Nightking2021
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Significant Tornado Events
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locomusic01
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That's fine and all, but when are we gonna acknowledge that Ruskin Heights was clearly the most intense tornado the Earth has ever seen? 
Yes! Thank you
Almost as intense as Charles City! lolThat's fine and all, but when are we gonna acknowledge that Ruskin Heights was clearly the most intense tornado the Earth has ever seen?
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locomusic01
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I also forgot there was an engineer that estimated the wind speeds in the 1896 St. Louis - East St. Louis tornado at 400-500 mph on the basis of a 2x4 being driven through a plate girder of the Eads bridge. So I guess there's more competition than I thought.
(That one was pretty impressive, though.)
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Oh there's plenty of competition. According to the 1965 book McGraw-Hill Meteorology Third Edition, winds of "300-500 mph" are required to cause the most intense instances of damage:
eric11
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Picher seems to have widened and strengthened into maximum intensity as it was entering the small town, various pics and low quality videos shows the tornado changed from a dusty cone into a big wedge and then immediately narrowed as soon as it left the town.The tornado then maintained its cone shape through the rest of his life, which is a very rare tornadogensis case
Maximum width
outside town
Some car and house damage outside town
Maximum width
outside town
Some car and house damage outside town
Marshal79344
Member
Some photos I have of the evolution of the Picher Tornado
Early stages
Mature stage as it was approaching Picher
The approaching tornado viewed from Picher
The tornado in Picher
Early stages
Mature stage as it was approaching Picher
The approaching tornado viewed from Picher
The tornado in Picher
Marshal79344
Member
Other Images taken at unknown locations:
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
I think it hit EF5 intensity (or at least its maxima) when it crossed over into Missouri, 15 of its 21 fatalities were in the Racine area and automobiles were reportedly thrown up to half a mile in places.
Also, Picher, OK reminds me of Manchester, SD in the sense of it being another instance of a natural disaster-induced ghost town, as the tornado threw all the waste from the towns lead and zinc mines that was dangerously close to the neighborhoods all over them, effectively forcing the residents to abandon it not long after.
Source for claims about tornado: https://www.weather.gov/sgf/events_2008may10
Marshal79344
Member
Here are the most impressive vegetation damage pictures that I could find from the Picher Tornado
Other damage pictures I found incredible:
Other damage pictures I found incredible:
Nightking2021
Member
Wow!!! That aerial view screams higher end tornado event. I would rate it high-end EF4 based on the contextual evidence. It certainly reached EF5 intensity.
Last edited:
CheeselandSkies
Member
Picher was already being abandoned due to contamination from the mine tailings, the tornado just (greatly) accelerated the process.
Some of those pictures posted above by @Marshal79344 show pretty impressive tree damage (snapping/debarking), similar to the degree we've just been discussing in the context of the recent Greensboro/Brent tornado and the 2020 Bassfield, MS tornado.
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Footage of the Red Rock tornado. An incredible horizontal vortex is visible on this thing:
CheeselandSkies
Member
That vortex was also in the video by Tim Marshall and Gene Rhoden featured in one of the Weather Channel documentaries I had on VHS as a kid in the early-mid '90s.
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Some damage pics from Red Rock:
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Another cool video of Red Rock, Howard Bluestein and Gary Shore can be seen in it, and some damage aerials near the end (briefly):
While I'm at it, according to this comment right here Grazulis mentions that this tornado scoured asphalt from county roads and another source mentioned grass scouring. If anyone can find these sources, in the words of Bill Lumbergh, "that'd be great":
extremeplanet.wordpress.com
While I'm at it, according to this comment right here Grazulis mentions that this tornado scoured asphalt from county roads and another source mentioned grass scouring. If anyone can find these sources, in the words of Bill Lumbergh, "that'd be great":
The List of the Strongest Tornadoes Ever Recorded: Part IV
□ For a tornado to be considered for categorization, it must have caused at least one fatality and occurred after 1970. Damage intensity and, to a lesser extent, wind duration are the only variable…
extremeplanet.wordpress.com
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Uh no, Charles City had the fastest wind speeds ever documented, duh. Lol.That's fine and all, but when are we gonna acknowledge that Ruskin Heights was clearly the most intense tornado the Earth has ever seen?
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Aside from being 2+ miles wide, what exactly about Bassfield made it really impressive? I haven't reviewed much damage pics from it.
Nightking2021
Member
The aerial view damage from Picher reminds me a lot of the aerial view of tornado damage from the Tuscaloosa tornado on 4/27. I think the Picher tornado had a width of approximately a mile-wide so almost of similar size too.
CheeselandSkies
Member
The extreme tree damage was suggestive of a high-end violent tornado.
