Enhanced Fujita Ratings Debate Thread

[jiharris0220]

Tri-State was more violent than even the most violent damage Bremen received, arguably in multiple different locations as well.

Claims like this needs hard evidence.
I’ve seen the damage that 1925 Tri-state did, but nothing that one ups what the Kentucky tornado did in Bremen. (Key word is “one up” not saying either one was stronger than the other, which is really up to personal preference)
Of course, the Tri-State tornado caused such feats of damage more consistently and over many more places, which would make it the far more “impressive” out of the two.

 

[Eoline]

The Tri State tornado that occurred before the Western Kentucky tornado was almost certainly stronger than low end EF4. It caused some of the most extreme debarking I have ever seen and it caused some impressive scouring as it passed south of Hayti, MO.

The debarking was over an area of dead trees and I don't think it's as impressive as it actually looks. The rest I have no opinion on.

 

[Eoline]

Claims like this needs hard evidence.
I’ve seen the damage that 1925 Tri-state did, but nothing that one ups what the Kentucky tornado did in Bremen. (Key word is “one up” not saying either one was stronger than the other, which is really up to personal preference)
Of course, the Tri-State tornado caused such feats of damage more consistently and over many more places, which would make it the far more “impressive” out of the two.

Displaced an entire grove of (possibly hardwood) trees from a hillside and scoured the grass on the hill away, which we have photos of. I don't have them on me.

If we want to talk about the strongest tornadoes ever we have to talk about New Richmond 1899 which IMO is a solid contender for the strongest in recorded history.

 

[slenker]

Claims like this needs hard evidence.
I’ve seen the damage that 1925 Tri-state did, but nothing that one ups what the Kentucky tornado did in Bremen. (Key word is “one up” not saying either one was stronger than the other, which is really up to personal preference)
Of course, the Tri-State tornado caused such feats of damage more consistently and over many more places, which would make it the far more “impressive” out of the two.

Oh, absolutely. I don’t have any images myself, but @HAwkmoon has an excellent set of posts on Tri-State along with an article, and while it is subjective to consider one more violent than the other, the damage imagery I’ve seen from Tri-State leads me to believe that it was comfortably more violent than Bremen’s damage in the worst affected areas. The one that sticks out to me the most is the completely debarked grove of hardwood trees of a species ranked highly on the Janka scale; can’t remember which species, but they were so thoroughly obliterated in a way that was comparable to/exceeded other extremely high end events.

Ultimately, it’s up to personal opinion. Given the meteorological context of being an extremely long-tracked WF rider, and the images I’ve seen, I am confident that Tri-State was more powerful at its peak, but it’s splitting hairs between tornadoes of this caliber.

 

[SouthFLwx]

6 technically, (damage in Barnsley was rated EF3, unless it’s been upgraded) but that’s still very impressive.

I included Barnsley due to the lofting of train cars.

 

[SouthFLwx]

Wasn't Tri-State from the same outbreak also violent for a long period of time? I think that one had to not be far off from Mayfield in terms of intensity.

EDIT: It seems like that one was only rated EF4 in far less spots than Mayfield, but I also think it's a bit underrated IMO.

That one was definitely violent too but not on the same level as West Kentucky.

 

[WeathermanLeprechaun]

Displaced an entire grove of (possibly hardwood) trees from a hillside and scoured the grass on the hill away, which we have photos of. I don't have them on me.

If we want to talk about the strongest tornadoes ever we have to talk about New Richmond 1899 which IMO is a solid contender for the strongest in recorded history.

New Richmond is so overshadowed. That thing did absolutely vicious damage. Was basically Bridge Creek before it even happened.

 

[DanLarsen34]

The Tri State tornado that occurred before the Western Kentucky tornado was almost certainly stronger than low end EF4. It caused some of the most extreme debarking I have ever seen and it caused some impressive scouring as it passed south of Hayti, MO.

I think it’s fair to say that the 2021 Tri-state tornado was more than capable of producing EF-5 level damage at different points during its lifecycle, but that the extremely rural nature of the areas it tracked through likely kept us from seeing what the tornado was fully capable of at peak intensity.

Based on radar presentation, if I remember correctly, it may have hit peak intensity after impacting Monette somewhere near the Arkansas/Missouri state line. We were just fortunate that it missed a lot of the small towns and cities near its path unlike what transpired with its successor in Western Kentucky.