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rolltide_130

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Some rare 4.27 photos I've found

End of the Cullman Tornado. The tornado dissipated immediately after it had finished crossing this river.
View attachment 5815

The formation of the Flat Rock Tornado
View attachment 5816

The formation of the Rainsville Tornado
View attachment 5817

The Ringgold Tornado at EF4 strength in the Apison, TN area
View attachment 5818

A view under the wall cloud of the Bridgeport, AL EF4
View attachment 5819

The Hackleburg Tornado near the Carter Gin Subdivision (the final area of EF4+ damage along the path)
View attachment 5820

The Cordova Tornado's wall cloud structure
View attachment 5821

The Shoal Creek Tornado approaching the Ohatchee area
View attachment 5822

A view of the Rainsville Tornado in its mature stage, as seen from Fort Payne, AL
View attachment 5824

The horrific Tuscaloosa Tornado
View attachment 5825

Nice finds, but your first picture is actually from the 2009 Guntersville EF3. Just wanted to make you aware of that
 

buckeye05

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Some rare 4.27 photos I've found

End of the Cullman Tornado. The tornado dissipated immediately after it had finished crossing this river.
View attachment 5815

The formation of the Flat Rock Tornado
View attachment 5816

The formation of the Rainsville Tornado
View attachment 5817

The Ringgold Tornado at EF4 strength in the Apison, TN area
View attachment 5818

A view under the wall cloud of the Bridgeport, AL EF4
View attachment 5819

The Hackleburg Tornado near the Carter Gin Subdivision (the final area of EF4+ damage along the path)
View attachment 5820

The Cordova Tornado's wall cloud structure
View attachment 5821

The Shoal Creek Tornado approaching the Ohatchee area
View attachment 5822

A view of the Rainsville Tornado in its mature stage, as seen from Fort Payne, AL
View attachment 5824

The horrific Tuscaloosa Tornado
View attachment 5825
Pretty sure that second pic is of Tuscaloosa, not Flat Rock.
 

J-Rab

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Collection of lesser-known vids from 4/27/11:

Two videos of Smithville when it was in the Shottsville, AL area after crossing the state line. As can be seen, it narrowed quite a bit but was still fairly strong:

1.



2.



3.

Another video of Smithville when it was in the Hamilton, AL area (heads up for annoying music):




These next 2 are of Cullman:

These 2 videos of Cullman demonstrate how it had a shifting appearance when it was going through Cullman, by the time it got to Arab it was a more traditional Dixie wedge. The horizontal vortices and multiple vortices are clearly visible on this thing, a rarity for Dixie Alley. Also, it one of the videos it appears to lack a visible condensation funnel for a brief period, simialr to the DePauw, IN F5 of 1974 and the Henryville, IN EF4 of 2012.

1.



2.


I hadn’t seen the third video there of the Smithville Tornado near Hamilton, AL. It was still pretty robust at that point. I know that tornado only caused EF3 damage in AL... but I wonder if, at that point in the third video if it was still capable of producing EF5 damage if it had hit some sufficient DI’s.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not, but I really appreciate your contributions to this thread. I usually come here every day to see what else is here. So thanks for what you do here.

In fact, I thank everyone who helps keep this thread active. It is much appreciated to all.
 

J-Rab

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Some rare 4.27 photos I've found

End of the Cullman Tornado. The tornado dissipated immediately after it had finished crossing this river.
View attachment 5815

The formation of the Flat Rock Tornado
View attachment 5816

The formation of the Rainsville Tornado
View attachment 5817

The Ringgold Tornado at EF4 strength in the Apison, TN area
View attachment 5818

A view under the wall cloud of the Bridgeport, AL EF4
View attachment 5819

The Hackleburg Tornado near the Carter Gin Subdivision (the final area of EF4+ damage along the path)
View attachment 5820

The Cordova Tornado's wall cloud structure
View attachment 5821

The Shoal Creek Tornado approaching the Ohatchee area
View attachment 5822

A view of the Rainsville Tornado in its mature stage, as seen from Fort Payne, AL
View attachment 5824

The horrific Tuscaloosa Tornado
View attachment 5825
Those are some great pictures. I think that I’ve only seen about two of them... and I thought that I’d seen just about every picture from 4/27/2011.

Thanks for posting them.
 
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I hadn’t seen the third video there of the Smithville Tornado near Hamilton, AL. It was still pretty robust at that point. I know that tornado only caused EF3 damage in AL... but I wonder if, at that point in the third video if it was still capable of producing EF5 damage if it had hit some sufficient DI’s.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not, but I really appreciate your contributions to this thread. I usually come here every day to see what else is here. So thanks for what you do here.

