Significant Tornado Events

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I looked at GR Level 3 data for the event, and the supercell responsible for the Pampa tornado seemed to be along a "boundary" of some sort, extremely similar to the Jarrell setup of 97. That may play a part in the tornado's erratic movement.

Interesting, Pampa's movement was also similar to Jarrell's, in how after touching down it moved at a slow to moderate pace, briefly sped up, became stationary for several minutes while sitting on a human structure (in this case Pampa's industrial park) then resumed moving forward for a couple more miles than abruptly dissipating.

Also, this is pretty crazy, an F3 tornado struck the Pampa Industrial Yard in 1982, exact same location as the 1995 storm: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/nwi/Pubs/ReportsJournals/ReportsJournals/D5-19-82-Tor-pampa.pdf

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Here's a combined video of Jarrell's transition, from multiple home videos, evidently some of this footage aired on TLC back in the day (when it was actually a learning channel). Not as good as the news footage almost certainly is, but still incredible:

 

[Austin Dawg]

Here's a combined video of Jarrell's transition, from multiple home videos, evidently some of this footage aired on TLC back in the day (when it was actually a learning channel). Not as good as the news footage almost certainly is, but still incredible:

That's a great video and it got me wondering...
Wouldn't it be cool if we could create a place on the site to start linking and sorting videos and photos from YouTube and wherever so we can view and discuss them?

I know that is a huge project but if we had a place to start and set up some rules I am sure those of us who like to research could expand it and work with it for us all to use. Maybe it would even be better to try to create a new linked site? Is it too much of a headache to try?

 

[Dissident Aggressor]

Been a while since I was last here, definitely have some catching up to do. Anyway, I've been working on re-uploading some old tornado videos that have been lost over time on YouTube (or in general). Namely the Cailyn Lloyd video of the Oakfield, WI tornado and various (but not new) clips of the Jarrell tornado.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Been a while since I was last here, definitely have some catching up to do. Anyway, I've been working on re-uploading some old tornado videos that have been lost over time on YouTube (or in general). Namely the Cailyn Lloyd video of the Oakfield, WI tornado and various (but not new) clips of the Jarrell tornado.

Looks like it is on YouTube but awful quality:

 

[Dissident Aggressor]

Looks like it is on YouTube but awful quality:

...Because that's my channel

 

[andyhb]

I believe there's been some suspicion before that this picture was from the Brandenburg tornado (or the Louisville one) on 4/3/74, but it actually appears to be the Kennard, IN F4 tornado from the same day based on this account from the Hancock County Historical Society. It tracked through parts of Hancock, Rush, and Henry counties east of Indianapolis.

 

[andyhb]

ERA5 got extended back to 1950 today so I figured I'd plot 300 hPa wind/height/divergence, 500 hPa wind/height/relative vorticity, 850 hPa wind/height, and 10 m winds for a selection of tornado outbreaks in the 1950-1978 time period. This is amazing data.

 

[Oakhurst_Wx]

Found a picture of the School Bus Oologah threw a long distance

 

[Oakhurst_Wx]

Speaking of Brandenburg, given that Louisville and Brandenburg came from the same supercell, that may explain why Brandenburg was significantly stronger, due to the winds being confined in a smaller funnel than that of the Louisville tornado, which may have had an effect on the conservation of angular momentum, resulting in higher winds being present in the funnel of Brandenburg than Louisville. The same thing explains why Parkersburg weakened so quickly when it expanded from an EF4-5 to an EF2, and why Bassfield weakened somewhat when it expanded from its 1 miles wide stage, where it was producing significant ground scouring and extreme debarking to around 2 miles wide, where the circulation became less defined and the tornado weakened a bit.

 

[Oakhurst_Wx]

Speaking of Brandenburg, given that Louisville and Brandenburg came from the same supercell, that may explain why Brandenburg was significantly stronger, due to the winds being confined in a smaller funnel than that of the Louisville tornado, which may have had an effect on the conservation of angular momentum, resulting in higher winds being present in the funnel of Brandenburg than Louisville. The same thing explains why Parkersburg weakened so quickly when it expanded from an EF4-5 to an EF2, and why Bassfield weakened somewhat when it expanded from its 1 miles wide stage, where it was producing significant ground scouring and extreme debarking to around 2 miles wide, where the circulation became less defined and the tornado weakened a bit.

 

[Oakhurst_Wx]

However it’s possible the Brandenburg mesocyclone was much stronger than that of Louisville, and it may have cycled in a manner similar to the Tuscaloosa-ShoaL Creek Supercell, where one mesocyclone dies completely and a new one develops, not when the inflow changes its focal point to form a new mesocyclone.

