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Significant Tornado Events

Speaking of which, here's the eeriest photos from that day I've ever stumbled across. Most of these are already well-known, so it shouldn’t be hard to discern the tornado:

Rainsville EF5 from an unknown location
IMG_8375.jpeg
Hackleburg EF5 from the Phil Campbell/Huntsville area(?)
IMG_8376.jpeg
Rose Hill-Yantley EF4, likely on the Chickasawhay river after passing Enterprise, MS
IMG_8377.jpeg
This one’s obvious
IMG_8378.jpeg
Rainsville EF5 shredding a property
IMG_8379.jpeg
 
AJS said:
View attachment 44904
I was recently stumbling across looking for some damage photos from the 2013 Washington, Illinois tornado and I happened to stumble across this image. I tend to be on the fence regarding if this tornado had EF5 potential and in no way shape or form am I trying to overhype the intensity of this tornado, but if you look closely at the ground, it might appear to show some pretty severe grass scouring. If that’s the case, the damage from this tornado impresses me quite a bit more. I think this tornado would’ve undoubtedly achieved an F5 rating had it occurred in the 90s. I’m more impressed with the damage from this tornado than certain F5s like the 1998 Birmingham tornado. @Western_KS_Wx I definitely agree with you now that it’s highly probable this tornado did at some point reach EF5 strength during its passage through the city.
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I have multiple rare flyovers of this tornado's damage archived: if it is helpful. Washington was incredibly intense, bordering on that EF4-EF5 boundary.


 
Here's your reminder that there was a whole money maker F4 in the mountains of Yellowstone National Park 38 years ago:
Lake Martin EF4 said:
Notable events included the Teton-Yellowstone F4 of 1987...

en.wikipedia.org

1987 Teton–Yellowstone tornado - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Teton Wilderness, WY F4 Tornado – July 21, 1987 – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com www.tornadotalk.com
www.yahoo.com

On This Date: A Violent Tornado In Wyoming's Mountains

Each year, we usually see a handful of truly intense tornadoes in parts of the South or Midwest. But in 1987, one such intense tornado touched down near a Wyoming national park.
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
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Apparently the thing was so high up that only the mesocyclone was visible. Can't imagine what that must have looked like.
 
SpotlightForRareTornadoes said:
I don't think I have any memory of you telling me not to...
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Correct. I didn't.
TH2002 said:
Ok I'm sorry, but might as well say what many of us are probably thinking...

What on earth is the "Theoretical Fujita Scale" and why even mention it here?

Not calling anyone out in particular, but I don't think I'm alone in my opinion that lately, this site has been getting clogged with minimal effort, uninformed, garbage posts that don't contribute jack. So many that I haven't even been able to keep up with the site in recent weeks...

I'm starting to agree with a user who said that "Talkweather seems to be slowly morphing into r/tornado and I personally don't think that's a good thing"...

(I'll add that this thread hasn't suffered quite as bad as some of the other ones on this site, but said low-effort posts have still become pretty pervasive here...)
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Hold up, fellas... no need to argue over the meaning of one of my previous posts.

So I'll clear it up with my own keyboard... I did imply that childish pseudoscience such as the "Theoretical Fujita Scale" should be kept out of this thread. "Significant Tornado Events" is for documentation of historical tornado events... I like to see it as a multi-faceted version of Grazulis' books.

Now, if you want to talk about hypothetical scales and revisions to the actual methodology behind tornado ratings... we already have a thread for that. It's called the "Enhanced Fujita Ratings Debate Thread".

(I'd rather pseudoscience not be posted on this site at all, but if you MUST have a dumping ground for it, at least keep it out of this particular thread.)
 
To clear up some of this whole "theoretical scale" hogwash; let me post some of my discoveries surrounding the Somerset-London KY EF4 from 5/16/25.
(Which just from me, lets actually be scientific)
I was doing a little sleuthing for clear imagery from the Daniel Boone national forest, sat between Somerset and London; and boy was I delighted. In a series of photographs by Ben Childers; you can visibly see the incredible damage the forest took, with the tornado actually unveiling caves, grottoes, even cliffs, down to tree species affected. Trees, particularly the healthy population seen in the National Forest, act as a erosion preventer; even with this, you can still see scouring among the fallen, and cyclically rotated vegetation. Note the valleys within the natural terrain; you can see how debris were pulled and shoved into these low points.
I cannot get over the extent of the damage here; I (if I get the motive and the TIME particularly!) might try to ID a few of the trees seen here, but shortleaf pines are absolutely present.
Another interesting thing is the destruction of low lying plants, such as bushes (probably Carolina Buckthorn, mountain laurel, etc); trees can often shelter these bushes/shrubs with tornadoes (again trees evolved to not fall in wind); but with London, they're simply completely gone in a few locations. It's not like this was an unhealthy forest, rather the opposite; this was a well managed, diverse, and old forest with active work on ensuring that. Pines are very flexible, yet this still wasnt adequate to "protect" these low lying plants. I personally feel this is a hallmark of a very intense tornado.
This tornado is one that I plan to study extensively in the future.
 

