Significant Tornado Events

[tornado examiner]

So, this is interesting. Apparently the Niles-Wheatland tornado had the fastest wind speeds ever recorded at 385 mph!
I mean, I know it was a powerful tornado and all, but geez......

Wheatland, Pennsylvania - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

pretty sure thats simply random wiki b.s

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

"only six F5 tornadoes in Pennsylvania state history since official record keeping began in 1950"

Yeah no. That's bullshit

 

[Marshal79344]

Alright, it's time for Part Three. The tornado reached extreme intensity, well beyond the EF5 range as it began to rip through subdivisions southwest of Vilonia. Although the EF4+ damage contour of the tornado at this stage was not wide, it was very well-defined and extremely dense. Crossing the path of the 2014 Tornado, the tornado struck several homes along Cody Drive, leaving nothing behind but bare slabs from most of them. Two young boys lost their lives here and their parents were seriously injured. The Damage Assessment Toolkit stated that cars were thrown over 100 yards away from these homes. The ground nearby was also scoured. A home just northeast of here was also completely slabbed and wind-rowed a long distance away.

A side view of the homes along Cody Lane. The home where the boys perished is third from top. Notice how all the debris is wind-rowed and tossed far away, indicative of an extremely high-end tornado.



An aerial view of the slabbed home just northeast of Cody Lane



Four homes were destroyed along Rocky Point road before the tornado crossed a highway at maximum strength, slabbing two more homes just north of the highway. A mid-aged woman was killed in one of these homes.

An aerial of the homes just north of the highway. The woman perished in the slabbed home just to the right of the highway.



As the tornado bore down on Vilonia, it hit a newly built school, which was set to open that fall. Needless to say, it did not open on schedule. The tornado caused the outer-bearing walls to collapse inwards, causing major structural failure of the building. Tim Marshall said that the only safe place for students would have been inside the hallways. The tornado barely missed some baseball and sports fields northeast of the school, where debris was strewn all over the place.

The destroyed remains of the school northeast of Vilonia.



The tornado became extremely catastrophic in strength as it hit downtown Vilonia. On the southern end of Main Street, one of, at least according to Tim Marshall's damage survey of the event, most incredible feats of tornado damage occurred. A tank that weighed 30,000 pounds was thrown "1192 meters," which is equal to about 3,910 feet, before coming to a rest along the tornado centerline. A Dollar General on the south side of street was totally obliterated and nearly pulled off of its foundation completely. The Vilonia Shopping Center took a direct hit and was completely destroyed and structurally compromised. Trees nearby sustained complete debarking.

The Dollar General that was nearly pulled off of its foundation



The structurally comprised Vilonia Shopping Center



On the northern side of the road, a swath of particularly extreme tornado damage commenced. A car dealership was totally obliterated, and cars that were at the dealership at the time were thrown and strewn across a field northeast of there. Several homes were completely destroyed in this area as well, killing a couple in one of them. A restaurant located in the field was swept away with little trace and hasn't been rebuilt as of today. Major ground scouring and total debarking of all vegetation took place in the EF5 swath at this location.

Little was left of the car dealership after it sustained a direct hit from the tornado



Very little was left of the restaurant that was leveled.



The sons of the couple killed in downtown Vilonia standing near the destroyed home of their parents.



Northeast of here, the home of David Mallory was slabbed. Mr. Mallory was aware that the tornado was coming, as his brother had called him, but the tornado was just too strong. It left a clean foundation behind and tossed Mr. Mallory's prized 1950s Chevy a long distance into a tree, where it lay a useless scrap of iron. Major tree debarking and ground scouring occurred near Mr. Mallory's home as well.

The destroyed remains of Mr. Mallory's home



Unfortunately, I am only able to attach 10 files per post, so it looks like we will have to see part four. The damage that will be highlighted in part four will be of extraordinary severity and is among the most violent tornado damage I've ever seen.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

pretty sure thats simply random wiki b.s

@buckeye05 , some cleanup is needed. Easy for that one to "slip under the radar" so to speak since it's not on an actual tornado/outbreak article.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Alright, it's time for Part Three. The tornado reached extreme intensity, well beyond the EF5 range as it began to rip through subdivisions southwest of Vilonia. Although the EF4+ damage contour of the tornado at this stage was not wide, it was very well-defined and extremely dense. Crossing the path of the 2014 Tornado, the tornado struck several homes along Cody Drive, leaving nothing behind but bare slabs from most of them. Two young boys lost their lives here and their parents were seriously injured. The Damage Assessment Toolkit stated that cars were thrown over 100 yards away from these homes. The ground nearby was also scoured. A home just northeast of here was also completely slabbed and wind-rowed a long distance away.

