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Today is the 50th anniversary of the Mississippi Delta Tornado Outbreak. Despite killing over 120 people in Mississippi and Louisiana, there is not as much information about this event as other outbreaks. February 21, 1971 also brought to Louisiana its first and only official F5 tornado to date.
Here is another thread about this event.

As an aside, FL’s deadliest tornado outbreak occurred twenty-three years ago to date. The Kissimmee F3 was arguably a low-end F4.
 
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buckeye05

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For the list, I relied on a blend of factors, including contextual DIs, taking into account time and place, while relying on publications, videos, and still photography from various sources. For example, a highly visible tornado that occurred during broad daylight on the Great Plains yet still produced a relatively high death toll and/or disproportionately severe injuries is automatically a candidate for “most violent,” provided other context is available and confirmed via multiple, reputable sources. The 1936 Tupelo (F5) tornado can also be considered quite violent, despite occurring after dark and striking poor African-American communities in the segregationist Deep South, because, among other things, it mainly impacted single-family homes outside the business district yet killed more people than the slower-moving Gainesville, GA, (F4) tornado, which struck densely inhabited, multi-story, downtown structures a day later, at the start of the morning workday, in fact.

The Chapman, KS, tornado of 25 May 2016 could conceivably belong to this list, along with the Rocksprings, TX, tornado of 12 April 1927, the massive F5 tornado family in KS on 7 May 1927, and the Tianjin tornado of 29 August 1969. The Chapman tornado, as mentioned, produced very intense ground scouring and damage to sizeable vehicles, while the Rocksprings and KS tornadoes in 1927 apparently reduced numerous, large, mature trees to debarked stubs, while leaving behind very little debris on empty homesites. The Tianjin tornado also debarked and denuded entire trees and snapped off steel-and-concrete rebars in a densely populated industrial zone. As far as I know, only the Brandenburg, Parkersburg, and Joplin tornadoes come remotely close to this level of damage, given that these tornadoes either toppled or snapped poured concrete basement walls. The Bakersfield Valley, Hackleburg, and Smithfield tornadoes did manage to break apart concrete surfaces and/or foundations in general, as far as I know.

I also put the Atkins–Clinton–Zion tornado on the list because the damage to the boat factory is exceptional, matched only by similar industrial damage in the Jackson–Forkville, San Justo, Guin, Niles–Wheatland, Edmonton, and Roanoke tornadoes. (Tianjin itself is on another level.) Additionally, the Atkins–Clinton–Zion tornado also snapped and partly debarked numerous, mature hardwoods only a few feet above ground level, while reducing large structures north of Clinton to bare slabs and trailers to chassis, with practically no debris left on foundations in some areas. I recall an old thread on American Weather that mentioned the slabbed foundations being visible in an aerial that unfortunately has long since vanished from the Web. If any tornado in February deserves to be rated EF5, it’s probably the Clinton tornado from Super Tuesday (2008), given that both Significant Tornadoes and NWS JAN only found F4 damage in LA and MS from the “official” F5 of 21 February 1971. That F5 should be downgraded and replaced by Clinton, in my view.

The Udall, Hudsonville, Lake Pleasant/Coldwater Lake #1, and Lebanon–Sheridan tornadoes each produced extensive ground scouring and finely granulated debris, whereas the other “potential” F5s from Palm Sunday (1965) did not leave behind those indicators. The first Coldwater Lake tornado on Palm Sunday apparently produced some very intense damage to vehicles as well. This is the same long-tracked tornado that became a massive wedge over southern MI and produced a wind gust of 131 knots (151 mph) at Tecumseh. The second long-tracker that followed it was apparently not as intense as the first and caused somewhat fewer casualties, according to Significant Tornadoes. The Prague–Iron Post–Sapulpa tornado, according to my recollection, apparently removed half a foot of topsoil from hillsides, “stripped” them of “all vegetation,” and tossed oil tanks an unspecified distance over rural areas of the Cross Timbers in northeastern OK, per an old post that I recall by the SPC’s Richard Thompson on American Weather, long since taken down.
Ok. Hold up. I’m putting some pieces together here.

All I’m going to say, is that suspect somebody has been making unfounded claims regarding the Prague, OK and Clinton, AR tornadoes for years. First off, I’ve searched thoroughly through documents trying to find any evidence about the oil tanks and alleged scouring associated with Prague-Iron Post, and found absolutely nothing. In fact, I’ve found no solid evidence of any kind of publication containing this information ever existing. Regarding Clinton, I remember someone sending me pictures of “ground scouring” from that event, which actually showed some mud puddles and water damage in a grassy field, along with moderate tree and vehicle damage.

