Significant Tornado Events

[pohnpei]

I remember i read somewhere that said that the Guin Tornado was likely the strongest tornado to ever hit Alabama. I disagree and that Crown goes to Hackleburg. The Hackleburg Tornado was just an Absolutely Incredible Tornado and had the words “ Extreme “ all over it. It produced some incredibly violent damage, moved at 70+ mph, had a very high injury to fatality ratio, the extreme path length, 72 fatalies. It was just an absolute incredible tornado and was the closet to the Tri State of our life time

One thing I also amazed at was the highly symmetry damage feature in the town of Hackleburg. With wind speed difference between north and south sides of the tornado with a clear defined core as high as 60m/s, the EF3 damage contour extended further north of the center and almost entirely symmetrical to the south side. The NWS survey speech recently on youtube mentioned that weaker fast moving tornado usually don't have weaker side damage at all. So it needs tremendous intensity to do this.
The discolouration of the ground along the core of the tornado was obvious ground scouring.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

One thing that jumps out at me looking at the Google Maps of Marion County, AL is just how close the continuing Smithville tornado came to hitting Hackleburg again. The path was parallel to and within less than five miles of it from the state line northwest of Hamilton to near Hodges/Pigeye. There was actually another supercell between the two that, bucking the trend of the day, actually did not produce a violent tornado (although if I recall correctly it produced a weaker one later in the Tanner area, parallel to and just east of the path of the earlier Hackleburg tornado).

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

One thing that jumps out at me looking at the Google Maps of Marion County, AL is just how close the continuing Smithville tornado came to hitting Hackleburg again. The path was parallel to and within less than five miles of it from the state line northwest of Hamilton to near Hodges/Pigeye. There was actually another supercell between the two that, bucking the trend of the day, actually did not produce a violent tornado (although if I recall correctly it produced a weaker one later in the Tanner area, parallel to and just east of the path of the earlier Hackleburg tornado).

Yeah I think that's stuff happened in other Dixie outbreaks (1920, 1932, 1974) so many tornadoes narrowly miss Hamilton down there. What's also amazing is the sheer amount of places down there that have been struck in the exact same location over and over and over again (Tanner, in particular). Crazy. Really makes you wonder what's going on down there.

 

[Brice]

In my opinion, this tornado deserves more attention during the St. Patrick's Outbreak of Last march, had this thing hit Centreville or Brent this would've gotten a much higher end rating than what it got, this tornado also eerily looks the same as Hackleburg and one of the radar presentation scans had a debris ball that suspiciously looked like the EF4 Louisville tornado of 2014

Edit: I would try to find a radar presentation of the two storms but my wifi isn't doing so well right now

 

[buckeye05]

I'd still like to see more pictures from it, but yeah I do remember that picture (or not)? Was it of flat ground or a hillside? And was a house and some sort of vehicle, either a car or bus in it?

It's the color one with the overturned car.

 

[buckeye05]

View attachment 8843
In my opinion, this tornado deserves more attention during the St. Patrick's Outbreak of Last march, had this thing hit Centreville or Brent this would've gotten a much higher end rating than what it got, this tornado also eerily looks the same as Hackleburg and one of the radar presentation scans had a debris ball that suspiciously looked like the EF4 Louisville tornado of 2014

Edit: I would try to find a radar presentation of the two storms but my wifi isn't doing so well right now

Yeah this was almost certainly the most violent tornado from the recent outbreak. It just didn't hit enough to prove this.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Well, this is......interesting. I stumbled upon this wiki entitled the Hypothetical Tornadoes Wiki, "A friendly community on which you can create your very own tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, made completely from your imagination!"

Nothing else more needs to be said.

Hypothetical Tornadoes Wiki

The Hypothetical Tornadoes Wiki is a database for all kinds of fictional tornadoes and tornado outbreaks. Come and join us!

hypotheticaltornadoes.fandom.com

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The 1965 Primrose tornado rolled/carried a pickup truck 2 miles.

Pretty sure Andover carried 1 or 2 vehicles up to a mile from the Golden Spur Mobile Home Park and mangled them beyond recognition.

 

[NXStumpy_Robothing]

View attachment 8843
In my opinion, this tornado deserves more attention during the St. Patrick's Outbreak of Last march, had this thing hit Centreville or Brent this would've gotten a much higher end rating than what it got, this tornado also eerily looks the same as Hackleburg and one of the radar presentation scans had a debris ball that suspiciously looked like the EF4 Louisville tornado of 2014

Edit: I would try to find a radar presentation of the two storms but my wifi isn't doing so well right now

Not to be pedantic, but wasn't this from the outbreak that occurred a week later? I'm pretty sure you're referencing the EF3-rated Centersville/Brent TOR from March 25th.

That said, completely agree - had this tornado managed to hit an area with sufficient DIs, it probably would've received a higher windspeed than the Newnan EF4 did. It had a very impressive radar signature (though I think one of the earlier March Amarillo EF2s had something even more menacing over uninhabited areas) and a large debris ball.

 

[speedbump305]

View attachment 8843
In my opinion, this tornado deserves more attention during the St. Patrick's Outbreak of Last march, had this thing hit Centreville or Brent this would've gotten a much higher end rating than what it got, this tornado also eerily looks the same as Hackleburg and one of the radar presentation scans had a debris ball that suspiciously looked like the EF4 Louisville tornado of 2014

Edit: I would try to find a radar presentation of the two storms but my wifi isn't doing so well right now

100 percent with you. That tornado could have gotten an EF4 or higher rating if it hit something huge like a huge town or small city

 

[Marshal79344]

The legendary Washington, Illinois tornado took most, if not all of the attention of the November 17th, 2013 Tornado Outbreak. I mean, it completely slabbed a subdivision. However, there were other communities that were hit just as hard. One was a farmstead east of New Minden, which happened to be located in a very unfortunate location, in the direct path of a very narrow corridor of EF4 winds. Some of the buildings on the farmstead remained intact. The New Minden area had been hit by two F4 Tornadoes previously, the first in May of 1896 (the same day as the St. Louis Tornado), and the second in 1907. This tornado also never appeared to be fully condensed for its lifespan, which is very unusual with violent tornadoes.

