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Significant Tornado Events

So, back to Rainsville for a second. This thing was bizarrely selective, but the few instances of extreme damage it did are among the most powerful ever recorded.

Some notable photographs:

These 2 photographs are of the 800 pound Liberty safe that was anchored to the foundation of a home, ripped and thrown a significant distance into the woods nearby with its door removed and the cab of the pickup thrown 250 yards from 1608 Lingerfelt Road, the largest piece of the vehicle remaining.

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The remains of a school bus:

rain_3.jpg

Severe vegetation damage, tree debarking and ground scouring north of Rainsville and pavement scouring near Sylvania.

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Swept away homes and cul-de-sacs. The scouring of debris downwind is incredible:

rainsville-ef5-tornado-damage-1.png

rainsville-ef5-tornado-skaggs-road.png

Article on it: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...5-damage-in-rainsville-alabama-april-27-2011/
 
So, back to Rainsville for a second. This thing was bizarrely selective, but the few instances of extreme damage it did are among the most powerful ever recorded.

Some notable photographs:

These 2 photographs are of the 800 pound Liberty safe that was anchored to the foundation of a home, ripped and thrown a significant distance into the woods nearby with its door removed and the cab of the pickup thrown 250 yards from 1608 Lingerfelt Road, the largest piece of the vehicle remaining.

View attachment 7992
View attachment 7993

The remains of a school bus:

View attachment 7994

Severe vegetation damage, tree debarking and ground scouring north of Rainsville and pavement scouring near Sylvania.

View attachment 7995


Swept away homes and cul-de-sacs. The scouring of debris downwind is incredible:

View attachment 7996

View attachment 7997

Article on it: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...5-damage-in-rainsville-alabama-april-27-2011/
Honestly, i used to think rainsville was overrated, not anymore, this tornado was well deserved of its rating and produced very intense damage, but not smithville or hackleburg level
 
So, back to Rainsville for a second. This thing was bizarrely selective, but the few instances of extreme damage it did are among the most powerful ever recorded.

Some notable photographs:

These 2 photographs are of the 800 pound Liberty safe that was anchored to the foundation of a home, ripped and thrown a significant distance into the woods nearby with its door removed and the cab of the pickup thrown 250 yards from 1608 Lingerfelt Road, the largest piece of the vehicle remaining.

View attachment 7992
View attachment 7993

The remains of a school bus:

View attachment 7994

Severe vegetation damage, tree debarking and ground scouring north of Rainsville and pavement scouring near Sylvania.

View attachment 7995


Swept away homes and cul-de-sacs. The scouring of debris downwind is incredible:

View attachment 7996

View attachment 7997

Article on it: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...5-damage-in-rainsville-alabama-april-27-2011/
There were two houses along Old County Road 180 where tornado reached its peak intensity. The one labeled as "one of the strongest ever surveyed" by extremeplanet was this one below:

But what contradictory to this was that this house was labeled EF4 with 185mph rating om damage viewer and this foundation to me was a block foundation.
IMG_0905.JPG

Another house south of this house seems more accord to NWS's description of "large two story house" to me:
Img_2021-03-30-09-56-49.jpg

So There was some incongruity between NWS /damage viewer and extremeplanet's article to me about which house was Tammy Robinson's house.
 
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The pre-2000 horsemen of tornado tree debarking pictures from my collection"

New Richmond, WI

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Fergus Falls, MN

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Udall, KS

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Chesterfield, MI


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Brandenburg, KY

View attachment 8006

Guin, AL

View attachment 8007

Andover, KS

View attachment 8008

1998 Birmingham Twister

View attachment 8009

Dover, OK


View attachment 8010
I know someone out there has an insane picture of debarking from May 3, 1999. Feel free to add any of your nominations below!
 
I just noticed something crazy and rather embarrassing for NWS Dodge City on the DAT.

You all remember how there was an unwarned couplet and CC drop near Ensign, KS earlier on the 13th of this month right? Remember how dismissive and rude NWS Dodge City was about it? Well it turns out there was a tornado, as somebody quietly added an EF2 damage path near Ensign to the Damage Assessment Toolkit, with EF2 damage to power poles and some scouring in farm fields being found. It just sort of showed up on the DAT, with no Public Information Statement issued or any mention of it on twitter, as if they are trying to document it while being as hush-hush as possible. It's clear that someone messed up in the hot seat, they were unprofessional when confronted about it and denied it, and then have quietly had to eat their words.
 
