Significant Tornado Events - Global Edition

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

A ton of footage from Pampa, TX I've never seen before, including damage:

Maybe this one belongs to the main Significant Tornado Events thread

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Maybe this one belongs to the main Significant Tornado Events thread

Moved it over, good catch.

 

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

Agua Azul - F3:
This intense tornado destroyed most of the community of Agua Azul. A masonry church with thick walls was mostly destroyed with only one exterior wall standing. Several homes were also destroyed and trees were mowed down. Thankfully no-one was killed by this tornado.

The photos won't appear for me

 

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

Are there any other Japa

Made a brief post about this event a while back, but here are some more photos and details.

On November 18, 2011, an unusual and tragic tornado event struck the island of Tokunoshima in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture. It tracked less than a mile, but became intense very quickly and completely leveled a house, killing three people. Their bodies were found nearly 100 meters (328 feet) away from where the home stood. In addition, some debris from the home was blown downwind and a car was thrown 20 meters (60 feet) up a hill. This was Japan's first fatal (and likely strongest) tornado since 2006, and remains tied with the 2006 Nobeoka tornado as the second deadliest ever recorded in Japan. Yet, despite these feats, this storm didn't receive much media coverage.

The tornado was given an F2 rating by the JMA but I strongly feel it should have been rated F3. While the destroyed home was obviously not well anchored, it is still a DOD9 residence and this tornado would have very likely achieved a low-end EF3 rating if it occurred in the US. The damage intensity was pretty much identical to the Ellendale, DE tornado from last year imo.

Are there any other Japanese tornadoes that have its rating disputed (other than Mobara 1990, Saroma 2006, Tokunoshima 2011 and Tsukuba 2012)?

 

[TH2002]

Are there any other Japa

Are there any other Japanese tornadoes that have its rating disputed (other than Mobara 1990, Saroma 2006, Tokunoshima 2011 and Tsukuba 2012)?

I'm sure there's others I could find if I dug them up. Keep in mind that apart from Mobara (which is considered F4 by an official source, Ted Fujita) those tornadoes you mentioned are just my personal opinions. I do feel the 2009 Mimasaka tornado could have arguably gone low F3 based on some of the contextual damage (pavement scouring and vehicles tossed over 100 yards) but F2 is fine since I couldn't find any homes with exterior wall loss.

 

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

I'm sure there's others I could find if I dug them up. Keep in mind that apart from Mobara (which is considered F4 by an official source, Ted Fujita) those tornadoes you mentioned are just my personal opinions. I do feel the 2009 Mimasaka tornado could have arguably gone low F3 based on some of the contextual damage (pavement scouring and vehicles tossed over 100 yards) but F2 is fine since I couldn't find any homes with exterior wall loss.

2018 Okinawa tornado was rated as JEF3 but i couldn't even find any evidence of such damage

 

[TH2002]

2018 Okinawa tornado was rated as JEF3 but i couldn't even find any evidence of such damage

Yeah, after looking at the survey report I have to agree and it looks like it was a low-end EF2 at best. The only semi-impressive things I see are some crops beaten down and a small shipping container overturned.

 

[TH2002]

One of the the two official F4 tornadoes to hit Switzerland is the 1971 L'Abbaye tornado. Multiple structures lost roofs or shifted off their foundations and collapsed, cars were hurled considerable distances and mangled, caravans at a campsite were overturned and destroyed, and trees were 100% blown down in a mountainous area. While I do think this tornado deserves an F3 rating I don't think it should have been rated F4.

 

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

Yesterday in Sidoarjo, Indonesia. Unfortunately, the tornado claimed one life

 

[TH2002]

Outside of the devastating 1984 outbreak, one notable tornado event to occur in the Soviet Union is the July 3, 1974 Nizhny Novgorod tornado (the city was called Gorky at the time). This strong and possibly rain-wrapped tornado was responsible for two deaths and an unknown number of injuries along a 9 km path. During its track it damaged roofs, snapped trees, capsized a small ship and bent metal electrical transmission towers to the ground. A weather station hit by the tornado recorded a gust of 48 meters per second (107 mph) before its anemometer failed, the highest wind speed ever recorded in the city up to that point.

