Significant Tornado Events

[WIL9287]

Very rare video of a "previously un-documented" tornado near Nolensville, Tennessee, part of the 1974 Super Outbreak.

I have no idea if this tornado has ever been officially rated, or of the nature of the damage the tornado may have caused.

Per the NWS Nashville tornado Database:

"STORM DATA: Track extended from Pettus Road across Murfreesboro Road to Bell Road. There was extensive damage to homes, mobile homes and businesses. Heaviest damage was in the Edge o' Lake subdivision. There was one heart attack victim during the storm. GRAZULIS: Moved northeast at the southeast edge of Nashville, tearing apart and unroofing large homes, trailers, and businesses at or near the "edge o' Lake" subdivision. Most NWS personnel today would rate this as an (E)F3 tornado. Damage totalled $1,000,000. SHAMBURGER (2015): NCDC incorrectly lists the path and location of this tornado, which was corrected based on the narrative in Storm Data. Grazulis lists the path length of this tornado as 12 miles, while Storm Data lists the path length as 4 miles. The description of the path in Storm Data is easily longer than 4 miles, so the path length by Grazulis is used in this entry. In addition, the damage map created by Ted Fujita, video taken of the tornado from the public, newspapers reports from the Tennessean, and research by NWS Nashville personnel all indicate this tornado began in far northeast Williamson County, which was added to this entry. The Tennessean reported the tornado damaged homes near Nolensville Road at Burkitt Road on the Davidson/Williamson County line, destroyed an electrical substation at Murfreesboro Road and Hamilton Church Road in Antioch, severely damaged new homes in the Edge O' Lakes subdivision, then lifted along or over Percy Priest Lake." http://midsouthtornadoes.msstate.edu/index.php?cw=ohx

 

[TH2002]

Thanks for shedding some light on this footage guys!

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

On April 13, 1993, a large tornado outbreak (called a Super Outbreak by some people) struck Buenos Aires in Argentina. There are major discrepancies in the number of tornadoes with this event. Wikipedia lists 300 tornadoes and appears to have sourced it from some weather forum, the National Argentinan Weather Service lists 100 tornadoes while a study on the climatology of Argentian tornadoes only lists 19 tornadoes. I believe the true number of tornadoes was probably between 19-100 tornadoes. There was also widespread wind damage in very long 1-2 km wide strips which leads me to believe that some of this event was related to downbursts. There were no violent tornadoes during this event, and there were only 2 F3s.

 

[speedbump305]

Buckeye here’s the image i was wanting to show you. This was confirmed damage from the El Reno Tornado. Parking stops were moved

 

[pohnpei]

View attachment 9005
Buckeye here’s the image i was wanting to show you. This was confirmed damage from the El Reno Tornado. Parking stops were moved

These were unanchored parking lot. This place was in the edge of the tornado's circulation.

 

[speedbump305]

These were unanchored parking lot. This place was in the edge of the tornado's circulation.

Yes i do happen to know that.

 

[speedbump305]

Now that i think of it, Vilonia was also able to shift parking stops, but haven’t been able to find that image

 

[buckeye05]

Now that i think of it, Vilonia was also able to shift parking stops, but haven’t been able to find that image

I haven't heard that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

Also, I find it frustrating that the LZK survey team went to the trouble to consult a physicist to determine the force needed to throw bulldozers and concrete road barriers (which it did) but made it clear that they wouldn't factor the findings into the final rating. Then what is the point of consulting anyone if you're just going to ignore what they find? Despite this, I do remember that they initially rated the concrete road barriers as EF4 damage on the DAT, before changing it to EF-unknown.

 

[Brice Wood]

I haven't heard that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

Also, I find it frustrating that the LZK survey team went to the trouble to consult a physicist to determine the force needed to throw bulldozers and concrete road barriers (which it did) but made it clear that they wouldn't factor the findings into the final rating. Then what is the point of consulting anyone if you're just going to ignore what they find? Despite this, I do remember that they initially rated the concrete road barriers as EF4 damage on the DAT, before changing it to EF-unknown.

