Significant Tornado Events

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Another tornadic event I've always been intrigued by are the Arkansas tornadoes of June 5th, 1916. This is perhaps the first of several notable Arkansas statewide tornado swarms and impacted a few cities that were struck again later on. Despite its significance, it was very poorly documented, perhaps because of the events and war occurring in Europe at the time.

The only photographs I know of from this outbreak were from a local newspaper based in a town called McCrory, Arkansas. There are a few images of destruction from the towns of Heber Springs and Judsonia, both of which were impacted by major tornadoes in other major Arkansas outbreaks.

Heber Springs:

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Judsonia F3:

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That Judsonia 'F3' damage looks at least F4 to me.

This outbreak killed at least 112 people, 76 alone in Arkansas.

Tornado outbreak of June 5–6, 1916 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wouldn't surprise me if there was at least one F5 that occurred this day but due to being so poorly documented we'll never be able to definitely identify it.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Latest update on SIGTOR from Grazulis:




I'm looking forward to 1680-1973, to bad I'll have to wait another year.
Really am curious to see what he does with Vilonia, Chapman, some of the tornadoes on 4/27/11 and 5/24/11.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Vilonia, Chapman, some of the tornadoes on 4/27/11 and 5/24/11.

Judging by previous posts from him every single one of those stays EF4. It was especially insulting in Vilonia's case as he straight up had it listed as EF5, but then walked it back less than a day later.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Judging by previous posts from him every single one of those stays EF4. It was especially insulting in Vilonia's case as he straight up had it listed as EF5, but then walked it back less than a day later.

Well in that case I'm not gonna bother spending money on the book. It really seems like Marshall or others have intimidated him with keeping those ratings.

 

[Sawmaster]

I believe in correcting past errors when necessary, but if nothing has changed and you find yourself making wide-scale and wide-ranging corrections then either you were very wrong then or you're very wrong now, and either way reduces your perceived veracity. Maybe it should...

 

[TH2002]

Not trying to bash Grazulis because words can't describe how much I truly appreciate all the research he has done for the Significant Tornadoes books. And it goes without saying that Vilonia absolutely should be upgraded to EF5 (although as others have pointed out, that seems increasingly unlikely) but if he doesn't AT LEAST address the highly controversial nature of the rating, that alone will honestly be enough to start chipping away at his tornado rating credibility IMO.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I believe in correcting past errors when necessary, but if nothing has changed and you find yourself making wide-scale and wide-ranging corrections then either you were very wrong then or you're very wrong now, and either way reduces your perceived veracity. Maybe it should...

If he doesn't upgrade Worcester to F5 I'm really gonna question his judgment.....

 

[Sawmaster]

Not here to bash anyone. Simply pointing out one of many things we should be self-critical about so that our efforts aren't wasted in life. I greatly appreciuate his research and would buy every one of his books but not if the 'facts' change from one edition to the next with there being no new evidence involved.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

If he doesn't upgrade Worcester to F5 I'm really gonna question his judgment.....

If I recall correctly, in one of his other books (The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm) he described regretting not doing so when he apparently had the opportunity to do so in the official database. So it would be a surprising and rather disappointing about-face if he went along with Vilonia '14 being EF4.

 

[locomusic01]

I believe in correcting past errors when necessary, but if nothing has changed and you find yourself making wide-scale and wide-ranging corrections then either you were very wrong then or you're very wrong now, and either way reduces your perceived veracity. Maybe it should...

Yeah, I'm less concerned with individual ratings (though I've got plenty of gripes there too lol) than with consistency. At least to the extent that it's even possible with such a problematic historical record. Rating tornadoes is an inherently subjective process to some degree, but subjectivity isn't necessarily a huge problem if it's reasonably consistent and can be accounted for.

 

[locomusic01]

If I recall correctly, in one of his other books (The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm) he described regretting not doing so when he apparently had the opportunity to do so in the official database. So it would be a surprising and rather disappointing about-face if he went along with Vilonia '14 being EF4.

Yup, based on information from John O'Toole:

John O'Toole (1993) concluded that the death toll for the 1953 Worcester, Massachusetts, tornado was 94, rather than the official 90. He was a history teacher who walked door to door along the entire path of the tornado, reviewing family histories and death records. He tracked down people who had moved and investigated every rumored death in the most comprehensive study of its kind ever done for a tornado. He also located photographs indicating that the Worcester tornado should have been rated at F5. In 1975 the NWS gave that tornado an F4 rating, a rating that I concurred with in my NRC-funded official review of pre-1971 ratings. We all make mistakes, and for me this was a painful one. The great tornado of my youth will forever be denied its rightful place among elite tornadoes.

