Significant Tornado Events

[MNTornadoGuy]

The June 2003 Coleridge NE tornado was a very violent event and probably among the most violent of 2003. This half-mile-wide tornado cut an erratic and looping path through rural areas just north of Coleridge, barely missing the town by 580 yards. An at times ~700-yard wide swath of crops was scoured, an unknown object was blown from one farm leaving a 0.45-mile-long trail of impact marks, dead cattle were killed over a mile, trees were debarked, vehicles were tossed, and an entire farm was swept clean. Sadly one person was killed when they were crushed by a tractor.

 

[buckeye05]

The June 2003 Coleridge NE tornado was a very violent event and probably among the most violent of 2003. This half-mile-wide tornado cut an erratic and looping path through rural areas just north of Coleridge, barely missing the town by 580 yards. An at times ~700-yard wide swath of crops was scoured, an unknown object was blown from one farm leaving a 0.45-mile-long trail of impact marks, dead cattle were killed over a mile, trees were debarked, vehicles were tossed, and an entire farm was swept clean. Sadly one person was killed when they were crushed by a tractor.
View attachment 13961

Whoa. I never realized how violent this one was. The grass scouring in photos #4 and #5 is pretty impressive. Also the extremely sharp gradient between the scoured and unscoured crops in photo #3 is pretty unusual.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

The June 2003 Coleridge NE tornado was a very violent event and probably among the most violent of 2003. This half-mile-wide tornado cut an erratic and looping path through rural areas just north of Coleridge, barely missing the town by 580 yards. An at times ~700-yard wide swath of crops was scoured, an unknown object was blown from one farm leaving a 0.45-mile-long trail of impact marks, dead cattle were killed over a mile, trees were debarked, vehicles were tossed, and an entire farm was swept clean. Sadly one person was killed when they were crushed by a tractor.
View attachment 13961

The May 2003 sequence was so exceptional, I tend to forget about the June events that year (apart from the Manchester family). Also when I think of Coleridge, NE I think of the June 2014 one the day after Pilger, which was probably similarly violent to this one.

 

[AngelAndHisWx]

Oh, speaking of the Temperance F4, I don't remember if I ever posted these. Probably did, but whatever. Some day I gotta see if I can correct the camera shake a little in Photoshop.



Edit: Also, one of the original tornado photos. Unfortunately I didn't see it until it was already too late to buy it so it's watermarked.

Topaz has a Sharpening AI filter can allegedly fix camera shake/motion blur, all that fun stuff. Problem is a) expensive, like most of their products, and b) it’s AI magic so there’s bound to be some funky artifacts.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The June 2003 Coleridge NE tornado was a very violent event and probably among the most violent of 2003. This half-mile-wide tornado cut an erratic and looping path through rural areas just north of Coleridge, barely missing the town by 580 yards. An at times ~700-yard wide swath of crops was scoured, an unknown object was blown from one farm leaving a 0.45-mile-long trail of impact marks, dead cattle were killed over a mile, trees were debarked, vehicles were tossed, and an entire farm was swept clean. Sadly one person was killed when they were crushed by a tractor.
View attachment 13961

The wobbly, erratic path reminds me of Kellerville, TX, another violent event that is mostly unknown due to the remote rural area it occurred.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

The only photos of damage that I know of from the 1884 Oakville Indiana tornado:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The only photos of damage that I know of from the 1884 Oakville Indiana tornado:

Do you know of any photographs from the 1880 Christian County, IL tornado? According to Grazulis, it's the earliest estimated F5 that can be verified.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Do you know of any photographs from the 1880 Christian County, IL tornado? According to Grazulis, it's the earliest estimated F5 that can be verified.

There are none.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

There have been several strong/violent tornadoes that have traveled considerable distances over large lakes and such, although my brain is giving me 404 errors at the moment. IIRC the 1924 Lorain F4 formed over Sandusky Bay and cut across Lake Erie on its way to Lorain, which must be a good 20 miles or more.

Would all the cold water being sucked into the funnel destabilize it at some point? Or not.
Did Lake Simcoe's likely play a role in Barrie's rapid dissipation?