The Tornado just after having hit the farmstead. You can see debris from the farmstead surrounding the outer circulation of the funnel.



Another photo of the tornado from an unknown location



Various views of the EF4-impacted farmstead. Two people lost their lives here.

 

[Brice Wood]

Not to be pedantic, but wasn't this from the outbreak that occurred a week later? I'm pretty sure you're referencing the EF3-rated Centersville/Brent TOR from March 25th.

That said, completely agree - had this tornado managed to hit an area with sufficient DIs, it probably would've received a higher windspeed than the Newnan EF4 did. It had a very impressive radar signature (though I think one of the earlier March Amarillo EF2s had something even more menacing over uninhabited areas) and a large debris ball.

Ah yes wrong outbreak, it was late at night I was thinking about just getting sleep

 

[pohnpei]

A collection of vehicle damage made by Perryville tornado 2017 along I-55
It is also worth mentioning that there was an EF4 rating leveled house toenailed into its foundation but the overall contextual damage seems not very matching up.

 

[speedbump305]

A collection of vehicle damage made by Perryville tornado 2017 along I-55
It is also worth mentioning that there was an EF4 rating leveled house toenailed into its foundation but the overall contextual damage seems not very matching up.
View attachment 8852View attachment 8853View attachment 8854View attachment 8855View attachment 8856View attachment 8857View attachment 8858View attachment 8859View attachment 8860View attachment 8861

Do you think contextual was EF4 or EF5

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Some other historic and violent Canadian Prairie tornadoes:

August 1893 Elton Manitoba:
One farmhouse was completely swept away with debris being scattered for miles. It then crossed a railroad track, scouring ballast and lifting up the rails.

July 8, 1914 Erickson Manitoba:
One entire farm was swept away with the yard being swept clean of debris. Trees were downed in a quarter-mile wide path, farm machinery was broken and thrown, and a large rock was thrown 100 yards.

June 16, 1923 Sceptre-Lemsford Saskatchewan Area:
Severely damaged multiple farms and swept away the farmhouse on one of them.



July 1923 Buffalo Lake Alberta:
Cut an erratic path through the countryside. One farm was obliterated with all furniture vanishing with the expectation of the piano which was found in the garden. Clothing was found in the treetops all over the surrounding valley. The tornado then demolished another two-story home before dissipating.

September 10, 1942 Killarney-Turtle Mountain Manitoba:
This intense tornado tore through the countryside near Killarney-Turtle Mountain. Two farmhouses were swept away, two gang plows were carried 300 yards, and cars were overturned.

 

[buckeye05]

A collection of vehicle damage made by Perryville tornado 2017 along I-55
It is also worth mentioning that there was an EF4 rating leveled house toenailed into its foundation but the overall contextual damage seems not very matching up.
View attachment 8852View attachment 8853View attachment 8854View attachment 8855View attachment 8856View attachment 8857View attachment 8858View attachment 8859View attachment 8860View attachment 8861

The point of most intense damage from this one was pretty dang well built. It was a large, anchor bolted, modern house that had its wall studs toe-nailed to both the sill plates and roof connections. In other words, that’s a very sturdy, Tim Marshall approved, EF5 candidate house with what engineers call a “continuous load”. I guess the contextual damage wasn’t on par with EF5 intensity, as the survey team rated it mid-range EF4. It’s important to note that this tornado went through an auto salvage yard, and a lot of the mangled cars you see thrown around in the damage pics were already in pretty bad shape before the tornado hit. In any case, here’s the well built house it swept away. If it were up to me, I likely would have gone 190 MPH rather than 180 MPH due to the above average construction.

 

[Marshal79344]

I was digging through Flickr and found some rare, old tornado photos. Here are some of them:

A violent tornado heads for Topeka, Kansas on June 8th, 1966



A grove of foliage slaughtered by the same tornado above



An ominous sight on the horizon announces its presence to Paris, Texas on April 2nd, 1982



A photogenic stovepipe tornado passes by Mannsville, Kentucky on April 3, 1974



Violent tornado damage in Clinton County, Kentucky after a tornado on April 3, 1974



A view near Bridge Creek after May 3, 1999



Looking into the eye of death in Iowa on May 25, 2008



A large twister devastates a suburb in Suffolk, VA on April 28th, 2008



Trees after an Arkansas Twister on April 27th, 2014

 

[speedbump305]

Buckeye, how many tornadoes do you happen to know that have all done damage to foundations

 

[locomusic01]

I was digging through Flickr and found some rare, old tornado photos. Here are some of them:

A violent tornado heads for Topeka, Kansas on June 8th, 1966

View attachment 8866

I wish I'd had time to finish an article on Topeka - I think people often forget what a beast it really was. Another view from the same area:

And of course one of the most spectacular historical tornado photos ever taken:

Dunno why, but the photo crossing Burnett's Mound has always struck me as well:

The videos remind me of sort of a cross between Andover and Tuscaloosa. The violent motion is pretty unmistakable. The damage wasn't necessarily among the most intense you'll ever see, but it was still pretty impressive for such a populated area.

 

[buckeye05]

I’ve always wished there were more color photos of the Topeka 1966 aftermath. The damage in the Burnett’s Mound area appears to have been quite violent, and I’ve read at least one eyewitness account of grass being scoured from lawns in that area. I need more photographic evidence to confirm this though.