Significant Tornado Events - Global Edition

[Sawmaster]

Though not my favorite YT channel she's usually accurate in detail and though I haven't seen it yet, I'm sure some here will be interested:

 

[buckeye05]

Though not my favorite YT channel she's usually accurate in detail and though I haven't seen it yet, I'm sure some here will be interested:

Will definitely have to check this out! I really wish people would stop spreading that photo of the 2003 O'Neill, NE F3 put though a sepia filter as a photo of the San Justo tornado though.

 

[A Guy]

It occurred on 11/7/1934 apart of a large tornado outbreak in South Australia and Victoria. It completely destroyed a farm and killed one person when they were thrown 40 meters and trapped under debris. Pieces of three-ply lining boards were reportedly found 6 miles away from the property. Unfortunately Trove doesn’t have any local newspapers so the only information available is from newspapers in Melbourne which don’t have too much detail about the event. It occurred near Bolton Victoria.

Okay I found it in the archive though it lists the location as Manangatang, which lies slightly further south. November 1934 appears to have been a very active month for tornadoes in Australia - one is mentioned as being photographed, though I doubt a copy exists anymore.

The early 20th century overall appears to have been much more active for destructive tornadoes than recently. Might be climatic shifts, but the fact the rural population in a lot of places is much lower now than it was then would also be a factor.

The overall state of tornado reporting here is shambolic. The big, destructive one near Bathurst a few years ago isn't listed in the severe storms archive and I can't find a rating. No tornadoes at all have been archived since 2019.

I wish John Allen would hurry up and finish his Australian tornado climatology. I've been waiting seven years.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Okay I found it in the archive though it lists the location as Manangatang, which lies slightly further south. November 1934 appears to have been a very active month for tornadoes in Australia - one is mentioned as being photographed, though I doubt a copy exists anymore.

The early 20th century overall appears to have been much more active for destructive tornadoes than recently. Might be climatic shifts, but the fact the rural population in a lot of places is much lower now than it was then would also be a factor.

The overall state of tornado reporting here is shambolic. The big, destructive one near Bathurst a few years ago isn't listed in the severe storms archive and I can't find a rating. No tornadoes at all have been archived since 2019.

I wish John Allen would hurry up and finish his Australian tornado climatology. I've been waiting seven years.

Another Australian tornado I wish we knew more about is the 11/14/1901 Ballarat Victoria tornado. It was apparently long-tracked and possibly intense/violent. Several farmhouses were reportedly leveled or destroyed.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Another Australian tornado I wish we knew more about is the 11/14/1901 Ballarat Victoria tornado. It was apparently long-tracked and possibly intense/violent. Several farmhouses were reportedly leveled or destroyed.

The 1970 Bulahdelah tornado is one I wish there was more photographs from; I'd love detailed aerial photography of the forest areas it levelled.

2 grainy black and white damage photographs:




Apparently this is a destroyed caravan (camper van):





2,000 kg tractor that was lifted into the air and landed upside down

For whatever reason no official damage rating has been made public of this thing. Also, it occurred on January 1, 1970. Don't know of any other significant tornadoes occurring on that date.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

The 1970 Bulahdelah tornado is one I wish there was more photographs from; I'd love detailed aerial photography of the forest areas it levelled.

2 grainy black and white damage photographs:

View attachment 17507


Apparently this is a destroyed caravan (camper van):


View attachment 17508


2,000 kg tractor that was lifted into the air and landed upside down

For whatever reason no official damage rating has been made public of this thing. Also, it occurred on January 1, 1970. Don't know of any other significant tornadoes occurring on that date.

I found damage photos from 1970 Bulahdelah tornado and they are not too impressive. Definitely not the F4/F5 it is rumored to be. Also it didn’t leave a visible scar on satellite imagery.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I found damage photos from 1970 Bulahdelah tornado and they are not too impressive. Definitely not the F4/F5 it is rumored to be. Also it didn’t leave a visible scar on satellite imagery.
View attachment 17511 View attachment 17512 View attachment 17513 View attachment 17514 View attachment 17515

Source for these photos?

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Source for these photos?

 

[A Guy]

For whatever reason no official damage rating has been made public of this thing.

I don't think any official rating has ever been made. The same goes for most older Australia tornadoes, though some rather speculative ones have wangled their way into existence. Don't forget the official US ratings prior to the mid-seventies were simply students looking at reports and pics. There's no reason to expect an official rating. Someone could do the same thing but there's less info out there.

 

[TH2002]

It goes without saying that South Africa is no stranger to tornadoes, including strong to violent ones. Lesotho on the other hand seems to be a different story - at least, as far as reliably documenting their tornadoes goes. Due to its higher elevation the country does likely see less tornadoes than surrounding South Africa, but as for how many they actually get, I have no way to tell for sure (though I'd like to say the country sees a tornado once every couple of years or so). Naturally trying to contact the Lesotho Meteorological Services to ask if there is some kind of database for tornadoes in Lesotho proved to be a waste of time since the contact form on their website (and their ENTIRE website) is broken and trying to email them directly only gave an 'Access denied' error... great!

Regardless, I managed to find two possible tornadoes and a third confirmed tornado, albeit with little information overall.