 

[Dissident Aggressor]

Let's see if I remember how to do this properly...







Sorry if the previews are too large; I can adjust them if need be. Anyway, these are all images I happen to have of ground scouring from the Goessel, KS F5 tornado of March 13, 1990 (the caption stating the year as 1960 is in fact a typo). Not particularly impressive, but it gives us something to look at from what is arguably among the most obscure F5 tornadoes.

Edit: Of course I find out after posting that additional Goessel pictures were shared in this thread back in September. None of these were a part of that post, so I guess it's still something to add to the conversation

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Found a picture of the School Bus Oologah threw a long distance

Did you find that photo from this link?: https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=80442873b63649b99e930237e89fcdca
I can never get the photos to open for some reason with this thing.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Finally found these Oologah damage pics from the old NOAA article on the April 26, 1991 outbreak before it went into the archives:





It appears multiple buses were thrown into the creek nearby the school, as shown in this photo:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

These pics are from Tornado Talk's article on Smithville, this tornado was easily the most ferocious of 4/27/11 (although Hackleburg still beats it in terms of duration of EF5 intensity and longevity, at least in my mind). Absolutely insane damage is documented below:

Source: https://www.tornadotalk.com/the-smithville-ms-ef-5-tornado-april-27-2011/

1. A bed & breakfast that was demolished, the majority of cinderblocks were pulverized into chunks, only a few remained in one piece:


2. The mud you see on the foundation is actually granulated brick, considering the 70+ mph forward speed, this is extremely impressive.


3. To quote the article directly "Perhaps the most intense vegetation damage ever photographed in tornado history. Not only was the bark blasted off of a particularly durable species of hardwood, pieces of the wood itself began to shave off".


4. Supposedly a leaf is shorn into the bark of this tree, but it can't be confirmed( at least for now).

 

[CheeselandSkies]

There are (probably apocryphal) tales circulated of how "Fujita himself" was so impressed by the damage from such-and-such tornado (most often Guin or Xenia from 1974) that he considered rating it an "F6." Alternatively, that Bridge Creek-Moore 1999 should have been rated F6 because DOW measured 318 MPH winds with it. Well, if there were such a thing as an EF6, Smithville would be it. Some of that damage is on another level even compared with other EF5s (IMO only Parkersburg, IA 2008 comes close, with extreme debris granulation).

Interestingly I seldom hear Jarrell mentioned in the "F6" conversation despite the totality of the destruction, I wonder if it is discounted because of its slow movement?

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

There are (probably apocryphal) tales circulated of how "Fujita himself" was so impressed by the damage from such-and-such tornado (most often Guin or Xenia from 1974) that he considered rating it an "F6." Alternatively, that Bridge Creek-Moore 1999 should have been rated F6 because DOW measured 318 MPH winds with it. Well, if there were such a thing as an EF6, Smithville would be it. Some of that damage is on another level even compared with other EF5s (IMO only Parkersburg, IA 2008 comes close, with extreme debris granulation).

Interestingly I seldom hear Jarrell mentioned in the "F6" conversation despite the totality of the destruction, I wonder if it is discounted because of its slow movement?

Good question about Jarrell, although I think it occasionally has been referred to as F6 in some articles or forums. It's slow forward movement probably has something to do with it, considering that there were quite a few people who thought Jarrell achieved no more than F3 intensity but it's being stationary allowed it to sweep everything away below it.
That said, I also wonder if Guin (or any other Alabama tornadoes of 4/3/74) may have done some damage like Smithville but for whatever reason it's difficult to track down photographs of it.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Good question about Jarrell, although I think it occasionally has been referred to as F6 in some articles or forums. It's slow forward movement probably has something to do with it, considering that there were quite a few people who thought Jarrell achieved no more than F3 intensity but it's being stationary allowed it to sweep everything away below it.
That said, I also wonder if Guin (or any other Alabama tornadoes of 4/3/74) may have done some damage like Smithville but for whatever reason it's difficult to track down photographs of it.

Some of the most impressive pictures of damage from Guin I could find online.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Some of the most impressive pictures of damage from Guin I could find online.

Guin is such a mystery to me, it has a reputation as being one of the most intense tornadoes of all time (Grazulis and Fujita both said so) and yet all of the damage photos out there don't seem particularly impressive. I would love to find photographs of its path through the William B. Bankhead National Forest where it supposedly downed tons of trees but have yet to do so.