Significant Tornado Events

[andyhb]

It is very difficult to achieve that level of destruction to a downtown area of any modestly sized town, era notwithstanding (especially considering many buildings in these downtown areas in non-urban regions are of similar age). I mean look at Sulphur this year. That tornado was bad, but it wasn't even close to how complete the devastation is with New Richmond.

Mayfield? Also very bad, but still not as complete in terms of devastation. West Liberty KY is not even close.

Another frightening thought is that tornado tracking 35-45 miles further west, effectively erasing a section of Minneapolis/St. Paul and their suburbs.

 

[SpotlightForRareTornadoes]

This Footage is now 30 years old

- from Pierce, NE, June 12 1994

Truly some of the weirdest videos I've ever seen.

 

[locomusic01]

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

In terms of peak intensity, absolutely. The Tri-State tornado was extremely violent in its own right, obviously, but it's the fact that it maintained that intensity (more or less) over such an absurd distance that makes it so unique. New Richmond was at peak intensity for less than 5 miles, but the totality of the devastation (including a downtown commercial area, as Andy said) is something very, very few tornadoes can match.

 

[TH2002]

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!

I've always considered New Richmond to have been the Joplin or Moore of the 19th century. Pretty much as total of a wipeout as you can get in a densely populated area.

Congratulations on finishing the article BTW! Always enjoy reading your work.

 

[jiharris0220]

In terms of peak intensity, absolutely. The Tri-State tornado was extremely violent in its own right, obviously, but it's the fact that it maintained that intensity (more or less) over such an absurd distance that makes it so unique. New Richmond was at peak intensity for less than 5 miles, but the totality of the devastation (including a downtown commercial area, as Andy said) is something very, very few tornadoes can match.

“but the totality of the devastation (including a downtown commercial area, as Andy said) is something very, very few tornadoes can match.”

This is particularly not even because violent tornadoes aren’t strong enough to do so, it’s just that the extreme winds required to achieve that level of total deletion is very short lived in most tornadoes and therefore never hit those towns at peak intensity.

What complicates this further is how abruptly tornadoes can change in intensity. A tornado can go from ef2 to ef5 level in the matter of a few dozen yards.

This is why in so many cases the most violent damage from a tornado almost always is right before it enters or exits a town.

A good example of this effect is the rolling fork tornado, where the worst damage is before and after the tornado hit the area, and even inside the town you can see in the damage path that the middle of the town has relatively moderate damage in comparison to areas northeast and southwest.

 

[TH2002]

Okay, totally unrelated to to the tornado itself but the wannabe firearms nerd in me had to point out these two photos. Can't identify the first one but I'm fairly certain the second is a Springfield Model 1873. Springfield Armory made beautiful rifles, reminded me of my Soviet-made Mosin.

 

[Aaron Rider]

“but the totality of the devastation (including a downtown commercial area, as Andy said) is something very, very few tornadoes can match.”

This is particularly not even because violent tornadoes aren’t strong enough to do so, it’s just that the extreme winds required to achieve that level of total deletion is very short lived in most tornadoes and therefore never hit those towns at peak intensity.

What complicates this further is how abruptly tornadoes can change in intensity. A tornado can go from ef2 to ef5 level in the matter of a few dozen yards.

This is why in so many cases the most violent damage from a tornado almost always is right before it enters or exits a town.

A good example of this effect is the rolling fork tornado, where the worst damage is before and after the tornado hit the area, and even inside the town you can see in the damage path that the middle of the town has relatively moderate damage in comparison to areas northeast and southwest.

Just for the sake of curiosity, can anyone think of any tornadoes that did extreme damage in a town but relatively little outside of it?

 

[Aaron Rider]

Okay, totally unrelated to to the tornado itself but the wannabe firearms nerd in me had to point out these two photos. Can't identify the first one but I'm fairly certain the second is a Springfield Model 1873. Springfield Armory made beautiful rifles, reminded me of my Soviet-made Mosin.

They're both 1873s, you can tell because both have barrels extending past the end of the stock

The Army got to play around with the Krag by then but the state militias still had old 73s

 

[TH2002]

Just for the sake of curiosity, can anyone think of any tornadoes that did extreme damage in a town but relatively little outside of it?

The 1951 WaKeeney, KS tornado came to mind. Embedded within a larger thunderstorm complex, it touched down on the north side of town and just EXPLODED in intensity, then lifted almost as suddenly after spending less than a mile on the ground. It killed five people and was rated F4.

Another Kansas tornado struck Hoisington in 2001, touching down just southwest of town and once again exploding in intensity as it entered the city limits. This event was also rated F4 as homes were leveled or swept away, trees were debarked, and vehicles were mangled. After laying waste to much of Hoisington, it immediately weakened to F2 intensity as it exited town, then never exceeded F1 intensity before concluding its five mile path.

 

[Maxis_s]

Just for the sake of curiosity, can anyone think of any tornadoes that did extreme damage in a town but relatively little outside of it?

Elie, MB technically speaking.
That tornado still confuses me to this day. There's no reason why it should've caused F5 damage.

 

[locomusic01]

Okay, totally unrelated to to the tornado itself but the wannabe firearms nerd in me had to point out these two photos. Can't identify the first one but I'm fairly certain the second is a Springfield Model 1873. Springfield Armory made beautiful rifles, reminded me of my Soviet-made Mosin.

I love the old trapdoor rifles. My friend's dad is a big collector and he had a Model and IIRC a Model 1888. Really cool.

 

[jiharris0220]

Just for the sake of curiosity, can anyone think of any tornadoes that did extreme damage in a town but relatively little outside of it?

Joplin and Moore 2013 are modern examples of tornadoes that peaked inside of towns and weakened right after exiting them.

 

[Sawmaster]

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!

Wordsmanship as incredible as the tornado. This should get a Pulitzer prize and I encourage everyone to read it.

 

[Sawmaster]

They're both 1873s, you can tell because both have barrels extending past the end of the stock

The Army got to play around with the Krag by then but the state militias still had old 73s

Wish I still had my Krag; amazing machinework. Gave it to my brother out west.

 

[Jellyroll]

That's clearly a typo. They must have meant to rate it EF-Mach One.

Cheese,
I agree, multiple typos!! I think the tornado wind speed should have been tornado speed since it went from Sumner ( in Lawrence country ) to Lawrenceville (also in Lawrence county) via Clay and Marion counties. Total round-trip distance ~175 miles - time on ground 10 minutes - average tornado ground speed 1050mph. This is one for the record books folks.

 

[HAwkmoon]

What are some of the worst damage images from Hackleburg- Phil Campbell guys? Haven't seen many.

 

[andyhb]

What are some of the worst damage images from Hackleburg- Phil Campbell guys? Haven't seen many.

These are all from extremeplanet: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com/tag/phil-campbell-ef5-tornado/

 

[Western_KS_Wx]

These are all from extremeplanet: https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com/tag/phil-campbell-ef5-tornado/

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I ended up finding the original photo of that cracked slab, not sure the location of the photo though. The person that posted this photo also has other incredible damage shots from Hackleburg and also Joplin.


Here’s some additional Hackleburg images including the wrangler plant:

 

[pohnpei]

What are some of the worst damage images from Hackleburg- Phil Campbell guys? Haven't seen many.

one particular area when tornado is approaching Hackleburg saw some of the worst damage of this tornado.
Aerial of this place

ground pics

damage to this place can be seen near 2:50 in this video

 

[Aaron Rider]

Hey all

Regarding Worcester 53, some fellow on the comments of a YouTube says there was a multi-year study to determine if it was F5 or not, and that they determined they couldn't conclude one way or another. Is anyone familiar with that study?