Significant Tornado Events

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So I have finally found the image from the EF scale that allows you to zoom in for a closer look, and it has the picture of the brick home swept from Oak Grove by Hackleburg.

EDIT: use this link to zoom in on the pic: https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/monday-marks-nine-years-since-deadly-april-27-2011-tornado-outbreak/

 

[TH2002]

So I have finally found the image from the EF scale that allows you to zoom in for a closer look, and it has the picture of the brick home swept from Oak Grove by Hackleburg.

EDIT: use this link to zoom in on the pic: https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/monday-marks-nine-years-since-deadly-april-27-2011-tornado-outbreak/

View attachment 13485

Still lower resolution than the original pic, but an improvement I suppose:


I also thought I remember seeing an up close of how this home was constructed, with an anchor bolt and cut nail spaced closely together. Maybe someone posted it here? Either way I can't find it now.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

This was mentioned awhile back in the thread but I wanna bring it up as it's an impressive event that doesn't get as much notice as it should and there really needs to be more photographs available of the most extreme damage. It's the Lawrence County, TN F5 of 1998 aka the "Forgotten F5" due to paucity of media coverage and information available on it.

Some patchy ground scouring it produced.




Tree damage:



According to surveyors this was a brick home:




High-end vehicle damage:



Mangled or tossed heavy farm equipment/trailer of some sort next to a hill that possibly has been scoured, not really sure:



I think this is the remains of a swept away mobile home a shed or small house of sorts, also looks like some severe ground scouring took place here, but hard to tell. According to Grazulis this tornado scoured a 200-foot section of grass away from a pasture but I've yet to find photographs of that.



Spectacular footage of it, around 3:30 it hits a house. The rapid rotation and forward are quite impressive:



As buckeye pointed out awhile back this might be the area where the 200-yard scouring took place; around 4:09 or so you can see several large brown splotches around the funnel (likely dirt and topsoil) as the soil is literally failing and being thrown into the air.

Another video:



A couple of notes about this one; a top comment states that "The stumps and brush piles you see are from the tornado that hit May 18 1995. Our home was destroyed in that one. We were standing behind our house that we finished rebuilding in the spring of 1996. I apologize for the shaky video but while I was shooting it, the thought of when it would be time to go the basement was also crossing my mind". Looks like they were struck by the Ethridge, TN tornado and narrowly avoided being hit a second time. Yet another "hallway" or "corridor" for tornadoes in Dixie Alley, it seems. Eerie.

Also, around 2:35 or so you can see what looks like a large object (likely a grain elevator or silo) getting lofted in the air around the bottom left of the funnel.

Screenshot for reference:



NWS article on the outbreak:

April 16, 1998 Tornado Outbreak

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Still lower resolution than the original pic, but an improvement I suppose:
View attachment 13486

I also thought I remember seeing an up close of how this home was constructed, with an anchor bolt and cut nail spaced closely together. Maybe someone posted it here? Either way I can't find it now.

OK I see what you're saying now; I think what you speak of was posted in the old thread but has since been taken down. I know NWS/NOAA lost a lot of pics from 4/27/11 when they updated their website and servers. Sigh...

 

[TH2002]

This post isn't necessarily about one tornado event in general, but rather about the historic winter of 1911-1912 and its effects on the tornado climatology of that timeframe.

Temperatures had been well above average November 1911 and the Upper Midwest was no exception to this; that all changed with the arrival of an extremely powerful cold front that sent temperatures tumbling into the negatives across the upper Mountain West and parts of the upper Plains. However, as powerful cold fronts tend to do with plumes of warm, moist air a tornado outbreak was spawned including an F4 that caused over $500,000 in damage in and around Janesville, WI. At least one person was killed, and within an hour after the tornado, the survivors had to deal with blizzard conditions as the overnight low in Janesville tumbled into the 20's. Grazulis also confirms three additional F2 tornadoes from this outbreak, including a fatal F2 that killed an elderly couple in Owasso, MI. One other F2 occurred in Michigan and another occurred in Indiana. The actual total tornado count is likely higher, though some of the tornadoes have unfortunately been lost to history.

February 1912 was a rather unusual month, including an off season Dixie outbreak that spawned an F3 tornado that struck the western and southern suburbs of Shreveport, Louisiana. Nine people were killed by that tornado, and at least 50 others were injured. An F2 tornado also killed three people near Homer and Camp, and another F2 hit Antioch and Klondike, Mississippi, though resulted in no fatalities. On February 21 yet another F2 tornado in Virginia crossed the James River and destroyed at least one home near Bremo Bluff. This tornado was mentioned in Monthly Weather Review Volume 40 Issue 3. The tornadoes on February 20 and 21 were likely on the southern part of a larger weather system, perhaps not dissimilar to the weather system that dumped snow on the north-central states and caused a tornado outbreak in the South during February 28-March 2, 2007. During February 20 and 21 snowfall was reported across most of the modern forecast area of PAH, some of which was heavy snow, with even heavier amounts falling further north.