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NewFoundWeatherNerd said:
To clear up some of this whole "theoretical scale" hogwash; let me post some of my discoveries surrounding the Somerset-London KY EF4 from 5/16/25.
(Which just from me, lets actually be scientific)
I was doing a little sleuthing for clear imagery from the Daniel Boone national forest, sat between Somerset and London; and boy was I delighted. In a series of photographs by Ben Childers; you can visibly see the incredible damage the forest took, with the tornado actually unveiling caves, grottoes, even cliffs, down to tree species affected. Trees, particularly the healthy population seen in the National Forest, act as a erosion preventer; even with this, you can still see scouring among the fallen, and cyclically rotated vegetation. Note the valleys within the natural terrain; you can see how debris were pulled and shoved into these low points.
I cannot get over the extent of the damage here; I (if I get the motive and the TIME particularly!) might try to ID a few of the trees seen here, but shortleaf pines are absolutely present.
Another interesting thing is the destruction of low lying plants, such as bushes (probably Carolina Buckthorn, mountain laurel, etc); trees can often shelter these bushes/shrubs with tornadoes (again trees evolved to not fall in wind); but with London, they're simply completely gone in a few locations. It's not like this was an unhealthy forest, rather the opposite; this was a well managed, diverse, and old forest with active work on ensuring that. Pines are very flexible, yet this still wasnt adequate to "protect" these low lying plants. I personally feel this is a hallmark of a very intense tornado.
This tornado is one that I plan to study extensively in the future.
Click to expand...
Indeed intense tree damage. Not EF5 caliber in my book though. Grinnell remains the strongest EF5 candidate of 2025 (imo).

When I think of EF5 contextual, or at least "baseline" EF5 contextual, I think of this:
manofthenaders23 said:
The Bertie County EF3(04/16/2011) left behind probably the most intense tree damage I've ever seen in NC. The vehicles left behind on the property originated from another home across the street. Properties in this area tend to be spaced pretty far apart so these vehicles were likely lofted a considerable distance. These photos are from the Colerain, NC by zip code, but in reality were taken between Askewville and Colerain.
View attachment 3827
View attachment 3828
Some more tree damage from the same general area
View attachment 3829
View attachment 3831
What appears to be substantial grass scouring can be seen at 2:18 in this video. The state of the vehicle backs that up.

The tornado itself:



An excellent writeup from NC State on the day overall:
https://projects.ncsu.edu/atmos_collaboration/nwsfo/storage/cases/20110416/

It didn't encounter anything well constructed enough to warrant an EF4 rating, but the contextual damage and high death toll in a small area(6 to 8 miles between Askewville and Colerain) with low population density leads me to believe that it was one of the more violent tornadoes in North Carolina history. It's also pretty difficult to pin down where the tornado was strongest. From what I've gleaned from local news reports and some stories from a few locals, there was a few mile stretch in the Colerain zip where several poorly anchored brick(at least brick veneer) homes were completely obliterated and scattered long distances into adjacent wooded areas.The photos above represent some of the damage in that area.

As an aside, that day was the only time I've ever been legitimately terrified of the weather here. That day had a totally different feel than the couple of moderate risk days between then and now.
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The damage is similar, but the deciding factor is that the Somerset photos have far more remaining greenery than the Askewville photos. That single deciding factor is the reason I view Askewville as an EF5 and Somerset as an EF4.
 
Regarding the other 2025 EF5 candidates:
  • Diaz: rated appropriately. This is my poster child for top end EF4.
  • Marion: at minimum, the official wind estimate is too high. I'd honestly argue that an EF3 rating would've also been appropriate. The most contentious violent rating since Newnan, IMO.
  • Grinnell: strongest EF5 candidate of the year, mostly for the contextual damage. I take this back, still a decent candidate but I'm moving it into the EF4-EF5 range.
  • Plevna: haven't seen any damage pointing to an intensity above EF4
  • Jamestown: nasty looking vehicle damage but the field was already plowed. Very big question mark.
  • Enderlin: second strongest EF5 candidate of the year, mainly for the train car.
EDIT: I rechecked Grinnell. Still an EF5 candidate, but no longer a definitive EF5. In fact, none of the tornadoes this year so far have gotten my definitive EF5 rating. If the second season doesn't send out a monster, 2025 may go down as the first year since 2022 with no definitive EF5s IMO.
 
