Significant Tornado Events

[MNTornadoGuy]

 

[pohnpei]

One tornado that I feel deserves so much more attention than it got was an early-morning twister that occurred southwest of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area, just west of Alabaster on the morning of February 6th, 2020. The tornado rapidly became very large and produced very significant tree damage throughout its rather short track along the Cahaba River. The tornado didn't last long and thankfully fizzled out before it could hit anything substantial, but some of the tree damage is classic of a very intense tornado. Radar evidence also supports a tornado of EF3+ intensity.

The tornado on radar as it was producing its maximum-intensity tree damage. A massive debris ball showed up on the next scan.

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Aerial imagery of the tornado-stricken forest

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Aerial view of some of the tornado's tree damage. Notice how several tree trunks are snapped very close to the ground. Some of the trees even appear to be debarked although that's difficult to tell from this aerial angle

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Personally, I believe that this tornado may have been of EF4+ intensity.

I remember this one. The treefall pattern was indeed pretty impressive and very likely had higher ceiling than its rating.

 

[Austin Dawg]

I believe Smithville and Hackleburg carried some vehicles up to a mile, El Reno threw a tanker trailer a mile, not sure about the cab, also not sure whether or not you want to count a trailer and cab as separate vehicles or not. Supposedly the Allison, Texas tornado of the 6/8/95 outbreak threw a couple vehicles up to 2 miles, but I've never been able to verify that. The thing about Allison to take into account is that it occurred in the remote Texas panhandle, which is largely open desert or ranch country so there wouldn't be that many structures for the vehicles to slam into (assuming it actually happened).

I'm pretty sure Smithville had a vehicle they never found. My brother had two boats. He never found one and they found the aluminum boat wrapped around the top of a tree about a mile or so in the woods beside the funeral home. The red arrow was his house. The black is F5 damage. The memorial now stands where his house was.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I'm pretty sure Smithville had a vehicle they never found. My brother had two boats. He never found one and they found the aluminum boat wrapped around the top of a tree about a mile or so in the woods beside the funeral home. The red arrow was his house. The black is F5 damage. The memorial now stands where his house was.

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I'm not sure if the vehicle was found later after the survey was done or not; of course it also could have been tossed to the bottom of the waterway next to Smithville.

 

[speedbump305]

I'm not sure if the vehicle was found later after the survey was done or not; of course it also could have been tossed to the bottom of the waterway next to Smithville.

I think hackleburg and smithville threw vehicles that were never found, but they may have been located again

 

[speedbump305]

Do y’all think Parkersburg or Joplin was stronger? i’ve personally believed parkersburg was stronger, but i think Joplin was still absolutely intense, but parkersburg in my
opinion is up there with some the april 27 twisters; maybe not as intense, but it’s up there

 

[Nightking2021]

Do y’all think Parkersburg or Joplin was stronger? i’ve personally believed parkersburg was stronger, but i think Joplin was still absolutely intense, but parkersburg in my
opinion is up there with some the april 27 twisters; maybe not as intense, but it’s up there

I would say so myself.

 

[speedbump305]

I would say so myself.

I actually consider parkersburg in my top 5 violent tornadoes. above joplin and moore 2013 and possibly above bridge creek and andover

 

[Nightking2021]

I actually consider parkersburg in my top 5 violent tornadoes. above joplin and moore 2013 and possibly above bridge creek and andover

It seems to be hard to make a list because when you are deciding which tornado is the most can be rather difficult. Though if you asked me which one was #1 I would say Jarrell, Texas May 27, 1997.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Something interesting to note is that the Lawrenceburg TN F5 dug holes/trenches in a grassy field.
View attachment 8018

Yeah that patchy type of scouring seems to be pretty common for Dixie events, due to the different type of soil down there then on the Plains, at least it seems that way. I still haven't found any pictures of the 200-yard wide swath of grass that was completely torn up from this thing as mentioned by Grazulis.

 

[speedbump305]

It seems to be hard to make a list because when you are deciding which tornado is the most can be rather difficult. Though if you asked me which one was #1 I would say Jarrell, Texas May 27, 1997.

This isn’t in order but these 5 tornadoes really stick out to me

Jarrell
Hackleburg
Smithville
El Reno 2011
Parkersburg

 

[Austin Dawg]

I'm not sure if the vehicle was found later after the survey was done or not; of course it also could have been tossed to the bottom of the waterway next to Smithville.

Oh for sure. I wonder what they would find if they looked under the water there.

 

[eric11]

I know someone out there has an insane picture of debarking from May 3, 1999. Feel free to add any of your nominations below!

Here it is

 

[speedbump305]

Here it is
View attachment 8077View attachment 8078View attachment 8079View attachment 8080

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That third image shows extremely impressive debarking and granulation of debris

 

[Marshal79344]

I've recently done some research on Chinese Tornado environments, and wow do they significantly contrast from the ones we see here. In China, it's common to see very thick and vertical instability profiles with a lot of stretching. It's also common to see a LOT of moisture with these profiles, resulting in the lapse rates being in the 5-6 range all the way up. The instability profiles are also very tall, with the EL often being around 16KM. Here are two examples of this.

