Significant Tornado Events

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I think it could be considered a Super Outbreak at a much smaller scale, similar to many historic Dixie outbreaks.

Honestly, I think 3/18/25 was a legit Super Outbreak, due to how many states reported thunderstorms and downbursts as well as tornadoes (Ontario, Canada even reported severe weather) but was so poorly documented it's mostly been lost to time. While the Tri-State tornado understandably gets (and deserves) most of the attention you have to wonder how many other F5s there that day and if there were any other VLT F5 wedges that tracked 100+ miles and simply are lost to time due to not tracking through any populated areas.

 

[locomusic01]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I consider the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak was a Super Outbreak. The violence is nearly unprecedented in post-1950 history with the exception of the two Super Outbreaks of course.

Well, you can count the number of outbreaks that have produced more violent tornadoes on.. one finger. And that's even with the inexplicably conservative lean for that outbreak's ratings overall. The total number of tornadoes doesn't look as impressive compared to some other outbreaks, but we've also gotten a lot better over the years at counting smaller, briefer tornadoes that would've gone overlooked in that era.

There are a handful of other outbreaks you could probably put in the "super outbreak" category as well, but very few in history come close to the overall intensity of Palm Sunday. Frankly, I've always thought it was pretty weird that there's kind of a tendency to overlook it.

 

[speedbump305]

Juliett, Do you think doing damage to anchor bolts in EF4/EF5 is common or uncommon? Like ripping them out, snapping them, and bending them. is it uncommon

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Honestly, I think 3/18/25 was a legit Super Outbreak, due to how many states reported thunderstorms and downbursts as well as tornadoes (Ontario, Canada even reported severe weather) but was so poorly documented it's mostly been lost to time. While the Tri-State tornado understandably gets (and deserves) most of the attention you have to wonder how many other F5s there that day and if there were any other VLT F5 wedges that tracked 100+ miles and simply are lost to time due to not tracking through any populated areas.

I don’t think any VLT violent tornadoes would be lost to history or missed. Though I don’t doubt that many weaker tornadoes were missed.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Well, you can count the number of outbreaks that have produced more violent tornadoes on.. one finger. And that's even with the inexplicably conservative lean for that outbreak's ratings overall. The total number of tornadoes doesn't look as impressive compared to some other outbreaks, but we've also gotten a lot better over the years at counting smaller, briefer tornadoes that would've gone overlooked in that era.

There are a handful of other outbreaks you could probably put in the "super outbreak" category as well, but very few in history come close to the overall intensity of Palm Sunday. Frankly, I've always thought it was pretty weird that there's kind of a tendency to overlook it.

I think of it as a more localized "Super Outbreak." The overall aerial extent or total number of tornadoes wasn't as impressive, but the IN/MI/OH border region was absolutely raked by violent tornadoes in close proximity for hours in similar fashion to the way northern/central Alabama was in both 1974 and 2011.

I'm also fascinated by Palm Sunday 1965 because it's one of the only times in recorded history that my area (southern Wisconsin) has been included in a multi-state violent outbreak (as as posted above, some of the tornadoes that occurred here were likely violent even though they aren't officially rated as such). When outbreaks occur in the upper Midwest region, they tend to affect Iowa OR Illinois OR Minnesota OR Wisconsin. And it's surprisingly extremely rare to have a long-track tornado cross from Iowa or Illinois into Wisconsin.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I think of it as a more localized "Super Outbreak." The overall aerial extent or total number of tornadoes wasn't as impressive, but the IN/MI/OH border region was absolutely raked by violent tornadoes in close proximity for hours in similar fashion to the way northern/central Alabama was in both 1974 and 2011.

I'm also fascinated by Palm Sunday 1965 because it's one of the only times in recorded history that my area (southern Wisconsin) has been included in a multi-state violent outbreak (as as posted above, some of the tornadoes that occurred here were likely violent even though they aren't officially rated as such). When outbreaks occur in the upper Midwest region, they tend to affect Iowa OR Illinois OR Minnesota OR Wisconsin. And it's surprisingly extremely rare to have a long-track tornado cross from Iowa or Illinois into Wisconsin.

I don’t think any MN outbreak has come even close to the intensity of the Palm Sunday outbreak.

 

[J-Rab]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I consider the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak was a Super Outbreak. The violence is nearly unprecedented in post-1950 history with the exception of the two Super Outbreaks of course.

I certainly think it can be considered a super outbreak. When the underrating is taken into account along with the sheer violence of the entire outbreak, I don’t know why it wouldn’t be viewed that way.

