Significant Tornado Events

[TH2002]

Here's a little-seen video of the 3/3/2020 Nashville tornado. Almost every tornado video filmed at night shows a condensation funnel illumated by lightning and power flashes, but in this video you can actually see debris flying. Remarkable that he caught that on camera at night.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Here are some rarely seen alternate photographs of the 1967 Oaklawn, IL F4. This is still the worst tornado disaster to occur in the Chicago metro to date.

Man, the mid-'60s were just wild in the upper Midwest region, to an extent that really hasn't been seen before or since in the relatively brief period that tornado activity has been at least somewhat well-documented. You had this, Palm Sunday '65, the 5/65 Twin Cities outbreak, even a fall "F5" (Belmond, IA 10/66) and possibly a few others.

The only thing that really comes close is maybe the period from 4/9/15 through 6/22/16 when you had Rochelle, two June 22 outbreaks and a March outbreak (3/15/16) all along and near the I-80/88 corridors in Illinois, but of those only Rochelle was particularly violent.

 

[WhirlingWx]

The Nashville tornado of 2020 was actually more costly ive heard

Yeah, can't remember the exact numbers, but both tornadoes are in the top 10 in terms of monetary damage when not adjusting for inflation.

 

[eric11]

More pics from the Askewville NC tornado
A leveled mobile home with only the stair stand

A fridge stuck between two trees

The same place where the extreme dabarking occurred but from a different angle




Ground scouring?


Mobile home frame

A clear ground scar viewing from the air

 

[eric11]

Union City, OK was in 1973, not 1979. This photo was on the old NWS page for Wichita Falls with the caption:
"While the damage to this car came from the Union City, Oklahoma tornado and not the Wichita Falls tornado, this photo shows just how devastating a tornado can be. Date: 5/24/1973."
Not sure why they put that picture on that page.
Also, I haven't been able to find many Union City damage photographs, come to think of it.

Yeah, thanks for correcting my mistake. I recheck NWS webpage and found the description you mentioned. It's weird why they put a damage photo from another tor under their's page

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Yeah, thanks for correcting my mistake. I recheck NWS webpage and found the description you mentioned. It's weird why they put a damage photo from another tor under their's page

They also have a picture of the 1957 Ruskin Heights tornado under the 1913 Omaha tornado page.

 

[eric11]

They also have a picture of the 1957 Ruskin Heights tornado under the 1913 Omaha tornado page.

Haha, I doubt their professionalism

 

[eric11]

The Union City tornado was extremely violent. The NSSL gave the Union City an F5 rating in its report on the tornado but it was downgraded to an F4 for unknown reasons. Farm fields were scoured, a car was separated from its engine with the engine block being carried 328 yards while the frame was carried 874 yards, mobile home frames were wrapped around poles, two homes were completely swept away, a 2000 gallon gasoline tank was carried 874 yards, a 132-154 pound steel container was carried over a mile, trees were debarked and a steel I-beam was carried a long distance.

OH boy, I have no idea this tornado could be that violent. I mean, we've seen a lot of tors undergoing similar tornadogenesis and lifecycle to Union city like Rozel, Alpena Dimmitt, but none of them had ever exceeded or reached this level of damage.Just another Plain Monster and I think an F5/high-end F4 rating is reasonable.
Here's four more colored damage pics I could find
This famous pic captured by Alan Moller really reminds me of the aftermath of Pilger and Washington, almost the same scene that debarked trees and debris scattered when a tall slender tornado was still raging far away

A farm house being leveled with the roof remained largely intact and collapsed to its foundation


Aerial pic near the town of Union city

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Back on the topic of Wichita Falls, some photographs I find worthy of discussion and analysis:

Two aerials of damage to neighborhoods. This does look intense, but not exceptional:




This next collection is of the totally demolished McNiel Junior High School. I wish I could find an aerial of the school in order to fully assess the scale of the damage as the last two photographs in particular depict what looks like pretty bad damage. Of course, the construction quality of the school is unknown (at least to me). I'm not sure how reliable school buildings are as DIs.











Source: https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19790410-damage-wfalls

This is also the page that has a damage photograph from Union City for some reason.

 

[eric11]

Back on the topic of Wichita Falls, some photographs I find worthy of discussion and analysis:

Two aerials of damage to neighborhoods. This does look intense, but not exceptional:

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This next collection is of the totally demolished McNiel Junior High School. I wish I could find an aerial of the school in order to fully assess the scale of the damage as the last two photographs in particular depict what looks like pretty bad damage. Of course, the construction quality of the school is unknown (at least to me). I'm not sure how reliable school buildings are as DIs.

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Source: https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19790410-damage-wfalls

This is also the page that has a damage photograph from Union City for some reason.

