Significant Tornado Events

[Casuarina Head]

Add 1936 Tupelo-Gainesville, 4/3/74 and 4/27/11 you'll see that Mississippi and northern Alabama are the Armageddon zones. Georgia doesn't get gollywhopped by tornadoes as much, which is what makes stuff like 1884 unique. It's basically 4/27/11 but shifted further east.

22–3 Apr 1883, 28 Mar 1920 (Palm Sunday I), 21 Mar 1952, and 21–3 Nov 1992 were also quite significant across portions of the Deep South. The first event in particular featured multiple long-tracked EF3+ tornadoes and/or families from the Mississippi Delta eastward to GA, including a pair of very deadly events near Georgetown MS, both of which were probably F4+. In fact Thomas P. Grazulis’ “big green” volume, Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991, mentions (p. 618) that there were at least ten possible F2+ events in MS for which he lacked sufficient documentation, as many local newspaper editions were reportedly missing. The aerial scope of the known F2+ events was nevertheless quite significant, including a possible violent tornado in TN as well, along with two F4+ events in GA. There were also a number of likely F2+ events near Ashville and Mobile AL, as well as in Barbour County AL. Palm Sunday 1920 also featured a pair of probable F4+ events near Red Hill AL and LaGrange GA, along with a deadly F3+ near Cedar Springs in Calhoun County AL. Of course 21 Mar 1952 also featured a deadly F4 near Massey–Hartselle AL, while 21–3 Nov 1992 featured F4 long-trackers in MS and GA.

So the list of top-tier events mentioned would certainly include the following (there are certainly others as well):

4/22–3/1883 + 2/19–20/1884 + 4/24/1908 + 3/28/1920 + 4/20/1920 + 3/21/1932 + 4/5–6/1936 + 3/21/1952 + 4/3/1974 + 11/21–3/1992 + 4/27/2011

 

[Casuarina Head]

^ I wouldn’t be surprised if this were a kind of forgotten “mini-super” outbreak. The UA pattern and distribution of F2+ events is certainly canonical.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

I'd like to see up a mashup comparing 4/20/1920, 4/3/74 and 4/2711 but specifically the long-tracked 4s and 5s that went through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. Pretty sure some have identical/overlapping paths.

I made that already.

 

[locomusic01]

In New Richmond news apparently NCDC has Salix as an F5.
View attachment 19662

Yeah, I'm not sure which source that technical report used for Salix (I also didn't look particularly hard tbh). I personally have it as an F4 based on what can be confirmed, but I wouldn't be surprised if it reached F5 intensity. If it weren't for an incredibly fortunate wobble, most of the little town of Salix would've been wiped out.

 

[locomusic01]

Add 1936 Tupelo-Gainesville, 4/3/74 and 4/27/11 you'll see that Mississippi and northern Alabama are the Armageddon zones. Georgia doesn't get gollywhopped by tornadoes as much, which is what makes stuff like 1884 unique. It's basically 4/27/11 but shifted further east.

Speaking of Tupelo-Gainesville, I'm curious to see the full path of the Clifton, TN tornado from 3/31. On radar it looked like it struck very close to some of the same areas as the Beech Creek-Smith Branch F4 on 4/5/36.

 

[NorthGaWeather]

I dunno why I listed it that way tbh - it's the F4 (possibly F5) that formed south of Cartersville and struck near Cagle, Tate, Jasper and Mount Oglethorpe. The damage swath was actually over three miles wide at times, but some of that was downbursts. The tornado itself may've been up to two miles wide and is notable for having completely swept away what were described as large, well-constructed homes in some of the wealthier areas in the region. IIRC the "official" death toll was around 20 but in reality was probably 30+. Some of the victims were reportedly hurled over half a mile and apparently mile after mile of forest was just obliterated.

I’ve completed a lot of local research on this tornado. I’ll have to share some of it when I have my notebook. The deaths in Cherokee County likely exceeded 10, and 20+ in Pickens County. Definitely an F-5 candidate, especially along the Waleska-Cagletown-Tate track.

 

[csx1985]

I dunno why I listed it that way tbh - it's the F4 (possibly F5) that formed south of Cartersville and struck near Cagle, Tate, Jasper and Mount Oglethorpe. The damage swath was actually over three miles wide at times, but some of that was downbursts. The tornado itself may've been up to two miles wide and is notable for having completely swept away what were described as large, well-constructed homes in some of the wealthier areas in the region. IIRC the "official" death toll was around 20 but in reality was probably 30+. Some of the victims were reportedly hurled over half a mile and apparently mile after mile of forest was just obliterated.

In what year did this tornado occur?

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

In what year did this tornado occur?

1884.

 

[andyhb]

CIMSS posted a series of full disk hemispheric satellite imagery of the 4/3/1974 outbreak for the 49th anniversary today, pretty remarkable stuff: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/51465

 

[locomusic01]

Speaking of Tupelo-Gainesville, I'm curious to see the full path of the Clifton, TN tornado from 3/31. On radar it looked like it struck very close to some of the same areas as the Beech Creek-Smith Branch F4 on 4/5/36.

