Significant Tornado Events

[Sawmaster]

The problem with rating tornadoes is that every parameter - even doppler measurement- has to be extrapolated and/or is subjective in one way or another.

Nobody is ever going to find more than general agreement of the top few tornadoes, and the longer the list the more will be the disagreement. There's a whole class of people out there who believe that Bridge Creek was the strongest tornado because it had the highest measured windspeeds. There's a whole class of people out there who can't grasp how Jarrell might not have been as strong as first thought.

So make your own list and don't be concerned when someone disagrees. And don't even mention windspeeds... that will draw the critics put of the woodwork like you've seen.

 

[pohnpei]

Took a crack at this tornado tier list and listed the ones that were available from 1971-present, and got absolutely murdered on Twitter. I’m interested in what you guys’ opinions are so feel free.
View attachment 17640
Most of the pot was stirred over Mulhall, while a very violent tornado I have yet to see F5/EF5 damage both contextual and structurally from the event and the aerial scar wasn’t as pronounced as say the Dover F4 for example, which I believe to be stronger than Mulhall. Also got some claims Smithville had winds barely over 200mph, which is…something. Anywho, feel free to share your opinions.

Damage wise, I largely agree though I believe some tornados capable of producing stronger damage if they encountered more.

The incredible radar and visual appearance as well as the scouring did by Coleridge 2014 probably indicate that it had the potential to do something really bad if it entered the town.

NOXP had 85m/s winds inside Canton 2011 tornado but the fact that it was deployed 11km away from the tornado was more insane. Winds like this was remarkablely high when DOW or NOXP was that far away from the tornado and would definitely being stronger if it was closer. The contextual was very impressive.


And yes, the actual damage made by Muhall likely didn't reach to that level but those readings of DOW indicate that incredible high winds definitely was there.


Also I believe Allison capable of producing stronger damage just based on the incredible pressure data and limited damage photos we have

Pressure at the ground in a large tornado

Pressure at the ground in a large tornado

www.academia.edu

 

[tornado examiner]

apparently the feats produced by the smithville tornado are a hoax….according to some guy on twitter who didn’t do any research…or even look at pictures

 

[Austin Dawg]

apparently the feats produced by the smithville tornado are a hoax….according to some guy on twitter who didn’t do any research…or even look at pictures

I have lived in that town all my life. I moved to Texas in 2007 and I am sorry to say it took me quite a while to come back to visit. But when I did we drove all the way thru town till we reached the railroad crossing by the water tower. Then it hit me... I knew where I was. There were absolutely no visisble landmarks. None. Huge trees, buildings, houses, roads all wiped away like a giant razor had shaved everything off at ground level. It was unnerving. Spending time growing up and visiting a town since the 1970's that I knew so well was gone. I had mapped it out in my mind town down to the smallest detail. Now it had disappearered completely... for real. What could do that? This was no hyperbole. It was gone.

Good friends and famiily showed me pictures and tried to convey to me what it was like. Losing everything. Cleaning up. The nightmares. I wish there had been more surveying done but I understand why not. It was very fast and went thru town in seconds. Smithville is not easy to get to with just one highway going thru town. There were other violent tornadoes during that event. I didn't see the damage and I have heard a lot about it. I can not imagine what kind of wind it took to completely remove most of the town from the face of the earth.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Took a crack at this tornado tier list and listed the ones that were available from 1971-present, and got absolutely murdered on Twitter. I’m interested in what you guys’ opinions are so feel free.
View attachment 17640
Most of the pot was stirred over Mulhall, while a very violent tornado I have yet to see F5/EF5 damage both contextual and structurally from the event and the aerial scar wasn’t as pronounced as say the Dover F4 for example, which I believe to be stronger than Mulhall. Also got some claims Smithville had winds barely over 200mph, which is…something. Anywho, feel free to share your opinions.

Branden......burg.....

 

[TH2002]

I made mine out of sheer boredom, which looking back, huge mistake lol. Yeah I have no clue what a AF is but anyways I was pretty on the fence about Vilonia and Ohatchee and they could go either way imo.

