Significant Tornado Events

[TH2002]

Someone please identify this please?View attachment 28315

It's from Greensburg

Significant Tornado Events

There are aerial photos of most of the 5/31/85 outbreak area, but they haven't been digitized and they cost $30 each to order. There are like 270(?) in all, which is.. slightly outside my price range lol. I think the Cincy area is the only place that's really covered from 4/3/74. The photos are...

talkweather.com

Also, pro-tip: Google Images and Yandex Image Search come in handy.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Saw a few others discussing what the shortest path length is for a violent tornado. Here's what I was able to dig up:

WARNING: SPREADSHEET INBOUND

Tornado Location​	Tornado Date​	Official Path Length​	Grazulis' Path Length​
Abilene, TX​	03/27/14​	1.4 mi​	N/A​
Garland, TX​	05/08/27​	0.9 mi​	1 mi​
Clyde, TX​	04/28/50​	1.3 mi​	6 mi​
Olney, TX​	05/18/51​	2 mi​	6 mi​
WaKeeney, KS​	06/26/51​	0.8 mi​	1 mi​
Fayetteville, TN*​	02/29/52​	2 mi​	2 mi​
Newbern, TN​	03/21/52​	2 mi​	30 mi​
Hickory Ridge, AR​	03/21/52​	0.1 mi​	65 mi​
Helotes, TX*​	04/28/53​	1 mi​	10 mi​
Warner Robins, GA​	04/30/53​	1 mi​	N/A​
Yantley, AL​	05/01/53​	0.1 mi​	10 mi​
Adair, IA​	06/27/53​	0.1 mi​	10 mi​
Dooville, IN*​	03/06/56​	1.9 mi​	3.5 mi​
Pleasanton, NE​	06/06/56​	2 mi​	5 mi​
Gans, OK​	01/22/57​	0.1 mi​	5 mi​
Pembroke, NC*​	04/08/57​	0.8 mi​	1 mi​
Bereah, FL*​	04/15/58​	0.1 mi​	5 mi​
Galveston, TX​	09/11/61​	1 mi​	1 mi​
Rochester, MN​	09/15/62​	0.5 mi​	1 mi​
Larose, LA​	10/03/64​	1.5 mi​	2 mi​
Fort Dodge, IA​	06/08/67​	2 mi​	10 mi​
Watonga, OK*​	06/10/67​	0.1 mi​	5 mi​
Greenwood, AR​	04/19/68​	2 mi​	2 mi​
Oil Trough, AR​	05/15/68​	0.3 mi​	5 mi​
Buffalo, SD​	07/07/69​	1.8 mi​	2 mi​
Ninety Six, SC*​	12/13/73​	1 mi​	0.1 mi​
Ladora, IA​	08/12/74​	2 mi​	2 mi​
Fort Dodge, IA​	05/04/77​	2 mi​	2 mi​
West Bend, WI​	04/03/81​	1.8 mi​	2 mi​
Andover, MN​	07/03/83​	1 mi​	1 mi​
Dodgeville, WI*​	07/03/83​	0.5mi​	0.5mi​
Colonial Heights, VA​	08/06/93​	1 mi​	12 mi​
Marion, SC*​	11/07/95​	0.7mi​	0.7mi​
Medina, ND​	08/11/2002​	1 mi​	N/A​
Harper, KS​	05/12/2004​	1.2 mi​	N/A​

There are several things to note about this table. As you can see, a lot of obvious path length errors. The asterisked tornadoes* are rated below F4 intensity by Grazulis. He makes a special note about WaKeeney, mentioning it "was among the briefest touchdowns of any confirmed F4 tornado". All of these events except Adair (F5) are officially rated F4.

So, what is the answer to the question "What violent tornado has the shortest path length?" As far as F5 tornadoes go, I think most on this forum would agree with me that the 2004 Harper tornado was a shoulda-been F5, which would make it have the shortest path length of any F5 tornado.

As for what F4 tornado has the shortest path length, things get a bit complicated. If one is to assume that all the path lengths within the limits of rounding are correct (and only consider tornadoes rated F4 by both the NCEI and Grazulis), then the 1962 Rochester tornado has the shortest path length at half a mile. One could also agree it was the 1951 WaKeeney tornado given the special note Grazulis makes about it. By far the biggest oddity (IMO) is the 1973 Ninety Six tornado. Two tornadoes struck the city that day, with both of the fatalities being caused by the shorter tracked tornado. Grazulis is the one who lists the path length of 0.1 miles, not the NCEI, though he also downgrades its intensity to F3. It should not be confused with the (official) F3 that tracked for 18 miles and hit the city on the same day. And this short paragraph just scratches the surface with the confusion... but the bottom line is, there is no definitive answer.

The other day I tried to find info on the Gans, OK tornado of 1/22/1957 and I couldn't find a dang thing. The Tornado Archive site has no attempt at a path, just a little dot near Gans. Frankly, I couldn't find much info on violence either.

