Significant Tornado Events

[MNTornadoGuy]

Tree damage from Haumont, France tornado of 2008:


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Some PDFs on it:

1. http://www.keraunos.org/recherche-tornade-hautmont-maubeuge-mahieu-wesolek.pdf (In French, but source of the tree damage pics and ton of others):

Also, I do recommend checking out my initial post on it: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events.1276/page-63#post-49332

Now that was definitely an EF4 as there was intense debarking, well-built homes were leveled and debris rowing. It was probably the strongest European tornado in recent times besides the 2015 Italy EF4.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Now that was definitely an EF4 as there was intense debarking, well-built homes were leveled and debris rowing. It was probably the strongest European tornado in recent times besides the 2015 Italy EF4.

It's probably the most intense tornado damage outside of the Americas that is clearly photographed (at least for now):

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I do wonder if tornadoes have occurred in Antarctica in recent times and they haven’t been recorded by humans as no one witnessed them. Thunderstorms do occur over Antarctica during the summer months (there was a photo online of a shelf cloud at an Antarctic observatory but the website is gone now) so I don’t see what’s stopping weak tornadoes from forming.

 

[pohnpei]

Tree damage from Haumont, France tornado of 2008:


View attachment 5268View attachment 5269

Some PDFs on it:

1. http://www.keraunos.org/recherche-tornade-hautmont-maubeuge-mahieu-wesolek.pdf (In French, but source of the tree damage pics and ton of others):

Also, I do recommend checking out my initial post on it: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events.1276/page-63#post-49332

The environment of this EF4 occured resemble to some of the most classic Dixie violent tornados in winter/early spring with low cape and high shear such as Cookeville TN this year. The damage was very impressive especially considering that the moving speed has reached 50mph of this one.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I do wonder if tornadoes have occurred in Antarctica in recent times and they haven’t been recorded by humans as no one witnessed them. Thunderstorms do occur over Antarctica during the summer months (there was a photo online of a shelf cloud at an Antarctic observatory but the website is gone now) so I don’t see what’s stopping weak tornadoes from forming.

I also wonder if they've occurred far north in Canada (like Nunavut, Yukon Wilderness and the Northwest Territories), the interior of Greenland and Siberia. I know Alaska has had 4 tornadoes confirmed there since 1959 so it's definitely not impossible. I also wonder if a supercell has ever-spawned a weak or violent tornado in the middle of the ocean and it never got recorded or if tornadoes have touched down directly on the Great Lakes and never been documented as how can you prove a tornado's track over water?

This article is interesting concerning lightning and thunderstorms in Antarctica: https://www.researchgate.net/public...ning_Flash_Activity_in_the_Western_Antarctica

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I also wonder if they've occurred far north in Canada (like Nunavut, Yukon Wilderness and the Northwest Territories), the interior of Greenland and Siberia. I know Alaska has had 4 tornadoes confirmed there since 1959 so it's definitely not impossible. I also wonder if a supercell has ever-spawned a weak or violent tornado in the middle of the ocean and it never got recorded or if tornadoes have touched down directly on the Great Lakes and never been documented as how can you prove a tornado's track over water?

This article is interesting concerning lightning and thunderstorms in Antarctica: https://www.researchgate.net/public...ning_Flash_Activity_in_the_Western_Antarctica

In March of 2006, an unusual severe weather set-up formed in the open ocean near the islands of Hawaii. Radar documented a well-formed supercell thunderstorm, likely with a large tornadic waterspout, 100 miles off the coast of the Big Island. Such discoveries highlight the existence of strong tornadoes, however rare they may occur, in locations unaccustomed to severe thunderstorms. (Image by Nash, Rydell and Kodama, 2006)

 

[buckeye05]

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8YgBSDRzcTzSDYyWWM0RHNHUjA/edit?pli=1 Here are some damage photographs from this video about the tornado:
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In the foreground is the foundation of a home that was partly swept clean.

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Photo showing debarked trees and ground scouring.

Wow! This really changes my perspective on this tornado. EF4 rating well deserved, and easily the most violent Australian tornado since the implementation of the EF scale.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Another tornado that possibly did F5 damage outside the United States, Tecumseh of 1946:

Two photos of it, it was a classic drillbit, no more than 100 feet wide:



Damage:

1. The home at upper left was destroyed and swept away.



2. View of a home that was completely destroyed by the Tecumseh tornado. The basement walls collapsed, causing a landslide of dirt to partially fill the empty cellar. Though the quality of construction is unknown, damage of this severity hints at possible F5 winds. The narrow tornado was very selective, leaving homes across the street with little damage.




Interesting fact, this tornado's path began in the community of River Rouge, which is located in Wayne County, Michigan before crossing the border into Canada, specifically, Essex County, Ontario where the communities it struck, Windsor and Tecumseh are located. On April 3, 1974 an F3 tornado touched down in the community of Flat Rock which is also located in Wayne County, Michigan and crossed the border into Ontario, striking Essex County and impacting areas near Windsor, Ontario yet again. All 9 fatalities from the 1974 storm occurred on the Ontario side.