Oh also a certain someone started a rumor about the Kellerville, TX tornado sweeping away a house so thoroughly, that that survey team missed it, while this actually happened near Arkansas City, KS during the Andover outbreak.

Sorry if this sounds confrontational, but this current thread is full of valuable and verifiable information, and I hope it stays that way.
 
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andyhb

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Is casuarina head "Bull Shark" from the old Talkweather?
 

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Ok. Hold up. I’m putting some pieces together here.

All I’m going to say, is that suspect somebody has been making unfounded claims regarding the Prague, OK and Clinton, AR tornadoes for years. First off, I’ve searched thoroughly through documents trying to find any evidence about the oil tanks and alleged scouring associated with Prague-Iron Post, and found absolutely nothing. In fact, I’ve found no solid evidence of any kind of publication containing this information ever existing. Regarding Clinton, I remember someone sending me pictures of “ground scouring” from that event, which actually showed some mud puddles and water damage in a grassy field, along with moderate tree and vehicle damage.

Oh also a certain someone started a rumor about the Kellerville, TX tornado sweeping away a house so thoroughly, that that survey team missed it, while this actually happened near Arkansas City, KS during the Andover outbreak.

Sorry if this sounds confrontational, but this current thread is full of valuable and verifiable information, and I hope it stays that way.
The pickup truck being carried 20 miles by the Forgotten F5 came from the April 1998 Storm Data Publication but it was probably a typo or something.
 

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Also, I believe the 2008 Clinton tornado was not the strongest tornado recorded in February or the most EF/F5-worthy one. I believe the candidates for that claim go to Rockingham NC, Leeds AL, Caves Spring GA, Cagle GA from the 1884 Enigma Outbreak.
 

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A little known tornado I figured was worth mentioning here is the September 25, 2013 Dagomys (Sochi), Russia tornado. Based on everything I've been able to gather, this tornado likely originated as a waterspout and moved ashore as a tornado. There were multiple waterspouts/tornadoes that day and a Russian-language news article describes how three tornadoes were reported in the area (though this appears to be the only waterspout that actually moved onshore, therefore becoming a true tornado). The same article describes how the tornado uprooted trees, tore roofs off of buildings and mangled vehicles. Very rough analysis of the available damage imagery indicates the tornado probably left damage of upper F1 or marginal F2 intensity.

Two photos of damage attatched, one from a Russian-language blog showing sections of roofing torn from a building. Second image is a screenshot from a YouTube video showing the damage in the immediate aftermath of the tornado showing trees and powerlines down as well as vehicles tossed.

Some impressive footage of the tornado on YouTube, the first video is where the screenshot is from and the second shows the tornado's appearance over the city from a distance:

 

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J-Rab

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This thread is terrific. It is no place for exaggeration, hyperbola, or any kind of mis-information, which would taint an otherwise wonderful thread. The posts here are a great way to learn about something that is of interest to us all. Wondering what is accurate and what isn’t would greatly take away from it.

Not saying that it is happening or anything, but it most definitely should not be.
 

buckeye05

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I remember a user from the old threat with the name of "Cal" who would post stuff like this with the most deadpan and utmost sincerity, he almost derailed a couple of the threads before being kicked off (I think) by moderators. Hopefully he hasn't registered under a new name as well.
CAL made some unfounded, fantastical posts, but overall seemed like he had a decent head on his shoulders. He did a very interesting, albeit slightly hyperbolic survey of apparent violent damage at the Holly Springs Motorsports Park after the 2015 EF4.

The person I had in mind is who Andy mentioned, Bull Shark, who is responsible for a laundry list of unfounded rumors surrounding various tornado events among various forums. He’s highly scatterbrained, gets basic info confused with other events, and I suspect he’s made another sock puppet account judging by some of the above posts.
 
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Also, I believe the 2008 Clinton tornado was not the strongest tornado recorded in February or the most EF/F5-worthy one. I believe the candidates for that claim go to Rockingham NC, Leeds AL, Caves Spring GA, Cagle GA from the 1884 Enigma Outbreak.
If only we had damage photographs from that event.
That said, the most impressive February outbreak with damage photographs is the February 1971 Mississippi Delta event. No, I don't think any of the tornadoes were F5s but a couple were definitely F4s and both killed a large amount of people despite hitting only rural areas.
 

KoD

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I remember a user from the old threat with the name of "Cal" who would post stuff like this with the most deadpan and utmost sincerity, he almost derailed a couple of the threads before being kicked off (I think) by moderators. Hopefully he hasn't registered under a new name as well.
I've met him IRL a few times, very very kind and contagiously passionate about meteorology. He seems like a smart guy but he definitely had his "theories". I don't personally recall him derailing anything though, just expressing a different perspective. I also wasn't as appraised at historical discussion as y'all are. I don't have any criticisms to make but in person he was an extremely polite and pleasant guy.
I don't think he's had any infractions, just not as active here as much.
 