Gans is the hometown of Bryant "Big Country" Reeves for all you 90s guys

 

[Aaron Rider]

Saw a few others discussing what the shortest path length is for a violent tornado. Here's what I was able to dig up:

WARNING: SPREADSHEET INBOUND

Tornado Location​	Tornado Date​	Official Path Length​	Grazulis' Path Length​
Abilene, TX​	03/27/14​	1.4 mi​	N/A​
Garland, TX​	05/08/27​	0.9 mi​	1 mi​
Clyde, TX​	04/28/50​	1.3 mi​	6 mi​
Olney, TX​	05/18/51​	2 mi​	6 mi​
WaKeeney, KS​	06/26/51​	0.8 mi​	1 mi​
Fayetteville, TN*​	02/29/52​	2 mi​	2 mi​
Newbern, TN​	03/21/52​	2 mi​	30 mi​
Hickory Ridge, AR​	03/21/52​	0.1 mi​	65 mi​
Helotes, TX*​	04/28/53​	1 mi​	10 mi​
Warner Robins, GA​	04/30/53​	1 mi​	N/A​
Yantley, AL​	05/01/53​	0.1 mi​	10 mi​
Adair, IA​	06/27/53​	0.1 mi​	10 mi​
Dooville, IN*​	03/06/56​	1.9 mi​	3.5 mi​
Pleasanton, NE​	06/06/56​	2 mi​	5 mi​
Gans, OK​	01/22/57​	0.1 mi​	5 mi​
Pembroke, NC*​	04/08/57​	0.8 mi​	1 mi​
Bereah, FL*​	04/15/58​	0.1 mi​	5 mi​
Galveston, TX​	09/11/61​	1 mi​	1 mi​
Rochester, MN​	09/15/62​	0.5 mi​	1 mi​
Larose, LA​	10/03/64​	1.5 mi​	2 mi​
Fort Dodge, IA​	06/08/67​	2 mi​	10 mi​
Watonga, OK*​	06/10/67​	0.1 mi​	5 mi​
Greenwood, AR​	04/19/68​	2 mi​	2 mi​
Oil Trough, AR​	05/15/68​	0.3 mi​	5 mi​
Buffalo, SD​	07/07/69​	1.8 mi​	2 mi​
Ninety Six, SC*​	12/13/73​	1 mi​	0.1 mi​
Ladora, IA​	08/12/74​	2 mi​	2 mi​
Fort Dodge, IA​	05/04/77​	2 mi​	2 mi​
West Bend, WI​	04/03/81​	1.8 mi​	2 mi​
Andover, MN​	07/03/83​	1 mi​	1 mi​
Dodgeville, WI*​	07/03/83​	0.5mi​	0.5mi​
Colonial Heights, VA​	08/06/93​	1 mi​	12 mi​
Marion, SC*​	11/07/95​	0.7mi​	0.7mi​
Medina, ND​	08/11/2002​	1 mi​	N/A​
Harper, KS​	05/12/2004​	1.2 mi​	N/A​

There are several things to note about this table. As you can see, a lot of obvious path length errors. The asterisked tornadoes* are rated below F4 intensity by Grazulis. He makes a special note about WaKeeney, mentioning it "was among the briefest touchdowns of any confirmed F4 tornado". All of these events except Adair (F5) are officially rated F4.

So, what is the answer to the question "What violent tornado has the shortest path length?" As far as F5 tornadoes go, I think most on this forum would agree with me that the 2004 Harper tornado was a shoulda-been F5, which would make it have the shortest path length of any F5 tornado.

As for what F4 tornado has the shortest path length, things get a bit complicated. If one is to assume that all the path lengths within the limits of rounding are correct (and only consider tornadoes rated F4 by both the NCEI and Grazulis), then the 1962 Rochester tornado has the shortest path length at half a mile. One could also agree it was the 1951 WaKeeney tornado given the special note Grazulis makes about it. By far the biggest oddity (IMO) is the 1973 Ninety Six tornado. Two tornadoes struck the city that day, with both of the fatalities being caused by the shorter tracked tornado. Grazulis is the one who lists the path length of 0.1 miles, not the NCEI, though he also downgrades its intensity to F3. It should not be confused with the (official) F3 that tracked for 18 miles and hit the city on the same day. And this short paragraph just scratches the surface with the confusion... but the bottom line is, there is no definitive answer.

I find the discrepancy between the NWS and Grazulis to be rather incredible as far as Colonial Heights/Petersburg. An 11 mile difference of opinion is pretty substantial. And this was not some obscure tornado from the dark past either, it was only 30 years ago in a highly populated area.

A friend was living in Richmond at the time and has some memory of that storm and sent me this article. What's with the discrepancy, I wonder?

