG things."
 
TH2002 said:
MEG was also responsible for surveying the 3/31/2023 McNairy County, TN long-tracker. At first I honestly thought they were doing a decent job with the survey - credit where credit is due, their survey of this tornado was far more thorough than their "surveys" of New Wren 2011 and Holly Springs 2015. But of course, this wouldn't be NWS Memphis if they didn't find some other way to screw it up...

Enter the damage in Purdy. Specifically, to that of the Purdy Community Center, a small but well-built brick building that was completely leveled and all but slabbed. Do you know what damage description they gave this DI? 145MPH EF3, "interior walls remain standing"

"interior walls remain standing"
2145518

Now, I don't work for the NWS or anything, but does anyone else see where these allegedly still standing interior walls are? Because I sure don't...

Some may assume that "maybe the photo is post-cleanup" but I find that too to be a highly unlikely scenario, as the survey date for this DI specifically states it was surveyed the day after the tornado.

Not to mention, this occurred nearby:
1740222925842-png.34055


As another user put it: "Just MEG doing MEG things."
Click to expand...
Lmao, what? Surely that's violent damage. The house looks like it's nailed rather than bolted, but still. This is even worse than the "EF2" during the December 10 '21 outbreak that swept a brick home off its foundation because of "debris impacts"

EDIT: didn't realize this wasn't in the EF debate thread, so if I post any more about this I'll move it over there.
 
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