I've been meaning to ask him about that, actually. I have O'Toole's book and I don't remember any unambiguous evidence of F5 damage in it. I personally think Worcester likely warranted an F5 rating based on everything I've seen, but I'm curious which photos he was referring to specifically.

 

[joshoctober16]

the way he said Vilonia had EF5 winds but only made EF4 damage seems.... off , almost like he is getting forced to not upgrade any tornadoes to EF5 , i just wish for nws to be less strict or remove EF5 rating , its causing the data to be very unrealistic now.

a tornado that happened in October 14 swept clean one poorly built home , with the debris in a big chunk , and that gets rated F5.


meanwhile the cisco EF3 tornado of 2015 , who had extremely violent motion and a roar that could be herd for 2+ miles away , did major tree debarkation , along with a lot of ground scouring , it threw a car 1+ mile away.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

the way he said Vilonia had EF5 winds but only made EF4 damage seems.... off , almost like he is getting forced to not upgrade any tornadoes to EF5 , i just wish for nws to be less strict or remove EF5 rating , its causing the data to be very unrealistic now.

a tornado that happened in October 14 swept clean one poorly built home , with the debris in a big chunk , and that gets rated F5.
View attachment 16547

meanwhile the cisco EF3 tornado of 2015 , who had extremely violent motion and a roar that could be herd for 2+ miles away , did major tree debarkation , along with a lot of ground scouring , it threw a car 1+ mile away.

While Cisco was definitely violent it didn’t hit many structures.

 

[Marshal79344]

Another tornado outbreak that photos are extremely scarce from is the Deep South tornado outbreak of March 21st, 1932. Widely considered to have been the first Super Outbreak of the 20th Century, multiple tornadoes destroyed homes and leveled towns in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. The towns of Northport (AL), Cullman (AL), Paint Rock (AL), Pulaski (TN), Thorsby (AL), Sylacauga (AL), Cartersville (GA), Ringgold (GA), Plantersville (AL), and Columbiana (AL) were all struck directly by violent tornadoes, and several others were documented to have impacted rural areas. Although images are very few, I have tracked down some interesting images from a few of these events.


The Thorsby, AL region (and several towns east of there) were severely affected by multiple violent tornadoes. This series of three photographs from one of these tornadoes shows the remains of a few homes and significant tree damage.




A Reverend was killed by one of the Thorsby area tornadoes in this home, which appears to have been violently obliterated.

Paint Rock, AL was severely damaged by a long-tracked tornado that took a similar (but longer) track to the Bridgeport, AL EF4 on 4/27/2011





Another violent tornado took a path very similar to the Ringgold, GA EF4 from 4/27/2011. Here are three interesting images from that event.

Three people were killed in this leveled home.



A church used to stand on this empty lot. Notice the major tree damage in the background.



The town of Sylacauga (east of Thorsby) was obliterated by one of the last violent tornadoes in Alabama on this date. Only one image exists, but it appears to show violent tornado damage to a block in the city.




This is an aerial of the damage produced by the Northport, AL F4. Being the first violent tornado of the day, it devastated the northern Tuscaloosa suburb with terrific force. Eyewitness accounts paint something similar to 2011, where the tornado rapidly condensed and intensified as it entered the city limits.



Another tornado took a very similar track to the 2011 Cullman-Arab tornado on that day as well. Here is a scene along a road in that disaster zone.



That's all I have for now. If anybody else has some pictures from March 21 1932, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share some of them with us on here.

 

[locomusic01]

That's all I have for now. If anybody else has some pictures from March 21 1932, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share some of them with us on here.

I think your post already includes most of the photos I have from this event, but I'll check later and add anything else I've got. There are also a few videos on this outbreak; they're probably on Youtube but if not I can upload them. I'd love to really dig into this event because I'm sure there's plenty of stuff out there, but it'd probably require a lot of legwork (literally) to track it down - visiting lots of libraries, historical societies, university collections, etc. Same problem I ran into with the Tupelo-Gainesville outbreak.