The 1993 Tornado in Petersburg

On August 6, 1993, the most powerful tornado in Virginia history struck Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Prince George County, and Hopewell. It caused 20 minutes of sheer horror and devastation along its 12-mile route and narrow width of approximately 200 to 300 yards. The National Weather Service...

www.historicpetersburg.org

 

[locomusic01]

The other day I tried to find info on the Gans, OK tornado of 1/22/1957 and I couldn't find a dang thing. The Tornado Archive site has no attempt at a path, just a little dot near Gans. Frankly, I couldn't find much info on violence either.

Gans is the hometown of Bryant "Big Country" Reeves for all you 90s guys

Interesting thing about Gans - it seems to have done some weird Philadelphia-like scouring/trench-digging:

Few other random photos:

Four people were killed in what used to be a home here:

 

[Aaron Rider]

Interesting thing about Gans - it seems to have done some weird Philadelphia-like scouring/trench-digging:

Few other random photos:

Four people were killed in what used to be a home here:

I'm guessing that was a very wet winter in Oklahoma and that that had something to do with the trenches.

I stress that's a guess.

 

[locomusic01]

I'm guessing that was a very wet winter in Oklahoma and that that had something to do with the trenches.

I stress that's a guess.

Yeah, it's one of many things I'd like to look into further at some point. Also, regarding the path, I believe it first touched down 1.5-2 miles or so west of Gans and cut through the northern part of town, lifting shortly thereafter. Grazulis' listed length of 5 miles is probably in the right ballpark.

 

[TH2002]

I find the discrepancy between the NWS and Grazulis to be rather incredible as far as Colonial Heights/Petersburg. An 11 mile difference of opinion is pretty substantial. And this was not some obscure tornado from the dark past either, it was only 30 years ago in a highly populated area.

A friend was living in Richmond at the time and has some memory of that storm and sent me this article. What's with the discrepancy, I wonder?

The 1993 Tornado in Petersburg

On August 6, 1993, the most powerful tornado in Virginia history struck Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Prince George County, and Hopewell. It caused 20 minutes of sheer horror and devastation along its 12-mile route and narrow width of approximately 200 to 300 yards. The National Weather Service...

www.historicpetersburg.org

Like the others on the chart that Grazulis gives completely different (than the official) path lengths for, my best guess is database errors on the NCEI's part. Perhaps something got input wrong when the digitized reports for those storms were made? Who knows.

 

[locomusic01]

Great video here made from lots of raw video/news clips, etc. from Xenia:

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

Great video here made from lots of raw video/news clips, etc. from Xenia:

That aerial of the residential area at 40:35 is absolutely nuts. I’ve always been a little skeptical about Xenia being ranked among the most violent recorded, but that total wipeout and wind-rowing is seriously impressive. What’s always been intriguing to me is it seems like the tornado had a rather short-lived peak intensity, it really didn’t maintain F5 intensity for all that long but was undoubtedly incredibly violent during that period.

 

[A Guy]

My previous post on the alleged 100 mile+ paths brought another question to mind - what was the longest tracked tornado in each state that's actually a continuous path, considering so many old ultra-long tracks obviously are not? This consisted of checking SigTor, Storm Data and other articles etc. You'll see that my list is far from complete, omitting anything west of the Great Plains and a number of states that aren't either. My treatment of ones crossing state boundaries is irregular, basically using majorities. It took an inordinate amount of time and many headaches to get this much.

