Significant Tornado Events

[HAwkmoon]

I think they were both about equal in intensity, but I’d have to say Bridge Creek was just a bit more violent. El Reno had more destructive potential, i.e path length, width and duration of EF4+ intensity, but in terms of raw power Bridge Creek was just on another level.

That being said, El Reno ‘11 caused easily some of the most incredible contextual damage I’ve ever seen, and in my opinion produced the most violent contextual damage of any tornado in the EF scale era.

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Here’s some incredible vegetation damage from in and around the Piedmont area. The second photo is some of the most remarkable ground scouring and debarking of low-lying vegetation you will ever see.

Here’s some more shots of vehicle damage and vegetation damage.
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Is this a buggy of some sort or a trailer?

 

[SpotlightForRareTornadoes]

This Nerdy Tornado is Jarrel on Steroids.

 

[HAwkmoon]

This Nerdy Tornado is Jarrel on Steroids.

I don't believe so, it's infamous 'scouring' is actually trenching: where highly saturated soil essentially becomes playdough and is ripped out in large chunks. True scouring as seen in Bridge Creek and Jarrell is like a sand paper effect where the soil is shaved down.

 

[SpotlightForRareTornadoes]

I don't believe so, it's infamous 'scouring' is actually trenching: where highly saturated soil essentially becomes playdough and is ripped out in large chunks. True scouring as seen in Bridge Creek and Jarrell is like a sand paper effect where the soil is shaved down.

Still, it was insane how ripped this twister actually was

 

[SilentShadow87]

Don't forget it would need to be built  above a standard of construction that apparently is almost never seen anyway.

Because some of the people involved in making EF scale believed houses shouldn't be EF5 and this unscientific personal whim is apparently more authoritative that Fujita's prescription of a six step scale to be used with houses.

This might belong in the EF scale debate thread, but I honestly don't even know what it would take to get a tornado an official EF5 rating anymore. I'm not saying that Greenfield was a definite EF5, I'm talking in general.

You just aren't going to find a house that's perfectly built in every imaginable way. Houses are built by human beings and humans make mistakes. And then there's the fact that any building is going to age and go through wear and tear over time as well. If the standard for EF5 house damage is "sweep away an expensive house that's built to a one-in-millions standard of construction and is also very newly built", then we might as well just not have an EF5 DI for houses. Add in the fact that other damage just doesn't seem to be counted and you can practically say that the people involved with the EF scale don't believe in EF5 tornadoes in general.

Well-constructed houses with anchor bolts completely swept away (Vilonia)? Not EF5. 100+-ton freight train engines being tossed, and 8-inch ground scouring on par with Bridge Creek (Mayfield/Bremen)? Not EF5. Unprecedented bending of continuously welded railroad tracks, and trucks and combine harvesters crumpled like tissue paper and wrapped together (Chapman)? Not EF5.

Under these standards, we could easily never see an official EF5 tornado again. I mean...that might sound pretty out there, but in December 2021 Tim Marshall said that he considered Jarrell to be the standard for EF5 damage. Basically saying that in order to be rated EF5, a tornado has to break the record for the worst damage in recorded history.

 

[SpotlightForRareTornadoes]

This might belong in the EF scale debate thread, but I honestly don't even know what it would take to get a tornado an official EF5 rating anymore. I'm not saying that Greenfield was a definite EF5, I'm talking in general.

You just aren't going to find a house that's perfectly built in every imaginable way. Houses are built by human beings and humans make mistakes. And then there's the fact that any building is going to age and go through wear and tear over time as well. If the standard for EF5 house damage is "sweep away an expensive house that's built to a one-in-millions standard of construction and is also very newly built", then we might as well just not have an EF5 DI for houses. Add in the fact that other damage just doesn't seem to be counted and you can practically say that the people involved with the EF scale don't believe in EF5 tornadoes in general.

Well-constructed houses with anchor bolts completely swept away (Vilonia)? Not EF5. 100+ freight train engines being tossed, and 8-inch ground scouring on par with Bridge Creek (Mayfield/Bremen)? Not EF5. Unprecedented bending of continuously welded railroad tracks, and trucks and combine harvesters crumpled like tissue paper and wrapped together (Chapman)? Not EF5.

Under these standards, we could easily never see an official EF5 tornado again. I mean...that might sound pretty out there, but in December 2021 Tim Marshall said that he considered Jarrell to be the standard for EF5 damage. He is basically saying that in order to be rated EF5, a tornado has to break the record for the worst damage in recorded history.