 

[buckeye05]

People usually reference Edmonton 1987 as Canada’s next-best candidate for F5 besides Elie, but after some of the photos that loco dug up, I’ve come to believe that Barrie is a much stronger candidate. The type of contextual damage it left behind leaves little doubt imo.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

People usually reference Edmonton 1987 as Canada’s next-best candidate for F5 besides Elie, but after some of the photos that loco dug up, I’ve come to believe that Barrie is a much stronger candidate. The type of contextual damage it left behind leaves little doubt imo.

IMO, Edmonton is not a strong F5 candidate at all. Most of the damage was low to mid-F4 and only occurred to industrial buildings.

 

[buckeye05]

IMO, Edmonton is not a strong F5 candidate at all. Most of the damage was low to mid-F4 and only occurred to industrial buildings.

I completely agree. I wonder why Barrie isn't recognized as one of Canada's most violent of all time? It's well-known, but more for the fact that it hit a populated area and caused quite a few deaths, rather than its extremely violent damage.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I completely agree. I wonder why Barrie isn't recognized as one of Canada's most violent of all? It's well-known, but more for the fact that it hit a populated area and caused quite a few deaths, rather than its extremely violent damage.

Probably because it wasn't rated F5 and until very recently it appears to have been difficult to find much damage photographs from it. Canadian meteorological boards tend to be pretty conservative with tornado ratings, which certainly doesn't help.

 

[locomusic01]

I completely agree. I wonder why Barrie isn't recognized as one of Canada's most violent of all? It's well-known, but more for the fact that it hit a populated area and caused quite a few deaths, rather than its extremely violent damage.

The most violent damage occurred on the edge of town in a swath that was less than three-quarters of a mile long. Basically a tiny residential neighborhood and an industrial park. And even though that swath was where all but one of the deaths occurred, most people did what they always do and focused instead on the much more populated neighborhoods around Allandale and Tollendal Woods. Most of the damage in those areas was in the F1-F3 range so that's what most people picture when they think of Barrie.

Actually, I never thought Barrie was especially violent either until I started researching my article. There are so few photos from the hardest-hit area that I'm not sure most people even know about it.

 

[locomusic01]

IMO, Edmonton is not a strong F5 candidate at all. Most of the damage was low to mid-F4 and only occurred to industrial buildings.

Edmonton is another case I'd really like to get into eventually. Some of the contextual damage is super impressive, but I'm inclined to agree that I don't recall seeing anything I'd consider potential F5 structural damage. Absolutely fantastic tornado photos, tho.

 

[locomusic01]

Btw I bought a random lot of tornado photos that finally came today. I haven't had time to do more than skim through them yet, but I saw a few cool shots in there so hopefully it wasn't a total waste of money lol

Edit: Posted prematurely. Anyway this is the coolest one I saw so far. It's labeled August 1970 (obviously) but doesn't include any other info. The only notable tornadoes I remember from that month are Sudbury, ON and another one over in the Buffalo area. Could be a totally different event tho.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Probably because it wasn't rated F5 and until very recently it appears to have been difficult to find much damage photographs from it. Canadian meteorological boards tend to be pretty conservative with tornado ratings, which certainly doesn't help.

Didn't Barrie only hit unanchored cinder-block foundation homes at peak intensity?

 

[locomusic01]

Didn't Barrie only hit unanchored cinder-block foundation homes at peak intensity?

All had basements w/CMU walls, but from what I understand in talking with people who lived in the neighborhood, some houses were anchored (bolts inserted into filled-in cores). Certainly not what you'd call well-built in any case.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

I didn't realize Edmonton was such an impressive large stovepipe. I'd only seen the video of it which was taken from close up during the truncated bowl/multivortex phase.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Edmonton is another case I'd really like to get into eventually. Some of the contextual damage is super impressive, but I'm inclined to agree that I don't recall seeing anything I'd consider potential F5 structural damage. Absolutely fantastic tornado photos, tho.

Edmonton is definitely a borderline-F5 case; the damage in the industrial area was pretty high-end in spots.

Previous post on it: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events.1276/page-32#post-46274

Also, the video of its formation is one of the best multivortex footage I've ever seen, looks like over a dozen suction vortices were swirling around in it.