Significant Tornado Events

[locomusic01]

Not sure if you saw this post but some pretty impressive damage with this thing documented by an engineering study:

Significant Tornado Events

I found an engineering study about damage from the Tri-State tornado in Murphysboro, De Soto, some rural areas, and West Frankfort. It included examples of extreme damage that I'll list below; Orient Mine, West Frankfort - A Buick roadster was carried ~200 ft and demolished. - One 60,000 gallon...

talkweather.com

The "cyclone fence" posts being bent at such low ground level is crazy, testament to extremely intense surface winds.

Yup, there's a pretty good case to be made that it may have peaked around the West Frankfort area (to the extent that there was any noticeable "peak"). I think the general consensus used to be that Tri-State was very strong over an incredibly long path, but that it wasn't especially intense compared to other high-end tornadoes. Probably a product of the fact that the most well-known photos only show modest damage. In reality, it produced consistent strong-to-violent damage over virtually its entire path, interspersed with a number of super impressive feats.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Okay. So, these are all from the west side of Griffin near the railroad tracks - roughly on the northern edge of the primary damage swath so far as I can tell:

This is what remains of a filling station nearby, where one of the pumps was said to have been pulled out of the ground and "disappeared."

Sort of hard to tell from the photo, but this field outside of Owensville was reportedly scoured pretty severely:

Same general area, where you can also see some tree damage:

I think I've probably got more, but this is getting a little carried away so I'll stop now. It's just remarkable how consistent the damage was along virtually the entire path(s), both in terms of intensity and width.

Did you ever find any further information on a newly-uncovered significant tornado in Indiana that was apart of the Tri-State supercell or the Louisville KY F4 while you were researching the outbreak?

 

[locomusic01]

Did ground scouring occur in all three states with this thing? I know it did in Missouri but for whatever reason haven't been able to find as many accounts of it in Illinois or Indiana for whatever reason.
Yeah, the uniformity of the path is incredible. This thing was likely at F5 intensity for 150+ miles, just unreal.

There are reports of scouring at various points in all three states, yeah. Not much photographic evidence to back it up, or at least not that I ever found, but it's mentioned in a number of reports + survivor accounts.

 

[locomusic01]

Did you ever find any further information on a newly-uncovered significant tornado in Indiana that was apart of the Tri-State supercell or the Louisville KY F4 while you were researching the outbreak?

I think I posted photos a few days ago from the Louisville-area tornado. I haven't actively done much research since I've been trying to work on Tupelo - Gainesville, but I'm sure I've got some general info and reports saved. I'm totally blanking on the Indiana tornado though lol. My brain's kinda fried tonight but I'll check when I get a chance and see if I can refresh my memory.

Edit: Here's the post I was thinking of:

Significant Tornado Events

Tornado Talk has been in communication with Tom Grazulis and his wife Doris, including just as recently as this past Wednesday. He is doing well, but he is extremely busy compiling the book! In my personal opinion, i view grazulis as a way better resource than Ted Fujita. His ratings are...

talkweather.com

Messed up the name, though - it's Elizabethtown, not Elizabeth. Lived in Louisville for a while so I dunno how I goofed on that.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

There are reports of scouring at various points in all three states, yeah. Not much photographic evidence to back it up, or at least not that I ever found, but it's mentioned in a number of reports + survivor accounts.

I have a feeling scouring might be documented in photographs, but due to being in B&W it's hard to make out. This thread is the first time I've been able to find photographs of probable F5 damage from this thing; with so many older tornadoes the most extreme damage isn't photographed as much, if at all. Also, I've been reading Bob John's "The 1925 Tri-State Tornado's Devastation in Franklin County, Hamilton County, and White County, Illinois" and it seems like it hit its maxima when it was going through West Frankfort and the rural areas of those 3 counties where 65 farmers were killed. If you dig through the thread a user posted a photo of a home near Crossville, IL that was so thoroughly annihilated it's almost impossible to tell what it was by looking at it.
I know this analogy is commonly brought up, but would you say that the 2011 Hackleburg tornado is the closest analog to the Tri-State? It produced EF5 damage for a remarkable length of time as well as being rain-wrapped and moving at 70+ mph. Still, Tri-State beats it by at least 100 miles in terms of maintaining F5 intensity but other than that, you get the idea.

Also, this video might interest you. Keep in mind that this the modern day locations via Google Earth, so certain aspects of the tornado's path may not match up now like in 1925. An interesting detail of the path is how many hills and valleys the tornado had to traverse.

 

[locomusic01]

I have a feeling scouring might be documented in photographs, but due to being in B&W it's hard to make out. This thread is the first time I've been able to find photographs of probable F5 damage from this thing; with so many older tornadoes the most extreme damage isn't photographed as much, if at all. Also, I've been reading Bob John's "The 1925 Tri-State Tornado's Devastation in Franklin County, Hamilton County, and White County, Illinois" and it seems like it hit its maxima when it was going through West Frankfort and the rural areas of those 3 counties where 65 farmers were killed. If you dig through the thread a user posted a photo of a home near Crossville, IL that was so thoroughly annihilated it's almost impossible to tell what it was by looking at it.
I know this analogy is commonly brought up, but would you say that the 2011 Hackleburg tornado is the closest analog to the Tri-State? It produced EF5 damage for a remarkable length of time as well as being rain-wrapped and moving at 70+ mph. Still, Tri-State beats it by at least 100 miles in terms of maintaining F5 intensity but other than that, you get the idea.

Also, this video might interest you. Keep in mind that this the modern day locations via Google Earth, so certain aspects of the tornado's path may not match up now like in 1925. An interesting detail of the path is how many hills and valleys the tornado had to traverse.