Alabama: If Cordova was continuous, it's that (127.8 miles). Raleigh-Uniontown would be next split with MS, then Jasper 1974 (110) but I'm not sure that was continuous past Jasper. Brent 1973 was a family. I don't believe the idea that the Guin track was >100 miles - apparently there was no damage between S of Columbus and the official start point. So Hackleburg would be next at 103.
Arkansas: Atkins-Clinton-Highland (124). No other reliably recorded AR tornado comes within 50 miles of it (the next appears to be Wynne EF3 from last year at 72.6).
Colorado: probably the 2008 Fort Collins EF3. There are longer tracks on record, but nothing to tell their reliability.
Connecticut: probably the Windsor Locks F4.
Georgia: probably the 22/1/2017 EF3 that passed south of Albany (70.4 miles). There are a lot of old, unreliable records though.
Illinois: the Tri State Tornado (154-219).
Indiana: I don't think the 2002 Ellettsville-Hartford City F3 (122 miles) is reliable despite its recency, it's described as 'skipping'. More than half of the 1990 Albion F4 (104) occurred there (Storm Data for the Albion tornado mentions 'lifting' crossing the Wabash River and 'skipping' in Indiana as far as Hazleton). Monticello 1974 was probably three tornadoes. The longest entirely within the state might be the Depauw F5 at 68 miles.
Iowa: if the Gentry MO - Madison Co. IA tornado from 2001 was actually continuous, it's that (76.5 miles), followed by the Winterset tornado from two years ago. There are a lot of older tracks that are longer, but they're just an exercise in join the dots.
Kansas: also a lot of unreliable joined-up tracks. If the Ruskin Heights was actually continuous, then it was the longest at 69.4 miles. Grazulis doesn't say the 25/5/1917 Sedgwick F5 (66.5 miles) was a family though I doubt you can be sure. Ditto for the 20/5/1918 Codell F4 (65.3). The next longest I can find without 'skipping' etc. is actually the 2012 Langley EF4 (50.3).
Kentucky: the 2021 EF4, by a very large margin (the next being the 2012 West Liberty EF3).
Louisiana: the longest reliable one seems to be the 16/12/2019 EF3 that passed north of Alexandria (62.6 miles). I wouldn't rule out either of the F4s from 1908 but there's not much to tell where any path breaks might have been.
Massachusetts: officially it's the Springfield EF3 (37.6 miles), but most sources put the Worcester F4 at 46, it's not clear why the discrepancy exists unless it's the dashed part of the track map made in 1955.
Michigan: the longest is the first F4 from 11/4/1965 (90.3 miles). The second followed only an hour later along nearly the same path (80.5 miles)
Minnesota: the 1993 Comfrey tornado appears to be the most likely (73.5 miles).
Mississippi: Yazoo City (149 miles). Second longest is a more intriguing proposition, as we don't know much about the 130 mile track from 1908.
Missouri: The longest definite path is the 2003 Stockton F3 (86 miles), but the 1880 Finley Creek tornado (96 miles) is an uncertain possibility. The Tri-State tornado was a majority in other states.
Nebraska: ah Nebraska, the land of official tracks that are utter nonsense, like a 176 mile F1 from 1965. The longest certain path is the Hallam tornado (58.6 miles). Berlin (Otoe) from Easter 1913 (65 miles) is a possibility. I don't think either 60+ mile F3 from 1993 was continuous from the descriptions. The 1991 Lawrence tornado was by consensus at least two tornadoes, but it's possible one member could have tracked further than Hallam.
North Carolina: Grazulis describes the 28/11/1988 Raleigh F4 (83 miles) as 'almost continuous'. The 2011 Raleigh EF3 left a 67 mile path.
Ohio: The 23/04/1968 Falmouth tornado had a path of 79 miles (or 71 according to Grazulis), though a decent portion is in KY. The Cygnet tornado from 8/6/53 travelled about 60 miles, though it's 'officially' part of a longer one.
Oklahoma: The consensus seems to be that the 1947 Woodward tornado was continuous between NW of Canadian and Woodward (as per @locomusic01's article) , but it's not clear how far it extended past Woodward. Grazulis though says the path in OK was up to five tornadoes, but it's not clear if he thinks there were breaks in the pre-Woodward path. If not that would give a likely minimum of 70 miles, though not all in OK. The Grandfield tornado from 10/4/79 has an official length go 74 miles, but Fujita's map only gives 64. The 1960 Prague-Sapulpa tornado has an apparently undisputed length of at least 70 miles and was entirely within OK.
Pennsylvania: the 1985 Moshannon state forest tornado (69 miles)
South Carolina: the 1973 and 1992 tornadoes were families. All the options longer than the 12/4/2020 Aiken County tornado (37.9 miles) seem to be suspect and too far back in the mists of time to make a good judgement.
South Dakota: The June 7 1993 F3 isn't described as 'skipping' but it's not out of the realms of possibility it wasn't continuous.
Tennessee: the 122.5 mile Dresden tornado from 10/12/21 was largely within TN and is clearly far longer than other non-suspect options, and most suspect ones too.
Texas: a very difficult state, as many (like the April 17 1970 outbreak) are families. The 78.3 mile 14/5/2003 F2 (partly in OK) is the longest of the modern era, though the description makes me wonder.
Wisconsin: the NWS says the 16/5/2017 Chetek-Conrath EF3 was the longest in state history and considering that the other options are all probably families I don't see a reason to dispute that.

I think the main thing I learned was that the nearly complete absence of consistent and reliable surveying before very recently makes things quite murky. You'll note a distinct modern bias due to this. When TG said it was a family I went with that, though I'm not convinced all cases of 'skipping' are handovers, they could also be a weaker tornado in a rural area that leaves little trace. But the rarity of genuine very long tracks becomes quite clear when you start digging. Oh, and I've probably made some silly mistake or omissions in the states I have listed.

 

[WaryWarren]

11 years ago today.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

My previous post on the alleged 100 mile+ paths brought another question to mind - what was the longest tracked tornado in each state that's actually a continuous path, considering so many old ultra-long tracks obviously are not? This consisted of checking SigTor, Storm Data and other articles etc. You'll see that my list is far from complete, omitting anything west of the Great Plains and a number of states that aren't either. My treatment of ones crossing state boundaries is irregular, basically using majorities. It took an inordinate amount of time and many headaches to get this much.

