Significant Tornado Events

[speedbump305]

Does anyone have images of the Vehicle damage in Oak Grove, i’ve tried to look and i haven’t found anything

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

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.

At least it wouldn't be like the NIST who gave the 1997 Jarrell tornado an F3 rating. They missed all the homes that were anchor-bolted and only surveyed the ones that were nailed.

 

[TH2002]

At least it wouldn't be like the NIST who gave the 1997 Jarrell tornado an F3 rating. They missed all the homes that were anchor-bolted and only surveyed the ones that were nailed.

"BuT tHe HoMeS wErE nAiLeD. f3 cAsE cLoSeD"

Never mind the foot and a half deep ground scouring, pavement scouring, obliterated recycling center and the numerous swept away homes that were in fact well-bolted.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

View attachment 9010
"BuT tHe HoMeS wErE nAiLeD. f3 cAsE cLoSeD"

Never mind the foot and a half deep ground scouring, pavement scouring, obliterated recycling center and the numerous swept away homes that were in fact well-bolted.

They only surveyed a few slabbed homes too.

 

[TH2002]

They only surveyed a few slabbed homes too.

Do some damage surveyors do that on purpose? Seems like there are at least a few out there that act like they are are trying to hide something.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Do some damage surveyors do that on purpose? Seems like there are at least a few out there that act like they are are trying to hide something.

A discussion about this came up a while back on this thread, and yeah it does appear some surveyors deliberately underrate tornadoes due to the whims of local and state governments. The discussion continues on for a couple pages.

Significant Tornado Events

I figured I might as well mention extremeplanet. That site still doesn't have any new updates since 2014; whatever happened to whoever ran that blog? I'll post the new link below, it is still accessible for now: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com/ Hopefully the admin of extremeplanet can get...

talkweather.com

Significant Tornado Events

Would be a pretty great take-that to incompetent surveyors if Grazulis ranks it EF5 in the upcoming sigtor book update but that's almost certainly not going to happen Grazulis has hinted he will probably list Vilonia as an F5 in his book.

talkweather.com

 

[buckeye05]

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

Close ups seem to indicate mixed use of anchor bolts and cut nails at that particular house. Not sure if that's what was meant by two anchoring systems or not, as one can be considered an anchoring mechanism, while the other not so much.

 

[buckeye05]

After some digging around, I believe I found what is the only clear image of the Beavercreek, OH EF3 of 2019. It hit pretty late at night, and a screen cap from a video illuminated by lighting reveals that it was a big wedge. Sorry for the IMBY focused stuff, and it might not be that interesting to most, but this is one of the more significant local tornado events in recent memory for me, especially considering that it totally destroyed my cousins apartment. Was a really scary night, and It's interesting to finally see what it actually looked like.

 

[speedbump305]

Buckeye correct me if i’m wrong, but the Beavercreek ohio tornado occured on May 27 2019 in the Dayton Ohio Metro outbreak in the Late may outbreak sequence?

 

[speedbump305]

After some digging around, I believe I found what is the only clear image of the Beavercreek, OH EF3 of 2019. It hit pretty late at night, and a screen cap from a video illuminated by lighting reveals that it was a big wedge. Sorry for the IMBY focused stuff, and it might not be that interesting to most, but this is one of the more significant local tornado events in recent memory for me, especially considering that it totally destroyed my cousins apartment. Was a really scary night, and It's interesting to finally see what it actually looked like.

that’s actually a pretty dang large wedge there- i’m glad your cousins were okay!

 

[buckeye05]

Buckeye correct me if i’m wrong, but the Beavercreek ohio tornado occured on May 27 2019 in the Dayton Ohio Metro outbreak in the Late may outbreak sequence?

Yes. After The Trotwood-Dayton EF4 lifted, a meso handoff occurred and the same supercell immediately produced the Beavercreek EF3.

 

[speedbump305]

Yes. After The Trotwood-Dayton EF4 lifted, a meso handoff occurred and the same supercell immediately produced the Beavercreek EF3.

Ahhhh yes the Dayton Tornado. Do you think Any tornadoes from that sequence were capable of EF5 damage?

 

[speedbump305]

The Mangun Tornado very likely had violent potential

 

[Brice Wood]

Ahhhh yes the Dayton Tornado. Do you think Any tornadoes from that sequence were capable of EF5 damage?

The Dayton tornado, it was no where near capable of producing any EF5 damage they initially rated it an EF3 cause the structural damage, it wasn’t catastrophic, and the only reason for the EF4 upgrade was because of the tree damage it had caused

 

[Brice Wood]

The Mangun Tornado very likely had violent potential

Indeed, winds inside were 212mph at its peak, had it hit magnum directly with those wind speeds this could’ve have been an EF5

 

[Brice Wood]

Here’s a radar image of the beaver creek tornado

Sorry if it’s hard to see you’ll just have to zoom in, Beavercreek was nearly in the hook

 

[buckeye05]

Ahhhh yes the Dayton Tornado. Do you think Any tornadoes from that sequence were capable of EF5 damage?

Definitely Mangum, OK from May 20. Was rated EF2, but it produced grass scouring in rural areas and mobile radar recorded EF5 winds as the tornado passed though open fields.

The Odessa, TX EF3 occurred the same day, and produced impressive ground scouring as well, despite hitting next to nothing. The Laverne, OK EF3 from May 23 seems like it was pretty violent too. The house it swept away was unanchored, but there was very little debris left, and it completely stripped a vehicle down to its chassis. Harder to say with those two, but definitely Mangum.

