Significant Tornado Events

[locomusic01]

Some more New Richmond stuff. This is the east side of Main Street in what was the business district:

As are these:

The area near the Manufacturers' Bank:

The iron wagon bridge over the Willow River that was twisted up like a pretzel:

A firefighter taking a break near the bridge:

The Nicollet Hotel - or what's left of it:

 

[locomusic01]

Last ones. I really wish these weren't potato quality, but alas:

 

[locomusic01]

Actually I lied - one more. To the right here is where the Alliance building stood on Main Street.

It was the site of one of the most tragic stories from the event, as a woman and her three children were trapped under 10+ ft of rubble for a pretty long time. I won't recount the whole story here, but it's the reason there's a chapter titled “Mama, I Must Bid You Goodbye.” Absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[andyhb]

Last ones. I really wish these weren't potato quality, but alas:

That 5th picture, holy hell.

 

[locomusic01]

That 5th picture, holy hell.

Everything is so completely obliterated that it's hard to even tell where it was taken (granted, potato quality doesn't help), but I believe it's right around where the tornado first entered the southwest part of town. It's pretty much as bad as tornado damage gets. This is also the same general area where two people were sucked out of the basement of a large home and "torn apart," and even the partition walls inside the basement were ripped out and smashed to pieces.

 

[jiharris0220]

That 5th picture, holy hell.

I had the exact same reaction, had to do a double take when I saw that.

That is a societal definition of vaporized, a metaphorical delete button is what this tornado was.

 

[Marshal79344]

Everything is so completely obliterated that it's hard to even tell where it was taken (granted, potato quality doesn't help), but I believe it's right around where the tornado first entered the southwest part of town. It's pretty much as bad as tornado damage gets. This is also the same general area where two people were sucked out of the basement of a large home and "torn apart," and even the partition walls inside the basement were ripped out and smashed to pieces.

Easily the most violent tornado damage photographed in the 19th century or anywhere near Minneapolis.

This event was in a league of its own.

 

[Marshal79344]

Here's a relatively rare image of violent tornado damage in Mississippi in 1921 (I'm saying rare because violent tornado damage in the southeast was seldom photographed before the 1930s or so).

This particular tornado directly struck the town of Braxton, MS on 4/26/1921, which isn't too far SW from Jackson. The brick structure you can see standing at the top right side of the image is a bank vault, similar to the one that was left intact in New Richmond.

 

[Marshal79344]

Here’s additional photos of the incredible scouring and vegetation damage. In terms of sheer violence, I think Moore edges out Joplin.
View attachment 28434View attachment 28435View attachment 28436View attachment 28437View attachment 28438View attachment 28439View attachment 28440View attachment 28441

Definitely

Moore 2013 IMO was the most violent tornado of the 2010s excluding 2011

 

[Marshal79344]

Someone please identify this please?View attachment 28315

Greensburg maybe?

 

[TH2002]

While on the topic of 19th century tornadoes, the 1896 Oakland County, Michigan storm deserves a mention. None of the available damage photos show anything near as violent as New Richmond, but there are some impressive things to note.

Contemporary newspaper reports described the multiple vortices as "like the tentacles of an octopus", and at least one entire family was killed in Groveland Township. Here's a before and after of the Kidder farmhouse in Thomas:



On to the more outlandish stuff: doubt much of it is true, but it makes for interesting lore. A woman who lived west of Oakwood was reportedly carried by the tornado to east of Thomas. This distance was mentioned as at least two miles, but a rough measurement on Google Earth indicates this distance could have been three miles or more - and reportedly, she survived. But wait, it gets crazier somehow: cattle from farms in the Thomas area were blown out of barns and "wrapped in trees", with some of the dead cattle reportedly being found in Leonard, MI - which is roughly seven and a half miles away.

 

[TH2002]

Random post, but came across some Joplin footage I hadn't seen before. The last two are particularly terrifying, as the tornado was completely wrapped in rain by that point and the extremely intense mesocyclone truly makes it look like night.

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

Everything is so completely obliterated that it's hard to even tell where it was taken (granted, potato quality doesn't help), but I believe it's right around where the tornado first entered the southwest part of town. It's pretty much as bad as tornado damage gets. This is also the same general area where two people were sucked out of the basement of a large home and "torn apart," and even the partition walls inside the basement were ripped out and smashed to pieces.

