Significant Tornado Events

[pohnpei]

What's interesting is that Niles/Wheatland didn't do much debarking of trees in its path. Uprooted many yes, but not much in the way of debarking. Perhaps it's a tree species thing?

I also didn't find violent car damage of this tornado including that website posted few pages before.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I also didn't find violent car damage of this tornado including that website posted few pages before.

In the bottom left pic you can see a car that looks like had it's entire front torn off:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Goldsby tornado had a host of clean slabs
It has been mentioned reached 200mph at times in NCDC database.
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extreme debarking and souring:
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car damage
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So, apparently the Chickasha tornado threw this pickup truck hundreds of yards and basically disintegrated it.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I don't have a degree or anything but I would say definitely depending on soil composition/type. When rain sits in low lying areas it can make the topsoil extremely soft/loose and one would think it would be much easier to lift than more solid dry Earth.

Like I said not an expert maybe someone else will chime in.

I remember reading somewhere that one of the 1974 Tanner tornadoes tore up soil and plastered it up against trees. Sounds impressive until you find out that the soil was along the riverbanks of the Tennessee River, which would be softer and more susceptible to being dislodged. Stuff like this is why context is important.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

That is an extremely violent tornado. I like how the guy in the vid says that's paper. That is a lot more than paper. I never knew the violence of this tornado until recently.

It was easily the most violent tornado of the 1980s, and to the best of my knowledge is the only F5 in Pennsylvania state history.

Also, a tornado in 1947 apparently followed a virtually identical path through the same area:

May 31, 1985 Tornado Pictures and Video of Newton Falls, Ohio and Niles, Ohio

 

[warneagle]

It was easily the most violent tornado of the 1980s, and to the best of my knowledge is the only F5 in Pennsylvania state history.

Also, a tornado in 1947 apparently followed a virtually identical path through the same area:

May 31, 1985 Tornado Pictures and Video of Newton Falls, Ohio and Niles, Ohio

Correct, it's the only one, and also the farthest east.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

When it comes to overlooked violent tornadoes in remote areas the Bakersfield Valley is one of the greats. This thing threw 3 500-barrell storage, each weighing 180,000 pounds, 3 MILES, and 2 of them were tossed 600 feet up a hill with a steep incline. Pretty much all the photographs of it's damage are from Storm Data, June 1990.

 

[Shakespeare2016]

Here are some vehicles from the Greensburg, KS EF5 that were severely mangled or mangled almost beyond recognition

A tornado damaged vehicle with the stars and stripes in Greensburg Kansas, after a killer tornado on May 4th 2007 Stock Photo - Alamy

Download this stock image: A tornado damaged vehicle with the stars and stripes in Greensburg Kansas, after a killer tornado on May 4th 2007 - AH4BBJ from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.

www.alamy.com

A smashed US Mail van in Greensburg, Kansas, USA, after the huge killer tornado on May 4th 2007 Stock Photo - Alamy

Download this stock image: A smashed US Mail van in Greensburg, Kansas, USA, after the huge killer tornado on May 4th 2007 - AH1N8W from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.

www.alamy.com

A smashed vehicle and ongoing cleanup operation in Greensburg, Kansas, USA, after the huge killer tornado on May 4th 2007 Stock Photo - Alamy

Download this stock image: A smashed vehicle and ongoing cleanup operation in Greensburg, Kansas, USA, after the huge killer tornado on May 4th 2007 - AH374R from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.

www.alamy.com

May 4, 2007 Greensburg, Kansas F5 tornado

 

[Shakespeare2016]

I always wondered how the Greensburg tornado compared to other F5 or EF5 tornadoes. It seems a little bit more minimal EF5 in comparison to a number of F5 or EF5 tornadoes.

 

[Shakespeare2016]

2013 Woodbury had three EF4 rating places in Damage Viewer but really weird to see this kind of damage can earn EF4 rating. The second picture has been described "car moved 10m".
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For Wayne NE EF4, it seems much intense than Woodbury tornado, but still not sure about wheather or not it worth this rating.
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The Wayne tornado deserved an EF4 rating but the other one probably did not.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I always wondered how the Greensburg tornado compared to other F5 or EF5 tornadoes. It seems a little bit more minimal EF5 in comparison to a number of F5 or EF5 tornadoes.

