Lake Martin EF4
Member
I'm gonna ask @Western_KS_Wx about this. He took many of the EF5-looking contextual pics, and I want his word regarding if there was pre-plowing or not.
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Central Ohio Wx
Member
Those are the photos I was talking about; you can see a very clearly human-made line that distincts where the plow never went, if that makes sense.
Aaron Rider
Member
Agreed. Let's get him in here.
That said, Diaz and, from the one house, Marion were the only ones that may have been what I call old-fashioned F5s. Possibly Enderlin.
Ozonelayer
Member
Do we have any images of the damage from that strong tornado in Wisconsin? I havent seen anything.
Kds86z
Member
Did it hit anything?
CheeselandSkies
Member
Seems like there was no damage except to crops where the intense velocity signature started near Dodgeville. Further northeast (which may have been the same, relatively long-track tornado, haven't seen much in terms of survey results for that area yet) in the town of Roxbury (northwest corner of Dane County) there was extensive tree damage and one log cabin-style house which had part of the roof removed and part of the porch blown off and into the swimming pool. Looks like high EF1/low-end EF2 at most.
CheeselandSkies
Member
Looks like Dodgeville and Roxbury were separate tornadoes from the same storm, EF1 (7 miles, 13 minutes) and EF0 (5.6 miles, 10 minutes) respectively. Both relatively long-lived by Wisconsin standards.
I think the Hustisford tornado was produced by the same storm I was on, about 50 minutes after I left it.
I think the Hustisford tornado was produced by the same storm I was on, about 50 minutes after I left it.
Aaron Rider
Member
Next year will mark 30 years since Wisconsin last had a definitely violent tornado! Out of conventionally tornado-prone states, I believe only Michigan has a longer streak. (Massachusetts and New York have more recent ones although both were probably wrongly rated EF3)
Western_KS_Wx
Member
Sorry I’m late on this, but yes that field had already been harvested. However, the vegetation alongside the dirt road and in the ditch was fully grown and sustained the most significant scouring, down to the bare soil is some spots. The field that had already been plowed had several gouges in it from multiple vortices that were mainly only a few feet wide but several inches deep in spots.
Central Ohio Wx
Member
Thanks for explaining! I’m still hesitant to call it a definitive EF5, especially since tree damage I’ve seen along the path south of Grinnell doesn’t suggest anything over EF4 intensity. Definitely underrated, but I wouldn’t call it EF5 based solely on images I’ve seen; I’m also still not 100% convinced by the ditch photo, even though it does look extreme.
Aaron Rider
Member
Does anyone here have grounded opinions on the destruction in Grinnell itself?
Western_KS_Wx
Member
I agree. I wouldn’t doubt that EF5-level windspeeds occurred, particularly in the subvortices responsible for the cycloidal ground scouring, there just isn’t enough evidence that screams EF5 in my opinion. That being said I was extremely impressed at just how visible the centerline and subvortices were at ground level, you can clearly see where the vegetation was wind-rowed left-to-right here.
Western_KS_Wx
Member
I also went and photographed the damage within Grinnell as well. The tornado was clearly smaller and weaker in my opinion than what it had been south of town, and it was in the process of occluding as it entered the town. However it still was very much intense-violent. I didn’t really see any structural damage that could’ve warranted an EF4 rating, mainly due to construction and the narrow core of the tornado, however contextual evidence suggests the tornado was probably still violent.
Here’s some more photos of leveled structures and intense tree damage.
Here’s a zoomed in photo of crushed and mangled vehicles.
The tornado also caused one final swath of significant ground scouring just before entering Grinnell.
N0mz
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1. Removed Plevna and Grinnell. I thought they may have reached EF5 intensity, but after doing some research I concluded they were both violent but probably not EF5 intensity.
2. Regarding Jamestown and Enderlin... added Enderlin based on the train car being thrown. Jamestown? The vehicle mangling was impressive, but nothing else along the path struck me as such (if there's something I haven't seen, feel free to show me.) Most of the "scouring" was just a plowed farmfield.
Lake Martin EF4
Member
Just wondering: what ruled Grinnell out? I was under the impression that it was the strongest EF5 candidate of the year.
Lake Martin EF4
Member
God I wish.
(Or maybe you were saying EF4 should've been the rating, but the wording makes me think you stated it was EF4 officially which it, sadly, was not.)
Kds86z
Member
Aaron Rider
Member
Not this nonsense again. I've already had enough of people dismissing the damage to the cement walkway etc. "Notably" poor is an ignorant description.
If you want to nitpick a violent tornado, find a better one than Rochelle
Kds86z
Member
Oh. Isee