At least two tornadoes struck Arkansas on February 25, one of which was an F4 that killed seven people near Swan Lake and Almyra. The other tornado Grazulis mentions is an F2 that destroyed two homes on Linden Island.

Another possibility is that the time between the dates spanning February 21-25 was a prolonged outbreak sequence of tornadoes, though as previously mentioned, it is likely many tornadoes from that month have been lost to history

At least two tornadoes again struck the South on March 15, 1912; an F3 tornado killed six people and injured 26+ others in Headland and Hartford, AL, while an F2 caused damage on the south side of Cheraw, SC. One more tornado is mentioned in that month and it's an F2 that skipped through Madison and Bond counties in Illinois on March 19. It is possible that this tornado was embedded within a larger thunderstorm complex, as widespread downburst damage was also observed.

An F2 tornado hit the west edge of Dickson, TN on April 1, and an unusual F2 tornado killed one person in Dagsboro, Delaware the next day.

Only about one percent of all icebergs originating in the Arctic and Greenland make it to the North Atlantic Ocean, but the unprecedented winter of 1911-1912 meant that a swarm of icebergs and ice floes dotted the area encompassing North Atlantic shipping lines. The RMS Titanic unfortunately struck one of these icebergs and was foundering exactly 110 years ago as of typing this.

And naturally, you can guess how moisture rich plumes of warm Gulf air were interacting with the biting cold dry air sitting over much of the continental United States and beyond during that time. Particularly in the Midwest, where a tornado outbreak unfolded during the April 12-13 timeframe. Two F3 tornadoes struck Nebraska on April 12, one of which destroyed a home near O'Neill, injuring four people. The other passed 14 miles north of O'Neill, causing damage on at least five farms and killing one person at one of them. Tornado activity continued on April 13, when an F2 tore the roof from a home, and destroyed a barn and church in New Cambria, Missouri. A cyclic supercell in Boone County, Iowa spawned an F3 tornado that touched down twice (technically making it two separate tornadoes) that unleashed its fury on "a fine home on a hill" north of Moingona, IA. The house was reportedly carried through the air for 300 feet before disintegrating, with debris scattered for a mile.

I'll conclude this post with links to some of MNTornadoGuy's previous posts on the tornadoes that occurred between April 19-29, 1912.

Significant Tornado Events

Two things: A). What does that have to do with this current discussion whatsoever? B.) Do you have sources that say this is going to happen, or are you just non-productively griping about hypothetical scenarios? If it's the latter, then just stop. Constant complaining doesn't make for...

talkweather.com

Significant Tornado Events

Select contrast enhance frame grabs of the Jarrell tornado from the Texas A&M video. The last panorama is from 3:43pm, as the tornado was either approaching or already on Double Creek. I chose the first two since on my copy they’re a frame apart, so 28 seconds are missing. But it shows just how...

talkweather.com

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

More stuff on the Forgotten F5:

Photographs:





It has since been determined this tornado was part of a family of 3 violent wedges spawned in rapid succession by the same supercell. 2 F4, 1 F5. The 3 fatalities attributed to the F5 were actually done by a separate F4 that traveled 30 miles through Hardin and Wayne counties. It downed tens of thousands of trees in a mile wide swath.

Tree damage:




The tornado itself:





Sources:

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20030608030623/http://www.lawrencecountyskywarn.org/photos.html

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20070220161457/http://www.lawrencecountyskywarn.org/16damage.html

3. https://www.weather.gov/ohx/19980416

One of the links has an impressive antedote of F5-type damge; it states that " The second picture shows a small room that was in the rear of the garage. Note how the linoleum flooring that was glued to the concrete has been peeled off. Also note the scouring of the ground, and the random direction the trees have been laid down on the hillside behind the house." Unfortunately none of these pictures show up in my browser so I can't see the damage described.

This was an impressive supercell; three violent wedges around a mile wide spawned from it and all were likely capable of F5 damage (I think) but only one hit F5 DIs capable of registering it. If only there were more photographs available of the damage from this violent tornado family.

 

[TH2002]

And here's sadly why Lawrenceburg probably wouldn't be rated EF5 today; while that one brick home was well-anchored, it was on a CMU foundation:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

And here's sadly why Lawrenceburg probably wouldn't be rated EF5 today; while that one brick home was well-anchored, it was on a CMU foundation:

Possibly scouring in this photo?

I edited my post to include the possible scouring pic below a paragraph; looks like the photo didn't go through the first time.
Yeah I think it's scouring although I wish there was an aerial pic for clearer context.

Yeah, it likely wouldn't be rated EF5 today but then the EF5 rating has pretty much been retired so no tornado will ever receive that rating again, it seems.