I'm pretty sure the consensus is that Greensburg was weakening as it was going through the town, it dissipated as soon as it exited the town before the storm system spawned an even larger tornado. Those vehicles are heavily damaged but still somewhat recognizable. It was a "marginal EF5" at best. I still can't believe that it gets an EF5 rating but Goldsby and Chickasha were EF4, despite doing clearly much more severe damage over a much longer path.

 

[Shakespeare2016]

I'm pretty sure the consensus is that Greensburg was weakening as it was going through the town, it dissipated as soon as it exited the town before the storm system spawned an even larger tornado. Those vehicles are heavily damaged but still somewhat recognizable. It was a "marginal EF5" at best. I still can't believe that it gets an EF5 rating but Goldsby and Chickasha were EF4, despite doing clearly much more severe damage over a much longer path.

Yeah, I don't believe it was as extreme as the two tornadoes you mentioned from May 24, 2011 nor was it as extreme as the Andover, Jarrell, Bridge Creek , and a number of other F5/EF5 tornadoes.

 

[Brice]

Yeah, I don't believe it was as extreme as the two tornadoes you mentioned from May 24, 2011 nor was it as extreme as the Andover, Jarrell, Bridge Creek , and a number of other F5/EF5 tornadoes.

Greensburg reminds me a lot of Joplin, because when it hit Joplin there wasn't much EF5 damage and Greensburg didn't have much EF5 damage even though three well-built anchor homes were swept away in Greensburg.

 

[Shakespeare2016]

Greensburg reminds me a lot of Joplin, because when it hit Joplin there wasn't much EF5 damage and Greensburg didn't have much EF5 damage even though three well-built anchor homes were swept away in Greensburg.

It was actually seven. Five on the east side and two on the west side.

 

[pohnpei]

Greensburg reminds me a lot of Joplin, because when it hit Joplin there wasn't much EF5 damage and Greensburg didn't have much EF5 damage even though three well-built anchor homes were swept away in Greensburg.

Joplin had 22 places that rated EF5 and over 500 places rated EF4 according to the research done by Tim Marshall, which actually more than 08Pakersburg and 13Moore.

 

[pohnpei]

I'm pretty sure the consensus is that Greensburg was weakening as it was going through the town, it dissipated as soon as it exited the town before the storm system spawned an even larger tornado. Those vehicles are heavily damaged but still somewhat recognizable. It was a "marginal EF5" at best. I still can't believe that it gets an EF5 rating but Goldsby and Chickasha were EF4, despite doing clearly much more severe damage over a much longer path.

When it comes to overlooked violent tornadoes in remote areas the Bakersfield Valley is one of the greats. This thing threw 3 500-barrell storage, each weighing 180,000 pounds, 3 MILES, and 2 of them were tossed 600 feet up a hill with a steep incline. Pretty much all the photographs of it's damage are from Storm Data, June 1990.

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So this oil tank first rolled about 3miles then climb to to a 600ft slope, I used to think it was a 3 miles one toss...
Thanks for this informantion!

I find it was hard to get any damage informantion before Greensburg enter the town.I remember Udall KS F5 and Hesston KS F5 also hit the town at the very end of its life.It's hard to find their damage information before that.

 

[Tomcats Forever!]

I will reiterate, as it's a common lament after the old TW went down, thanks to fortuitous obsessive digital hoarding I have both the old Significant Tornado Events and Strongest Tornado threads from the old site through about May 2014, perfectly intact with all posts and images through then (along with a few others such as the Joplin and May 2013 Moore/El Reno days) so if there's anything anyone wants me to pull from those I can do so. I'd repost them all here but would of course want explicit moderator approval before spamming the board.

Will the archived messages work like normal via PM?

 

[Tomcats Forever!]

Also, is it just me, or have the wind speeds of the Bridge Creek/Moore 1999 tornado increased? For the longest time I thought it was 301 =/-20, and now Wiki is showing 302 =/- 22.

 

[pohnpei]

Interesting damage from Greensburg tornado, Fire hydrant was pulled out of the ground

 

[skelly]

Interesting damage from Greensburg tornado, Fire hydrant was pulled out of the ground
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It was most like knocked loose by flying debris or uprooted tree etc.