It's only a mistake if you post it on a place like twatter... forums are the place to be

Regarding Vilonia, there have been many previous posts about it but this photo alone screams "Bridge Creek-esque" at least for me. Note the deeply scoured lawn, and yes this home had anchor bolts:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Damage wise, I largely agree though I believe some tornados capable of producing stronger damage if they encountered more.

The incredible radar and visual appearance as well as the scouring did by Coleridge 2014 probably indicate that it had the potential to do something really bad if it entered the town.
View attachment 17641View attachment 17642
NOXP had 85m/s winds inside Canton 2011 tornado but the fact that it was deployed 11km away from the tornado was more insane. Winds like this was remarkablely high when DOW or NOXP was that far away from the tornado and would definitely being stronger if it was closer. The contextual was very impressive.
View attachment 17651
View attachment 17645View attachment 17646
And yes, the actual damage made by Muhall likely didn't reach to that level but those readings of DOW indicate that incredible high winds definitely was there.
View attachment 17649View attachment 17650
View attachment 17647
Also I believe Allison capable of producing stronger damage just based on the incredible pressure data and limited damage photos we have
View attachment 17648
View attachment 17652

Pressure at the ground in a large tornado

Pressure at the ground in a large tornado

www.academia.edu

I always believe Canton Lake deserved at least a high-end EF4 rating but the stuff you've posted on it makes me believe it probably achieved EF5 intensity while moving over the lake. So 5/24/11 could've had 4 EF5s in one day in one state (Oklahoma). That's gotta be some kind of record.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

I always believe Canton Lake deserved at least a high-end EF4 rating but the stuff you've posted on it makes me believe it probably achieved EF5 intensity while moving over the lake. So 5/24/11 could've had 4 EF5s in one day in one state (Oklahoma). That's gotta be some kind of record.

Also not to mention that Chickasha, Goldsby, and El Reno were all on the ground simultaneously at one point and it’s pretty well known that El Reno was definitely not the only EF5 that day. Having 3 EF5 tornadoes on the ground at the same time is pretty unheard of and it really is a miracle that those incredibly violent tornadoes avoided cities/the OKC area.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

Here’s also one of the better pictures I’ve seen from the Canton OK tornado showing the literal tsunami it caused on the lake

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Here’s also one of the better pictures I’ve seen from the Canton OK tornado showing the literal tsunami it caused on the lake
View attachment 17661

I've always wondered if tornadoes crossing bodies of water can do stuff like this. I'd be interesting to know if the Temperance, MI tornado did this while it was speeding across Lake Erie or any tornadoes that have crossed the Mississippi River have done this.

 

[andyhb]

It's only a mistake if you post it on a place like twatter... forums are the place to be

Regarding Vilonia, there have been many previous posts about it but this photo alone screams "Bridge Creek-esque" at least for me. Note the deeply scoured lawn, and yes this home had anchor bolts:
View attachment 17660

Which house was this?

 

[buckeye05]

Which house was this?

Beryl Road area I believe

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Also not to mention that Chickasha, Goldsby, and El Reno were all on the ground simultaneously at one point and it’s pretty well known that El Reno was definitely not the only EF5 that day. Having 3 EF5 tornadoes on the ground at the same time is pretty unheard of and it really is a miracle that those incredibly violent tornadoes avoided cities/the OKC area.

Only day that's comparable is 4/26/91 in terms of a violent plains outbreak with multiple F4+ tornadoes on the ground simultaneously (at least in recent history).

 

[TH2002]

Which house was this?

buckeye05 is correct - Beryl Road. Aerial of the same home:


Ground level (although I would like to find the view where the anchor bolts are visible):

 

[locomusic01]

I've been working some more on New Richmond and I've been intrigued by some different accounts from the southwest side of town. Unfortunately not a ton of photos from that area, but it sounds as though the destruction there was even more intense than in downtown. And considering downtown was basically 100% obliterated, that's saying something. One newspaper report described the houses as being "ground into the earth."

Anyway, what really caught my attention was one particular home (roughly) right here:

Actually a bit below and right of the arrow on looking at it again, but you get the idea. This was a large brick home that was apparently well-built (for the time period), so much so that several people had rushed to take shelter there because they believed it'd offer more protection. Turns out, not so much. The tornado blew it away and reportedly even smashed some of the bricks to pieces. What's more, it's said to have pulled out and destroyed the partition walls inside the basement and sucked out two of the people sheltering inside, hurling one of them ~300 yards to his death (the other also died but was found just a few yards away). I don't think I've ever heard of partition walls being blown right out of a basement like that before.

Again, haven't yet found any photos of this specific house, but here are two showing the general area I'm talking about. There aren't even any identifiable landmarks so I can't say precisely where they were taken in relation to the house.

About a block and a half to the east, a hotel and a farm implements shop were swept away next door to each other. Several people in the hotel were killed, but incredibly one man was blown northward across the entire downtown - a shade over a quarter of a mile - and lived with relatively minor injuries. At the farm implements shop, a "separator machine" (not totally sure what that is - assuming some kind of thresher or combine?) was thrown and/or rolled a similar distance and so mangled that a news reporter wrote of being unable to tell what it was until he asked the shop's owner.

This photo was taken from an empty adjacent lot that had been partially covered by the wreckage of the two buildings - the big crowd of people in the middle distance is gathered around the rest of the hotel's rubble as they search for bodies:

 

[locomusic01]

Also, I may be the only one who finds this interesting, but I found this map recently:

It's notable because, while there are a surprising number of rather accurate maps in newspapers of the time, they all show the path stopping shortly after New Richmond. This is the first one I've seen that continues not only through the rest of St. Croix County, but also up through Barron and Cameron. I'd already mapped those out based on damage reports anyway, but it's nice to have a bit more confirmation.

On a related note, it's pretty impressive how accurately some of the papers mapped the track, especially in and around New Richmond. This one even includes the areas of lighter damage along the edges of the path (which is usually just ignored) and the areas that burned after the storm. Not 100% accurate, but pretty close:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Also, I may be the only one who finds this interesting, but I found this map recently:

It's notable because, while there are a surprising number of rather accurate maps in newspapers of the time, they all show the path stopping shortly after New Richmond. This is the first one I've seen that continues not only through the rest of St. Croix County, but also up through Barron and Cameron. I'd already mapped those out based on damage reports anyway, but it's nice to have a bit more confirmation.

On a related note, it's pretty impressive how accurately some of the papers mapped the track, especially in and around New Richmond. This one even includes the areas of lighter damage along the edges of the path (which is usually just ignored) and the areas that burned after the storm. Not 100% accurate, but pretty close:

The more I read about this tornado the more I am astounded by how complete its destruction was. One of the few tornadoes that can be said to have truly swept away an entire city, or at least most of it.

 

[locomusic01]

The more I read about this tornado the more I am astounded by how complete its destruction was. One of the few tornadoes that can be said to have truly swept away an entire city, or at least most of it.

Pretty much the worst possible path, too. It tracked straight through two of the densest residential areas on the SW and NE sides of town with the business district directly in between. Even down near Burkhardt and Boardman it followed right along the Omaha Railroad, wiping out a whole string of farms and a busy train depot. As horrific as it was, the death toll likely would've been much worse if it hadn't been so highly visible.

Edit - Totally forgot the first part of my thought there lol. Re: the completeness of the destruction, I'm always flabbergasted by this section:

It basically just looks like a giant lumberyard, but it was an entire neighborhood. You can see how built-up it was in the map here (arrow marks where the previous photo was taken from):

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I've been working some more on New Richmond and I've been intrigued by some different accounts from the southwest side of town. Unfortunately not a ton of photos from that area, but it sounds as though the destruction there was even more intense than in downtown. And considering downtown was basically 100% obliterated, that's saying something. One newspaper report described the houses as being "ground into the earth."

