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Yeah, I'm sure there's tons of stuff out there to be found but I don't have a whole lot in my folder.

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Lots of these photographs look taken post-clean up; that said, the first one (with the vehicle wrapped in debris) is somewhat impressive, there does appear to be hillside/ground scouring as well in it.
 
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locomusic01

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@Juliett Bravo Kilo @buckeye05 The mystery of the black barrel tornado photo is solved: this Kennard photo is taken from quite literally the same place and is almost identical.

Which means that unless NWS Paducah realizes they fucked up or some sudden Brandenburg photos appear there has still yet to be a photographed E/F5 in Kentucky history, actually.
Oh yeah, I should've included that one as well. IIRC there's a short film clip taken from basically the same area. I don't remember exactly where it was, but somewhere in the Knightstown/Grant City area.
 

A Guy

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It's rating time.

Yes, for wood framed houses, all walls collapsed could now literally lead to EF5. This is official, by the way.
EDIT: Actually it seems its a spreadsheet compiling all the official data. Still, exciting!

I'm going to go on record here and say that one of the worst aspects of the EF scale was to make the EF5 threshold 201 rather than 200 MPH.

The column 'derived scale' is based on estimates of the windspeed needed for the original F scale, with F5 damage at 200 MPH. The decision to change this can only have been a 'political' one to ensure fewer EF5 tornadoes, as it creates an obvious inconsistency that degrades the scientific value of the scale (as well as preventing an at-sight six category rating, the intent of the original scale).

Also note the language - 'typical resistance' for middle values. Again worth stating that it's clear how much actual practice deviates that 'typical' apparently is in fact 'very rare'. Rochelle was the last sweep away to receive a 'typical' windspeed, despite many instances since then.
 
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buckeye05

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Oh yeah, I should've included that one as well. IIRC there's a short film clip taken from basically the same area. I don't remember exactly where it was, but somewhere in the Knightstown/Grant City area.
Video of the Kennard tornado is posted on Blake Naftel’s YouTube channel, which is a great resource for historic tornado footage.
 

A Guy

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@Juliett Bravo Kilo @buckeye05 The mystery of the black barrel tornado photo is solved: this Kennard photo is taken from quite literally the same place and is almost identical.
The famous 'mystery photo' was discussed and Kennard mentioned a couple of years back, a bit before I joined the forum. I saw this one mentioned as Kennard way back in 2011 on a university forum that no longer exists, so it always frustrated me seeing people say it was Brandenburg.

Someone on Facebook (I think) posted a shot of the local newspaper from which @locomusic01's version of the photo comes from. I thought it might be the same picture as the mystery photograph (which would be cropped if so) but not sure as the low quality of the newspaper picture fuzzes out the detail. If not they were very obviously taken from only metre or two apart at practically the same time.

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The article gives that the picture was taken from about here, just south of Knightstown, looking NW. I think the tornado would have been close to I-70 when the photo was taken judging from the angle, and about 7 km distant.

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The grassy bank is still as it was back then:

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locomusic01

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So I added some new (and not so new) photos to my Jarrell article. I was hoping to update the article itself for the 25th anniversary, but I just don't have the time right now. Kind of a bummer. Anyway, figured I'd post some of them here as well.

Note the piece of culvert just chillin' in the background.

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The debarking/denuding on only one side of the tree here is kinda fascinating.

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Some kind of truck in the background here.

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Of course, it also gets much, much worse.

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And still worse.

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locomusic01

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Ran out of room. I'm sure a lot of these have already been posted, but whatever.

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Another thing I've been meaning to do but haven't had a chance yet - I want to recreate this graphic using the actual aerials. In the meantime, I've always found this incredibly sobering. It's one thing to know how many people died in such a small area, but it's another to see it visually.

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Also, I might've mentioned this a few years ago but KVUE did a nice piece on the tornado that features some really high-quality video:

 

locomusic01

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Tim Marshall has more or less become the next John Robinson. There's no way we're ever seeing any positive change in the EF scale now.

It seems the EF scale failed its mission.
One thing worth keeping in mind is that, while there's a specific process laid out for rating sigtors (https://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives/sym/pd01016004curr.pdf), the people involved can and do change. Not just the MIC and other personnel at each office, but also the QRT members. Tim Marshall has obviously become sort of the face of the QRT but it's not just him by any means. I've never seen anything to suggest any one particular person holds that much sway over the rating process, and I don't doubt the people on those teams know what they're doing.

As I (and others, I'm sure) have said before, we have more of a problem in philosophy than anything else. Right now the entire process is oriented toward rigorous engineering — which is fine! — but that kind of approach tells you a lot more about building practices than it does actual tornado intensity, climatology, etc. And honestly that's probably the right approach for a scale that is, above all else, intended to improve safety. Remember the Joplin NIST report? Or the paper proclaiming Jarrell as an F3? Their conclusions sound idiotic because they're viewing it through a different lens.

I'm not sure what the solution is except to recognize the purpose of the EF-scale and to understand the limitations that go along with it. Barring some huge technological advances in radar etc., I'm not sure we'll ever have ratings that actually reflect the maximum intensity of tornadoes in the way we might prefer. So I guess it's up to the nerds to do what we do best: argue about it online!

(I should say that I do think the process can be improved and that some kind of middle ground can be found. I'm somewhat optimistic the updated EF-scale can move us in that direction, but we'll see.)
 
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Ran out of room. I'm sure a lot of these have already been posted, but whatever.

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Another thing I've been meaning to do but haven't had a chance yet - I want to recreate this graphic using the actual aerials. In the meantime, I've always found this incredibly sobering. It's one thing to know how many people died in such a small area, but it's another to see it visually.

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Also, I might've mentioned this a few years ago but KVUE did a nice piece on the tornado that features some really high-quality video:


Isn't Jarrell the only tornado with a 100% fatality rate? All the deaths were clustered in the Double Creek area and there was basically no injuries?
 

locomusic01

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100% fatality rate in the core above ground.
What always gets me is that a number of people, including whole families, did the "right" thing — rushed home before the storm arrived and sheltered in the innermost room on the lowest level of their home — and it still wasn't enough. I'm amazed at how often people survive even incredibly violent tornadoes, but it just wasn't possible in Jarrell.
 
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What always gets me is that a number of people, including whole families, did the "right" thing — rushed home before the storm arrived and sheltered in the innermost room on the lowest level of their home — and it still wasn't enough. I'm amazed at how often people survive even incredibly violent tornadoes, but it just wasn't possible in Jarrell.
Stuff like Jarrell has beat me into the decision that if I ever see a tornado approaching my house & have enough time, I'll simply take my chances outrunning it in my car rather than ride it out in my basement, because you just never know.
 

MNTornadoGuy

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Stuff like Jarrell has beat me into the decision that if I ever see a tornado approaching my house & have enough time, I'll simply take my chances outrunning it in my car rather than ride it out in my basement, because you just never know.
I still think that trying to escape via a car is a bad idea, you can get caught in traffic in the path of the tornado.
 

Marshal79344

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Alright, now that my incredibly mentally-draining math exam is completed, here is part 4 of my individual Vilonia research! After the tornado exited Vilonia to the northeast, it was a gigantic, churning mass of debris. Due to the tornado's incredible strength, debris was thrown all over the place at an extremely high velocity, resulting in some of the most incredible tornado damage pictures I've ever seen. Trees totally debarked, significant ground scouring took place, cars mangled into unrecognizable hulks of metal, major wind-rowing of debris, it's difficult to describe some things like this.

(Since Talkweather refuses to let me upload the files, I've linked them here instead)

 
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