'

While it is officially rated F3, I'm skeptical. The ESWD appears to have based the rating solely on an apartment building (the one in the first photo) that had a large part of its facade collapse outward. The apartment building appears to be a variant of a 'khrushchevka', buildings which were notorious for being poorly built and are basically giant prefabs. Construction quality wise, they're pretty much the Soviet equivalent to neighborhoods of cheaply built tract homes in the US. Plus, other images of tree and structural damage from the same tornado are unsupportive of anything above F2 intensity.

 

[TornadoesUK]

To be completely honest, although Tim Marshall rated it F2, I do firmly believe it was an F3. Torro with the Met Office rated it T5/6 and the damage to brick homes was pretty impressive for UK standards - generally similar to some of the damage the Jersey tornado inflicted (and actually recieved a T6 rating for) - also similar caliber to some of the French IF3 tornado damage from Oct 2022:
View attachment 23507

I'd definitely agree that the 1954 tornado was not T7 strength whatsoever. The worst damage I have seen from that was a removed exterior wall which looked like more like it was a result of some sort of weakness. The other damage I remember seeing in photon was just removed corrugated iron sheets from a train station shelter and some moderately damaged roofs.

I think there was a T6/F3 tornado in Ireland in 1995 - but I cant find any info regarding damage, path etc.

There was also a F3 in Lincolnshire in October 1937, but I cant find any info.

TORRO only has few photos of the Lincolnshire F3, both of which are extremely poor quality. The only mentions of damage I could find were in the International Journal of Meteorology, volume 10, number 100.

 

[TH2002]

TORRO only has few photos of the Lincolnshire F3, both of which are extremely poor quality. The only mentions of damage I could find were in the International Journal of Meteorology, volume 10, number 100. View attachment 23894View attachment 23895View attachment 23896

The second photo does appear to show some rather intense damage to masonry buildings, but I'm not so sure I can say "yep, this tornado was definitely at least T6 strength" since the photo is so poor quality.

TBH I think it's very difficult to impossible to definitively assess a tornado's strength in situations where one has to rely entirely on sketchy textual descriptions of damage, with maybe one or two poor quality photos available at best. But hey, more the power to TORRO and the ESWD if they disagree.

 

[TornadoesUK]

The second photo does appear to show some rather intense damage to masonry buildings, but I'm not so sure I can say "yep, this tornado was definitely at least T6 strength" since the photo is so poor quality.

TBH I think it's very difficult to impossible to definitively assess a tornado's strength in situations where one has to rely entirely on sketchy textual descriptions of damage, with maybe one or two poor quality photos available at best. But hey, more the power to TORRO and the ESWD if they disagree.

I was skeptical of the rating at first, but I just found out that TORRO’s 40th anniversary book says the 1937 Lincolnshire tornado was downgraded, and that the rest of the damage ‘mostly suggests T3, and the true maximum force is uncertain.’

 

[TH2002]

I was skeptical of the rating at first, but I just found out that TORRO’s 40th anniversary book says the 1937 Lincolnshire tornado was downgraded, and that the rest of the damage ‘mostly suggests T3, and the true maximum force is uncertain.’View attachment 23902

This proves my point perfectly. There are many examples of tornadoes garnering up reputations as extremely violent almost purely based on text-only descriptions of damage and hearsay. Then more damage photos become available and those reports of "completely destroyed" or "swept away" homes turn out to be missing roofs and their walls hardly damaged, suggesting low-end F3 intensity at best. It is the reason why tornado expert Thomas Grazulis did not assign F-scale ratings to ANY pre-1871 tornadoes, except for two very well documented examples (Natchez 1840 and Camanche 1860). Also, I've said it already and will say it again: Brick does NOT automatically equal better construction, so damage that looks high-end F3 to F4 could really be more in the F2 range, especially with unreinforced masonry.

Damage photos are by far the most important tool in assessing the strength of historical tornadoes, but one should have at least two or three good quality photos and a report from a very reputable source before trying to make an assessment.

