Significant Tornado Events (8 Viewers)

[MNTornadoGuy]

What do you guys think is the most intense post-1950 tornado in Minnesota?

 

[Austin Dawg]

What do you guys think is the most intense post-1950 tornado in Minnesota?

I don't know the history of Minnesota twisters as well as I do WS storms but this is the one I do remember reading most about.

May 6, 1965 Tornadoes​

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

What do you guys think is the most intense post-1950 tornado in Minnesota?

Tracy and Chandler seemed pretty violent, Wilkin in 2010 with the extreme ground scouring it did.

 

[Marshal79344]

I haven't looked at past MN Tornado events much with the exception of Fergus Falls 1919, Fridley, and Comfrey-St. Peter 1998, so I'd have to go with the Albert Lea-Conger EF4 from 6/17/2010, the Parkers Prairie EF4 from 6/17/2010, and of course the Tyler ND-Doran MN EF4. I personally have doubts of Chandler, MN being rated EF5 today, and it didn't result in any scouring from the photographs that I have seen (I'm probably missing something), so here's pics from all four.

Conger Scouring Swath


Parkers Prairie scouring and a chicken house that was annhilated



Home swept away


The structure of the Tyler Tornado was NUTS

The damage it did to a Ford has to be some of the most impressive car damage from a tornado I've ever seen. The structure was mangled and splattered with scoured mud.

The Engine of the Ford lies in a heavily scoured field

The Scouring Swath




It's likely that the slow movement of the Tyler Tornado played a part in its exceptional intensity, but nevertheless I feel that Tyler was the strongest of the trio. If you were to ask me what the strongest tornado all time in MN history would be, it would definitely be Fergus Falls

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I haven't looked at past MN Tornado events much with the exception of Fergus Falls 1919, Fridley, and Comfrey-St. Peter 1998, so I'd have to go with the Albert Lea-Conger EF4 from 6/17/2010, the Parkers Prairie EF4 from 6/17/2010, and of course the Tyler ND-Doran MN EF4. I personally have doubts of Chandler, MN being rated EF5 today, and it didn't result in any scouring from the photographs that I have seen (I'm probably missing something), so here's pics from all four.

Conger Scouring Swath
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Parkers Prairie scouring and a chicken house that was annhilated

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Home swept away
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The structure of the Tyler Tornado was NUTS
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The damage it did to a Ford has to be some of the most impressive car damage from a tornado I've ever seen. The structure was mangled and splattered with scoured mud.
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The Engine of the Ford lies in a heavily scoured field
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The Scouring Swath
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It's likely that the slow movement of the Tyler Tornado played a part in its exceptional intensity, but nevertheless I feel that Tyler was the strongest of the trio. If you were to ask me what the strongest tornado all time in MN history would be, it would definitely be Fergus Falls

I don't think the 2010 Tyler Tornado was intense when it was inside the MN border. I believe most of the scouring and EF4 damage happened in the ND side.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Speaking of the 2010 Parkers Prairie MN tornado, Google Earth imagery appears to show significant debris rowing and intense tree damage.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

It's interesting. Wisconsin used to have violent tornadoes every so often (Willow Springs 1893, Marthon County 1898, New Richmond 1899, Clark/Taylor Counties 1924, Grant County 1944, Colfax 1958, Oshkosh 1974, West Bend 1981, Wales 1984, Barneveld 1984, Cooperstown 1994, Oakfield 1996), however there hasn't been one since Oakfield. The closest was the 2005 Stoughton tornado which was officially rated at high-end F3.

You'd think we're due, but it seems that every time we're under a potentially high-ceiling severe weather threat per SPC it finds a way to bust.

 

[pohnpei]

Bob Mills SkyNews 9 Surveys Oklahoma Tornado Damage

<p>Severe storms brought large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes to parts of Oklahoma Monday, claiming the lives of two people, destroying and damaging multiple structures.</p>

www.news9.com

Some aerial footage can be found along the path of Sulphur OK EF3 tornado in 2016 in this link
There were plenty of DIs around its radar peak and the overall vegetation and structure damages were strong but no way close to EF5 level even hard to reach EF4 level in my opinion. While both DOW7 and RaxPol radar showed winds well over 200mph at very low level(~218mph 17m). According to the vegetation damage along the path, I don't think it would gain EF5 rating if it hit a town.
I think the answer for this seemingly incongruity was simple. The damage made by tornados are the combination of pressure gradient, vertical updraft winds, horizontal winds which normally represent the strength of a tornado according to EF-scale and debris. The reason why Sulphur didn't do EF4/5 level damage was just because the conbination of all those "weapons" mentioned above were not strong enough to make EF4/5 damage. It also showed the current limtation of the measurement of tornado strength: We don't know the actual pressure gradient of different types of tornados, let alone stimulate it in a experiment lab. We dont't know the proportion of each "weapon" paticipate in for a given residence house. That all led to the consequence that a 3s/10m wind alone for measurement of tornados are so bland and lack of explanatory. Even take mobile radar measurement into account is far from enough beacause many acticles already showed the big limitation of mobile radar when it comes to tornado wind speed measurement.

 

[pohnpei]

What it looks like inside of a one-mile wide wedge EF1-2 tornado?
I can find three footages on Youtube of this type pf tornado

This was when Tuscaloosa 2011 across I-65 when it was widest in its life span. The video seemed was recorded on the north edge of the fast moving tornado, which was rated ~120mph at this point.

