Significant Tornado Events

[speedbump305]

On April 14, 1886, the deadliest tornado in Minnesota history struck the cities of Sauk Rapids and Saint Cloud. The tornado started out rather small with a 100-ft wide path. Early in its life, the tornado snapped thick oak trees 15-20 ft above the ground, gravestones were overturned and large stones were reportedly ripped out of the ground and rolled. As it approached the city of Saint Cloud, the tornado rapidly intensified and grew to about 200 yards in width. It then tore through the residential and railroad districts of Saint Cloud. Dozens of small homes were completely swept away, railroad buildings were destroyed, loaded railcars were tossed considerable distances and railroad tracks were torn up. As it crossed the Mississippi River into Sauk Rapids, it destroyed half of an iron bridge before devastating the town of Sauk Rapids. Large sections of the town were completely leveled with multiple homes/businesses being swept away. A one-ton safe was carried across a street, another five-ton safe was moved 6 ft and the ground was reportedly "plowed up." The tornado lofted massive amounts of debris which it dumped over the prairie as it moved through rural areas near the settlement of Buckman, 17 miles NW of Sauk Rapids. The tornado dissipated around here but the storm soon dropped another violent tornado which swept away two farms in the Buckman Township. 74 people were killed by the Sauk Rapids tornado while 2 were killed by the Buckman tornado. These tornadoes were apart of a massive outbreak extending from Minnesota to Texas.

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Oh my gosh

 

[Nightking2021]

On April 14, 1886, the deadliest tornado in Minnesota history struck the cities of Sauk Rapids and Saint Cloud. The tornado started out rather small with a 100-ft wide path. Early in its life, the tornado snapped thick oak trees 15-20 ft above the ground, gravestones were overturned and large stones were reportedly ripped out of the ground and rolled. As it approached the city of Saint Cloud, the tornado rapidly intensified and grew to about 200 yards in width. It then tore through the residential and railroad districts of Saint Cloud. Dozens of small homes were completely swept away, railroad buildings were destroyed, loaded railcars were tossed considerable distances and railroad tracks were torn up. As it crossed the Mississippi River into Sauk Rapids, it destroyed half of an iron bridge before devastating the town of Sauk Rapids. Large sections of the town were completely leveled with multiple homes/businesses being swept away. A one-ton safe was carried across a street, another five-ton safe was moved 6 ft and the ground was reportedly "plowed up." The tornado lofted massive amounts of debris which it dumped over the prairie as it moved through rural areas near the settlement of Buckman, 17 miles NW of Sauk Rapids. The tornado dissipated around here but the storm soon dropped another violent tornado which swept away two farms in the Buckman Township. 74 people were killed by the Sauk Rapids tornado while 2 were killed by the Buckman tornado. These tornadoes were apart of a massive outbreak extending from Minnesota to Texas.

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Some of those photos look like total desolation.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

During the same outbreak, two very intense tornadoes struck Texas.

I've done some research into the Rhome tornado and I'll list some damage details below:
- A new and "substantial" one and half story farmhouse was swept away with debris being scattered for miles.
- Large homes were swept away and "torn to shreds."
- The prairie along the track of the tornado was "literally strewn with fragments and splinters of houses, furniture, tanks, wagons, buggies, reapers, etc., as well as particles and pieces of bedding, carpets, wearing apparel, and the mangled remains of cats, turkeys, and chickens."

There were 4 F4s during this outbreak (possibly 6 if you include these two tornadoes) and there were over 32 tornadoes in total.

 

[Nightking2021]

During the same outbreak, two very intense tornadoes struck Texas.

I've done some research into the Rhome tornado and I'll list some damage details below:
- A new and "substantial" one and half story farmhouse was swept away with debris being scattered for miles.
- Large homes were swept away and "torn to shreds."
- The prairie along the track of the tornado was "literally strewn with fragments and splinters of houses, furniture, tanks, wagons, buggies, reapers, etc., as well as particles and pieces of bedding, carpets, wearing apparel, and the mangled remains of cats, turkeys, and chickens."

There were 4 F4s during this outbreak (possibly 6 if you include these two tornadoes) and there were over 32 tornadoes in total.

I would agree with an F4 or F5 rating for both based on contextual evidence and home damage was probably in that range.