 

[maksimwx980]

Hello fellow tornado enthusiasts, I've recently been working on trying to make a proper research and analysis "paper" for the 6/9/1984 Ivanovo, USSR tornado along with its associated outbreak. I knew it would be a long project, however, I also figured that many others might be interested but also how fast the analysis can be done with helpers plus the elimination of bias in any conclusions. So I'm here to rally those interested in making a team who know how to do some deep digging and research on the internet to uncover the secrets of the Ivanovo tornado and its associated outbreak in a full chronological analysis of many elements to the overall event. Reply if interested, спасибо вам, друзья мои!

 

[TH2002]

Hello fellow tornado enthusiasts, I've recently been working on trying to make a proper research and analysis "paper" for the 6/9/1984 Ivanovo, USSR tornado along with its associated outbreak. I knew it would be a long project, however, I also figured that many others might be interested but also how fast the analysis can be done with helpers plus the elimination of bias in any conclusions. So I'm here to rally those interested in making a team who know how to do some deep digging and research on the internet to uncover the secrets of the Ivanovo tornado and its associated outbreak in a full chronological analysis of many elements to the overall event. Reply if interested, спасибо вам, друзья мои!

A good place to start would be Alexander Chernokulsky and Andrei Shikhov's research paper on the event. They have done tremendous research to shed light on Russian tornado events. http://gis.psu.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Chernokulsky_Shikhov_Paper.pdf

The biggest collection of Ivanovo photos you'll ever see (courtesy of @MNTornadoGuy): https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events-global-edition.1894/page-2#post-68776

A few more:

An article with photos from the Sheremetyevo Airport tornado: https://sheremetyevo-50.livejournal.com/2801.html

 

[maksimwx980]

A good place to start would be Alexander Chernokulsky and Andrei Shikhov's research paper on the event. They have done tremendous research to shed light on Russian tornado events. http://gis.psu.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Chernokulsky_Shikhov_Paper.pdf

The biggest collection of Ivanovo photos you'll ever see (courtesy of @MNTornadoGuy): https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events-global-edition.1894/page-2#post-68776

A few more:

An article with photos from the Sheremetyevo Airport tornado: https://sheremetyevo-50.livejournal.com/2801.html

Oh, thanks for the photo thread, also I've already read many sources including the papers but I also needed to find that Shremetyovo article that I forgot to store a little while ago, thanks for that too. Are you interested in a proper project though? Or do you know anyone who may be interested in helping? No problem either if you don't want to.

 

[TH2002]

Oh, thanks for the photo thread, also I've already read many sources including the papers but I also needed to find that Shremetyovo article that I forgot to store a little while ago, thanks for that too. Are you interested in a proper project though? Or do you know anyone who may be interested in helping? No problem either if you don't want to.

PM me and we can discuss.

 

[TornadoesUK]

Hello fellow tornado enthusiasts, I've recently been working on trying to make a proper research and analysis "paper" for the 6/9/1984 Ivanovo, USSR tornado along with its associated outbreak. I knew it would be a long project, however, I also figured that many others might be interested but also how fast the analysis can be done with helpers plus the elimination of bias in any conclusions. So I'm here to rally those interested in making a team who know how to do some deep digging and research on the internet to uncover the secrets of the Ivanovo tornado and its associated outbreak in a full chronological analysis of many elements to the overall event. Reply if interested, спасибо вам, друзья мои!

The Sheremetyevo Airport tornado produced a scar north of the airport through a forest, where a few villages now sit.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Hello fellow tornado enthusiasts, I've recently been working on trying to make a proper research and analysis "paper" for the 6/9/1984 Ivanovo, USSR tornado along with its associated outbreak. I knew it would be a long project, however, I also figured that many others might be interested but also how fast the analysis can be done with helpers plus the elimination of bias in any conclusions. So I'm here to rally those interested in making a team who know how to do some deep digging and research on the internet to uncover the secrets of the Ivanovo tornado and its associated outbreak in a full chronological analysis of many elements to the overall event. Reply if interested, спасибо вам, друзья мои!

have a bunch of stuff from Ivanovo, for example here is every photograph of the tornado itself I could find. https://vk.com/wall-13327485_13255?lang=en&w=wall-61472652_473247