• 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
2,158
Reaction score
2,716
Location
Missouri
One of the most notable tornadic events outside the United States...the 1987 Edmonton storm. This high-end F4 is remarkable in so many ways, not the least being that it formed over 350 miles north of the U.S. border. It stayed on the ground for over an hour before finally dissipating on the northern edge of the city limits of Edmonton. So, some links and relevant pics:

1. https://1987edmontontornado.webs.com/apps/photos/--this site has a great collection of photos of the tornado and damage
2. https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/tornado/home/t87--the best resource for meteorological review of the event. Also has a section on where the F4 rating was justified and explained quite thoroughly. It should be noted that some believe this tornado should have been given an F5 rating.

The first two pics are aerial photographs of areas where the most intense damage occurred. Borderline/low-end F5 damage may have occurred here:

Edmonton 1.JPGEdmonton 2.JPG
The Evergreen Mobile Home Park, the tornado went through here near the end of it's life, and had narrowed significantly but was still doing F2-F3 damage. 15 of the 12 fatalities occurred here. Even the anomalous tornado that occurs 350+ miles north of the American border still manages to strike a trailer park.
Edmonton 3.JPG

These two pics are ground-level views of damage. Of note is the car with it's engine torn out and the large oil tank thrown a couple blocks.
Edmonton 4.JPGEdmonton 5.JPG


This last pic is of the massive oil tank that was thrown and landed upside down after flying a couple blocks or so:

Tank.jpg

Two formation videos of this. The second is one of the most impreesive multivortex formations I've ever seen:

 
Last edited:

akt1985

Member
Messages
1,009
Reaction score
510
Location
Madison, Alabama
Today, June 4th, is the 40th anniversary of the Grand Island, Nebraska tornado family. Weren’t there several tornadoes that were anticyclonic? I do remember that event was the basis of the children’s fiction book “Night of the Twisters.”
 

pohnpei

Member
Messages
958
Reaction score
1,949
Location
shanghai
two intriguing tree damage which vary from intact to largely debarked whitin a very tiny area.
this one from October 2 2017 KS tornado maybe the EF2 one
QQ图片20200113212830.jpg
this one from August 3 Alonsa MB EF4 tornado
21.jpg
 

pohnpei

Member
Messages
958
Reaction score
1,949
Location
shanghai
Today, June 4th, is the 40th anniversary of the Grand Island, Nebraska tornado family. Weren’t there several tornadoes that were anticyclonic? I do remember that event was the basis of the children’s fiction book “Night of the Twisters.”
Yeah, three of the seven tornados were anticyclonic, very intricate almost inexplicable event.
 

pohnpei

Member
Messages
958
Reaction score
1,949
Location
shanghai
I find that most pics includes the pics on NWS website of Birmingham F5 in 1998 was in Oak Grove aera and I always heard that this tornado did much severe damage in Wylam Heights subdivision and Edgewater. But I can't find pics in these aera or I am not certain which pics below are from these places. I will be appreciate if someone have the answer.
bhm11.jpgbirmingham1.jpgbirmingham2.jpgQQ截图20200501180845.jpg
 
Messages
2,158
Reaction score
2,716
Location
Missouri
Today, June 4th, is the 40th anniversary of the Grand Island, Nebraska tornado family. Weren’t there several tornadoes that were anticyclonic? I do remember that event was the basis of the children’s fiction book “Night of the Twisters.”
3 of the 7 tornadoes from the supercell were anticyclonic, and the supercell moved over the city at only 8 mph. Several of the tornadoes looped back over their path at least once and most were very narrow in width. The whole thing is just bizarre.
 
Messages
2,158
Reaction score
2,716
Location
Missouri
I wish I could find the article or video, I can’t remember which, but it stated the Hackleburg tornado threw a Crown Vic a mile.
I think there was a picture on the old thread where they finally found the vehicle, as it was at the bottom of someone's pond. It couldn't be found anywhere at the time of the survey and apparently wasn't located until quite some time (possibly up to a year) before it was finally found. I would love to find that pic again.
 

ARCC

Member
Messages
503
Reaction score
309
Location
Coosa county
I think there was a picture on the old thread where they finally found the vehicle, as it was at the bottom of someone's pond. It couldn't be found anywhere at the time of the survey and apparently wasn't located until quite some time (possibly up to a year) before it was finally found. I would love to find that pic again.