 

[TH2002]

One of the Bellemont tornadoes in the October 2010 Arizona tornado outbreak was upgraded from EF2 to EF3 last year. How often do upgrades/downgrades like this happen long after the tornado events themselves? In any case, this outbreak has definitely fascinated me. A funnel cloud was spotted over Big Bear Lake, CA in 2014, and as Big Bear and the Bellemont-Flagstaff area have similar geography and climates, that makes me wonder about the tornado climatology of these areas.

 

[buckeye05]

One of the Bellemont tornadoes in the October 2010 Arizona tornado outbreak was upgraded from EF2 to EF3 last year. How often do upgrades/downgrades like this happen long after the tornado events themselves? In any case, this outbreak has definitely fascinated me. A funnel cloud was spotted over Big Bear Lake, CA in 2014, and as Big Bear and the Bellemont-Flagstaff area have similar geography and climates, that makes me wonder about the tornado climatology of these areas.

Wait what? I'm gonna have to see a link for this. From my understanding, ratings cannot be changed once the event has been entered into the NCDC database.

Edit: Ok I looked into it, and this is true! It was upgraded based on tree damage. I'm shocked they did this a decade later. This makes me wonder if other questionable ratings will be fixed in the future.

 

[buckeye05]

Speaking of tree damage, I want to bring up another recent change in the EF scale I noticed. The criteria for EF3 tree damage seems to have changed, and no longer requires debarking to occur. Instead, the presence of a 100% blowdown in a forest, with all trees in the direct path snapped, constitutes for EF3 tree damage. I can't nail down exactly when this started, but it's pretty recent, and allows for strong tornadoes that affect few to no structures to be rated more accurately.

I really think they need to add a ground scouring DI to help with this issue as well. A DI for lofted and thrown heavy objects, such as vehicles could also be helpful, but from my own observations, vehicles behave very inconsistently in tornadic winds, and I believe this has something to do with how much or how little of a "vertical component" a tornado has, but that's just a hunch.

 

[Nightking2021]

Speaking of tree damage, I want to bring up another recent change in the EF scale I noticed. The criteria for EF3 tree damage seems to have changed, and no longer requires debarking to occur. Instead, the presence of a 100% blowdown in a forest, with all trees in the direct path snapped, constitutes for EF3 tree damage. I can't nail down exactly when this started, but it's pretty recent, and allows for strong tornadoes that affect few to no structures to be rated more accurately.

I really think they need to add a ground scouring DI to help with this issue as well. A DI for lofted and thrown heavy objects, such as vehicles could also be helpful, but from my own observations, vehicles behave very inconsistently in tornadic winds, and I believe this has something to do with how much or how little of a "vertical component" a tornado has, but that's just a hunch.

What about trees that are completely debarked and even in some cases the smallest twigs are even debarked?

 

[pohnpei]

Speaking of tree damage, I want to bring up another recent change in the EF scale I noticed. The criteria for EF3 tree damage seems to have changed, and no longer requires debarking to occur. Instead, the presence of a 100% blowdown in a forest, with all trees in the direct path snapped, constitutes for EF3 tree damage. I can't nail down exactly when this started, but it's pretty recent, and allows for strong tornadoes that affect few to no structures to be rated more accurately.

I really think they need to add a ground scouring DI to help with this issue as well. A DI for lofted and thrown heavy objects, such as vehicles could also be helpful, but from my own observations, vehicles behave very inconsistently in tornadic winds, and I believe this has something to do with how much or how little of a "vertical component" a tornado has, but that's just a hunch.

Yes, I believe the 100% blown down tree damage rating was from the conclusion of this article:https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/32/1/waf-d-16-0104_1.xml?rskey=5BQDKA&result=4
It can be seen that several areas of tree damage of Greensboro tornado had been revised from EF2 to EF3 due to the reason of near complete blown down of trees.
Vehicle damage is definitely more intricate. Some tornados' vehicle damage had been given exact rating like Beauregard tornado or Bassfield tornado. I may tend to think that the distance of the vehicle moved or carried and the ratio of movement of vehicle in a specific area can be used as a DI to carry out. How bad a vehicle destroyed or mangled is really hard to give a exact wind speed.

 

[buckeye05]

What about trees that are completely debarked and even in some cases the smallest twigs are even debarked?