 

[buckeye05]

Here’s a radar image of the beaver creek tornado
View attachment 9011
Sorry if it’s hard to see you’ll just have to zoom in, Beavercreek was nearly in the hook

If you look near Philipsburg, you can see the beginnings of the hook/couplet on the second supercell that produced the high-end EF2 Vandalia, OH tornado. That night was awful. It was like being stuck in the path of an assembly line of tornadic supercells. They just kept coming.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

One of the most underrated tornado outbreaks is the May 7-10, 1927 Mississippi Valley-Plains tornado outbreak. This outbreak consisting of >35 significant tornadoes and >9 violent tornadoes (I also looked through newspapers for weak tornadoes and came up with a total number of at least 66 tornadoes) affecting an area extending from Northern Texas, to Nebraska, through AR/MO/IL, and all the way to Northeastern USA. 217 people were killed as a result of this outbreak. I'll talk about some of the most notable violent tornadoes of this outbreak:

New Bloomfield MO F4
This very violent tornado devastated rural areas west of New Bloomfield, sweeping away multiple large homes. One house the tornado encountered was anchored to its poured concrete foundation with 1/2 inch iron bolts. The tornado completely leveled and partially swept away this home, tearing loose a 16x6 ft and 4 inches thick chunk of concrete which broke into 3-4 pieces. 3 people in the basement were killed when the concrete chunks fell onto them. Large trees were snapped in half, uprooted, or carried several hundred feet.

Nevada TX F4
This tornado was a part of an erratic and violent tornado family that struck the NE Dallas metro area. The western half of the town of Nevada was leveled along with farms in rural areas. 19 people were killed as a result of this tornado. Not much information is available about this tornado.

Greenville TX F4
The second violent member of this tornado family cut a 15 mile long path in NW Hunt County. Even less information is available about the tornado but it reportedly swept away farmhouses. 6 people were killed by this tornado.

Garland TX F4
This tornado cut a 1-mile long looping path in NE Garland. Despite the destruction occurring only in a 5-block area, 15 people were killed by this tornado. Homes were completely leveled.

Poplar Bluff MO F4
This was the deadliest tornado of the outbreak that struck Arkansas and Missouri. 15 homes were destroyed in Arkansas at F4 intensity. The tornado wasn't exceptionally intense when it struck Poplar Bluff but due to the downtown area being packed at the time, it became a mass casualty situation. 98 people were killed, 93 people in Missouri, and 5 in Arkansas.

Strong AR F4
This extremely violent tornado devastated the town of Strong. A large part of the downtown area was literally leveled to the ground and the "best homes" in town were swept away. 24 people were killed.

 

[buckeye05]

One of the most underrated tornado outbreaks is the May 7-10, 1927 Mississippi Valley-Plains tornado outbreak. This outbreak consisting of >35 significant tornadoes and >9 violent tornadoes (I also looked through newspapers for weak tornadoes and came up with a total number of at least 66 tornadoes) affecting an area extending from Northern Texas, to Nebraska, through AR/MO/IL, and all the way to Northeastern USA. 217 people were killed as a result of this outbreak. I'll talk about some of the most notable violent tornadoes of this outbreak:

New Bloomfield MO F4
This very violent tornado devastated rural areas west of New Bloomfield, sweeping away multiple large homes. One house the tornado encountered was anchored to its poured concrete foundation with 1/2 inch iron bolts. The tornado completely leveled and partially swept away this home, tearing loose a 16x6 ft and 4 inches thick chunk of concrete which broke into 3-4 pieces. 3 people in the basement were killed when the concrete chunks fell onto them. Large trees were snapped in half, uprooted, or carried several hundred feet.

Nevada TX F4
This tornado was a part of an erratic and violent tornado family that struck the NE Dallas metro area. The western half of the town of Nevada was leveled along with farms in rural areas. 19 people were killed as a result of this tornado. Not much information is available about this tornado.

Greenville TX F4
The second violent member of this tornado family cut a 15 mile long path in NW Hunt County. Even less information is available about the tornado but it reportedly swept away farmhouses. 6 people were killed by this tornado.

Garland TX F4
This tornado cut a 1-mile long looping path in NE Garland. Despite the destruction occurring only in a 5-block area, 15 people were killed by this tornado. Homes were completely leveled.

Poplar Bluff MO F4
This was the deadliest tornado of the outbreak that struck Arkansas and Missouri. 15 homes were destroyed in Arkansas at F4 intensity. The tornado wasn't exceptionally intense when it struck Poplar Bluff but due to the downtown area being packed at the time, it became a mass casualty situation. 98 people were killed, 93 people in Missouri, and 5 in Arkansas.

Strong AR F4
This extremely violent tornado devastated the town of Strong. A large part of the downtown area was literally leveled to the ground and the "best homes" in town were swept away. 24 people were killed.

Awesome stuff here. A while back, I read an old archived Weather Bureau journal about the New Bloomfield, MO F4, and I saw the same bit about the anchor bolts and the concrete slab. It paints a picture of a very violent tornado, and it seems like an informal F5 rating would have been more appropriate than F4.

It's also interesting to compare and contrast the F4/EF4 tornadoes that struck Garland, TX in 1927 and 2015.