1. July 22, 2020. A supercell thunderstorm spawned an EF3 Tornado near the city of Suzhou, Anhui Province at around 1000 UTC.

Radar image of the supercell



ERA5 Reanalysis paints a classic, moist, and solid tornado environment. The sounding shows the EL above 16km, which would favor very high echo tops. The hodograph shows a lot of streamwise vorticity, plenty to get a tornado to form. The updraft profile is tall and thick, showing a lot of stretching nearly all the way up. Due to the extremely moist profile and the lack of an organized system (which would bring higher levels of wind shear to vent the updraft clear of precipitation and make the tornado somewhat visible), as evidenced by the SR wind with height and the hodograph, it's safe to assume this supercell would be of the "high-precipitation" type. It's no surprise that this sounding below resulted in a tornado of that caliber and longevity. The lower critical angle, a result of decent kinematics being present, favors a longer-tracked type of tornado.



The tornado left quite a scar on satellite imagery. The EF3 rating was based on a transmission tower being destroyed.



2. April 13, 2019. A supercell thunderstorm spawned an EF3 Tornado right over the He'an Town in Xuwen County, Guangdong Province.

Satellite image of the supercell (I can't find any radar data of it)



ERA5 Reanalysis Data paints a similar type of instability profile, tall, thick, and with a lot of stretching. However, the hodograph in this situation is much shallower, a result of weak kinematics being present. The weaker kinematics would favor a slower supercell motion and a higher Critical Angle. The kinematics also would be too weak to sustain a long-track tornado, rather preferring cyclic activity. However, this profile is not as moist as the previous one on July 22, resulting in this being a "classic supercell," as opposed to the "high-precipitation" supercell we could infer would be present with the July 22 Event. There are videos of the tornado online, confirming this theory. It's not common to see a significant tornado event on the same day on two different continents, as 2 more EF3 tornadoes would strike Franklin and Alto, Texas (although Hamilton, MS was definitely an EF3 too). Despite the lack of kinematic support, the lower-level turning would have favored the development of tornadoes, as the change of wind with height became extremely significant at this level. It's no surprise that a tornado of EF3 intensity was able to form, and it's no surprise it wasn't long-tracked either. My guess is that the supercell produced some more cyclic waterspouts offshore before dying.



Damage Assessment of the tornado.

 

[pohnpei]

It's not common to see a significant tornado event on the same day on two different continents, as 2 more EF3 tornadoes would strike Franklin and Alto, Texas (although Hamilton, MS was definitely an EF3 too).

Speaking of this, I always find it was very intriguing that Yancheng tornado 1966 and Candlestick Park F5 occurred on the same day. It is common to see two random and normal tornados happened on the same day on two different continents. But these two tornados occurred on March 3 1966 was so special. It was very rare to have a tornado in anywhere in China in early March and only one single tornado in the history occurred in March in Jiangsu Province, so called tornado alley in China, which set at more than 32 degrees north latitude. That earliest tornado, which was Yancheng tornado 1966, was also the strongest tornado in Jiangsu Province and among one of the strongest in China. It was a night time long track wedge tornado went through numerous villages in Yancheng and caused 87 died and near one thousand injured(400 thousand houses damaged, yes, I mean 400 thousand). It was almost certainly a violent tornado in my perspective. (It also rated EF4 ,same with TianJin and Yancheng 2016 tornado)50 years later, Yancheng city, Jiangsu Province again, another violent huge wedge tornado went through adjacent area and caused 99 died and more than 800 injured. This place was like Moore OK in china, a place famous for violent tornados. Without enough information, it's hard to say which tornado are stronger, 2016 or 1966. To this day, I still find Yancheng tornado 1966 was one of the most unimaginable tornado event in the history , anywhere in the world. I just can't believe a tornado like this can happen on March 3 at that latitude in china.
I don't need to introduce Candlestick Park tornado anymore. It was certainly one of the most important tornados in Dixie alley, especially in early March, it was somewhat unique and unimaginable as well.
And these two tornados occurred on the same day. How can this be entirely coincidence?
50 years later, two hour before the historic Yancheng tornado 2016 went through the villages in Yancheng, another quite decent tornado event occurred in IL with more than two to three dozen tornados reported.