That video does look pretty cool, thanks! Yeah, Hackleburg is easily the best modern analog we have. Not necessarily in terms of the setup, but the tornado itself is probably quite comparable. Some of the eyewitness descriptions also remind me a great deal of certain videos from that tornado. Of course, the Tuscaloosa tornado as it approached Birmingham also evokes the whole "cloud on the ground"/"wall of smoke" description given at certain points along the Tri-State's path.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

That video does look pretty cool, thanks! Yeah, Hackleburg is easily the best modern analog we have. Not necessarily in terms of the setup, but the tornado itself is probably quite comparable. Some of the eyewitness descriptions also remind me a great deal of certain videos from that tornado. Of course, the Tuscaloosa tornado as it approached Birmingham also evokes the whole "cloud on the ground"/"wall of smoke" description given at certain points along the Tri-State's path.

Check out this post from another user....it confirms that the Tri-State was a copy of Hackleburg in appearance:

Significant Tornado Events

Not sure if you've ever seen this video of the Joplin tornado but it makes me think of the Tri-State storm in a few ways, the main thing thing to note here is how quickly the area goes from light as day to dark as midnight within mere minutes, also how the tornado is indistinguishable from rain...

talkweather.com

 

[locomusic01]

Check out this post from another user....it confirms that the Tri-State was a copy of Hackleburg in appearance:

Significant Tornado Events

Not sure if you've ever seen this video of the Joplin tornado but it makes me think of the Tri-State storm in a few ways, the main thing thing to note here is how quickly the area goes from light as day to dark as midnight within mere minutes, also how the tornado is indistinguishable from rain...

talkweather.com

The interesting thing w/Tri-State is that, as you'd expect considering its duration, it seems to have taken on a number of different appearances. The huge wedge that looks almost like a meso on the ground is best known because that's the appearance it had as it approached several of the bigger towns, but I have a couple accounts from early in the Illinois section of the path that sound more like a typical stovepipe w/lots of debris around the funnel. In my mind, at least, I immediately picture Dave Demko & Heidi Farrar's Moore video. And in a few of the rural areas, especially northeast of Murphysboro IIRC, the descriptions really remind me of Pomeroy and some of the other historical multi-vortex monsters.

 

[Marshal79344]

Some more Tri-State photos00 that I've found recently that I'd like to share with everybody:

General destruction at Annapolis:




Aerial of Murphysboro


The Murphysboro Railroad Shop:


A higher-quality picture from Murphysboro, same one @locomusic01 sent above


General scene at West Frankfort

 

[Marshal79344]

Some more:

Two more views of Princeton:



Images in unknown locations that I found very impressive:


You can see a partially debarked tree (those Illinois trees are notoriously hard to debark)


Random view in a city, I'm not sure which city this is but I think it's either Murphysboro or West Frankfort


Home obliterated in a rural section of the path:

 

[Marshal79344]

Four more West Frankfort Pics I forgot to post:

 

[speedbump305]

Always worth remembering. The two story well anchored house in Oak Grove outside of Phil Campbell that was obliterated and scattered over a few hundred yards.

The damage to houses in Oak Grove was just incredible.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Damage from the 11/2/1967 Emery UT F2. Furniture and bedding were scattered for hundreds of yards from this motel.

 

[speedbump305]

Damage from the 11/2/1967 Emery UT F2. Furniture and bedding were scattered for hundreds of yards from this motel.
View attachment 7190

That doesn’t look like F2 to me. that’s at least mid F3, ofc i could be wrong though. That damage does seem a bit intense tho

 

[Casuarina Head]

Some long distance debris dragging also can be found in this video.
That damage of Hackleburg in Oak Grove was really amazing. The debris of such a large well constructed house was churned into extremely small pieces and vehicle along the house was tossed 200 yards downwind.

At 3:28 one can see that the large, mature tree was clearly pulled entirely out of the ground and lofted a short distance (note the hole to the upper left of the foundation). 3:33 also shows some signs of possible ground scouring.

 

[speedbump305]

At 3:28 one can see that the large, mature tree was clearly pulled entirely out of the ground and lofted a short distance (note the hole to the upper left of the foundation). 3:33 also shows some signs of possible ground scouring.

Tanner 1 is kinda compared to hackleburg, but i do feel like hackleburg was more violent

 

[locomusic01]

Images in unknown locations that I found very impressive:
View attachment 7178

You can see a partially debarked tree (those Illinois trees are notoriously hard to debark)
View attachment 7179

Random view in a city, I'm not sure which city this is but I think it's either Murphysboro or West Frankfort
View attachment 7180

Nice job! The first two here are from around Princeton. IIRC, roughly the same place (between Princeton & Patoka) as this photo:

The other looks familiar and I think it's from the same general area as the filling station in Griffin, but don't quote me on that lol

 

[ARCC]

This picture right before it hit Hackleburg was always so striking.(Make sure you view it in desktop mode to get full res) Whatever trees were left standing are so debarked you can see it from the air or are chewed down to the ground.

April 27, 2011 Tornado Damage | _MG_9769

To see these photos on a map visit http://tornado.sellersphoto.com

www.sellersphoto.com

 

[speedbump305]

This picture right before it hit Hackleburg was always so striking.(Make sure you view it in desktop mode to get full res) Whatever trees were left standing are so debarked you can see it from the air or are chewed down to the ground.

April 27, 2011 Tornado Damage | _MG_9769

To see these photos on a map visit http://tornado.sellersphoto.com

www.sellersphoto.com

This is really making me think how underrated this tornado was

 

[speedbump305]

I’ve heard basement walls being damaged and what not, i don’t know if this is true, But if it is, I really would like to see an image of it. We have no proof that it’s true, but it is a survivor of the Phil Campbell tornado, but we can’t just say it’s immediately true