I just noticed something crazy and rather embarrassing for NWS Dodge City on the DAT.

You all remember how there was an unwarned couplet and CC drop near Ensign, KS earlier on the 13th of this month right? Remember how dismissive and rude NWS Dodge City was about it? Well it turns out there was a tornado, as somebody quietly added an EF2 damage path near Ensign to the Damage Assessment Toolkit, with EF2 damage to power poles and some scouring in farm fields being found. It just sort of showed up on the DAT, with no Public Information Statement issued or any mention of it on twitter, as if they are trying to document it while being as hush-hush as possible. It's clear that someone messed up in the hot seat, they were unprofessional when confronted about it and denied it, and then have quietly had to eat their words.
Yeah, an elevated storm would not have an RFD and an inflow signature like that one on radar now would it. I mean, they should still take into account the mesoscale-accident card.

20210313ENSIGNKS.PNG
 
The pre-2000 horsemen of tornado tree debarking pictures from my collection"

New Richmond, WI

View attachment 7999

Fergus Falls, MN

View attachment 8003

Udall, KS

View attachment 8004

Chesterfield, MI


View attachment 8005

Brandenburg, KY

View attachment 8006

Guin, AL

View attachment 8007

1977 Birmingham Twister

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Andover, KS

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1998 Birmingham Twister

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That first pic shows the entire ground just covered in granulated debris. Incredible.
The Fergus Falls one I'd love to know if there are any photos of the neighborhood before hand, as it looks like a ton of homes got swept away.
 
Hey pohnpei, can you tell me what city or town in China the July 2020 EF3 occurred near? I got your link but it's tough to navigate and I'm curious about this event. I see that it blew over a metal truss tower, but I want to know about what other damage it caused.
 
Hey pohnpei, can you tell me what city or town in China the July 2020 EF3 occurred near? I got your link but it's tough to navigate and I'm curious about this event. I see that it blew over a metal truss tower, but I want to know about what other damage it caused.
It near Suzhou City, AnHui Province. The radar below showed more precise abscissa and ordinate data of this tornado. (DV about
150kt)The EF3 rating was based on turss tower damage alone and I haven't seen EF3 structure damage yet.
So, yes, the rating was some kinds of liberal. There were some other EF3 rating tornados recent years also showed liberal rating style.
ExIqa9YWUAEoTVd.jpeg
 
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It near Suzhou City, AnHui Province. The radar below showed more precise abscissa and ordinate data of this tornado. (DV about
150kt)The EF3 rating was based on turss tower damage alone and I haven't seen EF3 structure damage yet.
So, yes, the rating was some kinds of liberal. There were some other EF3 rating tornados recent years also showed liberal rating style.
View attachment 8015
Thanks! Nothing wrong with going EF3 based on truss tower damage.
 
Here’s what i think are the most intense F5s pre 1970. These are not in order

Sherman Texas
Tri State Tornado
Woodward oklahoma
Tupelo Mississippi
Udall Kansas
Leedley
Pomeroy iowa

when i think of most intense tornadoes pre 1970, these are the 7 that come to my mind
 
I have always been intrigued by the first of the three violent tornadoes to come from the infamous Lawrenceburg, TN supercell on April 16, 1998. It left a tree damage scar similar to other violent tornadoes in the past, comparable to some I have seen from April 27, 2011. The Storm Data Entry stated that this mile-wide wedge tornado completely swept away several homes, although I haven't seen any. The NWS officially stated on their page that some NWS Offices may rate this tornado as an F5 today.

19980416EF4A.PNG
 
I have always been intrigued by the first of the three violent tornadoes to come from the infamous Lawrenceburg, TN supercell on April 16, 1998. It left a tree damage scar similar to other violent tornadoes in the past, comparable to some I have seen from April 27, 2011. The Storm Data Entry stated that this mile-wide wedge tornado completely swept away several homes, although I haven't seen any. The NWS officially stated on their page that some NWS Offices may rate this tornado as an F5 today.