Alabama: If Cordova was continuous, it's that (127.8 miles). Raleigh-Uniontown would be next split with MS, then Jasper 1974 (110) but I'm not sure that was continuous past Jasper. Brent 1973 was a family. I don't believe the idea that the Guin track was >100 miles - apparently there was no damage between S of Columbus and the official start point. So Hackleburg would be next at 103.
Arkansas: Atkins-Clinton-Highland (124). No other reliably recorded AR tornado comes within 50 miles of it (the next appears to be Wynne EF3 from last year at 72.6).
Colorado: probably the 2008 Fort Collins EF3. There are longer tracks on record, but nothing to tell their reliability.
Connecticut: probably the Windsor Locks F4.
Georgia: probably the 22/1/2017 EF3 that passed south of Albany (70.4 miles). There are a lot of old, unreliable records though.
Illinois: the Tri State Tornado (154-219).
Indiana: I don't think the 2002 Ellettsville-Hartford City F3 (122 miles) is reliable despite its recency, it's described as 'skipping'. More than half of the 1990 Albion F4 (104) occurred there. Monticello 1974 was probably three tornadoes. The longest entirely within the state might be the Depauw F5 at 68 miles.
Iowa: if the Gentry MO - Madison Co. IA tornado from 2001 was actually continuous, it's that (76.5 miles), followed by the Winterset tornado from two years ago. There are a lot of older tracks that are longer, but they're just an exercise in join the dots.
Kansas: also a lot of unreliable joined-up tracks. If the Ruskin Heights was actually continuous, then it was the longest at 69.4 miles. Grazulis doesn't say the 25/5/1917 Sedgwick F5 (66.5 miles) was a family though I doubt you can be sure. Ditto for the 20/5/1918 Codell F4 (65.3). The next longest I can find without 'skipping' etc. is actually the 2012 Langley EF4 (50.3).
Kentucky: the 2021 EF4, by a very large margin (the next being the 2012 West Liberty EF3).
Louisiana: the longest reliable one seems to be the 16/12/2019 EF3 that passed north of Alexandria (62.6 miles). I wouldn't rule out either of the F4s from 1908 but there's not much to tell where any path breaks might have been.
Massachusetts: officially it's the Springfield EF3 (37.6 miles), but most sources put the Worcester F4 at 46, it's not clear why the discrepancy exists unless it's the dashed part of the track map made in 1955.
Michigan: the longest is the first F4 from 11/4/1965 (90.3 miles). The second followed only an hour later along nearly the same path (80.5 miles)
Minnesota: the 1993 Comfrey tornado appears to be the most likely (73.5 miles).
Mississippi: Yazoo City (149 miles). Second longest is a more intriguing proposition, as we don't know much about the 130 mile track from 1908.
Missouri: The longest definite path is the 2003 Stockton F3 (86 miles), but the 1880 Finley Creek tornado (96 miles) is an uncertain possibility. The Tri-State tornado was a majority in other states.
Nebraska: ah Nebraska, the land of official tracks that are utter nonsense, like a 176 mile F1 from 1965. The longest certain path is the Hallam tornado (58.6 miles). Berlin (Otoe) from Easter 1913 (65 miles) is a possibility. I don't think either 60+ mile F3 from 1993 was continuous from the descriptions. The 1991 Lawrence tornado was by consensus at least two tornadoes, but it's possible one member could have tracked further than Hallam.
North Carolina: Grazulis describes the 28/11/1988 Raleigh F4 (83 miles) as 'almost continuous'. The 2011 Raleigh EF3 left a 67 mile path.
Ohio: The 23/04/1968 Falmouth tornado had a path of 79 miles (or 71 according to Grazulis), though a decent portion is in KY. The Cygnet tornado from 8/6/53 travelled about 60 miles, though it's 'officially' part of a longer one.
Oklahoma: The consensus seems to be that the 1947 Woodward tornado was continuous between NW of Canadian and Woodward (as per @locomusic01's article) , but it's not clear how far it extended past Woodward. Grazulis though says the path in OK was up to five tornadoes, but it's not clear if he thinks there were breaks in the pre-Woodward path. If not that would give a likely minimum of 70 miles, though not all in OK. The Grandfield tornado from 10/4/79 has an official length go 74 miles, but Fujita's map only gives 64. The 1960 Prague-Sapulpa tornado has an apparently undisputed length of at least 70 miles and was entirely within OK.
Pennsylvania: the 1985 Moshannon state forest tornado (69 miles)
South Carolina: the 1973 and 1992 tornadoes were families. All the options longer than the 12/4/2020 Aiken County tornado (37.9 miles) seem to be suspect and too far back in the mists of time to make a good judgement.
South Dakota: The June 7 1993 F3 isn't described as 'skipping' but it's not out of the realms of possibility it wasn't continuous.
Tennessee: the 122.5 mile Dresden tornado from 10/12/21 was largely within TN and is clearly far longer than other non-suspect options, and most suspect ones too.
Texas: a very difficult state, as many (like the April 17 1970 outbreak) are families. The 78.3 mile 14/5/2003 F2 (partly in OK) is the longest of the modern era, though the description makes me wonder.
Wisconsin: the NWS says the 16/5/2017 Chetek-Conrath EF3 was the longest in state history and considering that the other options are all probably families I don't see a reason to dispute that.