That is EASILY the worst damage that a twister can do. In fact, the Jarrell tornado was one of the top F5s of the F5 tornadoes. I guess Tim is trying to make the N.W.S officially underestimate how powerful EF5s can get by simply ignoring the very EXISTENCE of tornadoes on that level when they are WAY less rare than they are now thinking.

 

[Casuarina Head]

I don't believe so, it's infamous 'scouring' is actually trenching: where highly saturated soil essentially becomes playdough and is ripped out in large chunks. True scouring as seen in Bridge Creek and Jarrell is like a sand paper effect where the soil is shaved down.

Weren’t some of the mature trees debarked from 6:32–40 literally ripped out of the ground and tossed some scores of yards?

 

[pohnpei]

Several aerial photos of Country Place Estates, the first subdivision cored by Bridge Creek tornado in Moore. The debris pattern was as possibility good as a tornado can be.

and these were part of high end vehicle damage just around this particular subdivision

The more I look, the more I feel that it's not Bridge Creek tornado peaked just when 301mph(322mph adding propagation speed) recorded. It's just DOW was at its most perfect position at 2354z and it's not at very good position when tornado near Country Place Estates and Willow Lake/South Hills.(Same with El Reno 11)

In this footage around 8:05 DOW was getting their highest recording when it's at its best position.

 

[joshoctober16]

Smithville at number 1? Why is bridge creek below Joplin? Sherman was violent for sure but number 3 I think is just too much speculation.

1. Piedmont - Worst tree/vegetation damage I have ever seen as well as some of the worst ever granulation and vehicle damage. Plus other feats of damage like Cactus make this a no brainer. Cyclodials were also insane.

2. Bridge Creek, if we discount Cactus it would probably be a tie, but nothing I can say can describe the damage as well as what Iocomusic showed. It by far has the worst scouring out of any tornado on record.

3. Smithville - Basically extreme damage all round with a fast forward speed, the worst granulation bar Jarrell and it probably has some of the worst structural damage to family residences. It's vehicle damage is slightly below the previous 2 but at this level its just cherry picking. Tree damage was extreme and probably similar to BC though still not quite as insane as Piedmont.

4. Moore 2013 EF-5. - Besides Smithville and Piedmont easily the most violent EF-5 tornado we have seen. The level of damage at Orr family farm is similar to Bridge creek in its severity.

These top 4 are the only ones I can rank in order with certainty if we include pre 21st century tornadoes. If it is just EF-5s then I would say

5. - Hackleburg

6. Joplin

7. Greensburg

8. Parkersburg

9. Rainsville

10. Philadelphia (the trenching of 2 feet is semi-impressive but it is not true scouring, rather just ripping out clumps of saturated soil).

Other F5s to include would be New Richmond, Tri-state which is possibly a top 5 contender after reading some books, the complete destruction of Peabody Mine #18 which was primarily constructed out of reinforced concrete buildings is particularly impressive. As our numerous other feats. Andover, Brandenburg and Guin should be mentioned as having extremely violent contextuals. As for Jarrell, damage- wise it definitely takes the number 1 spot but it's slow movement speed makes it impossible to determine it's true intensity, though it was evidently violent. (Imagine if Bridge Creek was moving that slow).

the list was honestly made in a way to not be as unbias as possible ... however there is one tornado that has one damage being stuck in a wierd state that i feel picking one would be under rating it and the other over rating it so il just let ya know that this tornado is mayfeild 2021 (for bush/shrub damage) i use google sheets and i just pick the damage type for each.
its also not finish at all so ya expect it to change just think of it as 20% finish

 

[joshoctober16]

ok since last time i was trying to post my list my power went out and i was using a generator allow me to repost it again in a none rush way....

anyhow here it is this time top 15 along with the tied ones

Tier 1 (Very high end EF5)
1:Smithville - Hodges EF5 April 2011
2:El reno - Piedmont - Guthrie EF5 May 2011
3:Sherman F5 May 1896 (not a lot of info so iffy)

Tier 2 (high end EF5 to Very high end EF5)
4:Jarrell F5+ May 1997
5:Hackleburg - Phil campbell - Athens EF5 April 2011
6:Joplin - Duquesne EF5 May 2011
7-9a:Bridge creek - Newcastle - Moore F5+ May 1999
7-9b: Parkersburg - New Hartford EF5 May 2008
7-9c:Fyffe - Rainsville - Sylvania EF5 April 2011
10-14a:Tri-state (Gorham - Murphysboro - West Frankfort) F5+ March 1925
10-14b:Mayfield - Bremen EF4+ Dec 2021 (note would be number 3 in the tier 1 list above sherman and under el reno if one damage in particular could be more in detail)
10-14c:Greensburg EF5 May 2007
10-14d:Marion County - Barnes F4+ July 2004
10-14e: Philadelphia EF5 April 2011
15-16a:Bakersfield Valley F4 June 1990
15-16b:Cordova EF4 April 2011 (likely going to change)

 

[TH2002]

Under these standards, we could easily never see an official EF5 tornado again. I mean...that might sound pretty out there, but in December 2021 Tim Marshall said that he considered Jarrell to be the standard for EF5 damage. Basically saying that in order to be rated EF5, a tornado has to break the record for the worst damage in recorded history.

