Significant Tornado Events

[locomusic01]

I’m still working on a contour map for that tornado so if you have them feel free to post lol. Anywho, yeah the damage in some locations from Tuscaloosa-Birmingham was on par with the EF5’s that day.

Didn't really look through them so it may be stuff that's been posted here before, but I threw a bunch of 'em into an album. I'll check and see what else I have later and post whatever I missed:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The tornado fluctuated in intensity quite a bit throughout its lifetime but I’d say it likely hit EF5 status briefly in Alberta City and then once more along Chastain Manor (though I’d argue it sort of straddled the line and could go either way) and again in Holt. I can say pretty confidently the tornado was at EF5 strength north of Peterson and along where it took out the train bridge, tree damage and home damage in that area was very intense. It also hit probable EF5 strength several times in its trek through forested areas before hitting very likely EF5 intensity in Concord and a narrow swath through Pleasant Grove where the final instance of EF5 damage occurred. I’d say it’s true peak was near Peterson where it reached max width and had the most intense radar presentation but it remained very violent from Tuscaloosa to Pratt City.

The more I research this outbreak & read TornadoTalk article on it (haven't gotten to Tuscaloosa-Birmingham yet) it's pretty clear that there was way more EF5s then officially documented and that the sheer amount of tornadoes that occurred likely made objectively rating everything more difficult than normally.

 

[locomusic01]

I've also got like a billion photos from some of the other 4/27 tornadoes (especially Rainsville, Shoal Creek-Ohatchee & Section-Flat Rock IIRC, but others as well) that I really need to try and work out locations/labels for at some point. The outbreak was just so insanely huge that it's like demoralizing trying to do any work on it lol

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I've also got like a billion photos from some of the other 4/27 tornadoes (especially Rainsville, Shoal Creek-Ohatchee & Section-Flat Rock IIRC, but others as well) that I really need to try and work out locations/labels for at some point. The outbreak was just so insanely huge that it's like demoralizing trying to do any work on it lol

I think 4/3/74 was insanely huge too (even more than we'll likely now) but the full extent of it has been lost to time due to not having 24/7/365 radar and such. Also, it's mind-boggling that Alabama & Tennessee had so many tornadoes but Mississippi only has 1 documented from that day. My guess is that day had about the same number of tornadoes as 4/27/11 did.
Another detail that people was 4/27/11 was part of a larger outbreak and the whole 2011 Super Outbreak sequence goes from April 25-28, 2011; 4/3/74 was also preceded by another massive outbreak from April 1-2, 1974. If you had all those 3 days up from 1974 it and 2011 Super Outbreak probably had about an identical number of tornadoes (albeit one outbreak with a larger geographical extent). It makes you wonder how many outbreaks have been lost to time due to lack of documentation and shoddy record keeping practices.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

Thanks locomusic, yeah over half of those are from Concord-Pleasant Grove, those will definitely be useful towards adjusting the map. Had this tornado occurred by itself im almost certain an EF5 rating would’ve been given. April 27th had many more violent tornadoes than some of their ratings suggest.

 

[locomusic01]

I think 4/3/74 was insanely huge too (even more than we'll likely now) but the full extent of it has been lost to time due to not having 24/7/365 radar and such. Also, it's mind-boggling that Alabama & Tennessee had so many tornadoes but Mississippi only has 1 documented from that day. My guess is that day had about the same number of tornadoes as 4/27/11 did.
Another detail that people was 4/27/11 was part of a larger outbreak and the whole 2011 Super Outbreak sequence goes from April 25-28, 2011; 4/3/74 was also preceded by another massive outbreak from April 1-2, 1974. If you had all those 3 days up from 1974 it and 2011 Super Outbreak probably had about an identical number of tornadoes (albeit one outbreak with a larger geographical extent). It makes you wonder how many outbreaks have been lost to time due to lack of documentation and shoddy record keeping practices.

I had a tornado a few miles from my house the morning after 4/27/11, which always makes me chuckle a little considering I live in northeastern PA. Those outbreaks were so big that it's honestly hard to convey or wrap your head around the scale. Also, I'm surprised more hasn't been done over the years to dig into some of the lesser-known 4/3/74 tornadoes. We've covered some of them here but there are still a ton of others for which there's little to no info/photos.

Thanks locomusic, yeah over half of those are from Concord-Pleasant Grove, those will definitely be useful towards adjusting the map. Had this tornado occurred by itself im almost certain an EF5 rating would’ve been given. April 27th had many more violent tornadoes than some of their ratings suggest.

