Significant Tornado Events

[MNTornadoGuy]

Would be a pretty great take-that to incompetent surveyors if Grazulis ranks it EF5 in the upcoming sigtor book update but that's almost certainly not going to happen

Grazulis has hinted he will probably list Vilonia as an F5 in his book.

 

[Equus]

Oh wow, that's pretty encouraging. Good to hear it though the official record might never get set straight.

 

[Marshal79344]

I remember that one of the homes that were swept cleanly away in this subdivision was supposedly well-anchored with proper washers. However, this home did not attain an EF5 rating due to possible enhancement of destruction from some of the nearby homes. However, examples in the past completely invalidate this point.



There were two homes in the middle of a completely devastated subdivision from the 2013 Moore Tornado that were rated EF5, despite being surrounded by hundreds of homes that were leveled at EF4 strength. Given this point, it's clear that there was a reason why Vilonia was not rated as EF5.

 

[Equus]

Yeah I even recall another WFO surveyor (OUN maybe?) even disagreeing on social media with some of the extremely weak points made at LZK, mainly how they asserted one single home could not be rated EF5 and it would take several overbiilt homes (conveniently ignored in the survey, ironically) before an EF5 would be appropriate ; it's absolutely remarkable how that was allowed to stand without serious question. Setting one of the most inconceivably awful precedents if any other office decided to follow along with those ideas, and hey, no EF5s since then. A misguided La Plata syndrome?

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I remember that one of the homes that were swept cleanly away in this subdivision was supposedly well-anchored with proper washers. However, this home did not attain an EF5 rating due to possible enhancement of destruction from some of the nearby homes. However, examples in the past completely invalidate this point.

View attachment 6429

There were two homes in the middle of a completely devastated subdivision from the 2013 Moore Tornado that were rated EF5, despite being surrounded by hundreds of homes that were leveled at EF4 strength. Given this point, it's clear that there was a reason why Vilonia was not rated as EF5.

I don't think any homes in this subdivision were well-anchored. The home with proper bolts that was kept from getting an EF5 rating due to that excuse was SW of this subdivision and was in a generally "rural" section of Vilonia.

 

[Marshal79344]

I don't think any homes in this subdivision were well-anchored. The home with proper bolts that was kept from getting an EF5 rating due to that excuse was SW of this subdivision and was in a generally "rural" section of Vilonia.

My apologies. Either way, it's clear that there was another reason why this tornado was not rated EF5.

 

[buckeye05]

I remember that one of the homes that were swept cleanly away in this subdivision was supposedly well-anchored with proper washers. However, this home did not attain an EF5 rating due to possible enhancement of destruction from some of the nearby homes. However, examples in the past completely invalidate this point.

View attachment 6429

There were two homes in the middle of a completely devastated subdivision from the 2013 Moore Tornado that were rated EF5, despite being surrounded by hundreds of homes that were leveled at EF4 strength. Given this point, it's clear that there was a reason why Vilonia was not rated as EF5.

I think you’re mis-remembering. This was the Sherwood Meadows subdivision, and it was specifically mentioned that these homes were nailed to their foundations, and close up photos confirm this. This subdivision was actually used as a misdirect when people raised questions about the rating. NWS Little Rock basically showed these homes and said “See? Poorly anchored. EF4, case closed” when this wasn’t even the area in question.

Now they DID use collateral damage and debris impacts as a bs excuse for keeping clearly EF5 damage along E Wicker St at EF4.

One good thing is, by now, the general public and weather community is now more educated than ever about the EF scale, and how it works. When bad decisions like these are made, they will very much be held accountable by the weather community, even if nothing happens at an administrative level.

Not to mention Grazulis. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about this in the next installment of his book.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I think you’re mis-remembering. This was the Sherwood Meadows subdivision, and it was specifically mentioned that these homes were nailed to their foundations, and close up photos confirm this. This subdivision was actually used as a misdirect when people raised questions about the rating. NWS Little Rock basically showed these homes and said “See? Poorly anchored. EF4, case closed” when this wasn’t even the area in question.

Now they DID use collateral damage and debris impacts as a bs excuse for keeping clearly EF5 damage along E Wicker St at EF4.

One good thing is, by now, the general public and weather community is now more educated than ever about the EF5 scale, and how it works. When bad decisions like these are made, they will very much be held accountable by the weather community, even if nothing happens at an administrative level.

Not to mention Grazulis. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about this in the next installment of his book.

They also used on their why no EF5 page a photo of an improperly-installed anchor bolt from one of the LE EF4 homes early in the path.