He's also stated many times that Jarrell was by far the most intense tornado he's ever surveyed, and stated in a recent presentation that Parkersburg, Joplin and Moore (IIRC) are the EF5 baselines.

 

[HAwkmoon]

the list was honestly made in a way to not be as unbias as possible ... however there is one tornado that has one damage being stuck in a wierd state that i feel picking one would be under rating it and the other over rating it so il just let ya know that this tornado is mayfeild 2021 (for bush/shrub damage) View attachment 27475 i use google sheets and i just pick the damage type for each.
its also not finish at all so ya expect it to change just think of it as 20% finish

A google spreadsheet is not unbiased, since you are the one creating it, you are the one analysing it, and you are the one plotting it. Plus its google spreadsheets interpreting random numbers how are you accounting for extraneous variables within the program as well as extraneous variables for the damage itself, a truck never found for examples smithville could have just been dumped in a random pond, how are you determining a number for that? This spread sheet does not determine anything in an objective way and it is still subjective, to no fault of your own since anything here is technically subjective.

 

[HAwkmoon]

Several aerial photos of Country Place Estates, the first subdivision cored by Bridge Creek tornado in Moore. The debris pattern was as possibility good as a tornado can be.
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and these were part of high end vehicle damage just around this particular subdivision
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The more I look, the more I feel that it's not Bridge Creek tornado peaked just when 301mph(322mph adding propagation speed) recorded. It's just DOW was at its most perfect position at 2354z and it's not at very good position when tornado near Country Place Estates and Willow Lake/South Hills.(Same with El Reno 11)

In this footage around 8:05 DOW was getting their highest recording when it's at its best position.

Bridge Creek was extremely violent throughout it's life but it based on damage was certainly most intense in Willow Creek estates and Southern Hills subdivision.

 

[HAwkmoon]

Bridge Creek was extremely violent throughout it's life but it based on damage was certainly most intense in Willow Creek estates and Southern Hills subdivision.

Some more from this area.

 

[Tomcats Forever!]

So, another random question. Greenfield got me thinking: what is the highest recorded tds height?

 

[SpotlightForRareTornadoes]

https://weathercurrents.com/morenovalley/PhotoDisplay.do?Id=1&Story=perris/22May2008Tornado



16 years ago today, multiple tornadoes touched down in the SoCal desert. One of which was a strong EF2 tornado that touched down in Moreno Valley, CA. The twisters flipped over semi-trucks and boxcars with winds of up to 120 mph. Several videos of the tornadoes were taken at multiple angles (these are a couple of them). Their quality ranges from absolute potato to sort of decent and OK.

 

[SpotlightForRareTornadoes]

2021 was almost 2 1/2 years ago




This is the most horrifying December in history.

 

[andyhb]

So, another random question. Greenfield got me thinking: what is the highest recorded tds height?

El Reno/Piedmont from 5/24/2011. Got up well past 40k feet.

 

[TH2002]

Speaking of Joplin, here's my compulsory anniversary post.
Not much to add by now, but here's a collection of (IMO) solid EF5 damage from the tornado. Many overlook the truly incredible intensity this storm attained - anchor bolted homes swept clean, grass scoured to bare soil, vehicles completely mangled/missing, debris granulation, complete tree debarking, pavement scouring, wind rowing... Joplin had all of it. Was definitely not a "low end" EF5.

 

[TH2002]

https://weathercurrents.com/morenovalley/PhotoDisplay.do?Id=1&Story=perris/22May2008Tornado



16 years ago today, multiple tornadoes touched down in the SoCal desert. One of which was a strong EF2 tornado that touched down in Moreno Valley, CA. The twisters flipped over semi-trucks and boxcars with winds of up to 120 mph. Several videos of the tornadoes were taken at multiple angles (these are a couple of them). Their quality ranges from absolute potato to sort of decent and OK.

Obviously biased since I live in SoCal, but this event has always fascinated me. I believe it was Tim Marshall who surveyed the tornado and ultimately gave it its 120MPH EF2 rating, based on the semi and railcars. The semi driver was badly injured from what I remember, firefighters had to extract him from the cab w/ the 'jaws of life' and the freeway was shut down for hours. Thankfully he survived the ordeal.