Good lord, some of those photos are insane. I’m also surprised how well-documented the damage was, especially in the worst affected areas. It’s hard to find photos detailing the very worst of a violent tornado’s damage even nowadays, let alone in 1899. But that vegetation damage is absolutely ridiculous, essentially as intense as it gets and up there with some of the most extreme damage to vegetation ever photographed. Can’t wait to read the article when it’s released!

 

[WIL9287]

I pay for a Tornado Talk membership and I don’t recall that Enterprise was considered to be more than one tornado.

We actually found a continuous 130.80 mile path with Enterprise.

 

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

Everything is so completely obliterated that it's hard to even tell where it was taken (granted, potato quality doesn't help), but I believe it's right around where the tornado first entered the southwest part of town. It's pretty much as bad as tornado damage gets. This is also the same general area where two people were sucked out of the basement of a large home and "torn apart," and even the partition walls inside the basement were ripped out and smashed to pieces.

@locomusic01 mind if you post the pics on Imgur? The other hosting site made the pic unavailable

 

[Aaron Rider]

While on the topic of 19th century tornadoes, the 1896 Oakland County, Michigan storm deserves a mention. None of the available damage photos show anything near as violent as New Richmond, but there are some impressive things to note.

Contemporary newspaper reports described the multiple vortices as "like the tentacles of an octopus", and at least one entire family was killed in Groveland Township. Here's a before and after of the Kidder farmhouse in Thomas:
View attachment 28593
View attachment 28594

On to the more outlandish stuff: doubt much of it is true, but it makes for interesting lore. A woman who lived west of Oakwood was reportedly carried by the tornado to east of Thomas. This distance was mentioned as at least two miles, but a rough measurement on Google Earth indicates this distance could have been three miles or more - and reportedly, she survived. But wait, it gets crazier somehow: cattle from farms in the Thomas area were blown out of barns and "wrapped in trees", with some of the dead cattle reportedly being found in Leonard, MI - which is roughly seven and a half miles away.

That story reminds me of this interview of an Udall survivor, who recounts how his mother seemed to have been gently brought back to earth despite occasionally feeling like she was falling much more rapidly.

 

[locomusic01]

Sorry for such a long wait, but it's finally here! For the 125th anniversary, the story of the most violent tornado of the 19th century:

June 12, 1899 — The New Richmond, Wisconsin Tornado

Coughing and choking, Charles Martin groped his way toward the basement wall through clouds of dust and pulverized plaster. Tiny particles swirled around him, stinging his eyes and burning his lung…

stormstalker.wordpress.com

Edit: Forgot to add, shout out to @HAwkmoon for slogging through the first half and offering feedback, even if I didn't end up having time to do much editing. Appreciate it!

 

[andyhb]

Sorry for such a long wait, but it's finally here! For the 125th anniversary, the story of the most violent tornado of the 19th century:

June 12, 1899 — The New Richmond, Wisconsin Tornado

Coughing and choking, Charles Martin groped his way toward the basement wall through clouds of dust and pulverized plaster. Tiny particles swirled around him, stinging his eyes and burning his lung…

stormstalker.wordpress.com

Amazing stuff as always, and boy those damage photos are absolutely extreme. One of the easiest F5 ratings you'll see prior to 1950.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Sorry for such a long wait, but it's finally here! For the 125th anniversary, the story of the most violent tornado of the 19th century:

June 12, 1899 — The New Richmond, Wisconsin Tornado

Coughing and choking, Charles Martin groped his way toward the basement wall through clouds of dust and pulverized plaster. Tiny particles swirled around him, stinging his eyes and burning his lung…

stormstalker.wordpress.com

Edit: Forgot to add, shout out to @HAwkmoon for slogging through the first half and offering feedback, even if I didn't end up having time to do much editing. Appreciate it!

Awesome! I can't wait to read it!

 

[HAwkmoon]

Sorry for such a long wait, but it's finally here! For the 125th anniversary, the story of the most violent tornado of the 19th century:

June 12, 1899 — The New Richmond, Wisconsin Tornado

Coughing and choking, Charles Martin groped his way toward the basement wall through clouds of dust and pulverized plaster. Tiny particles swirled around him, stinging his eyes and burning his lung…

stormstalker.wordpress.com

Edit: Forgot to add, shout out to @HAwkmoon for slogging through the first half and offering feedback, even if I didn't end up having time to do much editing. Appreciate it!

Thanks! Amazing work as always, I never realised how truly violent it was until now. Do you think it matches Tri-state?