View attachment 8017
Something interesting to note is that the Lawrenceburg TN F5 dug holes/trenches in a grassy field.
1617109305726.png
 
The pre-2000 horsemen of tornado tree debarking pictures from my collection"

New Richmond, WI

View attachment 7999

Fergus Falls, MN

View attachment 8003

Udall, KS

View attachment 8004

Chesterfield, MI


View attachment 8005

Brandenburg, KY

View attachment 8006

Guin, AL

View attachment 8007

1977 Birmingham Twister

View attachment 8012

Andover, KS

View attachment 8008

1998 Birmingham Twister

View attachment 8009
Just add a few more tornados to this list:
1945 Antlers tornado
19450412ANTLERS10.png
1947 Woodward OK:
woodward-turnage-home.jpg
1947 Worth MO
WorthMO1947treedamage.jpeg
another picture from Udall KS , notice trees in the background of the pic:
1958-tornado-damage.jpg
1953 Flint MI
19530608FLINTTREE.png
1968 Tracy
41d4zrQB3qL.jpg
1968 Wheelersburg OH
web1_Wheelersburg-1.jpg
1998 Lawrance TN
FrMBQjf.jpg
1998 Spencer SD
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1999 Bridge Creek
59362919_10219309477957381_7256631715160915968_n.jpg
 
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I've got some more stuff to add to this later, but here are a few more from Woodward:

fDTAGT6.jpg


tpV4zMh.jpg


And near Higgins even the fence posts didn't fare terribly well:

1vUWw7t.png
 
One tornado that I feel deserves so much more attention than it got was an early-morning twister that occurred southwest of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area, just west of Alabaster on the morning of February 6th, 2020. The tornado rapidly became very large and produced very significant tree damage throughout its rather short track along the Cahaba River. The tornado didn't last long and thankfully fizzled out before it could hit anything substantial, but some of the tree damage is classic of a very intense tornado. Radar evidence also supports a tornado of EF3+ intensity.

The tornado on radar as it was producing its maximum-intensity tree damage. A massive debris ball showed up on the next scan.

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Aerial imagery of the tornado-stricken forest

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Aerial view of some of the tornado's tree damage. Notice how several tree trunks are snapped very close to the ground. Some of the trees even appear to be debarked although that's difficult to tell from this aerial angle

SHelby.PNG

Personally, I believe that this tornado may have been of EF4+ intensity.
 
On May 6, 1965, a complex severe weather setup was unfolding over Minnesota. A deep low-pressure system was in place over southern Manitoba while a second weaker SFC low was in place over SE Colorado. Strong warm moist advection behind a warm front allowed temperatures to climb into the upper 70s with dewpoints in the mid-60s. This allowed strong instability to develop over the region with SBCAPE values of over 3300 J/kg and 0-3 km lapse rates of nearly 8°C/km. There was also a jet streak progressing into the region by the evening which lead to 0-6 km bulk shear values of 60 kt and 0-3 km storm-relative helicity of nearly 200 m2/s2. Even though the shear was rather modest, what really made this event potent was an outflow boundary draped over the Twin Cities area by early morning thunderstorms. This outflow boundary locally enhanced vorticity and made the environment supportive of violent tornadoes. The high lapse rates and instability were also supportive of large hail and this event would also become one of the worst and widespread hailstorms in Minnesota history.
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Storms likely initiated around a triple point in south-central MN and progressed up the Minnesota River Valley into the Twin Cities area. These storms rapidly grew into classic supercells that produced hail up to softball size and tornadoes. I have done a lot of research into this outbreak and I will only focus on one tornado for this post, the Norwood-Young America F4.

This tornado touched down around 2 1/2 miles E of Green Isle and moved NE through the countryside before ending around 3.8 miles SSE of Mayer. A half a dozen farms were leveled by this 1400+ yard wide tornado and 20 farms were destroyed in total. Some farmhouses were swept away, cars were thrown into trees and farm machinery was destroyed. Groves of trees were shredded and debarked with mud being plastered on the trunks. One farmer was killed when he was thrown 100 yards into a field.
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More damage pictures in my next post
 
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