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Marshal79344

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Concerning July 2004, I feel that the Roanoke Tornado was not far behind the intensity of the Marion Tornado. The intensity reached by both tornadoes was phenomal.
20040713ROANOKE8.jpg20040713ROANOKE4.jpg20040713ROANOKE15.jpg20040713ROANOKE25.jpg20040713ROANOKE25.jpg20040713ROANOKE9.jpg20040713ROANOKE27.jpg20040713ROANOKE.PNG
 

Marshal79344

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Continued with 10 more pics:

11. Semi-truck that was separated from its trailer and thrown a considerable distance (NWS/Greg Gust).

View attachment 4999
12. The trailer portion of the semi-truck that had tens of thousands of pounds of grain inside was thrown 250 yards (NWS/Greg Gust).
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13. A shelterbelt that was annihilated (NWS/Greg Gust).
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14. Pieces of torn apart grain silos and other debris were strewn across a shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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15. A vehicle's chassis and other debris strewn through a shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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16. Another view of the obliterated shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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17. Debris strewn through another shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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18. Vehicles and other debris strewn through a shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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19. Part of a field cultivator that came to rest in a and sandwiched into some other vehicle (NWS/Greg Gust).
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20. Part of a field cultivator that came to rest in a severely scoured field (NWS/Greg Gust).
View attachment 5008


Of note, the ground scouring from this thing in the field was 700 yards wide, only Jarrell has a wider instance of the like (around 800 yards or so).
I find it very interesting how the rotational signature on the supercell responsible for the tornado was not impressive at all. 20040718MARION.png

Here is a LANDSAT image of the scouring the Marion Tornado produced. Contrary to popular belief, it actually started northwest of Marion, moved directly south for most of its life before turning southeast and dissipating near Marion. The scouring is that brown line extending from just parallel to the county line at left to just northeast of a small pond in LaMoure County. The tornado weakened and continued all the way to the Marion area before it dissipated.
20040718MARION.PNG
 
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Concerning July 2004, I feel that the Roanoke Tornado was not far behind the intensity of the Marion Tornado. The intensity reached by both tornadoes was phenomal.
View attachment 5011View attachment 5012View attachment 5013View attachment 5014View attachment 5019View attachment 5016View attachment 5017View attachment 5018
2004 had quite a bit of underrated violent tornadoes, don't forget Harper, KS also happening. I think all the surveyors for these things had said they wish they could go back and give them F5 ratings, in hindsight. The La Plata controversy back in 2002 likely contributed to these things being underrated and overlooked.
 

buckeye05

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Both Chance Haynes and Greg Gust, the lead surveyors for these tornadoes, did indeed later express regrets about rating these high-end F4 instead of F5.

With that said, I’m not sold on Roanoke being F5. I think the rating given was appropriate, considering that it didn’t sweep away anchored homes. The other two did. The contextual damage was similar to the others though.
 

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All the Guin talk also got me thinking about Tanner 1974. Here's a small photo dump of aerials from those two. Note that most of the homes don't appear that well-built, though the one in the first pic does seem to be. Also, the debris patterns here are consistent with a very violent tornado.
Nvb451W.jpg

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zlMcR5E.jpg
 
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Tanner might have the second-worst tornado luck in the country behind Moore, OK after receiving near-EF5 damage from the continuation of the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell tornado of 4/27/11.
 
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Some more pics from the Tanner tornadoes of 1974:

1. Leveled home near Harvest, Alabama:
1.jpg
2. Debris and tree damage in the Harvest, AL area:
2.jpg
3. Next two pics of the impaled bathtub in the ground near Harvest, AL:
3.jpg4.jpg
5. Homes swept away and scattered across fields near Hazel Green, AL as a result of the second Tanner tornado.
5.png



Sources:

1. https://www.weather.gov/hun/madisonal_grounddam_1974_aniv

2. https://www.weather.gov/hun/aer_zoom_nw

3. https://www.weather.gov/images/hun/...5_limestone_madison_lincoln_franklin/5-11.jpg

4. https://www.weather.gov/images/hun/stormsurveys/1974-04-03/pics/ground/AL/madison/harvest449.jpg
 
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Marshal79344

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Wind-rowing is a classic feature of extremely violent tornadoes. Here's a great example from the 2011 Ringgold, GA EF4 as it hit the Cherokee Valley area. 20110427RINGGOLDAERIAL4.jpg
 

buckeye05

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Intense wind-rowing, I would assume. Hackleburg did something similar when it was traveling through the Moulton, Hazel Green and Harvest, AL areas as well, I'll try to find more pictures of that.
Yup you’re right. Wind-rowing, with maybe some debris impact scarring of the ground too. I guess it being in black and white kinda threw me.
 