The fact that there were probably at least half a dozen tornadoes more violent on 4/27/11 will never not be insane. Tuscaloosa would've been the clear main event on most other tornado days in modern history.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

I had a tornado a few miles from my house the morning after 4/27/11, which always makes me chuckle a little considering I live in northeastern PA. Those outbreaks were so big that it's honestly hard to convey or wrap your head around the scale. Also, I'm surprised more hasn't been done over the years to dig into some of the lesser-known 4/3/74 tornadoes. We've covered some of them here but there are still a ton of others for which there's little to no info/photos.


The fact that there were probably at least half a dozen tornadoes more violent on 4/27/11 will never not be insane. Tuscaloosa would've been the clear main event on most other tornado days in modern history.

When you really dig deeper into April 27th and look into some of the lesser known EF3-4 tornadoes it’s pretty clear the true number of violent tornadoes was quite a bit higher than what is shown. There were probably at least 22-24 total violent tornadoes, many of which just didn’t hit anything at their peak or were just blatantly underrated such as Barnseville GA and New Wren MS, just to name a select few. There were definitely a handful more tornadoes that were capable of EF5 damage, hell even Cullman likely hit EF5 strength several times along its path. The outbreak was just insane on so many levels and Tornadotalk is doing a great job at uncovering the true violence of it all.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Also, I'm surprised more hasn't been done over the years to dig into some of the lesser-known 4/3/74 tornadoes. We've covered some of them here but there are still a ton of others for which there's little to no info/photos.

Broadview - aka the former Eighth F5 of 1974 - would be a good start. Formed from the same cell as the first Tanner tornado. Got downgraded after a quartlet of people who wrote a Lawrence 1998 study sent a letter to the NWS requesting it, a 1952 tornado and part of the Tanner 2 damage path all be downgraded.

Franklin County TN: Damage Pictures from April 3-4th, 1974

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

When you really dig deeper into April 27th and look into some of the lesser known EF3-4 tornadoes it’s pretty clear the true number of violent tornadoes was quite a bit higher than what is shown. There were probably at least 22-24 total violent tornadoes, many of which just didn’t hit anything at their peak or were just blatantly underrated such as Barnseville GA and New Wren MS, just to name a select few. There were definitely a handful more tornadoes that were capable of EF5 damage, hell even Cullman likely hit EF5 strength several times along its path. The outbreak was just insane on so many levels and Tornadotalk is doing a great job at uncovering the true violence of it all.

I had a tornado a few miles from my house the morning after 4/27/11, which always makes me chuckle a little considering I live in northeastern PA. Those outbreaks were so big that it's honestly hard to convey or wrap your head around the scale. Also, I'm surprised more hasn't been done over the years to dig into some of the lesser-known 4/3/74 tornadoes. We've covered some of them here but there are still a ton of others for which there's little to no info/photos.


The fact that there were probably at least half a dozen tornadoes more violent on 4/27/11 will never not be insane. Tuscaloosa would've been the clear main event on most other tornado days in modern history.

4/27/11 and 4/3/74 probably both had at least a dozen F/EF5s in a single day, but not all hit DIs capable of registering it or were just underrated for a variety of reasons.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So, TornadoTalk is now doing work on the 1971 Delta Outbreak it seems, this article is on the Little Yazoo, MS F4: a ton of photographs, accounts and aerials I haven't seen before. As thorough as this article is it's pretty clear that the outbreak is still poorly documented, as there's a notable lack of ground photos (more damage aerials) and the last 19 miles of this tornado's path are a mystery. I will say that based on the damage photos it was definitely the weakest of the F4/5 tornadoes that day. Hopefully they'll do the other 2 VLT tornadoes from this outbreak in due time.

Little Yazoo, MS, F4 Tornado – February 21, 1971 – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

4/27/11 and 4/3/74 probably both had at least a dozen F/EF5s in a single day, but not all hit DIs capable of registering it or were just underrated for a variety of reasons.

You're right up until you bunch 4/3/74 with "at least a dozen F5s". Broadview was actually downgraded because the F5 damage was flat out unverifiable, and of the 7 remaining -

One is a literal typo (Tanner 2, should be F4)
One has a very borderline case (Xenia)
And two have damage that wouldn't pass muster for EF5 today. (Sayler Park, DePauw).
That leaves Guin, Brandenburg and Tanner 1 - aka 3, which would be less impressive than 4/27/11.

