Significant Tornado Events

[eric11]

Really cool you have all these alternative angles of well-known photographs of vehicle damage and ground/vegetation scouring and debarking from this thing, never seen the lawnmower with the car underneath the overpass before, amazed the lawnmower's still intact. I think you have a picture of this car from another angle in your photos above, but not entirely sure (given how mangled it is). Figured I might as well post it here.

View attachment 6359

Maybe the fourth pic in my post I guess? It's so badly mangled that I can hardly tell if they were the same vehicle from different angle.
Here's much more vehicle damage in moore and south OKC. Not as strong as in Bridge Creek, but still impressive

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Does anyone here have pictures of the F5 damage from the 1974 Xenia tornado?

 

[buckeye05]

Does anyone here have pictures of the F5 damage from the 1974 Xenia tornado?

These homes were not well-anchored, and this tornado wouldn't have been rated EF5 today.

 

[Equus]

That's the interesting dichotomy between the two super outbreaks; I obviously didn't survey the F4+ rated tornadoes of 1974, and photos of all but the most violent are hard to find but I'd bet a major chunk of tornadoes rated above F2 (especially many of the F4's) would be a rated a category lower today. Whereas if the 2011 outbreak had been in 1974, we'd definitely see Ringgold and Tuscaloosa - and perhaps Cordova, Cullman, etc - tagged F5 and many of the EF3s would be ranked F4. While 1974 remains far more impressive in regards to the massive spatial extent of violent tornadoes, statistically the two events are probably a lot closer than they look on the official stats.

 

[TH2002]

More obscure footage of tornadoes:

Piedmont, OK 5/24/2011 EF5



Woodward, OK 4/14-15/2012 EF3


Hope, ND 6/17/2010 EF2


Hackleburg-Phil Campbell 4/27/2011 EF5

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Well, this is interesting. After a 7-year hiatus, Stormstalker is back, although he's covering a tropical cyclone this time, I figure I might as well add this to the forum since he might get back to tornadoes.

March 4-5, 1899 — Cyclone Mahina

Note: This story takes place in an area that’s probably unfamiliar to most people, so I’ve put together a map that provides an overview of key features and locations. You can refer to i…

stormstalker.wordpress.com

 

[andyhb]

He is @locomusic01 here.

Might mean we're getting a Tupelo/Gainesville article soon .

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

He is @locomusic01 here.

Might mean we're getting a Tupelo/Gainesville article soon .

I was wondering if he was ever active again or not (or still alive, lol). I really hope for that Tupelo/Gainesville article too. I really hope he comes to be a more active participant in these forums again.!

 

[CheeselandSkies]

He is @locomusic01 here.

Might mean we're getting a Tupelo/Gainesville article soon .

I'm hoping for a 4/27 one...or at least a breakdown of the most impactful tornadoes (Hackleburg etc, TCL-BHM, Cullman, Smithville, Philadelphia, Rainsville, Ringgold, Cordova; and maybe some interesting aspects of some of the "overlooked" tornadoes (some of the other NE AL into TN EF4s and the long-track EF3s). No time like the upcoming 10th anniversary.

But great to hear he's back. I probably kept checking that blog regularly for 2 years after the last post (same with Extreme Planet) before giving up.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I'm hoping for a 4/27 one...or at least a breakdown of the most impactful tornadoes (Hackleburg etc, TCL-BHM, Cullman, Smithville, Philadelphia, Rainsville, Ringgold, Cordova; and maybe some interesting aspects of some of the "overlooked" tornadoes (some of the other NE AL into TN EF4s and the long-track EF3s). No time like the upcoming 10th anniversary.

But great to hear he's back. I probably kept checking that blog regularly for 2 years after the last post (same with Extreme Planet) before giving up.

I checked his blog for about 3 years before giving up, then 2020 happened and I was shut in all day so I checked it constantly, I didn't know if he was still alive or not. I really hope he gets around to all of his planned posts, in addition to 4/27 and Tupelo/Gainesville I hope he does a post on the 1974 Super Outbreak and the numerous other notable Dixie outbreaks at some point.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I found an engineering study about damage from the Tri-State tornado in Murphysboro, De Soto, some rural areas, and West Frankfort. It included examples of extreme damage that I'll list below;
Orient Mine, West Frankfort
- A Buick roadster was carried ~200 ft and demolished.
- One 60,000 gallon steel water tank that was anchored with bolts was blown away. One of the steel bearing plates supporting the water tower was bent upwards at a 45-degree angle while another one was twisted.
- A 20-ton locomotive crane was lifted off its tracks and laid against a building.
- A "Cyclone fence" was bent.
- An overhead conveyor was totally destroyed with some of its concrete piers being pulled out of the ground.

Peabody Mine 18, West Frankfort
- A steel pier of a mining tipple was torn completely out of the ground and hurled 45 ft away.

Rural Areas
- An Illinois Central steel railroad bridge over the Big Muddy River (that weighed over 100 tons) was moved 8 inches while a nearby pump house was completely swept away.

Journal of the Western Society of Engineers

www.google.com

What's incredible about the fence is how low to the ground it was bent at; an indication of extreme winds perhaps not even an inch from the Earth's surface.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So, this is a bit unfortunate. I got a response from Shawn of Stormstalker after commenting on his newest and it looks like after he finishes the Tupelo/Gainesville article he probably won't make any more articles, as he doesn't enjoy putting so much time into something that hardly anyone ever reads.

Link: https://stormstalker.wordpress.com/2021/03/04/cyclone-mahina/#comments

He apparently has a ton of files on his computer for future planned articles that likely will never suffice. Oh well.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I've done some more digging into the 6/3/1894 Long Creek OR tornado and it was a very intense event. Also apparently that school picture was from the Long Creek tornado and not a separate tornado. Per the book An illustrated history of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney counties : with a brief outline of the early history of the state of Oregon, "Of the buildings which stood in its path not a single trace remained after the storm had passed." The same book says that 8 buildings were swept away in the town of Long Creek itself.

 

[andyhb]

So, this is a bit unfortunate. I got a response from Shawn of Stormstalker after commenting on his newest and it looks like after he finishes the Tupelo/Gainesville article he probably won't make any more articles, as he doesn't enjoy putting so much time into something that hardly anyone ever reads.

Link: https://stormstalker.wordpress.com/2021/03/04/cyclone-mahina/#comments

He apparently has a ton of files on his computer for future planned articles that likely will never suffice. Oh well.

Needs more exposure, plain and simple.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Needs more exposure, plain and simple.

Perhaps we could help with that and persuade him to change his mind about closing up shop with the blog for good. Or perhaps someone else could take over the blog and continue writing more articles. Just shooting out some ideas here.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I've done some more research into California tornadoes and it appears Grazulis might have missed 2 killer tornadoes in California and some significant tornadoes. The first killer tornado was the 12/31/1878 Santa Barbara tornado: "A waterspout came ashore at Santa Barbara and moved NW inland. Barns were destroyed, homes had roof damage and a church steeple was toppled. A child was killed when he was crushed by a falling chimney." The second killer tornado was the 1/27/1916 Lucerne Valley tornado: "Two school houses were unroofed and homes were blown down with debris being 'swept for a long distance across the desert (reportedly for miles.)' One woman was killed when she was struck by flying debris." Some other notable significant tornadoes were the 4/19/1905 Vasilia tornado (Moved E from 5 mi SW of Visilia to 4 mi S of town. A two-story house was lifted 100 ft into the air and was completely demolished. Numerous oak trees were uprooted or snapped) and the 1/18/1906 Tejon Pass tornado (Struck a ranch 40 mi SE of Bakersfield. The ranch-house, farm machinery and all outbuildings were destroyed with debris being scattered for a distance of 2 miles. One person was thrown 150 ft from the home. The tornado’s track was clearly visible in stubblefields.)

 

[andyhb]

Perhaps we could help with that and persuade him to change his mind about closing up shop with the blog for good. Or perhaps someone else could take over the blog and continue writing more articles. Just shooting out some ideas here.

Just floated him an idea via Twitter DM so I'll see if he responds.

 

[OHWX97]

So, this is a bit unfortunate. I got a response from Shawn of Stormstalker after commenting on his newest and it looks like after he finishes the Tupelo/Gainesville article he probably won't make any more articles, as he doesn't enjoy putting so much time into something that hardly anyone ever reads.

Link: https://stormstalker.wordpress.com/2021/03/04/cyclone-mahina/#comments

He apparently has a ton of files on his computer for future planned articles that likely will never suffice. Oh well.

Shawn has a huge talent that anyone who has had the pleasure of reading his blogs should recognize. The amount of time and effort he puts into them must be exhausting and very time consuming. That, on top of balancing whatever goes on in his personal life must be cumbersome. It's no wonder he's burnt out, but I hope he reconsiders stopping for good. His content is truly outstanding and deserving of way more love and attention. I suggest everyone to consider giving him a shout out on twitter or facebook or wherever.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Just floated him an idea via Twitter DM so I'll see if he responds.

I'll link to the site again: https://stormstalker.wordpress.com/

I encourage everyone to browse the articles and leave comments and attempt to get this site as much publicity and attention as possible, if we want to persuade him to keep it up.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Shawn has a huge talent that anyone who has had the pleasure of reading his blogs should recognize. The amount of time and effort he puts into them must be exhausting and very time consuming. That, on top of balancing whatever goes on in his personal life must be cumbersome. It's no wonder he's burnt out, but I hope he reconsiders stopping for good. His content is truly outstanding and deserving of way more love and attention. I suggest everyone to consider giving him a shout out on twitter or facebook or wherever.

I think it might be better for him to write and publish a book concerning notable severe weather events and the like; much easier to get publicity and recognition that way. Perhaps he could compile all of his entries (and make additional ones) into a series of books. It'd be great if maybe multiple people could run Stormstalker instead of just one individual. Might make it more likely for his blog to last well into the future.