Had the tornados been ranked correctly (or at least the same way as the ones from 4/3/74), I do think it would be widely viewed as closer to the ‘74 and ‘11 outbreaks.

I know that I personally view it in a similar light. Some of those Palm Sunday tornadoes were straight up beasts.

 

[Casuarina Head]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I consider the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak was a Super Outbreak. The violence is nearly unprecedented in post-1950 history with the exception of the two Super Outbreaks of course.

Honestly, there are probably many more outbreaks in the past that could have been considered “Super Outbreaks” but were overlooked. According to Thomas P. Grazulis, 20 May 1949 may have been one of the most intense twenty-four-hour periods on record, in terms of overall tornadoes, and indeed that day was extremely prolific across portions of the TX Panhandle, western OK, and KS. Aside from that day, he also mentions 19–20 February 1884 (the Enigma outbreak), and deservedly so, though he thinks that outbreak didn’t quite reach the scale of 20 May 1949. Aside from these, I would also mention 28 March 1920 (Palm Sunday I), 21–22 March 1932, and 16–17 March 1942 as potential “Super Outbreaks,” given the sheer number of violent and/or killer tornadoes, a number of which were long-tracked and/or long-lived families. Palm Sunday I was practically a clone of Palm Sunday II in terms of areas impacted: both featured F4s (at least one of which may have been an F5) in the northwestern Chicago (IL) metropolitan area, the St. Joseph–Elkhart (IN) area, the Coldwater Lake (MI) area, and the Toledo–Cleveland (OH) area. In addition, this outbreak also featured one or more F4s in eastern AL and western GA. The outbreak of 16–17 March 1942 featured an F5 as far north as Lacon, IL, and F4s from Goshen, IN, southward to KY, TN, and MS, including a long-tracked family that killed sixty-three people in north-central MS. All these outbreaks in 1884, 1920, 1932, 1942, and 1949 probably come close to being classified as “Super Outbreaks,” or are deserving of this classification.

 

[pohnpei]

Assessing the magnititude of an outbreak, DPI may can be uesd as a tool. But it should be remembered that storm database transitioned from mean path width to max path width in 1995. Also it seems that super wide tornado may take too big preponderance in it.


Also I heard that Grazulis's new book would list the rank of each tornado outbreak in the history. He classified all the tornado outbreaks into 7(or 6?) categories. And I heard that only two super outbreaks have been given Rank 6(which is quite obvious), the highest rank of his ranking system.

 

[Marshal79344]

The definition of a Super Outbreak is different for everyone, but for me, a Super Outbreak has to have many supercells interacting with a very potent environment, resulting in many violent and destructive tornadoes in a short period of time, not something like a May Sequence (regardless of path length but mainly based on pure impact alone). These outbreaks below come to mind when classifying Super Outbreaks:

February 19-20, 1884 (Several violent tornadoes with supercells with unusually large hail cores for Dixie)
March 28, 1920 (Violent Tornadoes touching down everywhere)
April 20, 1920 (Unusual morning tornado event affected the same area as 4/27, see clipping below for a damage description from an EF4 Tornado that affected Neshoba (Hit by Philadelphia Tornado on 4/27/2011)and Winston Counties (Hit by Louisville on 4/28/14) on that day)



March 21, 1932 (Numerous violent tornadoes did massive damage across Alabama and Tennessee. Bottom clipping shows violent tornado damage at Paint Rock, AL. You might be able to see the tornado track in the background going up the mountain. Tornadoes on this day affected locations struck on 4/27 (Bridgeport, Cullman - Arab, Tuscaloosa))



March 21, 1952 (Several rather short-tracked but violent tornadoes devastated several Ozark Towns. Especially hard hit were Dierks (pictured below), Cotton Plant, Judsonia, and Henderson, TN)



April 11, 1965 (Every single supercell that went up in the warm sector dropped a violent and deadly tornado. Many towns were hard hit, including Toledo (seen below))



April 3, 1974 (No introduction needed. Pictured below is Sayler Park, OH)



May 31, 1985 (Many violent tornadoes touched down across Pennsylvania. Several of these tornadoes were well over a mile wide. The aerial scars from many of the tornadoes that day is seen below)



May 23, 2008 (Several violent tornadoes rampaged across Kansas and Oklahoma, only one of which actually hit anything significant (pictured below))



April 27, 2011 (One again, no introduction needed. Numerous extremely high-end, violent, and long-tracked tornadoes devastated several Dixie Alley Towns. Pictured below is Hackleburg)



April 14, 2012 (Numerous intense tornadoes tracked across Kansas, but just happened to stay in mostly rural areas. Pictured below is a radar shot of an "EF1" which passed near Manchester, OK on that day)