 

[TH2002]

I edited my post to include the possible scouring pic below a paragraph; looks like the photo didn't go through the first time.

Ah thanks for letting me know; I'll remove it from my post.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Ah thanks for letting me know; I'll remove it from my post.

In some other photographs I didn't upload to save space but are on the NWS page it looks like some grass scouring occurred in some places as well, and a lot of trees were snapped (although not a lot of pictures showed debarking). Yet another case where photographs of the most extreme damage are scant or impossible to find.

 

[Casuarina Head]

The tornado in that film was actually made with a sock, with a fan blowing through, and a bunch of dust. Way better than many modern CGI tornadoes, and back in 1939!

At 0:35 you can see that the creators even bothered to create a multiple-vortex or “twin” tornado (note the large wedge to the right of the corkscrew).

 

[CheeselandSkies]

@TH2002, very interesting post about the weather in the winter/spring of 1911-12. It never would have occurred to me that the weather that contributed to the iceberg that sunk the Titanic would have also contributed to tornado outbreaks in the central U.S. - two subjects I've been interested in since childhood!

 

[TH2002]

@TH2002, very interesting post about the weather in the winter/spring of 1911-12. It never would have occurred to me that the weather that contributed to the iceberg that sunk the Titanic would have also contributed to tornado outbreaks in the central U.S. - two subjects I've been interested in since childhood!

The Titanic has always interested me too, and since it's the 110th anniversary figured it would be a perfect time to make that correlation!

April 2017 is another interesting case study, as a swarm of over 400 icebergs drifted into North Atlantic shipping lanes (much like in 1912) as two tornado outbreaks unfolded across the South. Parts of Maine had a foot of snow on the ground during that time as well, and it's likely that the plume of cold Arctic air that brought the iceberg swarm and prolonged cold conditions in the northeast interacted with the warmer Gulf air sitting over the south during that time.

 

[tornado examiner]

yes. i'm back...and for one of my now very rare posts. i wanna talk about pembroke. specifically the really interesting damage in the black creek subdivision.
its the third strongest rated tornado of the decade so far. yet it was by far the least damaging compared to the other too. bassfield, and mayfield. shortest track length and lowest track width. least fatality count and injury count. yet it produced a 3 house width swath of very impressive damage. four EF4 indicators noted. one of which was surprising to see as an ef4 indicator of 175mph with a large pile of debris remaining on the foundation and what seemed to be a few walls left standing.. then you have three other 185mph di's. two of which were swept completely clean, with a third in the middle having a bit more debris left. these house's where definitely properly bolted, with some anchor bolts bent. apart from that i don't know much more on the construction. but it had to have been pretty dang good construction to earn a 185mph ef4 rating despite contextually damage not being particularly extreme. had the contextual damage been more intense...it technically could have received an EF5 rating. but its all still clearly the mark of a VERY impressively powerful narrow and fast moving vortex. less than 3 homes wide...able to go right in between two homes leaving them relatively intact. definitely one to study.

 

[Brice Wood]

yes. i'm back...and for one of my now very rare posts. i wanna talk about pembroke. specifically the really interesting damage in the black creek subdivision.
its the third strongest rated tornado of the decade so far. yet it was by far the least damaging compared to the other too. bassfield, and mayfield. shortest track length and shorted track width. least fatality count and injury count. yet it produced a 3 house width swath of very impressive damage. four EF4 indicators noted. one of which was surprising to see as an ef4 indicator of 175mph with a large pile of debris remaining on the foundation and what seemed to be a few walls left standing.. then you have three other 185mph di's. two of which were swept completely clean, with a third in the middle having a bit more debris left. these house's where definitely properly bolted, with some anchor bolts bent. apart from that i don't know much more on the construction. but it had to have been pretty dang good construction to earn a 185mph ef4 rating despite contextually damage not being particularly extreme. had the contextual damage been more intense...it technically could have received an EF5 rating. but its all still clearly the mark of a VERY impressively powerful narrow and fast moving vortex. less than 3 homes wide...able to go right in between two homes leaving them relatively intact. definitely one to study.

You’re right in the vortex! We like it when you explain things and not get over your head about a tornado rating. But don’t worry dude, I’m young myself, and I’m definitely still learning, and we all are. Keep stuff like this up!

 

[Brice Wood]

But yea I kinda find it surprising to see a tornado get a 185mph index on it. I literally saw the upgrade and my jaw literally dropped. What would be the difference between a 185 and 190mph tornado? How well-anchored a building was? The DAT damage?

 

[tornado examiner]

my contributions will be very few and far between for awhile...

 

[tornado examiner]

but hey. does anybody have info on the construction of the park place subdivision homes in black creek? I really wouldn't know where to look.

 

[Brice Wood]

This was the only that I specifically could find. I’m sure someone else has others

 

[tornado examiner]

the dat has images for them