 

[Austin Dawg]

Yeah, to this day Arkansas is still the only state east of the Rockies and West of the Appalachians that hasn't had a confirmed F5/EF5 tornado. But obviously several tornadoes in its history definitely achieved that intensity at some point.

I'm not sure if not rating a single tornado EF5 would discourage people from moving to the state though; most people leave Arkansas due to the poverty and lack of jobs. Still, really weird (yet believable )that the state government would deliberately order ratings fudged like that.
Chuck Doswell had a post on his blog (not sure if still there) about the politics of tornadoes and how gerrymandering is often done in tornado-prone districts so more people would move to the area and not think it's tornado-prone or the tornadoes aren't all that violent, and thus ensure more voters in the area for certain politicians as they wouldn't get blamed for a subpar response to a natural disaster, or something to that effect. Wish I could find that article again.

It's not the first time something questionable has involved Arkansas politicians. Is it?
#snicker

 

[TH2002]

I figured I might as well mention extremeplanet. That site still doesn't have any new updates since 2014; whatever happened to whoever ran that blog? I'll post the new link below, it is still accessible for now:

(no title)

All the fascinating severe weather information a researcher can put together, with a hint of sensationalism.

extremeplanet.wordpress.com

Hopefully the admin of extremeplanet can get some renowned attention soon and get back to updating their blog as well. Who knows?

I emailed Max a few months ago, sadly I never got a response. Hopefully nothing serious happened and he just lost interest or decided to take a (evidently long) break.

 

[TH2002]

It's not the first time something questionable has involved Arkansas politicians. Is it?
#snicker

Especially considering "high-end EF4" and EF5 are only 10 mph apart (even less in some cases such as Chickasha, OK and Goldsby, OK 2011) on the wind speed estimates, but a WORLD apart on how they are perceived by the general public. IMO Vilonia was a solid EF5 and there's absolutely no excuses as to why it shouldn't have been rated as such.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I emailed Max a few months ago, sadly I never got a response. Hopefully nothing serious happened and he just lost interest or decided to take a (evidently long) break.

So, going through the comments section on his last article (linked below), it seems to have been a combination of work and shifting to other projects after college.

10 Incredible Videos Captured Inside a Tornado

□ Video is one of the best mediums for studying the complex nature of tornadic winds. Due to the availability of inexpensive cameras and the proliferation of smart phones, an increasing number of t…

extremeplanet.wordpress.com

I have a feeling he may also want to close up shop as he puts a ton of time and energy to his posts and very few people read them, much like the Stormstalker situation.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I’ve wondered if somehow the local government wants to be a state that has never had an F/EF5 tornado for some reason? Maybe to not discourage people from moving to the state. It certainly seems like the state level government could influence the local weather station to maybe fudge it a little to the less severe side of things.

I really don’t know, but it sure seems like they didn’t want that to be rated as highly as it should’ve been. It was pretty clearly an EF5.

I wonder if this has happened in other states; given how tornado-prone Oklahoma and Kansas are I wonder if it hasn't been tried quite a bit there in those places before. I wonder if the 5/24/11 OK outbreak EF4s (Chickasha and Goldsby) were not ranked EF5 was because of is and El Reno was given an EF5 rating; perhaps one EF5 in a day is acceptable, but more than one isn't? Who knows?

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

It's not the first time something questionable has involved Arkansas politicians. Is it?
#snicker

Lol. Probably not the first something questionable involving southern politics in general (especially in terms of questionable tornado decisions; I'm looking at you, Commerce Landing).

 

[Austin Dawg]

Lol. Probably not the first something questionable involving southern politics in general (especially in terms of questionable tornado decisions; I'm looking at you, Commerce Landing).

I'm not trying to hijack this awesome thread but it would be a shame if it is something political. The damage you guys have shared pretty much confirms the F5 status,

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I'm not trying to hijack this awesome thread but it would be a shame if it is something political. The damage you guys have shared pretty much confirms the F5 status,

You're not hijacking the thread, don't worry. Politics impact everything in life, even stuff like science, whether we like it or not. They are also the reason that certain natural disasters are viewed a certain way and oftentimes determine the responses to them. It is important that they are acknowledged in contexts like this (as long as the thread doesn't derail off it's main topic; tornadoes). If anything, it's fascinating how certain authorities (who aren't scientists) can overrule logic and reason with their own agendas when it comes to stuff such as Vilonia; in a rational world it would have an EF5 rating, but obviously we don't live in a rational world so it got an EF4 rating. Clearly, many things need to change for stuff like this to stop happening. I'll step off my soapbox now and try to get back to the main topic in my next posts.

