Significant Tornado Events

[Aaron Rider]

The 1990 Bakersfield Valley/McCamey TX tornado intrigues me a lot; so Ive done some digging.

The Iraan News held a GOLDMINE of information on this elusive event:
They reported that at least 60 vehicles were damaged by the tornado, with the track of the F4 being: "For the first ten minutes, the funnel appeared to have hopped around but then for an hour, a constant path could be traced".
Some notes of the damage are mind blowing; with county personnel having to bury the "staggering" number of dead farm animals; to "The Bakersfield Co-Op and gin were demolished. Irrigation ditches were shattered and vegetation was stripped away leaving miles of bare ground.". Somethings of note consist of Oil wells being slug or tipped, spilling oil down the hillsides, painting them black; overturned pumpjacks littering the terrain; a mass of wires being tumbled and pushed into a nearly rounded ball; an anhydrous ammonia tank being rolled/shot far from the "co-op"; asphalt being stripped from the roads multiple times; a cement irrigation ditch being pulled away from it's walls, the cement thrown; to over 366 electrical polls being destroyed. A few communities went without water due to the tornado's damage. I have genuine reason to think this tornado was stronger than even Loyal Valley 1999.
The claim this tornado "didn't loft debris" is entirely false; with The Big Lake Wildcat reporting a check being found in Reagan County, which is "45-50" miles away from the tornado site. Multiple ranchers spoke of loosing every single one of their ranch animals; which photos depict an awful scene of dead farm animals just everywhere. I must note I will be trying to get my hands on a book that details some of the survey of the F4, although it will take me time; the book is: "The Tornado: Its Structure, Dynamics, Prediction, and Hazards". The book isnt cheap, but this tornado is utterly historic; my research will be continuing on it.

(Files attached are the Iraan News pages!!)
View attachment 37993View attachment 37994

God reward you for your labors. Very commendable of you and excellent job

 

[NewFoundWeatherNerd]

God reward you for your labors. Very commendable of you and excellent job

It is my goal to have history be accessible, and preserved for those who want to follow my footsteps in being fascinated by these events. I thank you greatly

 

[atrainguy]

I wonder how long Michigan's grace period will last. I imagine that someday, either due to a pattern change or as a complete fluke event, there will be more violent tornadoes.

 

[Aaron Rider]

I wonder how long Michigan's grace period will last. I imagine that someday, either due to a pattern change or as a complete fluke event, there will be more violent tornadoes.

Also been a while for Wisconsin, hasn't it?

 

[atrainguy]

Also been a while for Wisconsin, hasn't it?

Yeah violent tornadoes don't seem particularly common there either. The last F5 was 1996, and I believe the last F4 was in the 90s as well. There have been high end EF3s that have gotten close in more recent years though, including the 2021 Boscobel tornado (160mph). There was also this EF3 in 2007 that happened all the way north of Green Bay that absolutely sliced through the North Woods. The scar is still evident on Google Maps.

Tornadoes Strike Northern Wisconsin

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

 

[Aaron Rider]

Yeah violent tornadoes don't seem particularly common there either. The last F5 was 1996, and I believe the last F4 was in the 90s as well. There have been high end EF3s that have gotten close in more recent years though, including the 2021 Boscobel tornado (160mph). There was also this EF3 in 2007 that happened all the way north of Green Bay that absolutely sliced through the North Woods. The scar is still evident on Google Maps.

Tornadoes Strike Northern Wisconsin

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Stoughton, if I recall correctly, was deemed not an F4 because it moved too slowly and hit poorly constructed houses. We all remember how conservative surveys were in the mid 00s. That seemed like a beastly tornado on video though.

 

[Aaron Rider]

It just occurred to me that Pennsylvania has had a violent tornado (1985, 1998, and possibly 2004 with Campbeltown, Lebanon County) more recently than Michigan. That's pretty crazy. Ditto Virginia (1993 for sure), Connecticut (1979), Maryland (2002), and possibly New York (multiple high end F3s) and Massachusetts (the Springfield EF3 was very strong).

 

[atrainguy]

Stoughton, if I recall correctly, was deemed not an F4 because it moved too slowly and hit poorly constructed houses. We all remember how conservative surveys were in the mid 00s. That seemed like a beastly tornado on video though.

Oh yeah, I remember seeing talk about that now that you mention it.

It just occurred to me that Pennsylvania has had a violent tornado (1985, 1998, and possibly 2004 with Campbeltown, Lebanon County) more recently than Michigan. That's pretty crazy. Ditto Virginia (1993 for sure), Connecticut (1979), Maryland (2002), and possibly New York (multiple high end F3s) and Massachusetts (the Springfield EF3 was very strong).

I've seen it said several times both on this forum and from others (I think Reed Timmer even talked about this once on social media) that Lake Michigan is at least part of the reason for the low amount of strong to violent tornadoes in Michigan, compared to surrounding states. Of course it didn't prevent many violent tornadoes from ravaging the state from the 50s thru the 70s, so there must be some nuances to that. There probably is a known reason for it, but I'm not educated enough on that right now, lol.

The Northeast's history of strong-violent tornadoes is pretty interesting. PA, NY, CT, and the New England region are not the areas that the general public typically associate with notable tornadic events, yet there's all the ones you pointed out, as well as the 1953 Worcester F4.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Stoughton, if I recall correctly, was deemed not an F4 because it moved too slowly and hit poorly constructed houses. We all remember how conservative surveys were in the mid 00s. That seemed like a beastly tornado on video though.