 

[speedbump305]

The definition of a Super Outbreak is different for everyone, but for me, a Super Outbreak has to have many supercells interacting with a very potent environment, resulting in many violent and destructive tornadoes in a short period of time, not something like a May Sequence (regardless of path length but mainly based on pure impact alone). These outbreaks below come to mind when classifying Super Outbreaks:

February 19-20, 1884 (Several violent tornadoes with supercells with unusually large hail cores for Dixie)
March 28, 1920 (Violent Tornadoes touching down everywhere)
April 20, 1920 (Unusual morning tornado event affected the same area as 4/27, see clipping below for a damage description from an EF4 Tornado that affected Neshoba (Hit by Philadelphia Tornado on 4/27/2011)and Winston Counties (Hit by Louisville on 4/28/14) on that day)

View attachment 7273

March 21, 1932 (Numerous violent tornadoes did massive damage across Alabama and Tennessee. Bottom clipping shows violent tornado damage at Paint Rock, AL. You might be able to see the tornado track in the background going up the mountain. Tornadoes on this day affected locations struck on 4/27 (Bridgeport, Cullman - Arab, Tuscaloosa))

View attachment 7274

March 21, 1952 (Several rather short-tracked but violent tornadoes devastated several Ozark Towns. Especially hard hit were Dierks (pictured below), Cotton Plant, Judsonia, and Henderson, TN)

View attachment 7275

April 11, 1965 (Every single supercell that went up in the warm sector dropped a violent and deadly tornado. Many towns were hard hit, including Toledo (seen below))

View attachment 7276

April 3, 1974 (No introduction needed. Pictured below is Sayler Park, OH)

View attachment 7277

May 31, 1985 (Many violent tornadoes touched down across Pennsylvania. Several of these tornadoes were well over a mile wide. The aerial scars from many of the tornadoes that day is seen below)

View attachment 7278

May 23, 2008 (Several violent tornadoes rampaged across Kansas and Oklahoma, only one of which actually hit anything significant (pictured below))

View attachment 7279

April 27, 2011 (One again, no introduction needed. Numerous extremely high-end, violent, and long-tracked tornadoes devastated several Dixie Alley Towns. Pictured below is Hackleburg)

View attachment 7280

April 14, 2012 (Numerous intense tornadoes tracked across Kansas, but just happened to stay in mostly rural areas. Pictured below is a radar shot of an "EF1" which passed near Manchester, OK on that day)

View attachment 7281

Honestly I view April 27 to be the TRUE super outbreak. April 3 was for sure a super outbreak, but in my opinion, April 27 was just an absolutely shocking and historic day in which it gets the crown of the TRUE super outbreak. Also that tree at the middle of the Hackleburg image reminds of Joplin tree damage

 

[speedbump305]

I’ve felt the need to say this, But out of all the EF5s that happened on April 27, Hackleburg and Smithville were just completely devastating and so heartbreaking. These tornadoes in my opinion didn’t get NEARLY as much recognition as they deserve. Both produced some of the most violent damage ever documented and produced similar traits and damage. It really is a shame they didn’t get as much attention as Tuscaloosa and Cullman.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

These are all the Super Outbreak for me:
Feb 19-20 1884 Enigma Outbreak
March 28, 1920 Palm Sunday Outbreak
April 19-21, 1920 Southern US Outbreak
March 21-22, 1932 Dixie Outbreak
April 11, 1965 Palm Sunday Outbreak
April 3, 1974 Super Outbreak
April 27, 2011 Super Outbreak
-
Also speaking of 4/20/1920 I wonder if numerous weak tornadoes were missed during that outbreak.

 

[speedbump305]

These are all the Super Outbreak for me:
Feb 19-20 1884 Enigma Outbreak
March 28, 1920 Palm Sunday Outbreak
April 19-21, 1920 Southern US Outbreak
March 21-22, 1932 Dixie Outbreak
April 11, 1965 Palm Sunday Outbreak
April 3, 1974 Super Outbreak
April 27, 2011 Super Outbreak
-
Also speaking of 4/20/1920 I wonder if numerous weak tornadoes were missed during that outbreak.

I completely forgot about the March 28 1920 outbreak!! thanks for bringing that outbreak up!

 

[CheeselandSkies]

I don’t think any MN outbreak has come even close to the intensity of the Palm Sunday outbreak.

True, although 5/6/65 (what a spring for this region!), 6/16/92 and 6/17/10 were quite violent by upper Midwest standards, although falling far short of "Super Outbreak" consideration.

 

[speedbump305]

True, although both 5/6/65 (what a spring for this region!) and 6/17/10 were quite violent by upper Midwest standards, although falling far short of "Super Outbreak" consideration.