 

[pohnpei]

I remember that one of the homes that were swept cleanly away in this subdivision was supposedly well-anchored with proper washers. However, this home did not attain an EF5 rating due to possible enhancement of destruction from some of the nearby homes. However, examples in the past completely invalidate this point.

View attachment 6429

There were two homes in the middle of a completely devastated subdivision from the 2013 Moore Tornado that were rated EF5, despite being surrounded by hundreds of homes that were leveled at EF4 strength. Given this point, it's clear that there was a reason why Vilonia was not rated as EF5.

I believe this house was that well built house that deserved to be rated EF5. It was pretty much isolated house and didn't surround by many houses.

 

[pohnpei]

Some of the houses swept away by Vilonia tornado that didn't mentioned a lot in DAT or survey paper.These photos taken in 2007, 7 years before the tornado.

after the tornado around this area:



after the tornado around this area:

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So, on the topic of high-end tornado I figured I'd post some photos from a couple different events. This first is going a collection of Udall pics, as it hasn't been discussed all that much in this thread. This is Kansas's deadliest tornado with 80 fatalities, for reference Kansas's second deadliest tornado killed less then 30 people. Pretty crazy.

The first 4 pics are of automobile damage from this thing. Several of these photographs show a pickup truck stripped to its chassis and tangled up in a tree. According to a postcard, the driver of the vehicle was found a quarter mile outside the city limits (presumably dead).



This next pic is of the downtown business district, which was a block long and completely wrecked, despite being far away from the center of the tornado's most intense winds. A neighborhood immediately to the south was completely swept away.



At left, the foundation of a home that was swept completely away. Nearly every home south of 2nd Street was obliterated in F5 fashion. At right, a grade school with thick brick walls was nearly leveled to the ground. (Images from the Udall Historical Museum).


Composite aerial view of the town taken two days later after only moderate clean-up had occurred. The southern section of town (at left) was swept completely away, leaving a checkerboard of empty foundations. The rest of the community was left as a patchwork of F5 to F0 damage, with the least damage occurring in the northwest corner of town.



At left, ground scouring just east of town. At right, a field near the high school that appears to have been stripped bare (as evidenced by the post-storm tire tracks, which are a common sight in ground effected by F5 winds). The trees in the background have been completely debarked. (Right image from the Udall Historical Museum)





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

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

This next is a collection of photographs and articles on the 1966 Candlestick Park tornado family. While still officially listed as a single tornado, it was pretty clearly a family of 2 or 3 F4-F5s that crossed through several Mississippi and Alabama counties.

Some YouTube videos on it (with footage of the funnel going through Jackson, MS I've never seen anywhere else):

1.


2.


3.


4. WLBT on the 50th anniversary of the event. Some pretty impressive damage aerials from Leesburg and Rankin County areas:

Candlestick Park Tornado 50th Anniversary

On March 3rd 1966, a tornado tore through south Jackson, leaving a path of death and destruction, that took down the WLBT broadcast tower, then demolished the Candlestick Park strip mall. The EF-5 tornado killed 12 in Hinds County.

www.wlbt.com

5. The TornadoTalk article on it:

“The Candlestick Park” F5 Tornado – March 3, 1966 – Tornado Talk

www.tornadotalk.com

6. NWS article and interactive map on the event: https://www.weather.gov/jan/1966_03_03_candlestick_park_tor

Some interesting details about this storm are the portion of its path Scott County it seems to have been at its most intense; 26 people alone were killed in Scott County. Unfortunately due to how rural and desolate much of these areas were (particularly Scott County) there seems to have been little visual documentation of it. The descriptions of the damage mention swaths of pavement were scoured from roadways and in this obscure PDF file I found on the event (hopefully I can dig it up again; lost it when my old laptop crashed) it is mentioned that topsoil was scoured and that "cracks" were found in these areas; perhaps like the trenches dug by 2011 Philadelphia, MS tornado? Just speculation on my part, don't take any of that as fully substantiated truth.
Anyways, the tornado finally weakened when it crossed over into Alabama and dissipated in Tuscaloosa county just north of Tuscaloosa around 7:45 pm; it's path through Tuscaloosa County is not that far off from the 2011 Tuscaloosa tornado.

I have a feeling someone at NWS JAN or NWS BMX or an archivist/local historian in Mississippi or Alabama is sitting on an impressive collection of a ton of photos of damage from this tornado, particularly the Scott County portions of it. But who knows?

I'll attach some damage photos from this thing below (disclaimer for a racial slur in one of them):

Rankin County:




I have dozens of Hinds County, MS damage photographs on my computer but there's way too many to post here for now. Maybe another time. You can find them in the Mississippi State Archives if you're interested.