So, the previous twitter link has gone down so I re-uploaded it as an unlisted YouTube video as private mp4s aren't accepted as uploads here; the Pampa rotation. The person had to compress and zoom in a bit so the stability is a bit off but you can really see the insane drillbit motions on this thing. Also, note how quickly the pickups go in and out of the funnel:
Not to mention vehicles thrown 3/4 a mile and reduced to nothing. Extreme debris granulation and extraordinary tree damage. A tornado moving 60-70 mph had the strength to pull out plumbing fixtures from the foundation. Just mind boggling.
Indeed, it's easily among the most violent ever documented.
I copied this from extremeplanet: This is an instance of damage from the Rainsville tornado.
Yes, but a picture of that home does not match the descriptions; it was poorly built CMU, and the storm shelter only had the outside door and ground around it disturbed. No scouring or shredding in front of vegetation.
Rainsville did produce some remarkable wind-rowing, vegetation damage, and granulation in areas past Lingerfelt Road that I think clearly points to an EF5 tornado, but I will agree the construction quality in most homes was pretty questionable. There were numerous homes and other structures wiped clean, but I haven’t really seen many photos of areas outside of Rainsville so it’s tough to say if true EF5 damage occurred.
I believe there was an area of true EF5 damage on Skaggs Road - apparently a (supposedly) well-built masonry home had a stone pillar in its basement that was almost completely uprooted out of the floor, or something like that.
From what I read there was grass scouring, pavement removal and vegetation stripped bare. I agree the house doesn’t look very well built. When you look at it front the context of Philadelphia, MS it failed to produce the 3 foot trenches.
Oh agreed its just this home appears questionable.
I also read in an article from the Austin Statesman that the tornado was at maximum intensity when that horizontal vortex appeared which would be at about the 4:06 mark.
These gouges are very unique looking. I wonder if it’s caused by extreme suction from the sub-vortices within the tornado? This sort of reminds me of the 2021 damage outside of NE Arkansas. Has areas of deep gouges. Thank you for sharing. So fascinating!
It is undoubtedly from suction vortices yes, and extremely violent one’s at that. However, I have yet to see anything as unusual and erratic as the vortices within the Greensburg tornado. If you look closely elsewhere in the field around the deep gouges, there’s other marks from separate extreme wind features that are legit only at max a couple feet in width. The tornado’s core consisted of this weird carousel of suction vortices that orbited and intertwined around one another without a defined centerline, except for near the lake in north Greensburg where the structure of the vortex changed. Really odd and fascinating stuff.
What do you think about the tornado that followed the Greensburg tornado? I have read it might have been even stronger. I travel some of those areas and you would be amazed how desolate the area is in terms of population.
Trousdale and Hopewell were absolutely monstrous and violent tornadoes, that like you said traversed very rural areas thankfully. Trousdale was like Greensburg in that it had some unusual vortex characteristics resulting in erratic damage, but it was every bit of EF5 strength. It’s also quite possible the thing was 3 miles wide. Hopewell as well was pretty obviously violent and produced some absolutely phenomenal vehicle and vegetation damage indicative of EF5 intensity in my opinion. Tough to say if either of these tornadoes were more powerful than Greensburg, but a few of the surveyors that went and saw the damage on the ground with Trousdale and the other meteorologists at NWS Dodge City all seem to come to the conclusion that it is quite likely Trousdale was more intense than Greensburg.
Did Marshal have anything on Trousdale, Hopewell or Macksville? I am aware that they did destroy farms, I just recall seeing once that one of those tornadoes was said to be rated EF4 on some page or something, but am blanking on the source.
I will be honest. I was always under the impression that Greensburg had minimal EF-5 damage. I’m glad you have done the research and proved otherwise. I was at the Joplin aftermath and saw damage indicative of EF-5 all around me but I still feel that Joplin also doesn’t get the credit for just how powerful it really was. Back to Greensburg I remember watching the KAKE video on YouTube of the supercell and it was incredible to see the radar images and gait to gait shear. Seemed to be traveling almost due north as well. Do you have any other photos of the gouges in the fields?
Here is the area I was referring to. The gouges do look different but certain areas had random deep gouges without any debris around.
