The question is whether the 8 feet of spacing is from anchor bolts never being put in or if they were pulled out by the tornado and/or clean up.
Here’s video from the south of the home:
I think what he’s getting at is the sill plates were likely straight nailed into the studs below, which is considered a weakness in anchoring. There is obvious anchor-bolting with nuts and washers, but there was probably a weakness in the studs/joists into the sill plating is what I think he means.
I believe completely stripped and debarked trees are indicative of high end EF5 wind speeds (250 MPH+) and not 200 MPH. We've seen way too many slabs from well built homes without significant denuding and debarking to conclude otherwise. Also denuding and debarking usually is the result of wind driven debris pelting, so if a house is alone in a field, its trees will be less debarked.
He should say that then. "Typical nails" provides no clarity whatsoever. Typical means different things to different people. But I see missing sills, which tells me the studs were mounted well enough to take the sill with them.
Agreed. Except, I believe the additional fact the house was brick solidifies it as 190 mph+
Yeah, if it was brick it can probably go closer to a 195 mph EF4. Either way I think LZK made the right call.
The only way to fix the issue…is to make the scale way less strict again.
There’s nothing to indicate that Tim made any direct comments about the plants, clothes line poles or anything else. Those pics are not even from his survey, and were clearly taken the morning after by someone named Bret Bowen.My response to Marshall:
1. Those plants were obviously collected and lined up in the immediate aftermath, or brought in from somewhere else. If they survived a tornado like that, the only conclusion it would indicate is that tornadoes are beyond our current understanding. A light breeze could knock over those pots, but the house was obliterated by a full-grown, uprooted, wind launched maple tree.
2. "Typical nails"? WTF does that even mean? No pictures or description? Does he mean NORMAL nails? If straps are required for EF5 damage we're going to be searching for a long time. If a tornado's chances of hitting a structure built to his standards is next to zero then what the heck is even the point? EF5s just don't exist in the world and news until that happens?
3. He's referencing anchor bolts "missing", but doesn't acknowledged that they were ripped out of the ground or bent by the tornado, as evidenced by the HOLES IN THE CONCRETE where they were. Which makes his statement a half truth at best, and full blown misinformation at worst.
4. Clothesline intact... A steel pole, anchored in concrete, with no surface area, WAS INTACT? How about the pole anchored in 3 feet of concrete that was uprooted just down the street?? It was in the chat, did you not get the memo?
5. Lack of debarking. Most tree clean up was done before he arrived on site, as you can see in the original picture. Also note the debarking of the tree on the slab. Both these pics clearly show debarked trees.
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Why is this dude an authority on tornado damage again?
It’s honestly comical the flack Tim is catching on twitter for not satisfying the weenies by not upgrading Diaz to Ef5, despite him utterly having no hand in the initial survey.
I don’t agree with everything he says, but he’s definitely the preferred scapegoat when it comes to rating controversies.
Yes. I should’ve clarified on the Twitter post and in the thread that those were purely my observations, although the typical nails and NWS being official comment was from him. Was running a bit low on sleep last night when I posted that, but definitely should’ve clarified most of that was my own observations as to why EF4 is the right call.
No worries. It’s not my intention to drag you, or anyone for that matter. My apologies if I came off as harsh or dismissive of you. I just think it’s important to stay within the boundaries of verifiable information and avoid feeding the social media rumor mill.
No problem man. I completely agree, which again I should’ve made a disclaimer sooner that much of those observations were noted by me instead of Tim.
It really is getting ridiculous, this is just a handful of comments I’ve seen this morning.
Seems about right for “random sports, weather guy” and “Spomer”.
This place was almost peak Wx Twitter on Friday when we had some discord poster leaking NWS chat contents. Their other sole contribution was to write “ZOMG” after posting a sounding.