I think the main thing I learned was that the nearly complete absence of consistent and reliable surveying before very recently makes things quite murky. You'll note a distinct modern bias due to this. When TG said it was a family I went with that, though I'm not convinced all cases of 'skipping' are handovers, they could also be a weaker tornado in a rural area that leaves little trace. But the rarity of genuine very long tracks becomes quite clear when you start digging. Oh, and I've probably made some silly mistake or omissions in the states I have listed.

Great work, very very interesting and I’d imagine that took quite a bit of time to discern all of that considering past data is very unreliable at times (@ the 170 mile F1)

 

[locomusic01]

That aerial of the residential area at 40:35 is absolutely nuts. I’ve always been a little skeptical about Xenia being ranked among the most violent recorded, but that total wipeout and wind-rowing is seriously impressive. What’s always been intriguing to me is it seems like the tornado had a rather short-lived peak intensity, it really didn’t maintain F5 intensity for all that long but was undoubtedly incredibly violent during that period.

Xenia is weird in that it was overhyped for so long that it's sorta gone too far in the opposite direction now, and it's often downplayed/overlooked more than it should be. Certainly not among the most violent ever (or even of the outbreak itself), but still rather impressive. And yeah, it was only at F5 intensity for like.. maybe a quarter-mile? Basically just that streak through Windsor Park west of the Hwy 35 Bypass, although Arrowood was also very high-end (including some Andover-like windrowing, as you mentioned):

There was plenty of low-mid F4 damage elsewhere as well, but you can see a clear difference in intensity even in some of the satellite/zoomed-out aerial views:

I occasionally think about doing an article on Xenia since I've got a bunch of stuff collected from back when I was delusional enough to think I could tackle 4/3/74 as a whole lol, but it seems weird to do just one of the tornadoes from that outbreak. And Brandenburg would probably be more deserving anyway.

 

[Casuarina Head]

^ I think that the debris-pattern in Xenia is much more indicative of its true intensity than structural DIs. The pattern of wind-rowing, granulation, scouring, and debarking of shrubbery is something that is only seen in the most violent tornadoes (not low-end E/F5s either). The wind-rowing is almost on a par with events like Niles/Wheatland, Andover, etc. over fairly large stretches both just before and beyond downtown Xenia. In the second aerial you can also see intense ground scouring near empty foundations in the lower right corner. I really think that Xenia was a lot closer to Dr. Fujita’s estimations at the time than people today may be prepared to admit, especially given the fact that the EF scale is known to underestimate near-surface winds. The strongest tornadoes in the 1974 Super Outbreak—at the very least Xenia, Brandenburg, Guin, and the twin Tanner F5s—were probably not far from some of the most intense tornadoes on record.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Xenia is weird in that it was overhyped for so long that it's sorta gone too far in the opposite direction now, and it's often downplayed/overlooked more than it should be. Certainly not among the most violent ever (or even of the outbreak itself), but still rather impressive. And yeah, it was only at F5 intensity for like.. maybe a quarter-mile? Basically just that streak through Windsor Park west of the Hwy 35 Bypass, although Arrowood was also very high-end (including some Andover-like windrowing, as you mentioned):

There was plenty of low-mid F4 damage elsewhere as well, but you can see a clear difference in intensity even in some of the satellite/zoomed-out aerial views:

I occasionally think about doing an article on Xenia since I've got a bunch of stuff collected from back when I was delusional enough to think I could tackle 4/3/74 as a whole lol, but it seems weird to do just one of the tornadoes from that outbreak. And Brandenburg would probably be more deserving anyway.

Xenia deserves attention IMO because, as you mention, it's somewhat controversial now. People need to understand why it was such a big deal at the time (Nixon visited, of course).

Edit: Xenia seems like the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham of 74. It was definitely F5, but not necessarily for long. It is by far the most remembered (nationally speaking) of its outbreak.

Brandenburg deserves attention because it's so strong.

Depauw deserves attention because no one knows much about it.

Murphy, NC is another pet favorite of mine. Allegedly did remarkable tree damage - is also totally obscure.

 

[locomusic01]

My previous post on the alleged 100 mile+ paths brought another question to mind - what was the longest tracked tornado in each state that's actually a continuous path, considering so many old ultra-long tracks obviously are not? This consisted of checking SigTor, Storm Data and other articles etc. You'll see that my list is far from complete, omitting anything west of the Great Plains and a number of states that aren't either. My treatment of ones crossing state boundaries is irregular, basically using majorities. It took an inordinate amount of time and many headaches to get this much.