If they marked it as an unknown then they some must’ve of thought that it was EF4 or some thought it was EF5 damage, it’s hard to tell the difference from a tornado with 195Mph to one with 205 Mph, and this also indicates that the Vilonia could’ve have indeed been a full proof EF5

 

[pohnpei]

I haven't heard that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

Also, I find it frustrating that the LZK survey team went to the trouble to consult a physicist to determine the force needed to throw bulldozers and concrete road barriers (which it did) but made it clear that they wouldn't factor the findings into the final rating. Then what is the point of consulting anyone if you're just going to ignore what they find? Despite this, I do remember that they initially rated the concrete road barriers as EF4 damage on the DAT, before changing it to EF-unknown.

It dId shift the unanchored parking lot which mentioned in survey article. Yes, the road barrier had been once determined at least need 185mph winds to do that in that article. The parking lot, storm shelter, concrete road barrier damage all located at Mayflower where tornado still far from reaching its peak intensity. All these were unusual DIs.

 

[pohnpei]

If they marked it as an unknown then they some must’ve of thought that it was EF4 or some thought it was EF5 damage, it’s hard to tell the difference from a tornado with 195Mph to one with 205 Mph, and this also indicates that the Vilonia could’ve have indeed been a full proof EF5

I don't think Vilonia had EF5 intensity in Mayflower even with these unusual DIs. The structure damage and overall contextual damage in Mayflower was EF4 level. It was the Vilonia area where this tornado really began to do incredible damage.

 

[pohnpei]

The second part of summarize about Hackleburg tornado in tornadotalk

Phil Campbell (Franklin County), AL EF5 Tornado – April 27, 2011 – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

I am curious about the foundation of a 3,200 square foot home in Phil Campbell that was twisted five inches mentioned in the article. Was there any pic or information about this damage?
I find it's really hard to answer the question of which section of this tornado's path was stronger. Hackleburg or Phil Campbell or MT Hope?The level of the damage seems to be pretty close. It also may reach its peak intensity in Eastern Franklin, near Highway43 before hitting Hackleburg, western Franklin, even Moulton, Tanner?...
The chicken house damage of Hackleburg tornado in Easten Franklin was also among one of the strongest I have seen for this DI.

 

[buckeye05]

The second part of summarize about Hackleburg tornado in tornadotalk

Phil Campbell (Franklin County), AL EF5 Tornado – April 27, 2011 – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

I am curious about the foundation of a 3,200 square foot home in Phil Campbell that was twisted five inches mentioned in the article. Was there any pic or information about this damage?
I find it's really hard to answer the question of which section of this tornado's path was stronger. Hackleburg or Phil Campbell or MT Hope?The level of the damage seems to be pretty close.
The chicken house damage of Hackleburg tornado in Easten Franklin was also among one of the strongest I have seen for this DI.

I have heard this as well, but have never seen photographic proof. I recall that someone left a comment on ExtremePlanet stating that a relative's foundation slab was shifted somewhere along the path of that tornado. Never really took it seriously until seeing it once again in this Tornado Talk writeup.

Hard to pinpoint where the most intense damage was along the path. Personally, I'm most impressed by the restaurant foundation being buckled and pulled up in Mt. Hope, but that's just me.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I have heard this as well, but have never seen photographic proof. I recall that someone left a comment on ExtremePlanet stating that a relative's foundation slab was shifted somewhere along the path of that tornado. Never really took it seriously until seeing it once again in this Tornado Talk writeup.

Hard to pinpoint where the most intense damage was along the path. Personally, I'm most impressed by the restaurant foundation being buckled and pulled up in Mt. Hope, but that's just me.

I don't get why so many reports claim that it was at its most intense when in the Oak Grove area, as I've never been able to find a close-up or ground-level view of the two-story brick home that was evidently of "superior construction" or the like. The damage in the Moulton areas is also pretty bad, as much of the ground is blasted white from debris. Not sure what to pick in terms of most impressive damage from this thing, personally.