Source: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...de-the-united-states-canada-france-and-japan/

 

[pohnpei]

Speaking of Austalia, here are some very intense tornadoes that have occurred in Australia recently:

Jan 4, 2004 Grampians National Park Tornado
This tornado went unrecorded by the Australian Meteorological Bureau but produced some very intense vegetation damage. A large swath of forest was downed with many trees being stripped of branches. One 8 to 10-hectare area was completely stripped of all vegetation with even the undergrowth being torn out.
View attachment 5231

Mar 1, 2007 Kakadu National Park Tornado
The Australian Meteorological Bureau rated this tornado as an F2-F3. This powerful tornado debarked eucalyptus trees and uprooted thousands of trees. Two caravans were destroyed.
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Mar 21, 2013 Cobram Tornado
This is the strongest officially rated tornado to occur in Australia since 2000 as it was rated as an EF4 by the BOM. Homes were leveled, trees debarked, farm machinery mangled and the ground was scoured.
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It has been mentioned in a document that the hardwood trees in Australia is more "sturdy" than US

the outbreak map that day

Enviroment:

 

[pohnpei]

Might as well add this other notable Japanese tornado:
Tsukuba, Japan – May 6, 2012

View attachment 5240

"At left, the Tsukuba tornado swept a small home completely away adjacent to a five-story apartment complex that was severely damaged. At center, the mat foundation of a destroyed home was uprooted from the ground by the tornado’s powerful updraft. At right, a tree was debarked – a damage feature rarely seen outside the United States". Quote from extremeplanet.wordpress.com

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"At center right, view of a home that was swept completely away by the Tsukuba tornado. The primary damage swath was often only 20 yards wide". Quote from extremeplanet.wordpress.com

A photograph of it:

View attachment 5242


My source for this and the Hokkaido tornado information: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...de-the-united-states-canada-france-and-japan/

Some footages of this tornado was quite impressive, especially this one:


There were only 6 F3 tornados in Japan since 1961 according to JMA and this was one of them.
The report of this tornado can be found here:

http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/data/bosai/tornado/2012050603/ref01.pdf

 

[pohnpei]

The last F3 tornado in Japan happened in 2018 where a weather station recorded 62.1m/s when tornado passed by.

The report can be found here:http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/data/bosai/tornado/new/20180616/20181011_okinawa.pdf
The damage nearby seemed more like EF1 esque.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

One other place in the world that experiences tornadoes on a regular basis is Bangladesh. Here due to poor structural quality and a lack of a warning system tornadoes have been known to kill thousands of people. I wonder what was the strongest tornado to occur in this region as some sources say that F4 tornadoes have been recorded in Bangladesh but give no specific examples.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

One other place in the world that experiences tornadoes on a regular basis is Bangladesh. Here due to poor structural quality and a lack of a warning system tornadoes have been known to kill thousands of people. I wonder what was the strongest tornado to occur in this region as some sources say that F4 tornadoes have been recorded in Bangladesh but give no specific examples.

Regarding Bangladesh, some useful links:

1. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/

2. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/climo/btorcli0.htm

3. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/climo/TORCLIMB.htm

You will note that tornadoes over there routinely kill 100s of people. Bangladesh's geography puts it at extreme vulnerability to natural disasters, tornadoes, flash floods, droughts, you name it. In fact the deadliest tornado in world history occurred there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatpur–Saturia_tornado

Keep in mind, the majority of people in Bangladesh live in shanty towns with very poor structural integrity, this, combined with lack of any sort of warning system is likely what contributes to the massive fatality rates over there. At the same time I do wonder if there have been numerous F4-F5s there but they were never ranked as such as any structures they encounter wouldn't register any more than F3-type damage.

Interesting side note: The heaviest authenticated hailstone ever measured was one of 2.25 pounds that fell in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Regarding Bangladesh, some useful links:

1. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/

2. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/climo/btorcli0.htm

3. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/climo/TORCLIMB.htm

You will note that tornadoes over there routinely kill 100s of people. Bangladesh's geography puts it at extreme vulnerability to natural disasters, tornadoes, flash floods, droughts, you name it. In fact the deadliest tornado in world history occurred there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatpur–Saturia_tornado

Keep in mind, the majority of people in Bangladesh live in shanty towns with very poor structural integrity, this, combined with lack of any sort of warning system is likely what contributes to the massive fatality rates over there. At the same time I do wonder if there have been numerous F4-F5s there but they were never ranked as such as any structures they encounter wouldn't register any more than F3-type damage.

