Significant Tornado Events

[MNTornadoGuy]

More vegetation damage from Rochelle

 

[buckeye05]

^That first photo above posted by MNTornadoGuy shows the sidewalk that was moved, and you can actually seen how the sidewalk plowed up the lawn a little bit. The grass in that first Facebook photo is scoured too.

Here's some more photos from Rochelle that show it's intensity. Note the intense grass scouring in the first photo too.
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Also, some extremely intense wind-rowing farther away from Rochelle. This area was given a "200 MPH EF4" rating.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

^That first photo above posted by MNTornadoGuy shows the sidewalk that was moved, and you can actually seen how the sidewalk plowed up the lawn a little bit. The grass in that first Facebook photo is scoured too.

Here's some more photos from Rochelle that show it's intensity. Note the intense grass scouring in the first photo too.
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Also, some extremely intense wind-rowing farther away from Rochelle. This area was given a "200 MPH EF4" rating.

The violent core of the tornado was extremely narrow which might be the reason why some of the shrubbery isn't stripped.

 

[speedbump305]

I feel like Rochelle was definitely an EF5 candidate and produced damage comparable to EF5 tornadoes

 

[speedbump305]

I feel like Rochelle was definitely an EF5 candidate and produced damage comparable to EF5 tornadoes

but again, construction flaws prevented it

 

[speedbump305]

I actually just realized how fast the washington tornado moved at....

 

[eric11]

I found few damage pics were published here when it comes to the later part of Washington IL EF4, here's some damage near Benson IL and Minonk IL, tornado were applied EF3 for sweeping away an unanchored farm house, collapsing cell tower at this point.The contextual damage here may point to a much higher rating

 

[speedbump305]

I found few damage pics were published here when it comes to the later part of Washington IL EF4, here's some damage near Benson IL and Minonk IL, tornado were applied EF3 for sweeping away an unanchored farm house, collapsing cell tower at this point.The contextual damage here may point to a much higher rating
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Possible ground scouring?

 

[eric11]

Possible ground scouring?

Maybe scouring, I haven't compare the soil before and after tornado here on GE but I believe it's some sort of cornfield. Notice how these crops were torn into pieces and the impact marks on the field, no doubt it's capable of reaching violent here.

 

[eric11]

I’m actually a little unsure about that one. I think that besides lots of wind-rowing, the contextual damage with that one was not quite what I’d expect with an EF5-capable event. The extent of tree debarking was a little bit underwhelming, shrubs next to houses were not shredded or stripped, no grass scouring occurred that I know of, and the extreme vehicle damage that one would normally see in an EF5 did not occur in Washington. Most importantly, a vast majority of the homes that were swept away in town were simply separated from where they were nailed to their wooden subfloors, with the subflooring remaining bolted to the basements.

All in all, I’d say 190 MPH was a good call. I’d also say that Rochelle was a better EF5 candidate than Washington.

The same opinion with you though the debris pattern was surely EF5 level

 

[buckeye05]

It’s scouring in those photos, but it’s a farm field. Notice the lack of actual grass scouring, save for some debris impact divots.

 

[eric11]

It’s scouring in those photos, but it’s a farm field. Notice the lack of actual grass scouring, save for some debris impact divots.

Yes, that's something different from Rochelle after a closer look
Rochelle

Washington

 

[eric11]

Trees in Illinois are notorious for being very strong hardwoods, and being nearly impossible to debark. I have not seen a single image showing debarking from the Rochelle Tornado, whereas there were many examples of tree debarking present within Washington. T Some of the wind-rowing was absolutely extreme, and among the most pronounced I've ever seen from a tornado. The rating of 190 mph was valid, but I disagree with you that Rochelle was a better EF5 candidate than Washington was. Bushes also remained intact in the homes rated at 200 mph in Rochelle. Extreme car damage occurs when a car interacts with a sub-vortex, and is not a common occurrence in such fast-moving tornadoes anyway, save for extremely high-end events.