That sounds right.

I wish sellerphoto hadn’t taken down their interactive map with the photos. Many photos are still up on the site, but many are missing. There was also an excellent high res aerial video on YouTube from Hackleburg to Athens, but it is gone as well. The damage in Moulton isn’t talked about as much, but from the air it was just as severe as Hackleburg. The ground was just blasted white.
 
Messages
2,158
Reaction score
2,716
Location
Missouri
That sounds right.

I wish sellerphoto hadn’t taken down their interactive map with the photos. Many photos are still up on the site, but many are missing. There was also an excellent high res aerial video on YouTube from Hackleburg to Athens, but it is gone as well. The damage in Moulton isn’t talked about as much, but from the air it was just as severe as Hackleburg. The ground was just blasted white.
So, ABC 33/40 has some damage aerials vids from the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado and some aerial vids from Hackleburg, so apparently there was more videos from the Hackleburg-Phil Campbell tornado that are no longer up on YouTube? That's irritating....perhaps the Wayback Machine may have some of these videos available if you dig enough.
 

buckeye05

Member
Messages
3,121
Reaction score
4,581
Location
Colorado
I wish I could find the article or video, I can’t remember which, but it stated the Hackleburg tornado threw a Crown Vic a mile.
I’m pretty sure it was a poster here in this forum, BMX meteorologist Chris Darden if I’m not mistaken. It was listed as “missing” at the time the survey was finalized, but was later found in a pond a mile away iirc.

If anybody would be able to get ahold of Chris, he could confirm this again.
 

buckeye05

Member
Messages
3,121
Reaction score
4,581
Location
Colorado
Does anyone have any aerial Brandenburg tornado damage photos saved that they could post? Loco once posted some great color aerial shots from Brandenburg, but I can no longer find them. It's a shame too, since it was probably the most violent of the 1974 Super Outbreak tornadoes.
 
Messages
2,158
Reaction score
2,716
Location
Missouri
Does anyone have any aerial Brandenburg tornado damage photos saved that they could post? Loco once posted some great color aerial shots from Brandenburg, but I can no longer find them. It's a shame too, since it was probably the most violent of the 1974 Super Outbreak tornadoes.
These two are the best I could find. First is a before and after, second is an aerial photograph of where some of the worst damage occurred:

brandenburg-before-after-f5-tornado.png
damage.jpg
 

buckeye05

Member
Messages
3,121
Reaction score
4,581
Location
Colorado
Thanks, here's a few more. Note the collapsed poured concrete basement wall in the second one. Only even seen this phenomenon happen here, in Parkersburg, and in Joplin.
brandenburg-f5-tornado-1974.png

0sXwRPY.jpg

WYrKBJY.jpg

brandenburg20.JPG
 

buckeye05

Member
Messages
3,121
Reaction score
4,581
Location
Colorado
These two are the best I could find. First is a before and after, second is an aerial photograph of where some of the worst damage occurred:

View attachment 3733
View attachment 3736
That last pic is particularly impressive when you zoom in. Multiple large, and likely well anchored homes completely swept away with only basements left at the center of the path. Here's a larger and higher resolution version. I see at least 5 potential F5 homes in the picture, including the one near the Ohio River circled in yellow. This was a large and well built home that was not only swept away but also lost two of its basement walls. It's hard to see, but you can still make it out if you enlarge the photo and zoom in. Low-level winds in this area were so violent, even the basement carpeting was swept away at that residence from what I've heard. The second picture is a ground view of the aforementioned home circled in yellow.
6a0148c78b79ee970c01a51192d79f970c-pi

brandenburg-tornado-damage-1974.png
 
Last edited:
Messages
346
Reaction score
85
Location
Lenexa, KS

pohnpei

Member
Messages
958
Reaction score
1,949
Location
shanghai
This article listed the DOW reading of Harper tornado on May 12 2004. The peak Vg of this tornado was 94m/s. Based on the timing information provided by NCDC, this reading probably belonged to the F4 one which lasted 5 minutes and tracked 1.2 miles.
the damage video can be found on Youtube
 
Logo 468x120
Back
Top