Alabama: If Cordova was continuous, it's that (127.8 miles). Raleigh-Uniontown would be next split with MS, then Jasper 1974 (110) but I'm not sure that was continuous past Jasper. Brent 1973 was a family. I don't believe the idea that the Guin track was >100 miles - apparently there was no damage between S of Columbus and the official start point. So Hackleburg would be next at 103.
Arkansas: Atkins-Clinton-Highland (124). No other reliably recorded AR tornado comes within 50 miles of it (the next appears to be Wynne EF3 from last year at 72.6).
Colorado: probably the 2008 Fort Collins EF3. There are longer tracks on record, but nothing to tell their reliability.
Connecticut: probably the Windsor Locks F4.
Georgia: probably the 22/1/2017 EF3 that passed south of Albany (70.4 miles). There are a lot of old, unreliable records though.
Illinois: the Tri State Tornado (154-219).
Indiana: I don't think the 2002 Ellettsville-Hartford City F3 (122 miles) is reliable despite its recency, it's described as 'skipping'. More than half of the 1990 Albion F4 (104) occurred there. Monticello 1974 was probably three tornadoes. The longest entirely within the state might be the Depauw F5 at 68 miles.
Iowa: if the Gentry MO - Madison Co. IA tornado from 2001 was actually continuous, it's that (76.5 miles), followed by the Winterset tornado from two years ago. There are a lot of older tracks that are longer, but they're just an exercise in join the dots.
Kansas: also a lot of unreliable joined-up tracks. If the Ruskin Heights was actually continuous, then it was the longest at 69.4 miles. Grazulis doesn't say the 25/5/1917 Sedgwick F5 (66.5 miles) was a family though I doubt you can be sure. Ditto for the 20/5/1918 Codell F4 (65.3). The next longest I can find without 'skipping' etc. is actually the 2012 Langley EF4 (50.3).
Kentucky: the 2021 EF4, by a very large margin (the next being the 2012 West Liberty EF3).
Louisiana: the longest reliable one seems to be the 16/12/2019 EF3 that passed north of Alexandria (62.6 miles). I wouldn't rule out either of the F4s from 1908 but there's not much to tell where any path breaks might have been.
Massachusetts: officially it's the Springfield EF3 (37.6 miles), but most sources put the Worcester F4 at 46, it's not clear why the discrepancy exists unless it's the dashed part of the track map made in 1955.
Michigan: the longest is the first F4 from 11/4/1965 (90.3 miles). The second followed only an hour later along nearly the same path (80.5 miles)
Minnesota: the 1993 Comfrey tornado appears to be the most likely (73.5 miles).
Mississippi: Yazoo City (149 miles). Second longest is a more intriguing proposition, as we don't know much about the 130 mile track from 1908.
Missouri: The longest definite path is the 2003 Stockton F3 (86 miles), but the 1880 Finley Creek tornado (96 miles) is an uncertain possibility. The Tri-State tornado was a majority in other states.
Nebraska: ah Nebraska, the land of official tracks that are utter nonsense, like a 176 mile F1 from 1965. The longest certain path is the Hallam tornado (58.6 miles). Berlin (Otoe) from Easter 1913 (65 miles) is a possibility. I don't think either 60+ mile F3 from 1993 was continuous from the descriptions. The 1991 Lawrence tornado was by consensus at least two tornadoes, but it's possible one member could have tracked further than Hallam.
North Carolina: Grazulis describes the 28/11/1988 Raleigh F4 (83 miles) as 'almost continuous'. The 2011 Raleigh EF3 left a 67 mile path.
Ohio: The 23/04/1968 Falmouth tornado had a path of 79 miles (or 71 according to Grazulis), though a decent portion is in KY. The Cygnet tornado from 8/6/53 travelled about 60 miles, though it's 'officially' part of a longer one.
Oklahoma: The consensus seems to be that the 1947 Woodward tornado was continuous between NW of Canadian and Woodward (as per @locomusic01's article) , but it's not clear how far it extended past Woodward. Grazulis though says the path in OK was up to five tornadoes, but it's not clear if he thinks there were breaks in the pre-Woodward path. If not that would give a likely minimum of 70 miles, though not all in OK. The Grandfield tornado from 10/4/79 has an official length go 74 miles, but Fujita's map only gives 64. The 1960 Prague-Sapulpa tornado has an apparently undisputed length of at least 70 miles and was entirely within OK.
Pennsylvania: the 1985 Moshannon state forest tornado (69 miles)
South Carolina: the 1973 and 1992 tornadoes were families. All the options longer than the 12/4/2020 Aiken County tornado (37.9 miles) seem to be suspect and too far back in the mists of time to make a good judgement.
South Dakota: The June 7 1993 F3 isn't described as 'skipping' but it's not out of the realms of possibility it wasn't continuous.
Tennessee: the 122.5 mile Dresden tornado from 10/12/21 was largely within TN and is clearly far longer than other non-suspect options, and most suspect ones too.
Texas: a very difficult state, as many (like the April 17 1970 outbreak) are families. The 78.3 mile 14/5/2003 F2 (partly in OK) is the longest of the modern era, though the description makes me wonder.
Wisconsin: the NWS says the 16/5/2017 Chetek-Conrath EF3 was the longest in state history and considering that the other options are all probably families I don't see a reason to dispute that.