I assume you mean 2011 tornado, since the post is about the 2014 tornado?

 

[TH2002]

The Vilonia Church of Nazarene took a direct hit in the 2011 tornado and was so severely damaged to the point it had to be torn down and rebuilt. The church had just finished rebuilding its sanctuary earlier in the month, only to be hit yet again by the 2014 tornado. Although spared from a direct hit, the new building was about a block away from one of the worst damage swaths, where multiple homes were obliterated and slabbed along Cemetery St (including the aformentioned home where the couple was killed).

 

[Casuarina Head]

Does anyone have close-up images of the Lentz (sic?) family home that was swept away southwest of Vilonia?

 

[TH2002]

Does anyone have close-up images of the Lentz (sic?) family home that was swept away southwest of Vilonia?

I found an article that unfortunately doesn't include photos of the house, but does have this photo of Lade Wentz standing next to his mangled pickup truck, which had been thrown approximately 150 yards from where the house stood

 

[buckeye05]

@buckeye05 , some cleanup is needed. Easy for that one to "slip under the radar" so to speak since it's not on an actual tornado/outbreak article.

It's fixed. Stupid kids.....

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

It's fixed. Stupid kids.....

I have no idea how they even came up with that number of F5s in PA and that the last one was in 2002. There wasn't even a tornado in that mentioned county that year.

 

[buckeye05]

I have no idea how they even came up with that number of F5s in PA and that the last one was in 2002. There wasn't even a tornado in that mentioned county that year.

It guarantee you it's somebody quite young and more obsessed with the idea than the actual facts. Probably the same type of person who'd contribute to the "hypothetical tornadoes wiki". People like that are not interested separating fantasy from reality. Anyway, enough on that topic.

 

[buckeye05]

Also, huge props to @Marshal79344 for putting together a collection of incredible damage photos that really break down what happened along the path of this remarkably violent tornado. I know it's a long shot, but I hope eventually enough persuasive evidence like this can be put together to kickstart a re-analysis of this tornado. No idea how we'd push for that, but if there's one tornado in modern US history that has enough public support/interest for a reanalysis, It'd be this one.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Also, huge props to @Marshal79344 for putting together a collection of incredible damage photos that really break down what happened along the path of this remarkably violent tornado. I know it's a long shot, but I hope eventually enough persuasive evidence like this can be put together to kickstart a re-analysis of this tornado. No idea how we'd push for that, but if there's one tornado in modern US history that has enough public support/interest for a reanalysis, It'd be this one.

I really hope that Grazulis's updated book comes out soon so we can see what he rated Vilonia.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

"only six F5 tornadoes in Pennsylvania state history since official record keeping began in 1950"

Yeah no. That's bullshit

Lol yes. The 4/3/1974 article has also been hijacked with photos of tornadoes inaccurately labelled as well.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

It guarantee you it's somebody quite young and more obsessed with the idea than the actual facts. Probably the same type of person who'd contribute to the "hypothetical tornadoes wiki". People like that are not interested separating fantasy from reality. Anyway, enough on that topic.

Couple users on this thread who fit that description.....lol.

 

[buckeye05]

Lol yes. The 4/3/1974 article has also been hijacked with photos of tornadoes inaccurately labelled as well.

That's been fixed thankfully.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

 

[buckeye05]

I really hope that Grazulis's updated book comes out soon so we can see what he rated Vilonia.

That'd be a really good starting point honestly. The problem right now is that it's only being discussed by us armchair surveyors, but if someone with real influence and credibility gives Vilonia the attention that it deserves, it could really get the ball rolling.

 

[TH2002]

Wikipedia: The Fake Encyclopedia

Not a place I go looking for accurate tornado information anymore, especially with some of the sources they consider "reliable sources"...

 

[TH2002]

Another Joplin post? Yes.
I know some of these photos have been posted before, but I can't help but mention/analyze them again.

We all know Joplin was able to uproot and toss concrete parking stops, especially in the area around St. John's Regional Medical Center. This one traveled 20 m, and I started to wonder if maybe the tornado was capable of more than just tossing them...


Then pohnpei posted this photo.

Now, I don't know if this is from cleanup or perhaps a vehicle impact? If it was exclusively from the winds/flying debris, just WHAT kind of winds does it take to do this?

The tornado encountered an industrial area (very close to where the infamous Fastrip video was filmed) near the end of its second peak in intensity. The damage that Holly Springs caused to a shipping container was impressive, but Joplin was on another level, actually tearing them to pieces:


Some closeups of the three story apartment complex that was devastated: