• Welcome to TalkWeather!
    We see you lurking around TalkWeather! Take the extra step and join us today to view attachments, see less ads and maybe even join the discussion.
    CLICK TO JOIN TALKWEATHER
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
2,713
Location
Missouri
Also there was a tornado on June 15, 1990 that went through parts of Red Willow and Hitchcock County, NB and literally turned tractors, vehicles, other farm equipment, a cast iron skillet, an iron, and a shovel into literal granulated shards. These one people who lost their van in the tornado had to find a piece of it for insurance purposes. They found part of the firewall 7 miles away.
I think the Greensburg EF5 tornado carried some vehicles about 1/4 to 1/2 mile but most of them weren't mangled beyond recognition like with other violent E/F5 tornadoes including some tornadoes rated E/F4. This is the most impressive picture of vehicle damage from the Greensburg tornado. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a...stars-and-stripes-in-greensburg-14354165.html
I would to find photographs of the Greensburg track before it got to the town. Be interesting to see if it did any impressive ground scouring.
 
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
2,713
Location
Missouri
Another overlooked tornado is the Roanoke, IL tornado of 2004. Completely demolished a manufacturing plant. Some of the most impressive damage to an industrial building.

Roanoke 2.jpgRoanoke 3.jpgRoanoke 4.jpgRoanoke 5.jpgRoanoke 8.jpgRoanoke 9.jpgRoanoke 10.jpg








Finally, some before & after pics of the plant:


roanoke 6.jpg

roanoke 7.jpg
 
Last edited:

Weatherphreak

Member
Messages
351
Reaction score
336
Location
Huntsville
Another interesting thing I've noticed is that the section of northwestern Alabama from Marion and Lamar Counties to Limestone and Madison Counties has had an incredible amount of violent tornadoes over the years, several of them all occurring in the 1974 and 2011 super outbreaks. Really must be a perfect mix of geography, topography and climate.
Having lived in Huntsville most of my life I’ve studied a lot about the tracks of the historic system’s. There’s definitely something there. There’s the famous track that hit in 74 and 11 from the Guin, Hamilton area up through Mt. Hope, Tanner, and Harvest. 74 had 2 tornadoes track within a mile of each other in Tanner within a hour. One was the end of the guin tornado and the other ended up being the Huntsville tornado I believe. The 1932 outbreak had a lot of similar tracks as well but several of the areas weren’t as populated so exact tracks aren’t 100% known. The house I live in in far South Huntsville was built in the 60s. There was a F4 tornado that went from Eva to Lacey Springs to Paint Rock in 1932 that appears to track right over my current house. For 10 years I never had a close call but recently I’ve had 3 tornado warned supercells track over that exact path and I’ve just been lucky. Obviously a combination of similar Low tracks and geography tend to aid the development of sustained violent updrafts in certain areas. More knowledgable posters than me can certainly add more depth than that to this discussion.
 
Messages
346
Reaction score
85
Location
Lenexa, KS
Messages
346
Reaction score
85
Location
Lenexa, KS
Another overlooked tornado is the Roanoke, IL tornado of 2004. Completely demolished a manufacturing plant. Some of the most impressive damage to an industrial building.






View attachment 3381View attachment 3382View attachment 3383View attachment 3384
View attachment 3385
View attachment 3386
View attachment 3387
Finally, some before & after pics of the plant:

View attachment 3388


View attachment 3389
There were a few tornadoes in 2004 that really stood out there. This is one of them. There was also a tornado on July 18, 2004 in Barnes County, ND that practically did F5 damage. It was actually considered for an F5 rating but was settled on a very high-end F4. I can't find any damage from that tornado anymore. Also the Harper County, Kansas tornado should definitely have been rated F5. Like I said 2004 had some very violent tornadoes.
 
