Significant Tornado Events

[TH2002]

Also thank you you've gotten me sucked down a rabbit hole and now I'm basically just looking for any 4/14/2012 footage I can. Here's the Manchester, OK EF1 that was probably a lot stronger according to velocity:


And the Wichita, KS EF3:

Oh, OCD-ing about tornado video preservation has been a huge part of my life since April 25, 2019 - welcome to the club. The first tornado video I ever downloaded on that day:


Of course, earlier this year the obsession spread to tsunami footage and now hurricane footage with the passage of Ian.

And while you're down this 4/14/2012 rabbit hole, here's some Woodward footage: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events.1276/page-94#post-51551

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Oh, OCD-ing about tornado video preservation has been a huge part of my life since April 25, 2019 - welcome to the club. The first tornado video I ever downloaded on that day:


Of course, earlier this year the obsession spread to tsunami footage and now hurricane footage with the passage of Ian.

And while you're down this 4/14/2012 rabbit hole, here's some Woodward footage: https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events.1276/page-94#post-51551

Alright, nice. The main reason I entered the rabbit hole in the first place is a likely doomed search to find literally any video of the 1.5 mile wide St John EF3 (the one that followed the big Trousdale one that was video'd near Greensburg). Doesn't seem like much footage from that cell - there's a metric ton of footage of the Salina, Argonia-Wichita and Hesston-Lincolnville supercells, but not here.

EDIT: Woodward and Wichita were not the same cell oops

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Haven't found any St. John/Hudson footage yet but did find this very unfortunate radar image from that day in Iowa:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I found it! Once upon a time this blog apparently had a ton of damage photos of tornadoes in Alabama that I haven't been able to find elsewhere but unfortunately the site's gone to the Wayback Machine and the photos won't render (at least on my computer). He has some sections on Guin and Hackleburg but the really important one is his entry for 4/20/1920 Marion County, AL tornado that was more or less Hackleburg a century early (it's path is almost identical to it). I know there were a bunch of black and white photos and a slideshow of damage from this thing but I can't get them to show now; I remember what the photos looked like and none of them I've found on newspapers.com, Library of Congress, Facebook, or other archive sites. The second paragraph is the most notable, so I'll quote it in full:

"On that morning the tornado crossed into Marion County from Monroe County, Mississippi hitting isolated farms and communities in the mostly rural area. South of Bexar nine people were killed. Twenty people in Marion County would die that day. A few of the lucky survivors included my great-uncle Joseph Washington Palmer and his family. He and his wife Rebecca Brown Palmer and a small child were home that morning. The home was located directly in the path of the killer tornado. The log cabin they were living in was completely destroyed. But the three managed to crawl from the wreckage unharmed. While researching for this blog post I located a photo of Joseph and Rebecca sitting among the wreckage of their former home. The photos are from a collection of Palmer family history gathered by my cousin Joel Palmer. On a recent trip through Marion County he showed me the old home place where Joseph W. Palmer’s cabin stood before the storm. He also showed me a cemetery where several victims of the storm are buried. Those places can be seen in the slideshow below."

It looks like some old-timer in Alabama is sitting on a treasure trove of photographs we'd all love to see

Blog Archives

Below is a gallery of photos from Hackleburg, Ala., that I made on April 29, 2011. The town was struck on April 27, 2011 by a long-track EF5 tornado that killed 18 people in the area.

web.archive.org

 

[Sawmaster]

Presuming you noticed the bloggers email addy- [email protected]. Those pics would probably be stunning to see...

Phil

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

By pure coincidence after I had basically given up on the Hudson search (tagging @Western_KS_Wx as he's posted videos I straight up couldn't find myself) I ended up aimlessly going through Mar 2, 2012 related footage and then came across this rare Super Outbreak video:


EDIT: And another!

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Haven't found any St. John/Hudson footage yet but did find this very unfortunate radar image from that day in Iowa:
View attachment 15198

Wow, did not know there was any significant tornado activity in IA that day, I was really only paying attention to the high risk in KS/OK since I was a broke student at the time and chasing wasn't an option despite having plenty of free time on my hands. I see Winterset (of this March's EF4 infamy) on that map, in the wake of that event I saw some speculation that the Des Moines River Valley may contribute to a topographically-enhanced favorable corridor for tornadogenesis in that area.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

Unrelated, but I was sent this picture from the 2007 Greensburg tornado that was taken near the lake north of town (not far from where the Mennonite Church was swept away) and this is some of the most impressive tornado damage I’ve seen. The vegetation and contextual damage ranks up there with some of the most violent tornadoes recorded. The black metal ball behind the tangled mess of wire, fencing, and sheet metal are the remains of a vehicle apparently.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Presuming you noticed the bloggers email addy- [email protected]. Those pics would probably be stunning to see...