A few years back, what you are describing probably be rated EF3. However, as of recent, tree damage of that caliber may very end up being rated EF4. I think the concept of extreme debarking being unique to EF4+ events has gained more traction as of late.

 

[pohnpei]

A few years back, what you are describing probably be rated EF3. However, as of recent, tree damage of that caliber may very end up being rated EF4. I think the concept of extreme debarking being unique to EF4+ events has gained more traction as of late.

And I believe there is a logic behind it. Trees are debarked by debris. Debris have to be cut into relatively small pieces to debark trees beacuse small debris can move faster than large debris inside tornados. Violent tornados tend to cut debris into small pieces so violent tornados are much more prone to debark trees than weaker tornados. It is very rare for EF3 level tornados to cut residence into pieces so most EF3 tornados have no ability to do major debarking.

 

[Tennie]

How often do upgrades/downgrades like this happen long after the tornado events themselves?

Sometimes an NWS office would do a reanalysis of a particular tornado event that occurred in its CWA and adjust damage paths, ratings, and other information according to their findings. For example, a few years or so ago the Nashville office did a reanalysis of the 4/16/1998 Lawrenceburg, TN, F5 tornado, and their findings suggested that it might likely have been a family of three tornadoes (two F4s and an F5).

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Speaking of tree damage, I want to bring up another recent change in the EF scale I noticed. The criteria for EF3 tree damage seems to have changed, and no longer requires debarking to occur. Instead, the presence of a 100% blowdown in a forest, with all trees in the direct path snapped, constitutes for EF3 tree damage. I can't nail down exactly when this started, but it's pretty recent, and allows for strong tornadoes that affect few to no structures to be rated more accurately.

I really think they need to add a ground scouring DI to help with this issue as well. A DI for lofted and thrown heavy objects, such as vehicles could also be helpful, but from my own observations, vehicles behave very inconsistently in tornadic winds, and I believe this has something to do with how much or how little of a "vertical component" a tornado has, but that's just a hunch.

The Tuba City AZ EF3 is now apparently a high-end EF3 as the NWS said the torn up transmission tower might be indicative of 165 mph winds.

 

[andyhb]

Can we get a reanalysis of Vilonia kplzthx.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Can we get a reanalysis of Vilonia kplzthx.

NWS Little Rock probably doesn’t want to reanalyze it so.

 

[TH2002]

NWS Little Rock probably doesn’t want to reanalyze it so.

Probably for the same reason they used a bunch of BS excuses to rate the tornado EF4 in the first place.

 

[eric11]

Speaking of tree damage, I want to bring up another recent change in the EF scale I noticed. The criteria for EF3 tree damage seems to have changed, and no longer requires debarking to occur. Instead, the presence of a 100% blowdown in a forest, with all trees in the direct path snapped, constitutes for EF3 tree damage. I can't nail down exactly when this started, but it's pretty recent, and allows for strong tornadoes that affect few to no structures to be rated more accurately.

I really think they need to add a ground scouring DI to help with this issue as well. A DI for lofted and thrown heavy objects, such as vehicles could also be helpful, but from my own observations, vehicles behave very inconsistently in tornadic winds, and I believe this has something to do with how much or how little of a "vertical component" a tornado has, but that's just a hunch.

Maybe last year? The sterlington LA tornado during the Easter Outbreak last year was upgraded to EF3 a week after the outbreak for nearly 100％ blowdown in some small area of softwood forest.

 

[eric11]

One of the Bellemont tornadoes in the October 2010 Arizona tornado outbreak was upgraded from EF2 to EF3 last year. How often do upgrades/downgrades like this happen long after the tornado events themselves? In any case, this outbreak has definitely fascinated me. A funnel cloud was spotted over Big Bear Lake, CA in 2014, and as Big Bear and the Bellemont-Flagstaff area have similar geography and climates, that makes me wonder about the tornado climatology of these areas.

A decade? Bellemont might be the only one.As far as I can remember, Elmer-Tipton OK tornado was upgraded to EF3 several months later based on some debarked trees in very rural area(not 100％ sure about the source).

 

[buckeye05]

A decade? Bellemont might be the only one.As far as I can remember, Elmer-Tipton OK tornado was upgraded to EF3 several months later based on some debarked trees in very rural area(not 100％ sure about the source).
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I remember the upgrade being based on pivot irrigation sprinklers being torn up and mangled. That’s another DI they are likely about to add.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]