Btw, turns out the path is almost identical - just quite a bit longer.

4/5/36:

3/31/23:

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

You know what time it is! Another episode of Do You Recognize This Tornado?
View attachment 14827

This one was in a news post by a Lubbock based news station and is claimed to be the 1970 F5. Pinterest also claims this second photo to be Lubbock:
View attachment 14828

Very late response but: No. These are not Lubbock. Lubbock was well after dark and was never photographed.

 

[locomusic01]

In today's edition of "nitpicky New Richmond things that only I really care about," I was finally able to fill in a few more damage points + an eyewitness account from the area immediately northeast of town. The most notable change is that New Richmond apparently recurved a lot more sharply at the end of its path than I thought.

The Deer Park tornado also passed closer to Stanton than I originally had it (I'd marked the fatality there using the 1897 plat map but the victim had actually moved to another property before the tornado). It seems to have been fairly large (about a quarter-mile) right from the start before gradually shrinking.

Another thing: I was combing through cemetery records, genealogy data, etc. from St. Croix, Polk and Barron counties and I found like 8-10 people whose dates and places of death make them potential tornado victims. I haven't been able to confirm any of them yet but I know that at least a few were definitely injured.

 

[andyhb]

Found this image of the incredible cyclic S KS supercell on 5/29/2004 from Adam Houston (prof at University of Nebraska). Argonia/Freeport KS tornado in progress.

 

[ColdFront]

I didn’t know where to ask this question, but since it has to do with very significant tornado events…

Is there a reliable database with previous La Niña/El Nino/Neutral years listed? Even back to the 1800s?

We all know 4/3/74 and 4/27/11 all happened during a strong La Niña year, and the La Niña years tend to produce more tornados.

However, I’d be interested to see which cycle our other “super outbreak like” events fell (Palm Sunday 1965, “super outbreak” 1932, Palm Sunday the first edition and the 1920 south outbreak, March 1952, Enigma etc)

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I didn’t know where to ask this question, but since it has to do with very significant tornado events…

Is there a reliable database with previous La Niña/El Nino/Neutral years listed? Even back to the 1800s?

We all know 4/3/74 and 4/27/11 all happened during a strong La Niña year, and the La Niña years tend to produce more tornados.

However, I’d be interested to see which cycle our other “super outbreak like” events fell (Palm Sunday 1965, “super outbreak” 1932, Palm Sunday the first edition and the 1920 south outbreak, March 1952, Enigma etc)

Got this from Wikipedia:



1916 had quite a few ridiculous tornado outbreak sequences that people forget about. Interestingly, 1932 and 1936 Deep South outbreaks were not during La Nina. 1995 was also an extremely active year for tornadoes (May 6-27).

 

[warneagle]

Got this from Wikipedia:


1916 had quite a few ridiculous tornado outbreak sequences that people forget about. Interestingly, 1932 and 1936 Deep South outbreaks were not during La Nina. 1995 was also an extremely active year for tornadoes (May 6-27).

1917-1918 also had at least four putative F5s, and late May-early June 1917 in particular was a prolific outbreak sequence.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Interesting that 1988 (perhaps until very recently, considered the nearly unrivaled worst chase season in the history of the practice) and 2012 (very quiet/ridged-out May and June, really only notable for the Henryville and April 14th outbreaks) are included. La Nina (like nearly everything else when it comes to severe local storms) seems to be a double-edged sword, as it can promote drought across pretty much the entire central U.S. as in those years. 2005-06 are also listed and they were not great in May in the Plains but set a state record count here in Wisconsin in 2005 (including the August outbreak with the Stoughton F3) and the early spring 2006 outbreaks. But you can also have very active years like 1995, 2008 and the infamous 2011.

2004 was not a La Nina and is considered among the best chase seasons, for multiple events like the one @andyhb recently posted.

 

[DetectiveWX]

Interesting that 1988 (perhaps until very recently, considered the nearly unrivaled worst chase season in the history of the practice) and 2012 (very quiet/ridged-out May and June, really only notable for the Henryville and April 14th outbreaks) are included. La Nina (like nearly everything else when it comes to severe local storms) seems to be a double-edged sword, as it can promote drought across pretty much the entire central U.S. as in those years. 2005-06 are also on there were not great in May in the Plains but set a state record count here in Wisconsin in 2005 (including the August outbreak with the Stoughton F3) and the early spring 2006 outbreaks. But you can also have very active years like 1995, 2008 and the infamous 2011.

Did you mean 1999, a 1st year Nina? Spring '95 came out of a Nino.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Did you mean 1999, a 1st year Nina? Spring '95 came out of a Nino.

Nope, 1995 is on the list of La Ninas per the list @Juliett Bravo Kilo just posted. I should have included 1999 though, too because that winter/spring featured multiple significant events in addition to the well-known May 3rd outbreak.

 

[DetectiveWX]

Your right, Cheese. The transistion into La nina can be just as dangerous as coming out of 1st year. '73, '95, '98, 2010, 2020 fit the bill.