This was Albany GA EF3 when it hit the marine base. The tornado was at least one mile wide at this point and damage was mainly low end EF2 type.

This excellent footage was shot east of linwood along 174th when linwood KS tornado 2019 passby. It was shot on the north edge of the tornado and there were some videos in his mainpage showed the damage around his house. According to KML and aerial video, the damage to his house was minimum EF1 type and the tornado was likely mid-high EF1 strengh at this time.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Some more photos from April 3, 1974:

A lot of newspapers had the same famous photo of damage in West Frankfort in altered versions but here's the most HD one I could find
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More West Frankfort
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Planks from obliterated homes lay across the ground outside of West Frankfort
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That's all that I managed to find from hours shifting through online archives of newspapers. Poor people in the path had no chance. One reason that made this tornado incredibly deadly was not only its incredible power, but the fact that it was partially obscured with low LCL heights, as shown by witnesses in Annapolis describing it as a "thick black fog cloud" with a tremendous roar, and not recognizable as an actual funnel at some points. Also, the tornado severed all telegraph communications to cities in the path so residents had no kind of warning of what was approaching until it was right there. The tornado happened to be on a trajectory where multiple large cities were in its path also, a worst-case-scenario

Also, it's path through southern Illinois (and maybe Indiana, not entirely sure) was parallel to a major railroad track, this being in the days when railroads were the predominant means of transport also contributed to it being so deadly, what with the numerous communities that sprung up along railroads back in the day. It's the equivalent of a modern-day rain-wrapped and fast-moving EF5 wedge following an interstate highway or freeway corridor through a major city during rush hour.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I've found new damage footage of the 1965 Fridley-Mounds View-Centerville MN F4 and it actually seems like it might have been pretty intense event. Cars were tossed and mangled, homes were completely swept away with significant wind rowing of debris, trees were debarked and ground scouring possibly occurred.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

If anyone on this thread posted info about this storm before I apologize. This is easily one of the most underrated tornadoes of the 2000s and it and Roanoke (also of 2004) should have been rated F5. This thing is nicknamed the 'Noot Farm tornado'.

Of note the ground scouring from this thing was around 700 yards wide, only Jarrell was wider (at 800 yards or so).

Marion, ND F4 Tornado – July 18, 2004 – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

What’s the strongest tornado to occur in the Middle East region?

 

[warneagle]

Doesn't seem to be a ton of data on the Middle East but this paper says there have been three F3s in Turkey, all in the central part of the country. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/j...13-00364.1.xml?tab_body=fulltext-display#fig3

 

[pohnpei]

What’s the strongest tornado to occur in the Middle East region?

There was a pretty strong tornado in Iraq in 2016, some videos showed strong rotation speed.

 

[Marshal79344]

Concerning July 2004, I feel that the Roanoke Tornado was not far behind the intensity of the Marion Tornado. The intensity reached by both tornadoes was phenomal.

 

[Marshal79344]

Continued with 10 more pics:

11. Semi-truck that was separated from its trailer and thrown a considerable distance (NWS/Greg Gust).

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12. The trailer portion of the semi-truck that had tens of thousands of pounds of grain inside was thrown 250 yards (NWS/Greg Gust).
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13. A shelterbelt that was annihilated (NWS/Greg Gust).
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14. Pieces of torn apart grain silos and other debris were strewn across a shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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15. A vehicle's chassis and other debris strewn through a shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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16. Another view of the obliterated shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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17. Debris strewn through another shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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18. Vehicles and other debris strewn through a shelterbelt (NWS/Greg Gust).
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19. Part of a field cultivator that came to rest in a and sandwiched into some other vehicle (NWS/Greg Gust).
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20. Part of a field cultivator that came to rest in a severely scoured field (NWS/Greg Gust).
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Of note, the ground scouring from this thing in the field was 700 yards wide, only Jarrell has a wider instance of the like (around 800 yards or so).

I find it very interesting how the rotational signature on the supercell responsible for the tornado was not impressive at all.

Here is a LANDSAT image of the scouring the Marion Tornado produced. Contrary to popular belief, it actually started northwest of Marion, moved directly south for most of its life before turning southeast and dissipating near Marion. The scouring is that brown line extending from just parallel to the county line at left to just northeast of a small pond in LaMoure County. The tornado weakened and continued all the way to the Marion area before it dissipated.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Concerning July 2004, I feel that the Roanoke Tornado was not far behind the intensity of the Marion Tornado. The intensity reached by both tornadoes was phenomal.
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2004 had quite a bit of underrated violent tornadoes, don't forget Harper, KS also happening. I think all the surveyors for these things had said they wish they could go back and give them F5 ratings, in hindsight. The La Plata controversy back in 2002 likely contributed to these things being underrated and overlooked.

 

[buckeye05]

Both Chance Haynes and Greg Gust, the lead surveyors for these tornadoes, did indeed later express regrets about rating these high-end F4 instead of F5.

With that said, I’m not sold on Roanoke being F5. I think the rating given was appropriate, considering that it didn’t sweep away anchored homes. The other two did. The contextual damage was similar to the others though.

 

[buckeye05]

All the Guin talk also got me thinking about Tanner 1974. Here's a small photo dump of aerials from those two. Note that most of the homes don't appear that well-built, though the one in the first pic does seem to be. Also, the debris patterns here are consistent with a very violent tornado.