Still waiting for the day I hit the lottery so I can retire and travel the country researching old tornadoes lol

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Another tornado outbreak that photos are extremely scarce from is the Deep South tornado outbreak of March 21st, 1932. Widely considered to have been the first Super Outbreak of the 20th Century, multiple tornadoes destroyed homes and leveled towns in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. The towns of Northport (AL), Cullman (AL), Paint Rock (AL), Pulaski (TN), Thorsby (AL), Sylacauga (AL), Cartersville (GA), Ringgold (GA), Plantersville (AL), and Columbiana (AL) were all struck directly by violent tornadoes, and several others were documented to have impacted rural areas. Although images are very few, I have tracked down some interesting images from a few of these events.


The Thorsby, AL region (and several towns east of there) were severely affected by multiple violent tornadoes. This series of three photographs from one of these tornadoes shows the remains of a few homes and significant tree damage.

View attachment 16548
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A Reverend was killed by one of the Thorsby area tornadoes in this home, which appears to have been violently obliterated.

Paint Rock, AL was severely damaged by a long-tracked tornado that took a similar (but longer) track to the Bridgeport, AL EF4 on 4/27/2011

View attachment 16551

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Another violent tornado took a path very similar to the Ringgold, GA EF4 from 4/27/2011. Here are three interesting images from that event.

Three people were killed in this leveled home.

View attachment 16554

A church used to stand on this empty lot. Notice the major tree damage in the background.

View attachment 16555

The town of Sylacauga (east of Thorsby) was obliterated by one of the last violent tornadoes in Alabama on this date. Only one image exists, but it appears to show violent tornado damage to a block in the city.


View attachment 16556

This is an aerial of the damage produced by the Northport, AL F4. Being the first violent tornado of the day, it devastated the northern Tuscaloosa suburb with terrific force. Eyewitness accounts paint something similar to 2011, where the tornado rapidly condensed and intensified as it entered the city limits.

View attachment 16557

Another tornado took a very similar track to the 2011 Cullman-Arab tornado on that day as well. Here is a scene along a road in that disaster zone.

View attachment 16558

That's all I have for now. If anybody else has some pictures from March 21 1932, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share some of them with us on here.

Some more information on 1932 Dixie Outbreak:

1. https://apps.lib.ua.edu/blogs/coola...math-of-the-1932-tornado-outbreak-in-alabama/

2. NOAA's page on it: https://www.weather.gov/bmx/event_03211932

3. An entry for this event with some photos can be found on this page: https://www.tornadotalk.com/march-22/

4. A film taken of the event:



5. Article with the film source and further context:

Amazing find – 1932 film of the Alabama aftermath of the massive tornado outbreak that killed possibly 300 people in Alabama on March 21, 1932 – Alabama Pioneers

A lot of Dixie outbreaks of the past seem to have been rather poorly documented. Another thing to remember about these outbreaks is that fatality and injury rates are all likely hugely underestimated, due to how newspapers of the day often paid little, if any attention to the fates of African-American sharecroppers due to the racial bigotry and segregation of the era. Considering the significant Black population among the Deep South, (the "Black Belt" area) at the time, the fatality rates for many of the tornadoes among the 1932 and other Dixie outbreaks are probably double or triple the officially recorded numbers.
A PDF on a study of it:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So this is neat, the first of a three part series focusing on the Delhi, LA-Inverness, MS F5 tornado of February 21, 1971. This summary explores the beginning of the twister in Louisiana up to the state border with Mississippi. Looks like this outbreak is finally getting the attention it deserves:

Patreon Only – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

One incredible detail is the Lenore family, the family of 14 with 10 killed. It turns out 3 members were away that day and Danny, a 17-year old, was the sole survivor at the home. Imagine losing most of your siblings and both your parents and you and 3 siblings are more or less on your own. Awful.

 

[Tanner]

One tornado I always wondered about was the West Liberty Kentucky EF3 on March 2 2012. Radar presentation was insane with that tornado and I haven’t seen much in the way of damage photos. Always thought it may have peaked at a higher intensity than “140 mph” EF3


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[Lake Martin EF4]

35th Anniversary of the Saragosa Tornado

May 22nd, 1987

storymaps.arcgis.com

I've never seen these before.

 

[pohnpei]

One tornado I always wondered about was the West Liberty Kentucky EF3 on March 2 2012. Radar presentation was insane with that tornado and I haven’t seen much in the way of damage photos. Always thought it may have peaked at a higher intensity than “140 mph” EF3


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Some damage photos of West Liberty tornado