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
2,713
Location
Missouri
Having lived in Huntsville most of my life I’ve studied a lot about the tracks of the historic system’s. There’s definitely something there. There’s the famous track that hit in 74 and 11 from the Guin, Hamilton area up through Mt. Hope, Tanner, and Harvest. 74 had 2 tornadoes track within a mile of each other in Tanner within a hour. One was the end of the guin tornado and the other ended up being the Huntsville tornado I believe. The 1932 outbreak had a lot of similar tracks as well but several of the areas weren’t as populated so exact tracks aren’t 100% known. The house I live in in far South Huntsville was built in the 60s. There was a F4 tornado that went from Eva to Lacey Springs to Paint Rock in 1932 that appears to track right over my current house. For 10 years I never had a close call but recently I’ve had 3 tornado warned supercells track over that exact path and I’ve just been lucky. Obviously a combination of similar Low tracks and geography tend to aid the development of sustained violent updrafts in certain areas. More knowledgable posters than me can certainly add more depth than that to this discussion.

Another interesting thing is that the town of Athens, AL almost always avoids getting hit by tornadoes as it is shortly away from the place where the Cumberland Plateau stops and the tornadoes always curve away from it. At least that was what it looked like on the chart.
Also, are you familiar with the April 1920 Dixie Outbreak? It was basically 4-27-11 in many ways. There was this one tornado started a bit farther west in Mississippi but continued into Alabama and from there on out it's track was virtually identical to the 2011 Hackleburg storm. It's official path length is listed as having ended at the Tennessee River but it likely continued into Limestone County or into Franklin County, TN in areas around Huntland much like Hackleburg as well. There's a PDF file on it somewhere I'll have to dig but it's really interesting to read about.
 

buckeye05

Member
Messages
3,121
Reaction score
4,581
Location
Colorado
There were a few tornadoes in 2004 that really stood out there. This is one of them. There was also a tornado on July 18, 2004 in Barnes County, ND that practically did F5 damage. It was actually considered for an F5 rating but was settled on a very high-end F4. I can't find any damage from that tornado anymore. Also the Harper County, Kansas tornado should definitely have been rated F5. Like I said 2004 had some very violent tornadoes.
I’ve actually heard through the grapevine that the lead surveyor who rated Harper F4 actually regretted that decision in hindsight, and wishes he could go back and up it to F5.
 
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
2,713
Location
Missouri
Another interesting thing is that the town of Athens, AL almost always avoids getting hit by tornadoes as it is shortly away from the place where the Cumberland Plateau stops and the tornadoes always curve away from it. At least that was what it looked like on the chart.
Also, are you familiar with the April 1920 Dixie Outbreak? It was basically 4-27-11 in many ways. There was this one tornado started a bit farther west in Mississippi but continued into Alabama and from there on out it's track was virtually identical to the 2011 Hackleburg storm. It's official path length is listed as having ended at the Tennessee River but it likely continued into Limestone County or into Franklin County, TN in areas around Huntland much like Hackleburg as well. There's a PDF file on it somewhere I'll have to dig but it's really interesting to read about.
I’ve actually heard through the grapevine that the lead surveyor who rated Harper F4 actually regretted that decision in hindsight, and wishes he could go back and up it to F5.
Sounds similar to Grazulis regretting that he ranked the Worcester tornado an F4 instead of F5.
 