Phil

You're right, I somehow missed that! I'm gonna work on an email to send him in the next few days, see what happens....

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Mapping tornadoes using damage swaths in Google Earth is just so much fun!

 

[tornado examiner]

Mapping tornadoes using damage swaths in Google Earth is just so much fun!

which one is that?

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

which one is that?

Brandon, November 1992.

To put it simply, it was not a continuous 128 mile track.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Brandon, November 1992.

To put it simply, it was not a continuous 128 mile track.

So it has been proven to have been a tornado family? Where did the break most likely occur?

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

So it has been proven to have been a tornado family? Where did the break most likely occur?

Well, it's not officially a family, but all tornado damage basically stops once the track passes Carthage and doesn't get going again until the Williamsville area. In addition it seems there were multiple tornadoes near Williamsville/Ethel/Weir. And the family didn't get to Mathiston like the official records say the Brandon tornado did.

EDIT: Also the main F4 (which tracked 68.4 miles) was actually a fair bit larger than the official records. The damage swath maxed out at just under a full mile in width (0.9 miles, specifically).
EDIT 2: Jesus christ I found another area of no tornado damage to speak of, and then another, so the 68 mile path is now a 39.7 mile one. Oof.

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

Does anyone know or have any idea what the temperature and dewpoint was when the Warrensburg, AR F4 tornado was occurring. I believe it happened on January 3, .1949. I know the Crittenden tornado in March of 2012 had a temp of 58F and a dew of 55F. I tend wonder what is the lowest temp and dewpoint that a violent EF4 or EF5 tornado can occur in. This is hypothetically if all the other ingredients for a massive tornado outbreak are in place.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Well, it's not officially a family, but all tornado damage basically stops once the track passes Carthage and doesn't get going again until the Williamsville area. In addition it seems there were multiple tornadoes near Williamsville/Ethel/Weir. And the family didn't get to Mathiston like the official records say the Brandon tornado did.
View attachment 15201
EDIT: Also the main F4 (which tracked 68.4 miles) was actually a fair bit larger than the official records. The damage swath maxed out at just under a full mile in width (0.9 miles, specifically).
EDIT 2: Jesus christ I found another area of no tornado damage to speak of, and then another, so the 68 mile path is now a 39.7 mile one. Oof.
View attachment 15202

I'd love to find someone reconstruct the Candlestick Park tornado's true path length; I know on NOAA they break it up as 2 separate tornadoes but it was more likely 3 or 4; two F5 wedges and 1 or 2 weaker wedges/stovepipes.
Also, amazing how often this stuff still happens (a family listed as a single tornado); the tricky part is tornadoes with 100+ mile paths DO occur, especially in Dixie Alley, which makes figuring out how much VLT tornado tracks are actually families and how much were a single tornado that really lasted that long even trickier.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Does anyone know or have any idea what the temperature and dewpoint was when the Warrensburg, AR F4 tornado was occurring. I believe it happened on January 3, .1949. I know the Crittenden tornado in March of 2012 had a temp of 58F and a dew of 55F. I tend wonder what is the lowest temp and dewpoint that a violent EF4 or EF5 tornado can occur in. This is hypothetically if all the other ingredients for a massive tornado outbreak are in place.

It was around 73/68

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Does anyone know or have any idea what the temperature and dewpoint was when the Warrensburg, AR F4 tornado was occurring. I believe it happened on January 3, .1949. I know the Crittenden tornado in March of 2012 had a temp of 58F and a dew of 55F. I tend wonder what is the lowest temp and dewpoint that a violent EF4 or EF5 tornado can occur in. This is hypothetically if all the other ingredients for a massive tornado outbreak are in place.

I believe the Winterset, Iowa EF4 in March had pretty paltry-looking low level thermos for a violent tornado setup. Something like low 60s temps/upper 50s dews. March 13, 1990 (Hesston etc) might have been similar.

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

I believe the Winterset, Iowa EF4 in March had pretty paltry-looking low level thermos for a violent tornado setup. Something like low 60s temps/upper 50s dews. March 13, 1990 (Hesston etc) might have been similar.

Yes, it was like 63/56 when the Winterset tornado occurred. The Hesston, KS tornado formed in 68-70F temps and dews of 61F-63F. There was one tornado that day that was an F4 and it was on the ground for possibly 100+ miles. This very long tracked tornado was in like a 67F temp and a dew of 58F.

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

The Tri-State 1925 tornado also supposedly stayed mainly in temps of 63F to 71F and dews of 56F TO 62F. I guess if all other ingredients are in favor for a tornado outbreak in the fall, winter, and early spring months, maybe all it needs is 62-71F temps and dews of 55-62F. Once you reach the early parts of an actual tornado season April-June you probably need temps in the 74F to 84F range and dews in the 65F to 72F range. I guess that is the best way to put it.