In fact, I thank everyone who helps keep this thread active. It is much appreciated to all.
It was rated high-end EF3 in the Hamilton area. In fact there was a frame home at the bottom of a ravine that was swept clean from its foundation but lack of road access prevented close inspection of the home's construction, precluding a potential higher rating at that location. So it was likely at least EF4 at that point.
 

buckeye05

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It's from Flat Rock. Flat Rock formed on the other side of the river of Scottsboro, which is a pretty big city. This is where the image was taken. I did reverse search, which yielded nothing.
Ok gotcha. Looks identical to Tuscaloosa as it entered the city. I guess a lot of the tornadoes that day were very similar in appearance at certain points.
 
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Surprised a substantial post about this tornado hasn't been made yet, so given we're discussing Dixie Alley events yet again I figured I might as well put up some information involving the 1936 Tupelo tornado, which is easily one of the worst Dixie events. Also, a one-year old baby with name of Elvis Aaron Presley was among the survivors.

Some damage pics:

1. Aerial views of damage in Tupelo. At left, the devastation around Gum Pond. Possible vegetation scouring is visible atop the mound at right center. At right, looking northeast at the tornado’s path through the city.

Tupelo 1.png

2. Views of damage in Tupelo. At left, the remains of homes and a tree that was stripped bare by Gum Pond. At bottom right, only sections of baseboard remain where a home once stood.
Tupelo 2.png

3. At left, complete devastation in the eastern section of town. At right, a heavily damaged mansion that was similar to nearby residences that were reduced to their foundations. The three-story Hoffman house at 365 North Church Street was swept completely away, leading to several fatalities.

Tupelo 3.png


4. At left, the remains of the Hoffman mansion, which was swept down to its baseboards. Homes across the street suffered relatively modest damage. At right, a field that was “stripped bare” just east of town. (Mississippi State Geological Survey, 1936)

Tupelo 4.png

5. These next two speak for themselves:

Tupelo 6.png Tupelo.png



Sources:

1. https://www.tornadotalk.com/tupelo-ms-f5-tornado-april-5-1936/

2. https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...est-tornadoes-ever-recorded-pre-1970-part-ii/

3. https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/geology/wor...ategories/bulletins/the-tupelo-tornado-18398/
 
Last edited:

buckeye05

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Surprised a substantial post about this tornado hasn't been made yet, so given we're discussing Dixie Alley events yet again I figured I might as well put up some information involving the 1936 Tupelo tornado, which is easily one of the worst Dixie events. Also, a one-year old baby with name of Elvis Aaron Presley was among the survivors.

Some damage pics:

1. Aerial views of damage in Tupelo. At left, the devastation around Gum Pond. Possible vegetation scouring is visible atop the mound at right center. At right, looking northeast at the tornado’s path through the city.

View attachment 5828

2. Views of damage in Tupelo. At left, the remains of homes and a tree that was stripped bare by Gum Pond. At bottom right, only sections of baseboard remain where a home once stood.
View attachment 5829

3. At left, complete devastation in the eastern section of town. At right, a heavily damaged mansion that was similar to nearby residences that were reduced to their foundations. The three-story Hoffman house at 365 North Church Street was swept completely away, leading to several fatalities.

View attachment 5830


4. At left, the remains of the Hoffman mansion, which was swept down to its baseboards. Homes across the street suffered relatively modest damage. At right, a field that was “stripped bare” just east of town. (Mississippi State Geological Survey, 1936)

View attachment 5831

5. This next two speak for themselves:

View attachment 5833 View attachment 5834



Sources:

1. https://www.tornadotalk.com/tupelo-ms-f5-tornado-april-5-1936/

2. https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...est-tornadoes-ever-recorded-pre-1970-part-ii/

3. https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/geology/wor...ategories/bulletins/the-tupelo-tornado-18398/
Definitely some wind-rowing and debris granulation in that field picture. Tupelo 1936 was by all accounts, an extremely violent tornado. I just wish there were more clear pictures available.
 

J-Rab

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Surprised a substantial post about this tornado hasn't been made yet, so given we're discussing Dixie Alley events yet again I figured I might as well put up some information involving the 1936 Tupelo tornado, which is easily one of the worst Dixie events. Also, a one-year old baby with name of Elvis Aaron Presley was among the survivors.

Some damage pics:

1. Aerial views of damage in Tupelo. At left, the devastation around Gum Pond. Possible vegetation scouring is visible atop the mound at right center. At right, looking northeast at the tornado’s path through the city.

View attachment 5828

2. Views of damage in Tupelo. At left, the remains of homes and a tree that was stripped bare by Gum Pond. At bottom right, only sections of baseboard remain where a home once stood.
View attachment 5829

3. At left, complete devastation in the eastern section of town. At right, a heavily damaged mansion that was similar to nearby residences that were reduced to their foundations. The three-story Hoffman house at 365 North Church Street was swept completely away, leading to several fatalities.

View attachment 5830


4. At left, the remains of the Hoffman mansion, which was swept down to its baseboards. Homes across the street suffered relatively modest damage. At right, a field that was “stripped bare” just east of town. (Mississippi State Geological Survey, 1936)

View attachment 5831

5. This next two speak for themselves:

View attachment 5833 View attachment 5834



Sources:

1. https://www.tornadotalk.com/tupelo-ms-f5-tornado-april-5-1936/

2. https://extremeplanet.wordpress.com...est-tornadoes-ever-recorded-pre-1970-part-ii/

3. https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/geology/wor...ategories/bulletins/the-tupelo-tornado-18398/
Another bad Dixie Alley outbreak.

You and I had talked about that corridor in northern Alabama that seems to get so many severe tornadoes. During this same 1936 outbreak there was an F3 that set down just Northeast of the Tanner / Harvest area southeast of Elkmont and moved on up into Tennessee, like so many of them do.

Also, the same supercell that spawned the Tupelo tornado dropped a subsequent tornado in north Alabama that went just northwest of Russellville, which is about 9 miles north of Phil Campbell.

Incidentally, just like in 2011 a tornado hit Fyffe / Rainsville in Dekalb county and tornadoes hit both Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties.

One of these days I’m going to document all of the tornadoes that hit that area and make a list. I know some are documented all the way back into the 1800’s.
 

Marshal79344

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I did some research into the 1936 Tupelo Tornado not too long ago. The supercell thunderstorm that produced the Tupelo Tornado was hugging the warm front (according to Jonathan Finch's analysis), and benefiting from enhanced conditions along there. It's likely that other supercells existed further south in the warm sector, but were not tornadic. The supercell was filled with heavy rain, not surprised as the supercell was riding the warm front. This means that the tornado would have been more low-based than other supercells that day, and hard to see, which I did not confirm. The precipitation generated by the supercell would also have been higher than usual, due to its proximity to the front. The rain surrounding the tornado and directly succeeding it was unusually heavy, but not before. Eyewitnesses described multiple funnels spinning around a common center shortly after the Tupelo Tornado formed, and described large pieces of debris being chucked into the air within a minute of touchdown.

The tornado then grew into what I estimate to have been a low based wedge tornado, not too big, but of EF5 intensity as it began to move right into the heart of Tupelo, leveling entire brick businesses to the ground. So much debris filled the Tupelo Tornado as it moved through town at maximum intensity, that it was described as a rotating ball of fire, filled with terrible flashes (tons of power flashes.) Another eyewitness said, "I looked out the door and saw it coming. It looked like a ball of fire was whirling toward us. The air roared like a cannon. Then it struck. The roof came off, the walls came down, and we were buried under wreckage. The roar died down, and then I heard by neighbors groaning. My next-door neighbor died in my arms."

There was so much debris in the tornado that farm fields outside of Tupelo were strewn with debris for miles. The same supercell produced one more tornado after the Tupelo Tornado lifted.

Higher Quality aerial of the Gum Pond area, which was worst hit
19360405TUPELO8.jpg

Phenomenal destruction along some road in Tupelo
19360405TUPELO.jpg

Tree Debarked
1612355364504.png

Another view of Gum Pond
1612355397801.png
1612355436045.png
1612355453021.png
1612355468770.png

Aerial of Tupelo
19360405TUPELO4.jpg
 
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I did some research into the 1936 Tupelo Tornado not too long ago. The supercell thunderstorm that produced the Tupelo Tornado was hugging the warm front (according to Jonathan Finch's analysis), and benefiting from enhanced conditions along there. It's likely that other supercells existed further south in the warm sector, but were not tornadic. The supercell was filled with heavy rain, not surprised as the supercell was riding the warm front. This means that the tornado would have been more low-based than other supercells that day, and hard to see, which I did not confirm. The precipitation generated by the supercell would also have been higher than usual, due to its proximity to the front. The rain surrounding the tornado and directly succeeding it was unusually heavy, but not before. Eyewitnesses described multiple funnels spinning around a common center shortly after the Tupelo Tornado formed, and described large pieces of debris being chucked into the air within a minute of touchdown.

The tornado then grew into what I estimate to have been a low based wedge tornado, not too big, but of EF5 intensity as it began to move right into the heart of Tupelo, leveling entire brick businesses to the ground. So much debris filled the Tupelo Tornado as it moved through town at maximum intensity, that it was described as a rotating ball of fire, filled with terrible flashes (tons of power flashes.) Another eyewitness said, "I looked out the door and saw it coming. It looked like a ball of fire was whirling toward us. The air roared like a cannon. Then it struck. The roof came off, the walls came down, and we were buried under wreckage. The roar died down, and then I heard by neighbors groaning. My next-door neighbor died in my arms."