Last edited:
Lake Martin EF4 said:
Indeed intense tree damage. Not EF5 caliber in my book though. Grinnell remains the strongest EF5 candidate of 2025 (imo).

When I think of EF5 contextual, or at least "baseline" EF5 contextual, I think of this:


The damage is similar, but the deciding factor is that the Somerset photos have far more remaining greenery than the Askewville photos. That single deciding factor is the reason I view Askewville as an EF5 and Somerset as an EF4.
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OK sorry for triple posting but I looked further and found a different angle and I believe in Somerset being EF5 now. Falls into the Askewville club. My first definitive EF5 of the year.
 
Lake Martin EF4 said:
Regarding the other 2025 EF5 candidates:
  • Diaz: rated appropriately. This is my poster child for top end EF4.
  • Marion: at minimum, the official wind estimate is too high. I'd honestly argue that an EF3 rating would've also been appropriate. The most contentious violent rating since Newnan, IMO.
  • Grinnell: strongest EF5 candidate of the year, mostly for the contextual damage. I take this back, still a decent candidate but I'm moving it into the EF4-EF5 range.
  • Plevna: haven't seen any damage pointing to an intensity above EF4
  • Jamestown: nasty looking vehicle damage but the field was already plowed. Very big question mark.
  • Enderlin: second strongest EF5 candidate of the year, mainly for the train car.
EDIT: I rechecked Grinnell. Still an EF5 candidate, but no longer a definitive EF5. In fact, none of the tornadoes this year so far have gotten my definitive EF5 rating. If the second season doesn't send out a monster, 2025 may go down as the first year since 2022 with no definitive EF5s IMO.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t even say Grinnell was an EF5 candidate imo; many of the ground scouring photos shown are either just plowed fields or not EF5-level impressive. Structure damage also wasn’t violent. I brought the tornado’s rating up outside of this forum (I do realize now that we hold some minority viewpoints) and almost everyone was in agreement that the rating was lowballed but not EF5.
 
Lake Martin EF4 said:
Regarding the other 2025 EF5 candidates:
  • Diaz: rated appropriately. This is my poster child for top end EF4.
  • Marion: at minimum, the official wind estimate is too high. I'd honestly argue that an EF3 rating would've also been appropriate. The most contentious violent rating since Newnan, IMO.
  • Grinnell: strongest EF5 candidate of the year, mostly for the contextual damage. I take this back, still a decent candidate but I'm moving it into the EF4-EF5 range.
  • Plevna: haven't seen any damage pointing to an intensity above EF4
  • Jamestown: nasty looking vehicle damage but the field was already plowed. Very big question mark.
  • Enderlin: second strongest EF5 candidate of the year, mainly for the train car.
EDIT: I rechecked Grinnell. Still an EF5 candidate, but no longer a definitive EF5. In fact, none of the tornadoes this year so far have gotten my definitive EF5 rating. If the second season doesn't send out a monster, 2025 may go down as the first year since 2022 with no definitive EF5s IMO.
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Disagree on Marion. That was a well built home it destroyed. Definitely ef4
 
Lake Martin EF4 said:
OK sorry for triple posting but I looked further and found a different angle and I believe in Somerset being EF5 now. Falls into the Askewville club. My first definitive EF5 of the year.
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Somerset/London has incredibly similar "core" damage to multiple EF5s seen on 4/27/11, or at least EF5 candidate tornadoes. This was an EXECPTIONALLY healthy forest; arguably more conclusively than the majority of tornadoes.
 
Central Ohio Wx said:
I wouldn’t even say Grinnell was an EF5 candidate imo; many of the ground scouring photos shown are either just plowed fields or not EF5-level impressive. Structure damage also wasn’t violent. I brought the tornado’s rating up outside of this forum (I do realize now that we hold some minority viewpoints) and almost everyone was in agreement that the rating was lowballed but not EF5.
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A friend of mine actually saw Grinnell; Jonathan Pulley. That tornado was visually and detectably very intense via Jonathan; with a deep roar, with the tornado being barely visible through the rain, even still, it was a big black barrel; it shook the ground to some degree from my memory?
EF5? Maybe, the tree damage in town was impressive.. but the damage outside of that? Not nearly as much; certainly not EF5. I dont doubt EF4 at all; not remotely.



Some of the damage from Grinnell:
 
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