Significant Tornado Events

[buckeye05]

Sorry to fast-forward to current events, but was today's Montebello, California tornado really a landspout? Based on radar imagery and video of the event, to me this absolutely looks like it was mesocyclonic and spawned by a mini-supercell. Sometimes it seems like the term "landspout" is totally misused by NWS meteorologists, especially at WFOs that don't have much experience with tornado activity. I see a hook echo, couplet, and an updraft. Yeah, I just don't buy it....

Yeah there is CLEARLY a rotating updraft and occlusion here. NWS mets should know better, regardless of the forecast office.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Sorry to fast-forward to current events, but was today's Montebello, California tornado really a landspout? Based on radar imagery and video of the event, to me this absolutely looks like it was mesocyclonic and spawned by a mini-supercell. Sometimes it seems like the term "landspout" is totally misused by NWS meteorologists, especially at WFOs that don't have much experience with tornado activity. I see a hook echo, couplet, and an updraft. Yeah, I just don't buy it....

Yeah there is CLEARLY a rotating updraft and occlusion here. NWS mets should know better, regardless of the forecast office.

@TornadoFan mentioned in the Severe Weather 2023 thread that it somewhat resembled the 1999 Salt Lake City tornado. That was my first thought as well. I think that was a situation where it was termed a "landspout" by some in a not-quite-correct manner because the storm-scale rotation which made it a "supercell" formed concurrently with the tornado, rather than pre-existing and "producing" the tornado. I'm not sure if that was the situation today, just that there was a visual similarity between the tornadoes as well as their occurring in unusual locations in setups where strong tornadoes were not expected.

 

[TH2002]

Sorry to fast-forward to current events, but was today's Montebello, California tornado really a landspout? Based on radar imagery and video of the event, to me this absolutely looks like it was mesocyclonic and spawned by a mini-supercell. Sometimes it seems like the term "landspout" is totally misused by NWS meteorologists, especially at WFOs that don't have much experience with tornado activity. I see a hook echo, couplet, and an updraft. Yeah, I just don't buy it....

Yeah there is CLEARLY a rotating updraft and occlusion here. NWS mets should know better, regardless of the forecast office.

I have to wonder if part of the reason it was initially deemed a landspout is because NWS Los Angeles completely missed the warning on it...

Speaking of tornado warnings, had some coworkers apparently placed under a TOR in Apple Valley yesterday - and I feel ever more as if the more I scout for these elusive tornadoes, the less likely I am to actually see one.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Following Grazulis on Twitter is an interesting experience:

Yet more delays:


No clue what he's referencing here:

 

[locomusic01]

Following Grazulis on Twitter is an interesting experience:

Yet more delays:
View attachment 19238

No clue what he's referencing here:

View attachment 19239

I have a HUGE amount of respect for Grazulis and he's been very nice the few times I've interacted with him, but he does strike me as a bit of an odd duck sometimes lol. Eccentric seems like a fitting word.

I know the info is out there but I can't remember at the moment and I'm lazy - what's the price for the new SigTor?

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Following Grazulis on Twitter is an interesting experience:

Yet more delays:
View attachment 19238

No clue what he's referencing here:

View attachment 19239

He might be referencing a post about Udall.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I have a HUGE amount of respect for Grazulis and he's been very nice the few times I've interacted with him, but he does strike me as a bit of an odd duck sometimes lol. Eccentric seems like a fitting word.

I know the info is out there but I can't remember at the moment and I'm lazy - what's the price for the new SigTor?

Most recent post on that:


Also, he might be getting eccentric due to old age or other stress factors in life.
Of course you have to be a bit eccentric to spend decades cataloging tornadoes by driving all over the country to compile a two-volume book collection that only severe weather geeks are going to read. Certainly not gonna get rich off of that.

 

[tornado examiner]

I don’t know if this should go here but it’s pretty interesting

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Found this pic on gettyimages, a damage photograph from the Flat Rock, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario tornado from the 1974 Super Outbreak. This thing's path is very similar to Tecumseh of 1946. In fact, it started in Michigan and crossed the border into Ontario. All 8-9 deaths from it occurred at the Windsor Curling Club in the picture.

An article on it with aftermath footage:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-curling-club-tornado-1.5083621

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Found this pic on gettyimages, the only damage photograph from the Flat Rock, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario tornado from the 1974 Super Outbreak. This thing's path is very similar to Tecumseh of 1946. In fact, it started in Michigan and crossed the border into Ontario. All 8-9 deaths from it occurred at the Windsor Curling Club in the picture.View attachment 19268

An article on it with aftermath footage:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-curling-club-tornado-1.5083621

Wow this really shows how widespread significant tornadoes were during the 1974 Super Outbreak.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Wow this really shows how widespread significant tornadoes were during the 1974 Super Outbreak.

Also, 4/27/11 there was an EF0 in Fergus, Ontario. Didn't do much but still amazing how widespread these outbreaks can be.

April's wild weather produced first tornado of 2011

Environment Canada says the first Ontario tornado of the year has been confirmed in the Fergus area, about 20 kilometres north of Guelph.

toronto.ctvnews.ca

Environment Canada confirms tornado hit Fergus area on April 27

— Environment Canada says the first Ontario tornado of the year has been confirmed in the Fergus area, about 20 kilometres north of Guelph.

www.guelphmercury.com

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Windsor Locks, Connecticut damage. Pretty violent for New England:

Neighborhoods:



Airport:

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Reading a comment in @locomusic01's Enigma Outbreak article. First, a saddening claim from 3/28/84:

THERE WAS AN INFANT BOY WHO WAS TRANSPORTED ACROSS 5 COUNTIES DURING THAT AWFUL STORM EVENT.

Second, on February 22, 1971, there was an F3 tornado in Fayetteville, NC. Found a rather interesting damage description:

I REMEMBER A PINE NEEDLE WAS STUCK ALL THE WAY THROUGH THEIR DEN WINDOW BY THAT STORM. A HOME DOWN THEIR STREET WAS COMPLETELY GONE…NOTHING BUT THE BASEMENT REMAINED !!!!

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Oh! I just stumbled upon a Stormtrack post by Loco measuring extreme path width tornadoes (2+ mjles) and uhh

February 19, 1884: Waleska, GA
May 17, 1896: Seneca, KS
April 24, 1908: Amite, LA
April 9, 1947: Woodward, OK
June 9, 1971: Gruver, TX (the infamous "Sunray" day)
March 28, 1984: Marlboro County, SC
May 31, 1985: Moshannon State Forest, PA
May 3, 1999: Mulhall, OK
May 22, 2004: Hallam, NE
May 4, 2007: Trousdale, KS

Amite was how large again?

Also I almost misspelled "Enigma" as "Enima" a bit ago. Hold on to your butts...

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Reading a comment in @locomusic01's Enigma Outbreak article. First, a saddening claim from 3/28/84:

Second, on February 22, 1971, there was an F3 tornado in Fayetteville, NC. Found a rather interesting damage description:

Final thing - The same comment includes a mention that Norlina, NC (way up in Warren County near the state line) got gollywalloped by an undocumented tornado in the Enigma Outbreak.

THE SMALL TOWN OF NORLINA NC WAS COMPLETELY FLATTENED OR BLOWN AWAY BY A LARGE AND DEADLY TORNADO DURING THE ENIGMA DISASTER.

Sounds like F4-F5 damage based off that singular post. But take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Sawmaster]

Also I almost misspelled "Enigma" as "Enima" a bit ago. Hold on to your butts...

LMAO at the wordplay (which was very much needed today)

 

[locomusic01]

Oh! I just stumbled upon a Stormtrack post by Loco measuring extreme path width tornadoes (2+ mjles) and uhh

Amite was how large again?

Yeah, by all accounts it was an absolute monster. Most sources seem to agree it was at least two miles wide when it tore through Amite, and IIRC the report written by Isaac Cline (of Galveston Hurricane fame) states 2.5 miles. The Mississippi section of the path (very likely one or more separate tornadoes) was more like half a mile.

Final thing - The same comment includes a mention that Norlina, NC (way up in Warren County near the state line) got gollywalloped by an undocumented tornado in the Enigma Outbreak.

Sounds like F4-F5 damage based off that singular post. But take it with a grain of salt.

It's been so long since I worked on Enigma that my memory is really fuzzy, but I know I looked into a handful of reports of undocumented tornadoes. A few totally checked out and were almost certainly legit (possibly strong/violent) tornadoes, but most of the others were either ambiguous or totally unsubstantiated. Reasonably sure that was one of the ones I researched but I have no idea which category it fell into.

Someday I'd really like to redo that event; I should've done a much better job with it.

Edit: Should probably clarify that I only looked into some of the alleged tornadoes I'd read or otherwise heard about - I've little doubt that a really concerted effort would probably turn up a bunch more.

 

[locomusic01]

Windsor Locks, Connecticut damage. Pretty violent for New England:

Neighborhoods:
View attachment 19274View attachment 19275View attachment 19276View attachment 19277

Here's a wider shot of that neighborhood:

Couple ground-level shots from the area:

 

[Steel Central]

Fitler-Delta City-Isola, MS (Inverness Part 2) F5 Tornado – February 21, 1971 (FREE) – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

New segment for TornadoTalk's 1971 article just dropped

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Here's a wider shot of that neighborhood:

Couple ground-level shots from the area:

That 2nd to last photo appears to show some ground/grass scouring on the lower right. Always found it crazy how this thing just blew up for only a few minutes over a heavily populated area then abruptly lifted and still managed to do millions of dollars in damage.