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I've met him IRL a few times, very very kind and contagiously passionate about meteorology. He seems like a smart guy but he definitely had his "theories". I don't personally recall him derailing anything though, just expressing a different perspective. I also wasn't as appraised at historical discussion as y'all are. I don't have any criticisms to make but in person he was an extremely polite and pleasant guy.
I don't think he's had any infractions, just not as active here as much.
Ah, OK, I take back the stuff I said about him then.
He did seem to be more active on the older forums then the new ones, I've noticed.
 

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To this day, Spencer tornado 1998 was still the only case DOW scanned at a close range when a violent tornado WAS ABOUT TO hit a town.
It should be noticed that when a tornado was already hitting a town, the lofted debris can contaminate the scatter volumes of radar and also contribute to the absence of prominent convergent flow at low levels. So the velocity measured by radar at this time can be significantly lower than actual air motion. For example, Moore 2013 EF5 was only sampled 86m/s winds by TOKC at its peak which only showed 13% convergent pattern of its scan. So the data was useless for indicating its intensity.
Spencer tornado's article:
The highest 5-s average wind speed at each location on the grid revealed that a nearly 100-m-wide path between Third and Second Streets on the west side of the town experienced a 5-s average wind at or above 100 m s−1 (Fig. 8a). The highest 5-s average wind speed had a maximum of about 112 m s−1 on the western edge of town around Third Street. The highest 60-s average wind speed at each point in the town showed a 50-m swath across the south-central portion of the town between Second and Third Streets where this parameter reached a maximum of just over 80 m s−1
The data of Spencer tornado was invaluable beacuse it gives us a glimpse of what winds actually looks like for a certain damage. It should be noted that even without significant debris impact, winds measured by DOW was still only the mean winds of a radar resolution volume and can still be very different from the actual wind speeds.(typically the low bound of actual wind speed). There were people argue that winds inside tornado was lower at 10m compared with a several dozen meters above it, but it should be noted that tornados have tremendous radial flow below 10m which was unsampled by most of the measurement cases. There were already evidences that tornado winds can maximize below 10m in some cases.
There were enough DIs inside the town of Spencer and showed that none of these houses were swept clean despite relatively low quality of construction. There were significant debarking inside the town(exactly where DOW winds maximize) but hardly any badly mangled car that I can find.
Caculating from the Delta-V of Spencer tornado(maximize right before it hit the town) and transition speed, if Smithville EF5 2011 was just as strong as Spencer tornado, the corresponding ground realative winds would surpass 132 m/s easily(moving at about 29-30m/s). But it did far greater damage in far less time with no doubt. It was just unimaginable to me how strong Smithville was after learning Spencer's case.
16-03-26-026.png15-58-46-046.jpg15-58-38-038.jpg
 
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Is Casuarina Head "Bull Shark" from the old TalkWeather?
Yes, indeed, and I also went by the monikers Ground Scouring and snowflake22 on both the original and revived American Weather fora. At no point under my latest iteration did I present rumours as fact, but merely noted that I was reiterating them to the best of my recollection(s), while not presenting them outright as “factual.” Obscure reports do tend to fascinate me, as always, and in this sense I bear some sense of kinship with CAL, although, unlike him, I do have high-functioning autism that muddles the link between the left and right hemispheres, hence the “scatterbrained,” impressionistic vibe, if not nature, of my otherwise highly detailed contributions. Sometimes I can engage in superficially technical matters, on a broad scale, so long as I corral my left hemisphere effectively.
CAL made some unfounded, fantastical posts, but overall seemed like he had a decent head on his shoulders. He did a very interesting, albeit slightly hyperbolic survey of apparent violent damage at the Holly Springs Motorsports Park after the 2015 EF4.

The person I had in mind is who Andy mentioned, Bull Shark, who is responsible for a laundry list of unfounded rumours surrounding various tornado events among various forums. He’s highly scatterbrained, gets basic info confused with other events, and I suspect he’s made another sock puppet account judging by some of the above posts.
See above.
 