Weatherphreak

Member
Messages
351
Reaction score
336
Location
Huntsville
Another interesting thing is that the town of Athens, AL almost always avoids getting hit by tornadoes as it is shortly away from the place where the Cumberland Plateau stops and the tornadoes always curve away from it. At least that was what it looked like on the chart.
Also, are you familiar with the April 1920 Dixie Outbreak? It was basically 4-27-11 in many ways. There was this one tornado started a bit farther west in Mississippi but continued into Alabama and from there on out it's track was virtually identical to the 2011 Hackleburg storm. It's official path length is listed as having ended at the Tennessee River but it likely continued into Limestone County or into Franklin County, TN in areas around Huntland much like Hackleburg as well. There's a PDF file on it somewhere I'll have to dig but it's really interesting to read about.
I’ll have to look into the 1920s outbreak. I would say the Cumberland plateau ends just east of Huntsville along the Madison Jackson County line. It could be argued that Monte Sano and Green mountains are the west ward extent but it’s mostly flat west of there. How Athens and Decatur have not been devastated is beyond me. They always seem to dodge the bullet. The 1995 Anderson Hills and 2012 Meridianville tornadoes both formed just Ne of Athens and tracked East. The April 28, 2014 tornado that caused extensive damage around the elk river seemed to be on a bee line for downtown Athens before it lifted. The November 89 storm went right over Decatur before it merged with the squal line and produced a F4 over South Huntsville. The Hackleburg tornado crossed the river just west of a major industrial area in Decatur and went just south of an upscale golf neighborhood in Athens. It’s not so much that the storms move as much as they haven’t produced in those towns.
 
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
2,713
Location
Missouri
I’ll have to look into the 1920s outbreak. I would say the Cumberland plateau ends just east of Huntsville along the Madison Jackson County line. It could be argued that Monte Sano and Green mountains are the west ward extent but it’s mostly flat west of there. How Athens and Decatur have not been devastated is beyond me. They always seem to dodge the bullet. The 1995 Anderson Hills and 2012 Meridianville tornadoes both formed just Ne of Athens and tracked East. The April 28, 2014 tornado that caused extensive damage around the elk river seemed to be on a bee line for downtown Athens before it lifted. The November 89 storm went right over Decatur before it merged with the squal line and produced a F4 over South Huntsville. The Hackleburg tornado crossed the river just west of a major industrial area in Decatur and went just south of an upscale golf neighborhood in Athens. It’s not so much that the storms move as much as they haven’t produced in those towns.

Here's 2 PDF files on a weather report on it. The 2nd file is the one that contains info on the 1920 Hackleburg equivalent.

1. https://web.archive.org/web/2006020....noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/048/mwr-048-04-0203b.pdf

2. https://web.archive.org/web/2017060...b.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/048/mwr-048-04-0205.pdf
 
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
2,713
Location
Missouri
I’ll have to look into the 1920s outbreak. I would say the Cumberland plateau ends just east of Huntsville along the Madison Jackson County line. It could be argued that Monte Sano and Green mountains are the west ward extent but it’s mostly flat west of there. How Athens and Decatur have not been devastated is beyond me. They always seem to dodge the bullet. The 1995 Anderson Hills and 2012 Meridianville tornadoes both formed just Ne of Athens and tracked East. The April 28, 2014 tornado that caused extensive damage around the elk river seemed to be on a bee line for downtown Athens before it lifted. The November 89 storm went right over Decatur before it merged with the squal line and produced a F4 over South Huntsville. The Hackleburg tornado crossed the river just west of a major industrial area in Decatur and went just south of an upscale golf neighborhood in Athens. It’s not so much that the storms move as much as they haven’t produced in those towns.

Man that is amazing. Still pretty crazy they keep dodging the bullets. I remember this article from a dude who lived in Tanner and his house has been hit in 1974 and again in 2011 and in 2012 his house was narrowly missed, but still damaged a bit. He said it's amazing that insurance still covers him after all that.
 

pohnpei

Member
Messages
958
Reaction score
1,949
Location
shanghai
There were a few tornadoes in 2004 that really stood out there. This is one of them. There was also a tornado on July 18, 2004 in Barnes County, ND that practically did F5 damage. It was actually considered for an F5 rating but was settled on a very high-end F4. I can't find any damage from that tornado anymore. Also the Harper County, Kansas tornado should definitely have been rated F5. Like I said 2004 had some very violent tornadoes.
I also once heard that the F4 tornado on June 23 2002 Barnard SD do damage close to F5 but yet to find any damage photo. Really curious about this one and the Barnes County ND one.
 
Back
Top