I'd once more ask if any photos - alleged or real - existed of the funnel but then realized if they did you would have posted them. Eyewitness accounts describe a wedge, though.And some ground-level shots - the amount of debarking/denuding definitely stands out:
It hit so abruptly that I'm not sure anyone would've had much time to grab a camera and take photos. It sounds like the cloud base was pretty low and visibility wasn't great, but it's possible there are some out there. It's crazy how often some random person will have tornado photos just thrown in their attic or whatever, never even realizing how many people would kill to see them.
Fujita listed this tornado as an F5 in one of his historical tornado mapsAnd some ground-level shots - the amount of debarking/denuding definitely stands out:
It was from a news article on a local Portland area news station website. I think it was an anniversary article about the Portland/Vancouver tornado.
Was it by itself in the article or was it part of a gallery?
It was just one single photo off to the side of the page. No gallery that I recall. The article was mostly just text summarizing what happened and some eyewitness accounts.
That raises this as a possibility then:
history.columbian.com
Hmmmmm. I don’t think that’s it, but at the same time, I can’t be 100% sure it’s not. Ugh I just wish I saved the pic. So frustrating.That raises this as a possibility then:
The tornado of April 5, 1972 - Clark County: A history
Discover Clark County's history as seen through the eyes of photographers, local museums and contributions from the community.
If it was, however, then the photo has since gone down. The photos seem to be at the bottom, not the side of the page, however.
Went through the Wayback Machine on this page and a ton of damage photos showed up but none of the tornado itself. Wouldn't surprise me if some local news station has footage of it or the photo we're discussing locked away in their archives somewhere.
I hold the exact same opinion. Moore 2013 produced undoubtedly the most violent urban/suburban tornado damage I have seen photographed. Joplin comes close, but never quite reached the level of almost incomprehensible violence seen in Moore.
100% agree. The worst of the damage was damn near identical to Bridge Creek-Moore '99 (except considerably wider) and honestly not far off from Jarrell - two tornadoes that I'd confidently include on any "most violent" list. Obviously a bunch of other contenders as well, but it's undoubtedly in that tier.
My guess is the same as yours. That is unreadable handwriting.This is pretty random, but anybody wanna hazard a guess as to what the heck the writing says in this image?
It's a photo from the Herman, NE F4 the day after New Richmond (which I badly need a larger version of) and to me it looks like "Shay & Gassard's Corner" but I dunno what that refers to so I'm wondering if I'm just reading it wrong. On a related note, having read lots of little labels and notes and journal entries and whatnot like this, I think we can debunk the idea that people had much better handwriting back in the day lol. Sometimes the writing is practically unreadable and it drives me crazy.
Well, I still don't know what in the world the label's supposed to mean, but it probably would've helped if I'd checked my other pictures a little more closely. This one from a slightly higher + wider view has a recognizable landmark (one of only a couple buildings left standing in town) so at least that clears up the location.
Wow Herman was almost completely leveled. I can only see 3 standing buildings in that photo.Well, I still don't know what in the world the label's supposed to mean, but it probably would've helped if I'd checked my other pictures a little more closely. This one from a slightly higher + wider view has a recognizable landmark (one of only a couple buildings left standing in town) so at least that clears up the location.
The tornado also picked up a new boiler standpipe (weighing either 20 or 22 tons - reports differ) and hurled it a couple blocks across town.