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Speaking of Holly Springs, the damage at the motor park was actually extremely impressive and probably at least HE EF4 in intensity if the right DIs were present. The surveyor said it was the most impressive damage he had seen in 24 years. Two cinder-block restrooms were swept clean with all plumbing being removed, multiple large vehicles were moved more than 220 yards, trees including juvenile southern pines and smaller vegetation was completely stripped and partially debarked and several inches of topsoil was scoured. You can read more extreme damage cases here: https://www.tornadotalk.com/holly-springs-ashland-ms-ef4-tornado-december-23-2015/
 

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I believe the NWS misclassified a tornado as a microburst in 2010 and it occurred in West Yellowstone MT. The damage occurred in a narrow SW-NE swath, the violent winds did not last long (only a few seconds to a minute), numerous people reported seeing a funnel cloud, videos show strong rotation in the cloud base shortly before the event begin, radar data shows broad rotation high up in the storm and a nearby weather station recorded a sudden drop in pressure usually associated with a mesocyclone. It seems that a brief EF0-EF1 touchdown was responsible for the damage vs a microburst.

Screenshot_2021-02-23 west yellowstone aug 28 2010 storm.png

MEHS2108.jpghttps://www.bozemandailychronicle.c...cle_44cd4afe-b31a-11df-b16e-001cc4c03286.html
Screenshot_2021-02-23 MesoWest Surface Weather Maps.png
 
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I believe the NWS misclassified a tornado as a microburst in 2010 and it occurred in West Yellowstone MT. The damage occurred in a narrow SW-NE swath, the violent winds did not last long (only a few seconds to a minute), numerous people reported seeing a funnel cloud, videos show strong rotation in the cloud base shortly before the event begin, radar data shows broad rotation high up in the storm and a nearby weather station recorded a sudden drop in pressure usually associated with a mesocyclone. It seems that a brief EF0-EF1 touchdown was responsible for the damage vs a microburst.

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View attachment 6127https://www.bozemandailychronicle.c...cle_44cd4afe-b31a-11df-b16e-001cc4c03286.html
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This is interesting, given the 1987 Yellowstone Tornado that occurred nearby this area. I've seen some speculation that the 1987 event was also a downburst, or the tornado had a much shorter path length then originally documented and the majority of the damage was actually downburst damage. I don't buy much of that but figured I might as well mention it, given the similarities with this event in terms of location and being a possible mixture of downburst and tornado. Hopefully I'm not misinterpreting something I read.
 

TH2002

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While we're on the topic of mountain tornadoes, on August 11,1993 an F3 (possibly F4) tornado caused impressive damage at elevations ranging from roughly 8,000 to almost 12,000 feet in the High Uintas Wilderness, Utah. Excellent article on Tornado Talk: https://www.tornadotalk.com/high-uintas-wilderness-ut-f3-tornado-august-11-1993/

Another one of arguably the most unique tornadoes in recent history formed over the Weston Pass Fire in Colorado on July 5, 2018. Elevation almost 10,000 feet. Reports say the tornado caused "no damage" and I can't find any information on an EF rating though this video seems to prove otherwise:


Another video:
 
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While we're on the topic of mountain tornadoes, on August 11,1993 an F3 (possibly F4) tornado caused impressive damage at elevations ranging from roughly 8,000 to almost 12,000 feet in the High Uintas Wilderness, Utah. Excellent article on Tornado Talk: https://www.tornadotalk.com/high-uintas-wilderness-ut-f3-tornado-august-11-1993/

Another one of arguably the most unique tornadoes in recent history formed over the Weston Pass Fire in Colorado on July 5, 2018. Elevation almost 10,000 feet. Reports say the tornado caused "no damage" and I can't find any information on an EF rating though this video seems to prove otherwise:


Another video:

This article is about what is, to the best of my knowledge, the highest confirmed tornado in the United States. It occurred in the Rockwell Pass area of Sequoia National Park, California at an elevation of 12,156 feet.



This article is about a tornado in Bolivia that holds the record for being the highest elevation of any tornado in the Americas and perhaps the world: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...igher-altitude-than-any-record-united-states/
 

buckeye05

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I believe the NWS misclassified a tornado as a microburst in 2010 and it occurred in West Yellowstone MT. The damage occurred in a narrow SW-NE swath, the violent winds did not last long (only a few seconds to a minute), numerous people reported seeing a funnel cloud, videos show strong rotation in the cloud base shortly before the event begin, radar data shows broad rotation high up in the storm and a nearby weather station recorded a sudden drop in pressure usually associated with a mesocyclone. It seems that a brief EF0-EF1 touchdown was responsible for the damage vs a microburst.

View attachment 6126

View attachment 6127https://www.bozemandailychronicle.c...cle_44cd4afe-b31a-11df-b16e-001cc4c03286.html
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Another one that was likely incorrectly classified was the Athens, OH “downburst” of September 2010. It happened on the same day as the Reedsville, OH/Bellville, WV EF3 and the fatal NYC EF1. YouTube of videos of the event show a clearly rotating broad funnel. The damage in the area had evidence of convergent winds too, but was still classified as a downburst. I’m almost certain that it was a tornado of high-end EF1 to EF2 strength.
 
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