Interesting side note: The heaviest authenticated hailstone ever measured was one of 2.25 pounds that fell in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986

There are some reports of debarking and ground scouring from some of the Bangladesh tornadoes.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

One extremely interesting tornado that is there very little information about is the 1978 Yellowknife tornado. Some witnesses say they saw a mile-wide wedge tornado that demolished a transmission tower. From Environment Canada's internal database and 1978 Weather Wise:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Interesting stuff involving the Bulahdelah tornado.....so, I found some pictures of the types of trees it would have uprooted, debarked or mowed down in it's path. Keep in mind that many of the world's oldest, tallest and thickest trees are located in Australia.

Here's a picture of the largest tree in the forest and one of the largest and tallest in Australia, the "Grandis":



So know, the trees it encountered would not have been lightweight or anything like that:

Some articles on Australian tornadeos:

48 years ago, a tornado struck the Bulahdelah State Forest

More than one million marketable trees were damaged or destroyed.

www.newcastleherald.com.au

'Mini-tornado' causes building damage at WA farms

Wild weather set to continue in WA's Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions

www.abc.net.au

AUSTRALIAN SKY & WEATHER - Tornadoes Past & Present

RE: Australian tornado climatology and information / Bulahdelah Tornado Report 1/1/1970 - Extreme Storms

Quote from: enak_12 on 01 June 2011, 10:21:24 PM"The Bulahdelah Tornado was an intense tornado which occurred near the town of Bulahdelah (100 kilometres (62.1 mi) north-northeast of Newcastle), New South Wales on 1 January 1970, and is thought t...

www.extremestorms.com.au

BSCH - Tornadoes

Wiki article on the trees it would have encountered in the forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_grandis

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Interesting stuff involving the Bulahdelah tornado.....so, I found some pictures of the types of trees it would have uprooted, debarked or mowed down in it's path. Keep in mind that many of the world's oldest, tallest and thickest trees are located in Australia.

Here's a picture of the largest tree in the forest and one of the largest and tallest in Australia, the "Grandis":

View attachment 5286

So know, the trees it encountered would not have been lightweight or anything like that:

Some articles on Australian tornadeos:

48 years ago, a tornado struck the Bulahdelah State Forest

More than one million marketable trees were damaged or destroyed.

www.newcastleherald.com.au

'Mini-tornado' causes building damage at WA farms

Wild weather set to continue in WA's Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions

www.abc.net.au

AUSTRALIAN SKY & WEATHER - Tornadoes Past & Present

RE: Australian tornado climatology and information / Bulahdelah Tornado Report 1/1/1970 - Extreme Storms

Quote from: enak_12 on 01 June 2011, 10:21:24 PM"The Bulahdelah Tornado was an intense tornado which occurred near the town of Bulahdelah (100 kilometres (62.1 mi) north-northeast of Newcastle), New South Wales on 1 January 1970, and is thought t...

www.extremestorms.com.au

BSCH - Tornadoes

Wiki article on the trees it would have encountered in the forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_grandis

I wish there was more ground or aerial imagery of the damage swath of the tornado as all we have are descriptions and low-quality photos of an overturned tractor and destroyed caravan.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The 1968 La Rivière, Manitoba tornado. Ranked F3, some pretty impressive pictures of it:

Jul 2020: Gallery: Looking back: The 1968 La Rivière tornado

Winnipeg Free Press photographer Dave Bonner was vacationing at a La Rivière cabin when a devastating tornado struck the evening of July 20, 1968. He and his brother-in-law had just finished sw...

www.winnipegfreepress.com

One thing I've noticed about these Canadian tornadoes we've discussed is that quite a few of them occur in June or July, perhaps tornado season is different up there?

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Something else to note is the higher bases on the plains storms than the Dixie alley storms. What’s interesting about the 4/27 storms is a lot of them started with higher bases and as they progressed north and East got lower to the ground. An example is the Cullman tornado. Most everyone has seen the 33/40 footage as it approaches Cullman but by the time it gets to Arab the entire wall cloud is almost scrapping the ground and the actual vortex is only seen in close up videos. The actual damage path wasn’t as wide as pictures and video appear it would be. Same with Tuscaloosa. Most pics and videos from Mississippi and as it churns through Tuscaloosa show a pretty tall tornado but as it approached north Bham it appeared to be all wall cloud.

Why did they start with higher bases & get lower to the ground? Something about the elevation of Dixie Alley?

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So, back to the United States for a bit. I'm surprised no one has brought up the Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornado event yet. Obviously, the entire 220-mile long path is now realized to have been made up of 5-6 tornadoes of varying intensity that swept through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, but, like the Tri-State Tornado family, all the deaths and destruction can likely be blamed on a single VLT wedge tornado that traveled somewhere in the range of ~75-~125 miles, pretty impressive for a plains event. An interesting detail concerns the supercell: it encountered the warm front at about the same time it began to produce the Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornado, and in fact it likely tracked parallel to and just slightly on the cool side of this front. This was also the case with the Tri-State tornado, 4/27/11 Hackleburg and a number of other VLT tornadoes.

Sources:
1. https://stormstalker.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/the-woodward-tornado/
2. https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19470409


So, time for some photographs:

Glazier: