Severe WX December 10 & 11, 2021 Severe Threat

[pohnpei]

Speak of scouring, a place likely with legitimate grass scouring was factory area in Mayfield. You can see grass field turned black in the core of the tornado and scoured grass was imbeded into tossed vehicles.

Also tree debarking here was of the most severe throughout entire path

Vehicle damage was also the strongest throughout entire path. This was the truck wrapped around farm equipment when It was moved off.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Speak of scouring, a place likely with legitimate grass scouring was factory area in Mayfield. You can see grass field turned black in the core of the tornado and scoured grass was imbeded into tossed vehicles.
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Also tree debarking here was of the most severe throughout entire path
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Vehicle damage was also the strongest throughout entire path. This was the truck wrapped around farm equipment when It was moved off.
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Yeah the candle factory area and SW Mayfield had some of the most impressive damage along the entire path. This is also the area where the red car that was thrown >200 yards with its engine block being torn out.

 

[pohnpei]

Yeah the candle factory area and SW Mayfield had some of the most impressive damage along the entire path. This is also the area where the red car that was thrown >200 yards with its engine block being torn out.

Was the second pic the same car of the first pic but later dismantled by workers?

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Was the second pic the same car of the first pic but later dismantled by workers?

No it’s a different vehicle.

 

[TH2002]

Okay, so little if any scouring occurred in Cambridge Shores. I blame the fact that my head wasn't on quite right yesterday. But it still makes me wonder how the place with arguably the best home construction along the entire path could have such weak context? Meanwhile the infamous "trench digging" scouring occurred near Cayce where homes were leveled but not swept away (but a slabbed pole barn got away with an EF4 rating as well).

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Okay, so little if any scouring occurred in Cambridge Shores. I blame the fact that my head wasn't on quite right yesterday. But it still makes me wonder how the place with arguably the best home construction along the entire path could have such weak context? Meanwhile the infamous "trench digging" scouring occurred near Cayce where homes were leveled but not swept away (but a slabbed pole barn got away with an EF4 rating as well).

The trench scouring occurred 6 miles to the NE of Cayce so it was pretty far away from town and also it didn’t make any direct hits on well-built structures in that area.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Storm Data for the December 10, 2021 tornado outbreak was released today. No changes to any of the ratings but the maximum width of the Mayfield tornado was increased to 1.47 miles.

 

[tornado examiner]

and thus it will remain as one of the worst damage surveys of all time. ugh

 

[Brice Wood]

and thus it will remain as one of the worst damage surveys of all time. ugh

Nothing we can do about that. And also this statement isn’t true… If you look back at the damage and the reasoning behind it a high-end EF4 rating is valid.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Nothing we can do about that. And also this statement isn’t true… If you look back at the damage and the reasoning behind it a high-end EF4 rating is valid.

Bowling Green...

 

[buckeye05]

I’ve slowly come around to the Mayfield rating. But with that said, the Saloma, KY and Bowling Green, KY tornadoes absolutely should have been rated EF4.

They actually rated Saloma a low-end EF3 which is just ridiculous. It swept away an anchored house, leaving only the basement, scoured the ground, debarked trees, and mangled vehicles. That is in no way at all, EF3 damage of any kind, let alone low-end EF3.

Bowling Green is less clear cut, but the damage to the TMS Automotive building seemed like EF4 to me, as massive steel structural supports were ripped from their anchor plates. That takes a crazy amount of force.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I’ve slowly come around to the Mayfield rating. But with that said, the Saloma, KY and Bowling Green, KY tornadoes absolutely should have been rated EF4.

They actually rated Saloma a low-end EF3 which is just ridiculous. It swept away an anchored house, leaving only the basement, scoured the ground, debarked trees, and mangled vehicles. That is in no way at all, EF3 damage of any kind, let alone low-end EF3.

Bowling Green is less clear cut, but the damage to the TMS Automotive building seemed like EF4 to me, as massive steel structural supports were ripped from their anchor plates. That takes a crazy amount of force.

There were also multiple anchored bolted homes that were swept away or leveled in Bowling Green. The damage somewhat resembles the EF4 damage from Cookeville.

 

[brianc33710]

Tornadoes don’t “lift” but instead a separate cyclic tornado developed after the 1st one dissipated

Cycled, still diminished before dropping another EF4 just N & E of Bham.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

It swept away an anchored house, leaving only the basement, scoured the ground, debarked trees, and mangled vehicles.

Ayo new EF5 for my list

 

[TH2002]

Ayo new EF5 for my list

The only house that lost its subflooring (as far as I know) was on a partially above ground CMU foundation. Definitely should have been rated EF4 though

 

[tornado examiner]

updated fatality counts for the first EF4 and the outbreak as a whole.

from 88 +3 to 92 +3. and damage numbers.

 

[buckeye05]

Ayo new EF5 for my list

Not quite an EF5 candidate tbh, but still clearly violent.

 

[UK_EF4]

This is relatively random, but jut looking through the SPC event archive for 12/10 I just find it unbelievable. The length of the tornadoes, and the numerous lines of tornado reports from discrete long tracked tornadic supercells, looks incredible in the most violent and dark way. The absolute power and strength of the tornadoes as well - obviously nothing groundbreaking here but looking back I do now fully realise this was a generational outbreak for the history books.

 

[Casuarina Head]

I’ve slowly come around to the Mayfield rating. But with that said, the Saloma, KY and Bowling Green, KY tornadoes absolutely should have been rated EF4.

They actually rated Saloma a low-end EF3 which is just ridiculous. It swept away an anchored house, leaving only the basement, scoured the ground, debarked trees, and mangled vehicles. That is in no way at all, EF3 damage of any kind, let alone low-end EF3.

Bowling Green is less clear cut, but the damage to the TMS Automotive building seemed like EF4 to me, as massive steel structural supports were ripped from their anchor plates. That takes a crazy amount of force.

a) Wasn’t the damage to the UK facility near Princeton and the two churches in Mayfield worthy of an EF5 rating?
b) What about the apartment complex that was slabbed and swept away in Bowling Green? Wasn’t that EF4-worthy?
c) Didn’t the Dresden TN tornado also warrant an EF4 rating? Have you changed your mind in regard to that event?

 

[buckeye05]

a) Wasn’t the damage to the UK facility near Princeton and the two churches in Mayfield worthy of an EF5 rating?
b) What about the apartment complex that was slabbed and swept away in Bowling Green? Wasn’t that EF4-worthy?
c) Didn’t the Dresden TN tornado also warrant an EF4 rating? Have you changed your mind in regard to that event?

a.) The blueprints show what I interpret to be an impressive structure, but it’s a much more complex structure to analyze via photos than just a house, and I don’t know if the reinforcement features were actually put into the place in the building itself. It’s just not conclusive given the info at hand. Plus, it doesn’t hold up to other examples of high-end EF4 to EF5 institutional building like Moore and Joplin. I’ve seen worse.

b.) There was no apartment complex swept away in away in Bowling Green. It was a two unit one story brick veneer duplex along Powell St. A heavy equipment shed was obliterated across the street, and machinery was thrown into the residence. While I don’t agree with the EF2 rating applied there, it’s a genuine case of collateral damage that could conceivably negate a violent rating at that spot. With that said, there are other areas of damage in Bowling Green where a more solid argument for EF4 could be made (Creekwood Subdivision and Industrial park area)

c.) Yes. The area in question was a small pocket of damage at the west end of town. Several quite small, and likely older CMU foundation homes were swept away. No real violent contextual support beyond that. High-end EF3 should cover that.

Bowling Green and Saloma are the worst two offenders from this outbreak rating wise.