I wonder if we could try to find the strongest tornado of each super outbreak and compare them with everything else

 

[ARCC]

A few more, this one is from Oak Grove/Mt Hope. While some clean up has taken place, you can track the debris motion from the scarring. The houses on on the bottom of the image had no chance.

I wish we had better pictures of the Moulton area. The tornado was not as wide there, but just as vicious as it was in Hackleburg. Once again clean up had begun here, but the ground is blasted and you can see the track of the main votes across the area. Interesting enough, based on the aerial photos that were available before, the tornado almost lifted between Mt Hope and Moulton, with only minor tree damage until the tornado found the high gear again.

 

[Tennie]

Looking at the above information about super outbreaks, I can't help but think about the following:

IIRC, for quite some time after 4/3/1974, that storm was thought to be a one-in-500- or even a one-in-1000-year storm. But more recent detailing of tornado history (along with some more recent events like the 2011 Super Outbreak) has shown that there have been quite a few other outbreaks that could (at least theoretically) be classified as "super outbreaks" (as per the above discussions), and a such these types of outbreaks are likely much more common than previously thought.

This makes me wonder: what might a true once-in-a-millennium outbreak be like? Now obviously this question is hard to answer for sure, as we only have a fragmented history (at best) of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks going back a few centuries at most, with a consistently detailed history only going back about a few decades or so; thus, we can only speculate and perhaps extrapolate on how a "millennial outbreak" might play out.

My own personal envisioning of such an event would basically take the concentrated tornado-per-area densities of outbreaks such as 4/11/1965 and 4/27/2011 and have this density occur over a much larger area (perhaps larger even than 4/3/1974), all while occurring over a period of less than 24 hours. In other words, an onslaught of hundreds of tornadoes, perhaps a couple hundred being rated as significant (EF2+), and far more officially rated as violent (EF4+) than even 4/3/1974 (and all such ratings either fitting quite well or being underrated). "Apocalyptic" would be putting it mildly, to say the least! (Of course, it must be said that we must hope to never witness such an outbreak in our lifetime!)

 

[speedbump305]

A few more, this one is from Oak Grove/Mt Hope. While some clean up has taken place, you can track the debris motion from the scarring. The houses on on the bottom of the image had no chance.

I wish we had better pictures of the Moulton area. The tornado was not as wide there, but just as vicious as it was in Hackleburg. Once again clean up had begun here, but the ground is blasted and you can see the track of the main votes across the area. Interesting enough, based on the aerial photos that were available before, the tornado almost lifted between Mt Hope and Moulton, with only minor tree damage until the tornado found the high gear again.

In my personal opinion, Hackleburg was probably the tornado of the outbreak. It was probably a once in a lifetime tornado that is very rarely seen. Very few EF5s are like Hackleburg and stay on the ground for so long. The injury to fatality ratio was absurd and extremely high. In my opinion, This tornado deserves more attention than Tuscaloosa/Birmingham. Hackleburg was just an absolutely incredible tornado and also produced some incredibly violent damage.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Looking at the above information about super outbreaks, I can't help but think about the following:

IIRC, for quite some time after 4/3/1974, that storm was thought to be a one-in-500- or even a one-in-1000-year storm. But more recent detailing of tornado history (along with some more recent events like the 2011 Super Outbreak) has shown that there have been quite a few other outbreaks that could (at least theoretically) be classified as "super outbreaks" (as per the above discussions), and a such these types of outbreaks are likely much more common than previously thought.

This makes me wonder: what might a true once-in-a-millennium outbreak be like? Now obviously this question is hard to answer for sure, as we only have a fragmented history (at best) of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks going back a few centuries at most, with a consistently detailed history only going back about a few decades or so; thus, we can only speculate and perhaps extrapolate on how a "millennial outbreak" might play out.

My own personal envisioning of such an event would basically take the concentrated tornado-per-area densities of outbreaks such as 4/11/1965 and 4/27/2011 and have this density occur over a much larger area (perhaps larger even than 4/3/1974), all while occurring over a period of less than 24 hours. In other words, an onslaught of hundreds of tornadoes, perhaps a couple hundred being rated as significant (EF2+), and far more officially rated as violent (EF4+) than even 4/3/1974 (and all such ratings either fitting quite well or being underrated). "Apocalyptic" would be putting it mildly, to say the least! (Of course, it must be said that we must hope to never witness such an outbreak in our lifetime!)

There would also probably be some VLTs on par with the Tri-State tornado, but instead of just one perhaps several. Assuming you're still going for the apocalyptic angle, of course.