There was so much debris in the tornado that farm fields outside of Tupelo were strewn with debris for miles. The same supercell produced one more tornado after the Tupelo Tornado lifted.

Higher Quality aerial of the Gum Pond area, which was worst hit
View attachment 5835

Phenomenal destruction along some road in Tupelo
View attachment 5836

Tree Debarked
View attachment 5837

Another view of Gum Pond
View attachment 5838
View attachment 5839
View attachment 5840
View attachment 5841

Aerial of Tupelo
View attachment 5842

Wow those color photos are impressive. Tupelo strikes me as what would have happened if Smithville had tracked through a bigger and more populated area when everyone was home. It also seems to have intensified as quickly as Smithville did, likely capable of doing EF5 damage within seconds of touchdown. Also, I saw a post or article one time that speculated that the F3 tornado that formed after this one and struck the Red Bay, AL area may actually have been the same tornado; it's definitely plausible and the post/article offered some pretty convincing proof. Anyways, it's hard to find good quality pics of Tupelo damage so your post is much appreciated.
 

MNTornadoGuy

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One tornado outbreak that isn't talked about much is the June 21 1972 Central Arizona tornado outbreak. At least 7 tornadoes touched down, the strongest being an F3 that affected the town of Eloy. This short-lived 1000 yard wide tornado tore through the town, completely destroying two homes and several businesses. 18 people were injured and the town struggled to clean up after the tornado.
Screenshot_2021-02-03 Eloy Enterprise, Page1, 1972-06-29 pdf.jpg
Screenshot_2021-02-03 Eloy Enterprise, Page4, 1972-06-29 pdf.jpg
Screenshot_2021-02-03 Eloy Enterprise, Page4, 1972-06-29 pdf(1).jpg
Screenshot_2021-02-03 Eloy Enterprise, Page4, 1972-06-29 pdf(2).jpg
Screenshot_2021-02-03 Eloy Enterprise, Page5, 1972-06-29 pdf.jpg
Screenshot_2021-02-03 Eloy Enterprise, Page5, 1972-06-29 pdf(1).jpg
 
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Those images have a surreal kind of quality to them, with the stark contrast levels. They almost look like charcoal drawings rather than photographs.
 
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Definitely some wind-rowing and debris granulation in that field picture. Tupelo 1936 was by all accounts, an extremely violent tornado. I just wish there were more clear pictures available.
Making the issue worse is that many damage pics from Gainesville, Georgia tornado that occurred the next day are often incorrectly identified as being from Tupelo.
 

buckeye05

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One tornado that has always interested me was the Antlers, OK F5 of of 1945. There aren't many photos available, though the descriptions of the damage that I have heard suggest that this was an extremely violent tornado. Not only were sections of some neighborhoods reportedly completely swept clean, but four brick businesses at an intersection in downtown Antlers were entirely swept away as well. Several other brick buildings were leveled, and a tractor trailer was thrown one mile and severely mangled. Debris from Antlers was strewn for up to 10 miles outside of town, and the bodies of victims were thrown long distances as well.

Another interesting note, is that I found one account indicating that the roar of the tornado was audible for up to 25 miles away! Not sure how accurate that is though.
large960_blur-7da1a374b81e8af5043095814359194e.jpg

jpc001col.jpg

jpc013col.jpg

jpc062col.jpg

jpc008col.jpg

jpc087col.jpg
 
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One tornado that has always interested me was the Antlers, OK F5 of of 1945. There aren't many photos available, though the descriptions of the damage that I have heard suggest that this was an extremely violent tornado. Not only were sections of some neighborhoods reportedly completely swept clean, but four brick businesses at an intersection in downtown Antlers were entirely swept away as well. Several other brick buildings were leveled, and a tractor trailer was thrown one mile and severely mangled. Debris from Antlers was strewn for up to 10 miles outside of town, and the bodies of victims were thrown long distances as well.

Another interesting note, is that I found one account indicating that the roar of the tornado was audible for up to 25 miles away! Not sure how accurate that is though.
large960_blur-7da1a374b81e8af5043095814359194e.jpg

jpc001col.jpg

jpc013col.jpg

jpc062col.jpg

jpc008col.jpg

jpc087col.jpg
It looks like a bunch of the photos you uploaded aren't showing up, at least on my end. Not sure why.
Anyways, from what I've heard Antlers seems to have been Jarrell-esque in places but it's hard to ascertain its intensity with the paucity of visual documentation.
 
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