This is the Wichita Falls Newspaper cited from the surveying experts
"After extensive engineering analysis, it was determined that the winds necessary to cause the most intense damage observed like that of McNiel Junior High School were within the F-4 range."
Regardless of the building quality, the school does look pretty strong to me for both the outer and interior wall had completely collapsed, I'm not an engineering expert so I have no idea whether there are some constructIon flaws of these type of building, but anyway, still stronger than the same type of damage we saw in Millbury High School and Xenia High School

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

More photographs of Wichita Falls:

This thing was up to 1.5 miles wide at time. This view is looking southwest at the approaching tornado from the roof of Bethania Hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas. Imagine this thing coming right at you. Talk about a nasty front row view. You can see debris flying around the edges of the funnel, this reminds me of Tuscaloosa in terms of width and an urban area, but way darker in appearance.




This collection is of the tornado after it exited the city.
To quote NWS: "After the tornado left Wichita Falls and travelled northeast, it entered Clay County and changed its appearance. As seen in the photographs by Winston Wells, the tornado became multi-vortex, displaying as many as five satellite vortices rotating around the center of circulation. In this stage, the tornado did extensive damage just south of Dean and near Byars, destroying a large number of rural homes, but causing no more fatalities. I'd like to find damage photographs from this portion of the path, I wonder if ground scouring or more intense damage may have occurred when the tornado went multivortex. It also crossed the Red River into Jefferson County, Oklahoma and did more damage there before finally dissipating. Again, would love photographs from that area, as I have a feeling this thing may have hit its peak outside the city limits.


This photo is interesting as it's appearance reminds me quite a bit of Edmonton when it was forming.

Last photograph before the dude realized it was time to close up shop and head to shelter lol.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

This is the Wichita Falls Newspaper cited from the surveying experts
"After extensive engineering analysis, it was determined that the winds necessary to cause the most intense damage observed like that of McNiel Junior High School were within the F-4 range."
Regardless of the building quality, the school does look pretty strong to me for both the outer and interior wall had completely collapsed, I'm not an engineering expert so I have no idea whether there are some constructIon flaws of these type of building, but anyway, still stronger than the same type of damage we saw in Millbury High School and Xenia High School

Your reasoning makes sense. I just wish I could find an aerial of McNiel Junior High School in order to get a proper sense of scale.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The Union City tornado was extremely violent. The NSSL gave the Union City an F5 rating in its report on the tornado but it was downgraded to an F4 for unknown reasons. Farm fields were scoured, a car was separated from its engine with the engine block being carried 328 yards while the frame was carried 874 yards, mobile home frames were wrapped around poles, two homes were completely swept away, a 2000 gallon gasoline tank was carried 874 yards, a 132-154 pound steel container was carried over a mile, trees were debarked and a steel I-beam was carried a long distance.

Chuck Doswell was on the chase team that followed this thing and he had a post or two on his blog that boiled down it was among the most intense damage he's ever seen, ever after all these years. There's gotta be better quality photos of the damage out there, somewhere. Really nice if the ones you posted could be remastered or colorized but who knows?

 

[A Guy]

The version of Davies-Jones et al. on the MWR site has the photos in slightly better quality which would be better for colourisation, but nothing really good.

 

[Casuarina Head]

Regarding damage to schools: according to p. xxi of the NIST report on the 2013 Moore tornado, neither Briarwood nor Plaza Towers featured separate facilities for tornado-related emergencies. This suggests that these schools were not of the best construction. P. 13 of the report seemingly confirms this, noting that a consensus of independent, university-assigned survey teams assigned EF4 ratings to the damage at each school. The report seems credible because it also notes EF5 damage to homes in the vicinity of the Moore Medical Center, and the contextual impacts in that area offer firm support to this. If I recall correctly, wasn’t there at least one credible individual (was it Tim Marshall?) who assigned an EF3 rating to the damage at Briarwood? I can’t recall the exact source.

 

[speedbump305]

Buckeye, if you had to choose the top 3 tornadoes that deserve an EF5 rating of the EF Scale that were rated EF4, which would be the main 3 to you?

 

[buckeye05]

Buckeye, if you had to choose the top 3 tornadoes that deserve an EF5 rating of the EF Scale that were rated EF4, which would be the main 3 to you?

1.) Chickasha/Blanchard, OK
2.) Vilonia, AR
3.) Washington/Goldsby, OK

Chapman, KS and Rochelle, IL are my runner-ups though.

 

[speedbump305]

1.) Chickasha/Blanchard, OK
2.) Vilonia, AR
3.) Washington/Goldsby, OK

Chapman, KS and Rochelle, IL are my runner-ups though.

I think Rochelle imo was a bit stronger than Chapman though, what do you think was stronger? Chapman or Rochelle

 

[speedbump305]

I think Rochelle imo was a bit stronger than Chapman though, what do you think was stronger? Chapman or Rochelle

The Concrete Sidewalk being shifted in Rochelle is why i think it was stronger

 

[buckeye05]

I think Rochelle imo was a bit stronger than Chapman though, what do you think was stronger? Chapman or Rochelle

Chapman, in my opinion, because of the railroad tracks, vehicle and machinery damage, and overwhelming contextual support. In Rochelle, the sidewalk does indicate 200+ MPH to me, but there are also some context issues with that one.