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The granulation of debris present at many of the violent tornado damage sites in Washington was very, very significant and comparable to some of the other EF5's that we have seen in the past.

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I have no clue where you got the fact that Washington didn't strip bushes from. This image clearly shows a bush that has been completely stripped and debarked.

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Some car damage I found from Washington. Although they may not be as intense as some of the other tornadoes, extreme car damage occurs when a tornado's sub-vortex interacts with a car. This is much more difficult to achieve in faster-moving tornadoes, save for extremely high-end events.

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There's one pic shows some "debarking" of Rochelle

Aside from the complexity of debarking IL hardwood trees.The amount of debris plays as a big role in debarking when you compare Washington with Rochelle.

 

[eric11]

Rochelle tree damage, IL Trees refused to be naked

 

[TH2002]

Various leveled and swept away homes in Washington, IL





Other contextual evidence such as the complete debarking of trees, granulation and wind-rowing of debris also supports a potential EF5 rating for this tornado.

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

Various leveled and swept away homes in Washington, IL
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Other contextual evidence such as the complete debarking of trees, granulation and wind-rowing of debris also supports a potential EF5 rating for this tornado.

I would certainly say it did have EF5 potential. The damage looks so borderline EF4/EF5 it seems like it would be a tough call to make.

 

[zvl5316]

The violent tornado hit Hunan, China in 1983 spring might be one of the most 'Dixie' tornado outside North America. In records, it is fast with the speed of ~100km/h. It was officially rated as EF4 in recent years and it is probably a QLCS tornado from observing. On Google Earth, the track is about 90km though the tornado weakened and probably lifted for some while in the latter half of the path. This tornado leveled a 1000㎡ brick bungalow courtyard and broke an acient stone tower. The geographic conditions there look similar to that of North AL. And most important thing is that tornado also happened on 4.27. Unluckily, like most of tornadoes in China before 2000, the tornado's survey photos remain buried now.

 

[pohnpei]

I haven’t seen these yet, and I gotta say, these are pretty impressive. I’m a little more impressed with Washington after looking at these closely. Still, Rochelle just impresses me more between the intense grass and pavement scouring, total removal of subflooring, and the debris patterns it left behind. But mostly, it’s the poured concrete sidewalk being shifted laterally that solidifies it as a 200 MPH + event in my mind.

I will say, the lack of clear cut high-end vegetation damage (besides the grass) with Rochelle is puzzling to me, but not quite enough to render the rest of the evidence pointing to a very high-end event questionable IMO.

There were some pics showed subfloor ripped of the foundation in Washington like this one below.(upper right corner)

I agree that there was a possibility that Washington was one of the strongest tornados but still, lack of high end vehicle damage high end debarking and scouring at the same time in the town lower my confidence.
It is the fact that many violent tornados in this area like Niles 85 or Henryville 12 also didn't produce high end debarking. Neither of them had severe scouring or high end vehicle damage either. It is also true that fast moving tornados are less likely to make high end vehicle damage and trees in this place was harder to debark. BUT, there were fast moving tornados made violent vehicle damage yet most of us still didn't regard it as EF5 tornado like Beauregard. There were tornados completely debark trees in OH alley yet still many people didn't see it as EF5 level tornado like Roanoke(with intense vehicle damage and scouring at the same time). So Washington 2013 tornado was an EF5 level tornado just beacuse the amount of questionable houses it swept away and the amount of debris it granulated is uncertain to me.I can think of a tons of EF4 rating even some EF2-3 rating tornados can make serious debris granulation.just not same amount of Washington made beacuse they didn't hit so many houses.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Some damage pics from Goldsby, OK. Yet another tornado from 5/24/11 that should have been rated EF5.

 

[pohnpei]

A collection of violent vehicle damage made by Washinton IL tornado:
Overall, the ratio of cars was moved was not as high as Hackleburg/Smithville/Vilonia level, but higher than Tuscaloosa/Ringsgold level.