Severe WX Severe Threat 25 March 2021

[Equus]

Not too far from my house we had a small EF2 come through a number of years ago and it's still a bit weird to drive by parts of the path. I can't imagine how unsettling it must be to cross the path of a high-end tornado for years afterward, especially for folks who live in the area.

I talked to an old-timer just outside of Tupelo last year and he said that, if you know where to look, you can still occasionally come across little remnants of the '36 tornado. Nothing like this, of course, but still.

It's surreal to stand in a damage path to be honest, knowing that the spot you're standing in was subject to unsurvivable conditions in the recent past; I spent my teen years only a mile or two from the November 10 2002 Saragossa F3 path and it never feels normal going through the still clearly defined gap in the forest on the highway even this many years later, same with the April '11/'14 tracks between here and Birmingham.

That would be fascinating to know what to look for from an event that long ago; I've wondered if such could be said about the Tri-State tornado. I certainly hope some of these old timers write this stuff down or pass it on to next of kin.

Yikes, I'm surprised the debris has not been cleared out of the tracks. They must not be used that often.

The path of the Stoughton tornado of 2005 was quite evident for several years, I drive across it every time I visit my parents. It is less so now unless you know where to look, you can still see certain areas where the trees appear "mangled" with broken-off trunks sticking up above the live parts.

I believe the vicinity of where the tornado's path crossed the tracks of the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad did not have any structures in the immediate area, so it's unlikely there was a similarly large amount of debris deposited on them. However, the railroad did put a slow order in place until the tracks could be thoroughly cleaned and inspected.

Yeah it's a short line with about ten trains a week and a slow order of 10mph on most of the line, even despite that I was very surprised there wasn't more cleanup over the year. There is personal household debris all amidst the tracks with just enough room to get trains by.

I was railfanning and looking at abandoned stuff today with a friend and came across it, he had gone down the day after the tornado to check on the line back in March and essentially said little had changed at the site since then other than the new trailer bring brought in where the old one sat and thankfully the news that the owner survived. It was quite sad to see broken children's toys and VHS tapes, Christmas ornaments, home decor, etc laying out in the weather; have helped clean up after a tornado before and seen those things many times but it doesn't get much easier.

Trees are such a great key to follow old tornado tracks, can still tell the path of the 11/10/02 F3 near the house by the surviving trees that broke off and had to regrow from way back then lol