Anyway, what really caught my attention was one particular home (roughly) right here:

Actually a bit below and right of the arrow on looking at it again, but you get the idea. This was a large brick home that was apparently well-built (for the time period), so much so that several people had rushed to take shelter there because they believed it'd offer more protection. Turns out, not so much. The tornado blew it away and reportedly even smashed some of the bricks to pieces. What's more, it's said to have pulled out and destroyed the partition walls inside the basement and sucked out two of the people sheltering inside, hurling one of them ~300 yards to his death (the other also died but was found just a few yards away). I don't think I've ever heard of partition walls being blown right out of a basement like that before.

Again, haven't yet found any photos of this specific house, but here are two showing the general area I'm talking about. There aren't even any identifiable landmarks so I can't say precisely where they were taken in relation to the house.

About a block and a half to the east, a hotel and a farm implements shop were swept away next door to each other. Several people in the hotel were killed, but incredibly one man was blown northward across the entire downtown - a shade over a quarter of a mile - and lived with relatively minor injuries. At the farm implements shop, a "separator machine" (not totally sure what that is - assuming some kind of thresher or combine?) was thrown and/or rolled a similar distance and so mangled that a news reporter wrote of being unable to tell what it was until he asked the shop's owner.

This photo was taken from an empty adjacent lot that had been partially covered by the wreckage of the two buildings - the big crowd of people in the middle distance is gathered around the rest of the hotel's rubble as they search for bodies:

Every time I see photos from New Richmond I am more convinced that it was the strongest tornado of the 19th century.

 

[locomusic01]

Every time I see photos from New Richmond I am more convinced that it was the strongest tornado of the 19th century.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but what's amazing is there's a decent case to be made that it may have actually been even stronger southwest of town. I only have photos from near the very beginning of the track so far unfortunately, but the damage was apparently incredibly impressive immediately north and east of Boardman, where the tornado also reached its max size of a little over three-quarters of a mile.

Don't feel like rewriting a summary so I'm just gonna copy/paste:

Within moments, all was silent once again. After checking on his son, William Wears scrambled up the cellar steps and emerged into a scene of unimaginable ruin. Where a sturdy farmhouse had stood flanked by clusters of mature elms minutes earlier, there was now “scarcely a board a foot long to be found anywhere near.” Trees had been twisted, shattered and completely stripped of bark, leaving splinters laid out “like long piles of timber slashings.” Torn-up pieces of furniture and machinery littered the landscape.

Amid the wreckage was John Neitge’s fiancée, sobbing uncontrollably but miraculously unharmed. Wears stumbled through the rubble in search of the others, still dazed by the experience. As neighbors arrived to help, they soon began to make ghastly discoveries. John Neitge was found a short distance from the homestead, still impaled by the missile that had killed him. Louisa Hurd was discovered several hundred yards away in a muddy field, followed by the crumpled form of young Gertrude Wears.

For miles around, the thunderous whirlwind sowed absolute devastation. Its fearsome winds gouged furrows into the earth and scoured the soil to a depth of several inches. Healthy crops were shredded or torn up by the roots, leaving behind “uneven swaths of inch-high stubble.” The vast quantities of dirt and grit and vegetation ingested into the vortex only amplified its destructive force, turning the seething mass into a giant sandblaster.

Speeding northeastward, it disintegrated numerous houses, barns, sheds, garages and workshops. Dead horses and cattle littered the countryside, some of them mutilated or skinned by the abrasive blast. A young colt was blown out of its barn and skewered 10 feet above the ground on a denuded tree trunk. A cast iron stove was propelled a quarter-mile into a field and “ripped apart.”

Dozens of people were injured and as many as six other deaths were reported in the section, though none could be positively confirmed.

It's hard to really get a good sense of it without pictures, but some of the descriptions I've read sound positively Jarrell/Bridge Creek-esque. Man, what I wouldn't give for a 4K drone video of the New Richmond path lol