• A possible tornado in January 2008 killed two people, displaced 4,000 others and destroyed 189 homes. (source)
• A possible tornado in July 2012 destroyed 85 homes and displaced 500 people overall. Some of the homes reportedly had their roofs torn off and sustained some collapse of walls. Temperatures dropped to freezing after the storm's passage. (source)
• A landspout tornado was filmed near Mohale's Hoek in 2020. Beyond this, little to no information is available. (video - and a vertical video disclaimer)

Ultimately, it makes me wonder how many tornadoes have gone undocumented in Lesotho, especially considering how well the South African Weather Service keeps track of tornadoes in South Africa.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I found damage photos from 1970 Bulahdelah tornado and they are not too impressive. Definitely not the F4/F5 it is rumored to be. Also it didn’t leave a visible scar on satellite imagery.
View attachment 17511 View attachment 17512 View attachment 17513 View attachment 17514 View attachment 17515

Awesome find! I've been looking for photos from this thing forever!
I know the Australian Outback produces impressive supercells at least a handful of times annually, so it wouldn't surprise me if lots of EF4+ events occur out there undocumented since they don't hit anything.
I do wonder if Australia has had any tornadoes that have produced ground/pavement scouring, thrown automobiles for hundreds of yards and mangled them beyond recognition, and swept away large buildings/homes completely.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Awesome find! I've been looking for photos from this thing forever!
I know the Australian Outback produces impressive supercells at least a handful of times annually, so it wouldn't surprise me if lots of EF4+ events occur out there undocumented since they don't hit anything.
I do wonder if Australia has had any tornadoes that have produced ground/pavement scouring, thrown automobiles for hundreds of yards and mangled them beyond recognition, and swept away large buildings/homes completely.

There is this one tornado from 1994 that sounds interesting: "400 to 500 kg tree completely stripped and thrown 150 m. Sheds completely demolished, cars and a bus pushed off the road, the bus was rolled over. A sheep was thrown 1 km. Wild-life killed. A 2 ton cattle feeder was thrown 300 yards uphill. The funnel cloud was black in colour. Tornado reported at 0430 UTC on 25/11/94 10 to 15 km east of Condobolin."

 

[TH2002]

Awesome find! I've been looking for photos from this thing forever!
I know the Australian Outback produces impressive supercells at least a handful of times annually, so it wouldn't surprise me if lots of EF4+ events occur out there undocumented since they don't hit anything.
I do wonder if Australia has had any tornadoes that have produced ground/pavement scouring, thrown automobiles for hundreds of yards and mangled them beyond recognition, and swept away large buildings/homes completely.

The 1992 Bucca tornado is the only official F4 in Australian history and was probably one of the most violent tornadoes to ever strike Australia (definitely more violent than the Bulahdelah tornado IMO, at least based on the info/damage photos that are available). It reportedly heavily damaged at least nine houses, three of which were completely leveled, a three-ton truck was thrown 980 feet, various items including a refrigerator, ceiling fans and metal roll-up doors were blown away and never found, and grass was reportedly scoured to bare soil. What's also interesting is that this PDF refers to the Bucca tornado as 'possibly F5'.

MNTornadoGuy's previous post on this tornado: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events-global-edition.1894/#post-68678

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

The 1992 Bucca tornado is the only official F4 in Australian history and was probably one of the most violent tornadoes to ever strike Australia (definitely more violent than the Bulahdelah tornado IMO, at least based on the info/damage photos that are available). It reportedly heavily damaged at least nine houses, three of which were completely leveled, a three-ton truck was thrown 980 feet, various items including a refrigerator, ceiling fans and metal roll-up doors were blown away and never found, and grass was reportedly scoured to bare soil. What's also interesting is that this PDF refers to the Bucca tornado as 'possibly F5'.

MNTornadoGuy's previous post on this tornado: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events-global-edition.1894/#post-68678

The only photos I’ve from Bucca look more like F3 damage.

 

[TH2002]

The only photos I’ve from Bucca look more like F3 damage.

There are very few photos from Bucca to begin with since it's rather poorly documented, and I don't think a tornado being poorly documented in itself is a solid reason to completely brush off reports of violent damage. I definitely wouldn't call it an F5 candidate without more documentation though.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Bucca left a somewhat faint scar that was visible in satellite imagery while the Oakhurst tornado left a very prominent scar

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Aerial imagery of the scar left by the 1992 Oakhurst Queensland F3.

 

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

I wonder if someone has the other damage photos from the 1990 Mobara tornado

 

[zvl5316]

La Rinconada, Peru was hit by tornadoes on May 11, 2018 and again on May 23, 2019. At 16,700 feet above sea level, these are probably the highest elevation tornadoes recorded anywhere in the world.

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There was a tornado reported in mountainous areas near Ngamring,Tibet on May 22, 2022. But I am not sure about the exact altitude of the tornado. The altitude of the reported area varies from 4800m to 5300m.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

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There was a tornado reported in mountainous areas near Ngamring,Tibet on May 22, 2022. But I am not sure about the exact altitude of the tornado. The altitude of the reported area varies from 4800m to 5300m.

I've also heard there was killer tornado in Tibet during the 1980s.