 

[buckeye05]

I don't get why so many reports claim that it was at its most intense when in the Oak Grove area, as I've never been able to find a close-up or ground-level view of the two-story brick home that was evidently of "superior construction" or the like. The damage in the Moulton areas is also pretty bad, as much of the ground is blasted white from debris. Not sure what to pick in terms of most impressive damage from this thing, personally.

I'm gonna level with you, there used to be more detailed close-up, ground level images of the Oak Grove damage on that DAT and I can't seem to find them now, but they weren't exactly the most impressive damage pics I've ever seen. Quite a lot of debris left behind and definite some use of CMUs in the foundation. There's no doubt that the wind-rowing and vehicle damage in that area was remarkable, however.

 

[eric11]

Now that i think of it, Vilonia was also able to shift parking stops, but haven’t been able to find that image

I assume you're looking for this one

Concrete road barriers and walls as I may have once published before

 

[ARCC]

I don't get why so many reports claim that it was at its most intense when in the Oak Grove area, as I've never been able to find a close-up or ground-level view of the two-story brick home that was evidently of "superior construction" or the like. The damage in the Moulton areas is also pretty bad, as much of the ground is blasted white from debris. Not sure what to pick in terms of most impressive damage from this thing, personally.

Years ago, just after the tornado, I talked via pm with one of the surveyors(I believe it was Wxnil). He stated to me that the damage to the two story brick house was incredible and if I remember right had two anchoring systems though I can’t remember what. If I’m quoting him right, He stated they assigned the highest damage to the Oak Grove/Mt Hope area because it was the most clear lack of debris enhancement. He said other areas had worse damage but due to the wind only component of this area they graded it higher. He also stated that houses in this area just exploded which I think shows in the aerial view of that two story house.

The best image you can find that I know of talking about the house in question is here. The image is in the lower right hand side. You used to be able to view the folder on the site and get a much better res image but it won’t let you do that anymore.

https://www.weather.gov/images/hun/stormsurveys/2011-04-27/EF-Ratings_large.jpg

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I'm curious what the original medium was, 8mm or Super 8 film? I ask because I had difficulty discerning negative dust spots and flicker typical of film, but home VHS didn't exist in 1974. The only things I see that support this was shot on film are some frame jitter on the left side at 0:08, and the rapid cuts typical of home shooting on the medium (video tape tended to be rolled more continuously).

That said, the source is NWS Hunstville, so I would hope they'd have done their due diligence on authenticating the footage. If accurate, this supports my suspicion about the 1974 Super Outbreak that a lot of tornadoes went uncounted, and the event was probably not as far behind the 2011 outbreak in terms of raw tornado count as the official numbers would suggest.

What's curious about 1974 is that Mississippi only had a single tornado documented (a marginal one at that) which makes me wonder why more weren't documented, as that state in widespread outbreaks like this usually gets swarmed with violent tornadoes. I have a feeling that many remote rural areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and the Carolinas likely had many more tornadoes than were officially documented and it wouldn't surprise me if this outbreak had 300+ like 4/27/11 did.
Also, this:

Tornado outbreak of April 1–2, 1974 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I think a case can be made that this was part of the 4/3/74 outbreak, as 4/27/11 was preceded by tornadoes in a similar geographic region on April 25 and 26th and this is counted as part of the official "2011" Super Outbreak. Really interesting how little known this event this in comparison to 4/3/74.

 

[Nightking2021]

I haven't heard that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

Also, I find it frustrating that the LZK survey team went to the trouble to consult a physicist to determine the force needed to throw bulldozers and concrete road barriers (which it did) but made it clear that they wouldn't factor the findings into the final rating. Then what is the point of consulting anyone if you're just going to ignore what they find? Despite this, I do remember that they initially rated the concrete road barriers as EF4 damage on the DAT, before changing it to EF-unknown.

Because that is how NWS in Little Rock operates. They could have a Jarrell or Smithville like tornado in their area of responsibility and still find ways to rate it only an EF4.

 

[speedbump305]

I’ve always heard that the basement to that home was also caved in. it’s in the extreme planet comment as well’