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There was a pretty strong tornado in Iraq in 2016, some videos showed strong rotation speed.


Stretching the definition of 'Middle East', but I know Pakistan and India get lots of tornadoes, perhaps the warm, moist air from the Indian Ocean and cold, dry air from the steppes and Siberia of Russia play a role in that? Also, while certainly not 'Middle East' but Bangladesh gets lots of tornadoes, often during monsoon season. In fact, the world's deadliest tornado occurred there in 1989.
 

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On September 7 2009 a violent F4 struck the village of Tobuna, Argentina. It swept several homes off their foundation and produced some very intense tree damage.
 

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Marshal79344

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On September 7 2009 a violent F4 struck the village of Tobuna, Argentina. It swept several homes off their foundation and produced some very intense tree damage.
Did some more digging into this event, and wow, this tornado was definitely the strongest tornado in 2009. This tornado was probably one of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded in the southern hemisphere. The supercell that spawned the tornado appears to have been surrounded by many other supercells, suggesting a potential messy situation with one dominant right moving supercell producing the tornado before going upscale.
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Did some more digging into this event, and wow, this tornado was definitely the strongest tornado in 2009. This tornado was probably one of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded in the southern hemisphere. The supercell that spawned the tornado appears to have been surrounded by many other supercells, suggesting a potential messy situation with one dominant right moving supercell producing the tornado before going upscale.
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That is some of the most violent tree damage I’ve ever seen outside of the United States.
 

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I'm beginning to think that Brazil and southeastern South America in general, is more prone to violent tornadoes than previously thought, like China. Check out this insane tree damage from a tornado earlier this year near Agua Doce, Brazil. Whole forest of debarked trees here, almost like Bassfield, MS. No official rating was assigned as far as I know, but based on this tree damage, i'd say this tornado reached EF4 intensity as it traversed dense forest. Damage in more populated areas along the path was less intense, thankfully.
4402_88e9cc004935353fc25509fce29e41a8.png
 

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I'm beginning to think that Brazil and southeastern South America in general, is more prone to violent tornadoes than previously thought, like China. Check out this insane tree damage from a tornado earlier this year near Agua Doce, Brazil. Whole forest of debarked trees here, almost like Bassfield, MS. No official rating was assigned as far as I know, but based on this tree damage, i'd say this tornado reached EF4 intensity as it traversed dense forest. Damage in more populated areas along the path was less intense, thankfully.
4402_88e9cc004935353fc25509fce29e41a8.png
I may argue that different counties have different tree speices and the level they prone to debark is different. It's hard to judge from this distance but it looks like soft wood to me.There are thin, tall trees still had some leaves left on and not been snapped.(It only need winds well below 100mph to snap these kinds of trees) Strong tornado not doubt but whether violent or not was questionable to me. That argentina tornado in 2009 was indeed violent and had a good chance stronger than Murfreesboro TN and Lone Grove OK that year.
 
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pohnpei

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Some trees will show their skins when they are snapped and it's common when it comes to downburst event. So I will look carefully on those trees remain standing beside. If they didn't show any debarking I will be more questionable beacuse winds can't be so selective that it randomly completely debark some of these trees and leave others entirely intact.(especially when those "completely debarked trees "were all snapped ones)
I'm beginning to think that Brazil and southeastern South America in general, is more prone to violent tornadoes than previously thought, like China. Check out this insane tree damage from a tornado earlier this year near Agua Doce, Brazil. Whole forest of debarked trees here, almost like Bassfield, MS. No official rating was assigned as far as I know, but based on this tree damage, i'd say this tornado reached EF4 intensity as it traversed dense forest. Damage in more populated areas along the path was less intense, thankfully.
4402_88e9cc004935353fc25509fce29e41a8.png
 
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