2011 however did indeed likely have over 10 EF5s.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

You're right up until you bunch 4/3/74 with "at least a dozen F5s". Broadview was actually downgraded because the F5 damage was flat out unverifiable, and of the 7 remaining -

One is a literal typo (Tanner 2, should be F4)
One has a very borderline case (Xenia)
And two have damage that wouldn't pass muster for EF5 today. (Sayler Park, DePauw).
That leaves Guin, Brandenburg and Tanner 1 - aka 3, which would be less impressive than 4/27/11.

2011 however did indeed likely have over 10 EF5s.

Well, I don't think any tornado would pass muster for EF5 anymore with the direction the scale's headed lol.
That said, fair points you've brought up. One of the issues is that 4/3/74 has many tornadoes that aren't as well documented as they should be which likely adds to the mystery. I wish 4/3/74 had as much documentation available as 4/27/11 but obviously the differences in technology from back then make that impossible.
The problem with the Tanner tornadoes is that since they both followed almost identical paths separating the damage between each one is extremely difficult, if not outright possible.
So many of the Indiana, Kentucky and Tennesse tornadoes from the outbreak I wish I could find more damage photographs from, to see as to how many were underrated/overrated.

 

[locomusic01]

Okay so this is a (very) rough draft, but I'm pretty excited about the concept of it so I wanted to share. I mapped out lots of New Richmond photos while I was creating the track but I wasn't sure what, if anything, I could actually do with it. I don't know why this idea didn't occur to me earlier. This is one of the photos taken from the roof of the New Richmond Mills:



Didn't record any voiceover for it obviously, but you get the idea. Eventually I'd like to do this sort of thing for a bunch of pictures + add additional info (mark locations of fatalities/people in the story, highlight key locations/instances of extreme damage, etc.)

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I've also got like a billion photos from some of the other 4/27 tornadoes (especially Rainsville, Shoal Creek-Ohatchee & Section-Flat Rock IIRC, but others as well) that I really need to try and work out locations/labels for at some point. The outbreak was just so insanely huge that it's like demoralizing trying to do any work on it lol

At some point there needs to be huge books written about them.
It's surprising that 4/3/74 hasn't gotten a definitive book written about it yet.

 

[locomusic01]

At some point there needs to be huge books written about them.
It's surprising that 4/3/74 hasn't gotten a definitive book written about it yet.

It took me like 60,000 words to cover the (comparatively) small 5/31/85 outbreak; I can only imagine an in-depth book on 4/3/74 would be in War and Peace territory lol

 

[Sawmaster]

On 4/27, this is an incredible video of Smithville. I hope this channel doesn't get taken down due to copyright issues. This is the most thorough analysis of Smithville and the EF3 wedge preceding it I have ever seen:

I've been subbed to this channel for awhile now, very good content indeed.

 

[Sawmaster]

I've also got like a billion photos from some of the other 4/27 tornadoes (especially Rainsville, Shoal Creek-Ohatchee & Section-Flat Rock IIRC, but others as well) that I really need to try and work out locations/labels for at some point. The outbreak was just so insanely huge that it's like demoralizing trying to do any work on it lol

Yes but it's important work, and in capable hands. Maybe take it on in chunks then stitch them together at the end.

 

[Sawmaster]

Okay so this is a (very) rough draft, but I'm pretty excited about the concept of it so I wanted to share. I mapped out lots of New Richmond photos while I was creating the track but I wasn't sure what, if anything, I could actually do with it. I don't know why this idea didn't occur to me earlier. This is one of the photos taken from the roof of the New Richmond Mills:



Didn't record any voiceover for it obviously, but you get the idea. Eventually I'd like to do this sort of thing for a bunch of pictures + add additional info (mark locations of fatalities/people in the story, highlight key locations/instances of extreme damage, etc.)

It's a unique way of doing this as far as the subject of tornadoes. I like it a lot as it helps you gain and hold a perspective of both location ad path.

 

[locomusic01]

It's a unique way of doing this as far as the subject of tornadoes. I like it a lot as it helps you gain and hold a perspective of both location ad path.

Thanks! That's the goal. I'm sure I obsess way too much over details that most people don't care about, but for me personally, being able to sort of build a mental image of what it was actually like to be there and how different places and people related to one another and whatnot is a big part of what makes studying these events so interesting. It's one thing to see some really impressive damage photos or hear stories of individual victims & survivors - it's another to understand how they all fit together. Hopefully I can figure out how to convey that.

Plus I just love old maps tbh.

 

[locomusic01]

Since we were on the subject earlier, I figured I'd start working on uploading and posting some of the stuff I've collected from relatively lesser-known 4/27/11 tornadoes. No idea what may have been posted here before, so my bad if I'm repeating anything. Here's the Bridgeport, AL EF4 to start: