Significant Tornado Events

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Higgins:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Woodward:

 

[Marshal79344]

Woodward:

Aerial of Woodward

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The tornado was definitely at its peak in Woodward, 107 people alone were killed there. Also, despite starting in Texas, it's still to this day the deadliest tornado in Oklahoma history.

So, there's handful of photos I'd like to repost just to give context, as I didn't put any descriptions or information about the photographs, I just put a bunch of thumbnails up. So, here's my attempt at analysis of some of the most impressive photographs from GHW:

Glazier:



Storm-battered cows, caked in mud scoured from the ground by the giant twister.



A number of vehicles were damaged in Glazier. Note how the vehicle in the foreground appears to have had much of its frame stripped from its chassis. Also note the complete debarking and denuding of trees in the background & possible ground scouring in the foreground



The classic aerial of Glazier, where only one building was left standing. This thing was like Greensburg in that it was so large it engulfed entire towns in its path; unlike, Greensburg, it was not weakening while it went through them.

Higgins:

A vehicle & debris wrapped around a tree:
.



Aerial view of the business section at Higgins. The path of an intense suction vortex can be seen through the center of the photo.




Woodward:

1. A tractor had the left edge of its radiator "chewed away" and debris had been driven into the mechanism.


2. Heavy steel boiler thrown from the electric plant:


3. The 20-ton steel boiler was thrown a block and a half from near the power plant.

4. Looking northeast across the debris field on the outskirts of Woodward.

 

[andyhb]

Here’s a video I’ve never seen before of the Parkersburg IA EF5 tornado from a sheriff in Grundy County (south of Parkersburg).

 

[Marshal79344]

Here’s a video I’ve never seen before of the Parkersburg IA EF5 tornado from a sheriff in Grundy County (south of Parkersburg).

Good god, that is an absolutely MASSIVE wall cloud and a great inflow tail.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Spectacular footage from Milan, Italy in 2013:

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

On June 1 1999, an F3 tornado tore through forests near San Leonardo de Yagüe, Spain. It was one of the most intense tornadoes to be recorded in the country. Thousands of trees were uprooted or snapped.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Good god, that is an absolutely MASSIVE wall cloud and a great inflow tail.

Looks like a three-year-early preview of Hackleburg, albeit slower-moving.

 

[Marshal79344]

Today MNStorm, I, and some other discord users discovered a very unique tornado event. On May 31st, 2018, a supercell thunderstorm displayed a very intense velocity couplet, with gate-to-gate shear of around 190 mph. No tornado was ever confirmed, but satellite data suggests there definitely was a tornado present, and it was INTENSE.

Forecast Sounding for the area affected by the supercell thunderstorm shows a classic cold-core tornado setup.


Radar Data from KSFX at 21:20 UTC shows the velocity couplet at maximum intensity (190.22 mph GTG shear)


Satellite data shows the hail core of the supercell, and clearly a separate swath of damage that was consistent with the location of the mesocyclone

Up-close view of the scouring swath. There's compelling evidence this tornado was likely capable of EF3+ damage.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Today MNStorm, I, and some other discord users discovered a very unique tornado event. On May 31st, 2018, a supercell thunderstorm displayed a very intense velocity couplet, with gate-to-gate shear of around 190 mph. No tornado was ever confirmed, but satellite data suggests there definitely was a tornado present, and it was INTENSE.

Forecast Sounding for the area affected by the supercell thunderstorm shows a classic cold-core tornado setup.
View attachment 5388

Radar Data from KSFX at 21:20 UTC shows the velocity couplet at maximum intensity (190.22 mph GTG shear)
View attachment 5389

Satellite data shows the hail core of the supercell, and clearly a separate swath of damage that was consistent with the location of the mesocycloneView attachment 5390

Up-close view of the scouring swath. There's compelling evidence this tornado was likely capable of EF3+ damage.
View attachment 5391

So where did this event occur? I take it somewhere a place you don't often expect tornadoes to form?

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Found an interesting PDF on South African tornadoes, one of these was apparently an F4 and the deadliest in South Africa's history with 21 fatalities and 350 injuries. It carried several vehicles significant distances, hence the F4 rating:

 

[Marshal79344]

This tornado occurred west of Pocatello, ID

 

[pohnpei]

Storm Events Database - Event Details | National Centers for Environmental Information

www.ncdc.noaa.gov

It has been mentioned in NCDC that the 1.8 mile monster wedge tornado near Greensburg KS on May 23 2008 throwed an oil tank battery 1.8 miles away and depositing it in trees. I can't find photo of this damage but it sounds quite insane. Don't heard this kind of damage very often.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

So where did this event occur? I take it somewhere a place you don't often expect tornadoes to form?

Near the Craters of the Moon Idaho. This particular tornado was never surveyed by the NWS but a tornado that formed after this one was. The second tornado was given an EF1 rating but it was likely stronger as steel beams were twisted with portions below the surface being moved an inch, vinyl/steel cables were ripped apart and scattered for several yards, a sign was snapped off at the ground, sagebrush were completely ripped out of the ground and several small lava rocks were tossed. One guy did almost reach the damage path from the first tornado but stopped about 1 1/2 miles from it due to bad roads. He saw the track from a distance and noted RFD damage to trees. A weather station 2 miles south of the 1st tornado's path recorded a wind gust of 85 mph which shows the storm had very strong inflow.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Damage photograph from the 5/31/18 INL EF1.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

An eyewitness account from Gorham confirms that the Tri-State-Tornado was a literal copy of Hackleburg. That eyewitness was in a restaurant, and it began to rain outside. She decided to leave, and went to open the door, and saw a big dark wall that seemed of smoke, and in front of it white trails that seemed of smoke. The "light billows that seemed of smoke" were describing the wall cloud of the Tri-State-Tornado (notice some light gray billows on the Hackleburg Tornado's mesocyclone, this is most certainly what she was talking about), and the great dark wall that seemed of smoke was most definitely the tornado.
View attachment 5189
This is in concordance with another eyewitness account from that area, who described seeing a great big dark mass throwing water as the tornado crossed the Mississippi River from Missouri into Illinois, where the damage appears to have peaked in intensity. In this area the ground was deeply scoured, trees completely debarked, and grass well outside of the center of circulation in a gully was also scoured. The damage swath of the 1925 Tornado in Murphysboro was also gigantic and erratic, with entire sections of neighborhoods dissapearing. It appears that the Longview School, the school that was hit in Murphysboro where 33 died, barely avoided sustaining a direct hit from one of the vortexes, evidented by severe damage to 1 part of the building while the rest of the building stayed mostly intact (before the tornado it was one main structure.)

Before 1925
View attachment 5190

After 1925
View attachment 5191

Some of the worst images I could find of the Tri State Tornado below:

Brick Home sheared off at ground level near Griffin


View attachment 5192

Home annihilated near Crossville with what appears to be debarked vegetation in the background
View attachment 5193

Near the Longview School, brick homes sheared off at ground level (note significant granulation of debris nearby)
View attachment 5194

Debarked Tree in an unknown location (likely De Soto)
View attachment 5195

This other picture of Hackleburg is also what the Tri-State tornado looked like in certain parts of its path as a giant cloud moving along the ground. It also helps demonstrate the sense of scale and sheer magnitude of both events (check the houses), based on what people would have seen back then as in 2011:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Footage of the August 1, 2011 Blagoveshchensk, Russia tornado. This thing was rated F2 and killed 1 person and injured 28. Blagoveshchensk is right across the border from Heihe, northern Heilongjiang province, China, interestingly enough.

 

[J-Rab]

This other picture of Hackleburg is also what the Tri-State tornado looked like in certain parts of its path as a giant cloud moving along the ground. It also helps demonstrate the sense of scale and sheer magnitude of both events (check the houses), based on what people would have seen back then as in 2011:View attachment 5395

This particular view of the Hackleburg tornado is pretty unreal. I’ve never seen another one quite as menacing as that. And yes, the first time I saw this particular video, I thought, “That is how the Tri-State must’ve looked.”

That particular area of Alabama must be like a magnet for F/EF5 and 4 tornadoes. There have been so many in that corridor (or very close to it) that have wrought so much destruction.

Both 1974 Tanner F5 tornadoes and the Guin F5 were in that same corridor. The 1920 outbreak saw an F5 follow basically the same exact path as the Hackleburg storm doing the same kind of damage. It formed by Aberdeen MS (near Smithville), entered Alabama just southwest of Hamilton and went right up the Hackleburg/Spruce Pine/Russellville way. Same outbreak also saw an F4 south of Huntsville.

I remember reading the comments on ExtremePlanet (I think in the 1974 v 2011 outbreaks post) and one guy said that his grandmother, who lived in Hatton, was there for both the 1920 outbreak and the 1974 outbreak (close calls both times if she was in Hatton). Anyway, apparently she told him that it was very bad both times but that the 1920 tornadoes were worse than the 1974 were. I do know that the 1920 Hackleburg twin tore up N Alabama. It lifted just a few miles southwest of Hatton (Waco Quarry) so it was close for the grandmother.

Also, there was an F4 in that same corridor (Smithville/Guin/Hackleburg) in 1909 just North of Elkmont in Limestone county.

The famous 1936 Tupelo supercell that spawned the F5, killing so many in that town ended up also putting down an F4 about 9.5 miles northwest of Phil Campbell that raked that same area.

In a 1952 March outbreak an F4 formed on the north side of Bankhead national forest and went through Moulton, Decatur, Mooresville, Madison and Redstone Arsenal before dissipating just southwest of Huntsville.

In the 2008 Super Tuesday outbreak, a supercell formed in Eastern MS and went right over Guin and the William B. Bankhead National Forest before an F4 formed over the edge of the forest before hitting Moulton/Decatur and on up into Limestone county.

So many in that area. 1989 an F4 put down just past William B. Bankhead National Forest (Guin track) and just like in 1974 hit Redstone Arsenal and South Huntsville. (Once the 1975 Guin tornado dissipated, that supercell put down another tornado that hit Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville).

May 1917 an F3 hit New Hope. 1957 a long tracked F3 formed south of Hamilton (exactly where the 1920 and 2011 Hackleburg storms hit).

And many more, I’m sure.

When I read about a tornado in that area I always make a note because I’m amazed at the amount of violent tornados that they get.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

This particular view of the Hackleburg tornado is pretty unreal. I’ve never seen another one quite as menacing as that. And yes, the first time I saw this particular video, I thought, “That is how the Tri-State must’ve looked.”

That particular area of Alabama must be like a magnet for F/EF5 and 4 tornadoes. There have been so many in that corridor (or very close to it) that have wrought so much destruction.

Both 1974 Tanner F5 tornadoes and the Guin F5 were in that same corridor. The 1920 outbreak saw an F5 follow basically the same exact path as the Hackleburg storm doing the same kind of damage. It formed by Aberdeen MS (near Smithville), entered Alabama just southwest of Hamilton and went right up the Hackleburg/Spruce Pine/Russellville way. Same outbreak also saw an F4 south of Huntsville.

I remember reading the comments on ExtremePlanet (I think in the 1974 v 2011 outbreaks post) and one guy said that his grandmother, who lived in Hatton, was there for both the 1920 outbreak and the 1974 outbreak (close calls both times if she was in Hatton). Anyway, apparently she told him that it was very bad both times but that the 1920 tornadoes were worse than the 1974 were. I do know that the 1920 Hackleburg twin tore up N Alabama. It lifted just a few miles southwest of Hatton (Waco Quarry) so it was close for the grandmother.

Also, there was an F4 in that same corridor (Smithville/Guin/Hackleburg) in 1909 just North of Elkmont in Limestone county.

The famous 1936 Tupelo supercell that spawned the F5, killing so many in that town ended up also putting down an F4 about 9.5 miles northwest of Phil Campbell that raked that same area.

In a 1952 March outbreak an F4 formed on the north side of Bankhead national forest and went through Moulton, Decatur, Mooresville, Madison and Redstone Arsenal before dissipating just southwest of Huntsville.

In the 2008 Super Tuesday outbreak, a supercell formed in Eastern MS and went right over Guin and the William B. Bankhead National Forest before an F4 formed over the edge of the forest before hitting Moulton/Decatur and on up into Limestone county.

So many in that area. 1989 an F4 put down just past William B. Bankhead National Forest (Guin track) and just like in 1974 hit Redstone Arsenal and South Huntsville. (Once the 1975 Guin tornado dissipated, that supercell put down another tornado that hit Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville).

May 1917 an F3 hit New Hope. 1957 a long tracked F3 formed south of Hamilton (exactly where the 1920 and 2011 Hackleburg storms hit).

And many more, I’m sure.

When I read about a tornado in that area I always make a note because I’m amazed at the amount of violent tornados that they get.

The tornadoes that go through Northern Alabama also have a tendency to cross into far southern Tennessee (Lincoln and Franklin County, specifically) before dissipating. The second 1974 Tanner tornado did damage in Franklin and Lincoln TN before lifting and its TN portion is not that far off from 2011 Hackleburg.
That April 1920 tornado outbreak is remarkable for its similarities between 4/2/7/11. There were 6 unofficial F4s that day (I'm sure at least half of them were actually F5s but couldn't be ranked as such due to the lack of damage photographs & for most of the structures they hit being frail sharecropper shacks or log cabins).
One F4 of that outbreak had a path through Neshoba & Winston County, MS, passing a short distance just south of Philadelphia, striking the Deemer community. It's path is very close to the 2011 Philadelphia tornado.
That long-track F4 you mention (the 130 miles one) is interesting in that the official termination of it's path is in Lawrence County, AL but that's simply because it lost detection near the Tennessee River. It may have crossed the river into Limestone County, AL and dissipated there or into far southern TN before dissipating, again, much like Hackleburg. Another interesting thing about this tornado is that it maintained its intensity for over 100 miles before finally losing strength when it was nearing the Tennessee River, this also happened with Hackleburg. If it continued into Tennessee then that would make it another Tri-State Tornado (or the Mississippi portion of the path was actually another tornado from a family or downburst damage) but ultimately there's no way to know for sure. I have some PDFs on that outbreak, I'll try to upload them later.

Link to only known damage from that day:

Various Towns, AL, TN, MS Tornado Damage, Apr 1920 | GenDisasters ... Genealogy in Tragedy, Disasters, Fires, Floods

www.gendisasters.com

Parts 1 & 2 of the MWR on it: