Eoline
Member
They obtained the photos directly from Kathy Delp; they were never directly posted online prior.
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Significant Tornado Events
- Thread starter locomusic01
- Start date
WeathermanLeprechaun
Member
Good finds anyways. Very rarily are you able to obtain from someone photos of a 4/27 tornado. I found a interesting tweet of someone saying they found a new Smithville photo from some guy before getting in his shelter. May dig it back up again if its of any interest.
csx1985
Member
Aaron Rider
Member
A bunch of the 74 tornadoes were deep in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky. Also, many of the Southern tornadoes were after dark. The combination of darkness and very remote country explains a lot.
I would argue some of the more violent tornados on that day were actually in that northeastern TN/southeastern KY corridor.
More rural than the other areas that day so they aren’t as famous as the headliners, but you still had multiple F4s jammed in that corridor in the evening. Some on the ground at the same time.
There was actually one rated F2 that went through the Daniel Boone forest that left such a severe scar that it was still somewhat evident a few years ago. I’ll have to check my sources but I want to say a TN reanalysis of the 74 outbreak stated that F2 was likely much stronger.
Edit: I posted pictures earlier in this thread, but the Pickett, TN F4 arguably deserved to be rated F5. Especially relative to some of the other 5s on that day.
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Looking at the damage paths, between the well known N Alabama and Ohio valley corridors is practically a wall of f4 tornadoes. I imagine that looking from east to west, you’d be hard pressed to spot a gap between violent tornado tracks.
Just adds to how insane the 74 outbreak was
I don’t think it’s any coincidence both super outbreaks took place in conjunction with historic La Ninas. 1973-74 was particularly intense, and by some metrics the most intense on record. Even compared to 2011, 74 really just stands out in the sheer size of its aerial expanse. That kind of warm sector is mind blowing.
I recall a tornado was downgraded to F4 like Russiaville for 1965. Dunno if it was Pickett but I've always had a feeling that it could've likely actually been f5, cause the only reason it was downgraded is they couldn't find an example of the f5 damage that caused the upgrade.
Aaron Rider
Member
I believe that was the one in southern Tennessee in Coffee County
Edit: I now think it was in Hardin County
Edit #2: actually, probably Lincoln County?
per wikipeida it was a tornado that hit both Lincoln and Coffee counties
Disagreements on the intensity of tornadoes - Wikipedia
Aaron Rider
Member
Plenty of candidates! Sunnyside and Pittsfield both appear as obvious choices. If you look through pictures of Coldwater Lake, midway, Sunnyside, Pittsfield, Sheridan, and more, you'll see debris granulation with most. Russiaville apparently debarked trees and scoured grass
Just look at this vicious damage near Sheridan:
Coldwater Lake #1:
Sunnyside:
Pittsfield:
April 11, 1965 — Palm Sunday Outbreak
[Note: Click photos for larger versions.] Across the upper Midwestern United States, March of 1965 was cold, snowy and miserable. The month began with blizzard conditions across the region on March…
stormstalker.wordpress.com
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Plenty of candidates! Sunnyside and Pittsfield both appear as obvious choices. If you look through pictures of Coldwater Lake, midway, Sunnyside, Pittsfield, Sheridan, and more, you'll see debris granulation with most. Russiaville apparently debarked trees and scoured grass
Just look at this vicious damage near Sheridan:
View attachment 54545
Coldwater Lake #1:
View attachment 54546
Sunnyside:
View attachment 54547
Pittsfield:
View attachment 54548
April 11, 1965 — Palm Sunday Outbreak
[Note: Click photos for larger versions.] Across the upper Midwestern United States, March of 1965 was cold, snowy and miserable. The month began with blizzard conditions across the region on March…
Yeah, there was easily 5-6 F5s that day:
Pittsfield-Strongsville, Lebanon-Sheridan, Kokomo-Greentown and Coldwater Lake-Manitou Beach all have compelling cases as well, to varying degrees. Tbh we should probably just give Coldwater Lake an F5 purely on its monstrous appearance:
I mean, come on now. If you tear a John Deere in half, you gain automatic entry into the F5 club. Those are just the rules.
Another tractor having a very bad day, this one thrown more than half a mile:
A bus, or at least what little is left of one:
Pretty good case to be made that Sunnyside was the most violent tornado of the outbreak, which is saying something.
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I mean, come on now. If you tear a John Deere in half, you gain automatic entry into the F5 club. Those are just the rules.
Another tractor having a very bad day, this one thrown more than half a mile:
A bus, or at least what little is left of one:
Pretty good case to be made that Sunnyside was the most violent tornado of the outbreak, which is saying...
slenker
Member
I don’t remember who, but someone on this forum essentially stated that Palm Sunday ‘65 was basically just the Midwest 4/27/11, and I’m inclined to agree with that sentiment. Synoptically speaking, the outbreak was just as menacing looking as the other two outbreaks that were officially given the “super” status. I’d argue 4/11/65 was actually a more violent outbreak than 4/3/74 in some ways, but that may be a very hot take.
I also don't understand why it's even rated the way it is. The tornadoes of 65 are a lot more intense in general in comparison to some of the more questionable tornadoes of that era of analysis (I. E. Sunfield, Charles City). Even with that, we aren't even getting into whatever the hell happened with the surveys on the Wisconsin side of the outbreak.
DanLarsen34
Member
Can you expand more on this or have a link to where this has been discussed before? I’d love to learn more about the Wisconsin part of Palm Sunday 1965
I know I'm flooding the thread with Palm Sunday (sorry), but here's some more stuff from the "F1" in Monroe, WI:
And from the Watertown, WI "F2" as well:
Again, I'm far from an expert, but I feel fairly confident in saying the official ratings for Palm Sunday are.. not great.
He has more on this region of the outbreak, including that part of the thread, but in general the surveys were not particularly good in that region.
Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
Apparently lots of the ratings were handed out by summer interns at NWS offices years later (when the Fujita scale was in effect) so yeah, college interns with zero experience were shown past damage photos in poor quality black and white photographs and asked to rate these past tornadoes based off those aforementioned photos.
Yeah.......
CheeselandSkies
Member
That outbreak has long been a source of fascination for me, as really the only outbreak in the known record to affect the entire upper Midwest and western Great Lakes region, including southern Wisconsin, with (effectively, if not always officially) intense to violent tornadoes.
Several days out (even before 3/31 happened), it looked like 4/4/2023 might have that level of potential, with a huge area of double-digit 3KM EHI progged from a triple point in central Iowa along a warm front extending to western Lake Erie, but as we know that's not how it transpired.
Several days out (even before 3/31 happened), it looked like 4/4/2023 might have that level of potential, with a huge area of double-digit 3KM EHI progged from a triple point in central Iowa along a warm front extending to western Lake Erie, but as we know that's not how it transpired.
ItsOneLouder
Member
Here's a possible damage path for the F4 that formed near Fort Loramie, Ohio, and derailed a train near Swanders. Fujita never managed to survey this one, but I compared aerial imagery from before and after the outbreak and looked for 1965 construction dates in tax records. Seems plausible to me! The tornado tracked right along a road and destroyed farms on both sides.