As that remains the only significant tornado damage I've personally surveyed, I think high-end F3 was the right call. The well-constructed houses it hit generally had removal of roofs and exterior walls but at least some interior walls standing, which is textbook F3 damage. Vehicles were moved/overturned but not hurled long distances and mangled.

However, it was certainly borderline. There were reports of light debris dropping out of the parent thunderstorm almost to Milwaukee, which is a phenomenon seen only with higher-end tornadoes.

Hard to believe the 20th anniversary of that will be this year.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Oh yeah, I remember seeing talk about that now that you mention it.


I've seen it said several times both on this forum and from others (I think Reed Timmer even talked about this once on social media) that Lake Michigan is at least part of the reason for the low amount of strong to violent tornadoes in Michigan, compared to surrounding states. Of course it didn't prevent many violent tornadoes from ravaging the state from the 50s thru the 70s, so there must be some nuances to that. There probably is a known reason for it, but I'm not educated enough on that right now, lol.

The Northeast's history of strong-violent tornadoes is pretty interesting. PA, NY, CT, and the New England region are not the areas that the general public typically associate with notable tornadic events, yet there's all the ones you pointed out, as well as the 1953 Worcester F4.

On average, Pennsylvania seems to get a violent tornado about once every 2-4 decades. SUPER violent ones have been more limited: apart from a few in 85, there was a very strong storm not terribly far from where I'm from, down in Chester County, on July 1, 1877. I hope to find more information
Edit : coming from PA farm country, I'll admit the "20 foot wall" (over which a cow was tossed) is a source of confusion. I'm baffled as to why such a wall existed lol

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

On this day 51 years ago...

Decatur-Huntsville, AL F3 (Lake Martin EF4 Note: Pretty sure this is actually the Tanner #1 F5. There's a lot of other images in the post but I had to cut most of them, I kept this one because it's probably the only photo of Tanner we have):

On that note, @Wind Driven Coconut brought up a good point in the 4/2 thread - what would the SPC outlook have looked like if 4/3/74 were to happen in the modern day?

 

[CheeselandSkies]

On this day 51 years ago...

On that note, @Wind Driven Coconut brought up a good point in the 4/2 thread - what would the SPC outlook have looked like if 4/3/74 were to happen in the modern day?

Not completely modern since it was before the five-category system, but I think it would probably look similar to March 2, 2012. To be perfectly accurate, maybe the high risk area would be extended to encompass northern Alabama, and perhaps a 45% hatched tornado contour where the really dense concentration of violent tornadoes took place over the Ohio River region.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Scar from the Brownwood tornado

More damage photos:

Hey all. I was searching through this thread for info on the Brownwood, TX tornado of 1976 and found this post from 3 years ago but the pictures appear to be expired. Does anyone have any photos or info on this tornado? Wikipedia says it shredded mesquite trees

 

[NewFoundWeatherNerd]

Hey all. I was searching through this thread for info on the Brownwood, TX tornado of 1976 and found this post from 3 years ago but the pictures appear to be expired. Does anyone have any photos or info on this tornado? Wikipedia says it shredded mesquite trees

I did a VERY quick dig through a few newspapers; and WOAH I surprisingly found a lot more than I thought I would!
From the Brownwood Bulletin:

look at that tree damage!

 

[HAwkmoon]

Speaking of Tri-State, I recently came across some more photos that I don't think I've ever posted here. Most aren't overly impressive, but still pretty neat. This one is from a home at 536 N 15th St. in Murphysboro:

These are also from Murphysboro - showing "Grandma Batson" and where she rode out the storm - but I haven't had a chance to look up exactly where yet:

Hey Shawn, do you know where those "Grandma Baston" photos come from as the surroundings definitely do not look like Murphysboro? It looks like a very rural and hilly area.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Hey Shawn, do you know where those "Grandma Baston" photos come from as the surroundings definitely do not look like Murphysboro? It looks like a very rural and hilly area.

Similar to Western Iowa at the Missouri River, the country where the (I have no idea what the exact terms are) Illinois prairies meets the Mississippi alluvial plain is actually very respectably hilly

 

[NewFoundWeatherNerd]

Kinda off topic but a tornado which I was reminded of the other day was the 6/23/23 Granada CO EF3; which was overshadowed by Matador, despite ALSO being potentially within the violent range. This tornado was extremely isolated, but still hit a few structures such as farm houses and at least two barns; it did kill roughly 8 heads of cattle as well. It was slow moving, deviant, and yet still long tracked; going for about 10 miles in the farmland. It preformed a really fascinating loop which is typically associated with a failed occlusion; I do think this could've contributed to the damage. This tornado was ABSURDLY photogenic

A few photos I could find by the Powers County Sheriff department, these somewhat show signs of potentially EF4 level contextual damages, although much lower end than what I'm usually showing on here:

Here's the tornado

 

[UncleJuJu98]

Does anybody have any video (when it was in Jefferson county) of the April 27th 2011 tornado that crossed through Tuscaloosa into northern Jefferson county? I always see the footage of it in Tuscaloosa but not much in fultondale and surround areas.

I found this incredible clip just a little bit ago from fultondale.

 

[eep]

Speaking of the Tuscaloosa tornado, does anyone have info from the Shoal Creek tornado from the same supercell? That one seemed possibly as strong as the one in Tuscaloosa.

 

[Ozonelayer]

I don't know if this has been asked, but are there any F-5 tornadoes pre-2007 that would be rated EF-5 today? Like I know there are a few like Niles, OH-Wheatland, PA and Bridge Creek-Moore, OK. But what would be some other examples?