I think the main thing I learned was that the nearly complete absence of consistent and reliable surveying before very recently makes things quite murky. You'll note a distinct modern bias due to this. When TG said it was a family I went with that, though I'm not convinced all cases of 'skipping' are handovers, they could also be a weaker tornado in a rural area that leaves little trace. But the rarity of genuine very long tracks becomes quite clear when you start digging. Oh, and I've probably made some silly mistake or omissions in the states I have listed.

Great job! I'm fascinated by very long-track tornadoes and I've always wanted to dig into investigating the most extreme paths further. 'Course, as you said, it's often hard to know for certain even with a lot of research, but you can at least make some educated guesses.

Incidentally, you mentioned the Berlin, NE tornado from the 1913 Easter Sunday Outbreak - that's one of the events I've been thinking about tackling next, and I've been working on mapping the tornadoes out via plat maps and whatnot. My path length for Berlin is slightly under 67 miles, although that's including a bit of interpretation on the assumption that it didn't literally touch down/dissipate exactly at the first and last damage points. The distance between the first/last points themselves is like 65.5 miles (about 35 miles in NE and 30 miles in IA), and I'm reasonably confident the path is continuous based on the points I've mapped so far.

Re: Worcester, the 46 mile figure includes the first section beginning near the Quabbin Reservoir west of Petersham, but this seems to have been a separate tornado based on my research. A number of accounts described the tornado "bouncing" into the air after crossing a pond south of Petersham whose name I've forgotten (Connor's Pond maybe?), at which point it touched down again about a mile to the south. FWIW, my path length is 38.1 miles:

 

[locomusic01]

^ I think that the debris-pattern in Xenia is much more indicative of its true intensity than structural DIs. The pattern of wind-rowing, granulation, scouring, and debarking of shrubbery is something that is only seen in the most violent tornadoes (not low-end E/F5s either). The wind-rowing is almost on a par with events like Niles/Wheatland, Andover, etc. over fairly large stretches both just before and beyond downtown Xenia. In the second aerial you can also see intense ground scouring near empty foundations in the lower right corner. I really think that Xenia was a lot closer to Dr. Fujita’s estimations at the time than people today may be prepared to admit, especially given the fact that the EF scale is known to underestimate near-surface winds. The strongest tornadoes in the 1974 Super Outbreak—at the very least Xenia, Brandenburg, Guin, and the twin Tanner F5s—were probably not far from some of the most intense tornadoes on record.

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but the windrowing and debris granulation were definitely impressive on both the southwest and northeast sides of town:

 

[jiharris0220]

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but the windrowing and debris granulation were definitely impressive on both the southwest and northeast sides of town:

Yea, Xenia is a clear cut case low end F5 tornado that definitely wouldn’t get an Ef5 rating today, since you know, apparently a tornado has to do Jarrell or Bridge Creek level damage in order to reach that mark.

The 70s were an interesting decade regarding tornado ratings as any house regardless of construction were rated a 5 as long as debris has been swept. I can’t help but wonder what Ted Fujita himself would think of the Ef scale rating methodology today.

 

[locomusic01]

Yea, Xenia is a clear cut case low end F5 tornado that definitely wouldn’t get an Ef5 rating today, since you know, apparently a tornado has to do Jarrell or Bridge Creek level damage in order to reach that mark.

The 70s were an interesting decade regarding tornado ratings as any house regardless of construction were rated a 5 as long as debris has been swept. I can’t help but wonder what Ted Fujita himself would think of the Ef scale rating methodology today.

Belmond, IA 10/14/66 has to be my favorite example of this. Single slider house swept away with basically no damage around it? F5, baby.

There was a lot of damage elsewhere, but almost all of it was more like high-end F3 to low-end F4 at worst.

 

[jiharris0220]

Belmond, IA 10/14/66 has to be my favorite example of this. Single slider house swept away with basically no damage around it? F5, baby.

There was a lot of damage elsewhere, but almost all of it was more like high-end F3 to low-end F4 at worst.

And yet all F5 candidate tornadoes from the 1965 Palm Sunday outbreak literally last year from this all got slapped with an F4 rating.

To this day I can’t think of another example regarding differences in tornado rating methodology that makes less sense.

This quote from Grazulis says it all about his opinion on tornado ratings in the 60s/70s.