Significant Tornado Events

[NewFoundWeatherNerd]

If memory serves me right, a gentleman was killed when a piece of wood penetrated both his garage and the car in which he was sitting

Memory serves you right; that was Mr Kothmann. He did not die instantly, but actually later on in hospital tragically. The wood pierced both the home(garage), vehicle, and car seat, then going through Mr Kothmann afterwards. Ive dug into Loyal Valley extensively; the community response is quite incredible!!

Here are my news papers:

 

[Aaron Rider]

Memory serves you right; that was Mr Kothmann. He did not die instantly, but actually later on in hospital tragically. The wood pierced both the home(garage), vehicle, and car seat, then going through Mr Kothmann afterwards. Ive dug into Loyal Valley extensively; the community response is quite incredible!!

Here are my news papers:

Damn, there are some fine people in rural Texas.

 

[Aaron Rider]

Honestly, I think it’s a case that could go either way. But I do believe that the high end EF4 rating was more appropriate for this tornado. The wind rowing, debris granulation, and tree debarking were pretty high end though, and trees in Illinois are notoriously known for being strong hardwoods.

did this thing sweep away any houses, regardless of construction quality? And, then, second question, did it hit any "well-built" ones?

 

[Aaron Rider]

Good shouts, but I'd replace 2013 El Reno with 2014 Pilger, which produced FOUR consecutive (and simultaneous!) violent tornadoes, every single one of which likely reached EF5 intensity. I'd also add 4/11/65's Storm L, which produced 6 violent tornadoes including (IIRC) 2 F5-intensity tornadoes along its 270 mile path. Also there was a cell in KY/IN/OH on 4/3/74 that produced like 5 violent tornadoes (including an F5 or 2). Maybe New Richmond (produced an F3, two consecutive F5s and another F3 along with a fifth significant tornado according to Loco's reanalysis IIRC) counts, too.

EDIT: Also adding Grand Island 1980 (AAAAAAAAA), Bowdle 2010 (remember those chasers getting stuck in the mud? That was because they were fleeing like 3 separate tornadoes at once), Atlantic-Tionesta-Tidioute 1985 and Yazoo City 2010. And the Minneapolis tornadoes of 1965 if those were the same cell as well.

Regarding 65

Supercell J produced La Paz (Koontz Lake), Midway, Rainbow Lake, and Coldwater Lake #1

That's 1 F3 (really F4), 2 borderline F5s, and one reasonably clear F5 to finish

Supercell L produced 6, as you said, including the incredibly strong Greentown and Pittsfield tornadoes. Its only officially not-violent tornado, the Rockaway OH F3, apparently produced extreme damage in its own right, sweeping away at least 4 homes and impressively damaging a concrete bridge abutment. Pittsfield came last, and it's incredible how cool the air was (the exact temperature escapes me) when it struck at 11.

 

[eep]

Honestly, I think it’s a case that could go either way. But I do believe that the high end EF4 rating was more appropriate for this tornado. The wind rowing, debris granulation, and tree debarking were pretty high end though, and trees in Illinois are notoriously known for being strong hardwoods.

It threw a concrete stop akin to Joplin, that was reported to not have been documented by the survey team for "political reasons". Not sure it wiped out anything well built but I do believe it should've been bumped up on contextuals alone. Not as clear as Vilonia and Chapman but still very high end.

 

[AJS]

It threw a concrete stop akin to Joplin, that was reported to not have been documented by the survey team for "political reasons". Not sure it wiped out anything well built but I do believe it should've been bumped up on contextuals alone. Not as clear as Vilonia and Chapman but still very high end.

Some of the contextual damage was pretty extreme. Probably not as high end as some other high end tornadoes, but still pretty high end. The wind rowing in particular was actually some of the most impressive i’ve ever seen.

 

[US_Highway15]

 

[AJS]

Good grief at some of these Washington, IL tornado damage pics…

 

[Aaron Rider]

View attachment 40185View attachment 40186View attachment 40187View attachment 40188View attachment 40189View attachment 40190
Good grief at some of these Washington, IL tornado damage pics…

Also a lot of extremely impressive and scary videos of this one

Viewer discretion genuinely advised with Washington videos, especially the second







The noise in these is unbelievable

 

[SouthFLwx]

View attachment 40185View attachment 40186View attachment 40187View attachment 40188View attachment 40189View attachment 40190
Good grief at some of these Washington, IL tornado damage pics…

I know I might sound a bit repetitive, but these pictures just further confirm what I said earlier. Rows of homes leveled and swept away with foundation slabs left clean of debris, trees debarked, vehicles thrown and mangled, ground scouring, debris granulated, and wind-rowing as well. All classic EF5 damage indicators.

 

[AJS]

I know I might sound a bit repetitive, but these pictures just further confirm what I said earlier. Rows of homes leveled and swept away with foundation slabs left clean of debris, trees debarked, vehicles thrown and mangled, ground scouring, debris granulated, and wind-rowing as well. All classic EF5 damage indicators.

I do agree with you. I honestly think this twister is one of the more underrated EF5 candidates.

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! We officially have another F5 taken off the "no known photos" list!

 

[eep]

Here is the image if reddit bugs out for any of you. Not completely sure if it's real or not but it could probably be verified.

From here.

 

[joshoctober16]

Crap how could I forget Pilger! That supercell was an absolute freak show. I still can’t believe that happened. Stanton in my opinion was still the strongest of the day, but I do remember one of the Pilger tornadoes produced damage that wasn’t terribly far off.

If we happened to talk about the most wicked/epic looking supercell, it would undoubtedly have to go to the Keota, IA supercell.


View attachment 40156

very hard to see but in some images you see 3 tornadoes , the EF4 on the right, a dying EF3 in the rain (super hard to see i dont think you can see it in that frame) and the undocumented tornado you see on the left

 

[NewFoundWeatherNerd]

Also a lot of extremely impressive and scary videos of this one

Viewer discretion genuinely advised with Washington videos, especially the second







The noise in these is unbelievable

Washington was the tornado equivalent to an angle grinder. I have videos of the damage archived, including one with a fully decapitated deer; which im not showing for obvious reasons...
Head sliced clean off, no clue how that was even done. I WOULD show a censored version if I could find the video; it was a super obscure youtube photo-reel; but I cant seem to locate it at the moment. This tornado was exceedingly unique; and certainly upper echelon. It was the tornado that got me to notice how violent tornadoes tend to produce this "pulp" of wet debris (like cloth, fabrics, string, etc), grasses, and mulched wood; you can see this pulp with Washington, Harper, Jarrell, Moore, Smithvile, and Piedmont particularly.
Im hoping to one day get a sample of this pulp, and put it under a microscope for study; although it's a considerably rare thing to see, and thus will be hard to get.

Some stuff Ive found of it:

 

[andyhb]

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! We officially have another F5 taken off the "no known photos" list!

Wow, this is a great find. I thought it was the Branch Co. MI F4 from 4/11/1965 (the first one), but after cross referencing, the two photos are different.

 

[AJS]

Well, not a super important event in history, it’s coming up on the one year anniversary of one of my hometown’s most significant weather events in quite some time.

The May 2024 Derecho was quite a humbling experience for me. It really was unreal seeing how quick the sky turned from cloudy to as dark as night. Seeing my neighborhood with so many trees and fences down and significant damage to so many houses was something I hadn’t seen in quite some time.

The scariest part however, was how close I was to losing my dad. He was unaware of how quickly this storm snuck up on all of us and throughout it, actually spawned a tornado that came right through Cypress. Being caught in a tornado is one thing, but being caught in a tornado on the highway in a Derecho is a whole different story. He’s very lucky to be alive as his vehicle was lifted into the air slightly, and actually escaped without any damage. He is very lucky that he was able to drive off and get to shelter. It was scary being at practice not knowing if he was okay or not.

Some pics I took of the damage throughout town: View attachment 40221

 

[NVwhrlwinds]

Coleridge, Nebraska got hit by a violent EF-3 on 17 June 2014.

What most people don’t know is that on June 23, 2003 another violent tornado hit the area, this time being an F4 with a very ridiculous path!

 

[AJS]

Coleridge, Nebraska got hit by a violent EF-3 on 17 June 2014.

What most people don’t know is that on June 23, 2003 another violent tornado hit the area, this time being an F4 with a very ridiculous path!View attachment 40227View attachment 40228View attachment 40229View attachment 40230View attachment 40231View attachment 40232

I have always felt like this tornado was stronger than EF3.

 

[locomusic01]

Wow, this is a great find. I thought it was the Branch Co. MI F4 from 4/11/1965 (the first one), but after cross referencing, the two photos are different.

Speaking of which, there are (or at least were?) apparently at least two other photos of the Coldwater Lake tornado in existence somewhere. One of which Dan Cherry (who wrote a book on the Michigan tornadoes) seems to have almost tracked down, but IIRC the family couldn't find the photo after the person who owned it had passed or something like that.

The other, I've talked to a couple of people who've said they'd seen it at various points over the years. Initially I was pretty skeptical because I hear that a lot, but I recently talked to someone else who'd done some research into the event and they were told the same thing. Not exactly proof that it exists, but it does lend credence to the idea.