 

[eric11]

Speaking of this, I always find it was very intriguing that Yancheng tornado 1966 and Candlestick Park F5 occurred on the same day. It is common to see two random and normal tornados happened on the same day on two different continents. But these two tornados occurred on March 3 1966 was so special. It was very rare to have a tornado in anywhere in China in early March and only one single tornado in the history occurred in March in Jiangsu Province, so called tornado alley in China, which set in more than 32 degrees north latitude. That earliest tornado, which was Yancheng tornado 1966, was also the strongest tornado in Jiangsu Province and among one of the strongest in China. It was a night time long track wedge tornado went through numerous villages in Yancheng and caused 87 died and near one thousand injured. It was almost certainly a violent tornado in my perspective. (It also rated EF4 ,same with TianJin and Yancheng 2016 tornado)50 years later, Yancheng city, Jiangsu Province again, another violent huge wedge tornado went through adjacent area and caused 99 died and more than 800 injured. This place was like Moore OK in china, a place famous for violent tornados. Without enough information, it's hard to say which tornado are stronger, 2016 or 1966. To this day, I still find Yancheng tornado 1966 was one of the most unimaginable tornado event in the history , anywhere in the world. I just can't believe a tornado like this can happen on March 3 at that latitude in china.
I don't need to introduce Candlestick Park tornado anymore. It was certainly one of the most important tornados in Dixie alley, especially in early March, it was somewhat unique and unimaginable as well.
And these two tornados occurred on the same day. How can this be entirely coincidence?
50 years later, two hour before the historic Yancheng tornado 2016 went through the villages in Yancheng, another quite decent tornado event occurred in IL with more than two to three dozen tornados reported.

One more tornado to add,three exact months later, 6/3/1966, another violent-like tornado tracked almost the exact same path to the previous one through urban areas of YanCheng City, Jiangsu Province, resulting in more than 80 deaths and over 2000 injuries.This tornado damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, some villages were flattened.Unfortunately, no photos can be recovered and this one has always been shadowed by the previous one

 

[pohnpei]

I've recently done some research on Chinese Tornado environments, and wow do they significantly contrast from the ones we see here. In China, it's common to see very thick and vertical instability profiles with a lot of stretching. It's also common to see a LOT of moisture with these profiles, resulting in the lapse rates being in the 5-6 range all the way up. The instability profiles are also very tall, with the EL often being around 16KM. Here are two examples of this.

1. July 22, 2020. A supercell thunderstorm spawned an EF3 Tornado near the city of Suzhou, Anhui Province at around 1000 UTC.

Radar image of the supercell

View attachment 8086

ERA5 Reanalysis paints a classic, moist, and solid tornado environment. The sounding shows the EL above 16km, which would favor very high echo tops. The hodograph shows a lot of streamwise vorticity, plenty to get a tornado to form. The updraft profile is tall and thick, showing a lot of stretching nearly all the way up. Due to the extremely moist profile and the lack of an organized system (which would bring higher levels of wind shear to vent the updraft clear of precipitation and make the tornado somewhat visible), as evidenced by the SR wind with height and the hodograph, it's safe to assume this supercell would be of the "high-precipitation" type. It's no surprise that this sounding below resulted in a tornado of that caliber and longevity. The lower critical angle, a result of decent kinematics being present, favors a longer-tracked type of tornado.

View attachment 8087

The tornado left quite a scar on satellite imagery. The EF3 rating was based on a transmission tower being destroyed.

View attachment 8088

2. April 13, 2019. A supercell thunderstorm spawned an EF3 Tornado right over the He'an Town in Xuwen County, Guangdong Province.

Satellite image of the supercell (I can't find any radar data of it)

View attachment 8089

ERA5 Reanalysis Data paints a similar type of instability profile, tall, thick, and with a lot of stretching. However, the hodograph in this situation is much shallower, a result of weak kinematics being present. The weaker kinematics would favor a slower supercell motion and a higher Critical Angle. The kinematics also would be too weak to sustain a long-track tornado, rather preferring cyclic activity. However, this profile is not as moist as the previous one on July 22, resulting in this being a "classic supercell," as opposed to the "high-precipitation" supercell we could infer would be present with the July 22 Event. There are videos of the tornado online, confirming this theory. It's not common to see a significant tornado event on the same day on two different continents, as 2 more EF3 tornadoes would strike Franklin and Alto, Texas (although Hamilton, MS was definitely an EF3 too). Despite the lack of kinematic support, the lower-level turning would have favored the development of tornadoes, as the change of wind with height became extremely significant at this level. It's no surprise that a tornado of EF3 intensity was able to form, and it's no surprise it wasn't long-tracked either. My guess is that the supercell produced some more cyclic waterspouts offshore before dying.

View attachment 8090

Damage Assessment of the tornado.

View attachment 8091

One more thing to add was that the survey team used DI "flying object" to rate 2019/4/13 tornado. Two container blown away 30m had been given DOD6 for "flying object" DI. I think tornado survey teams in China always tend to use anything available to try to rate tornados.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Damage from the 6/27/1908 Clinton MN F4. Trees were debarked and over 30 homes were destroyed.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

On April 14, 1886, the deadliest tornado in Minnesota history struck the cities of Sauk Rapids and Saint Cloud. The tornado started out rather small with a 100-ft wide path. Early in its life, the tornado snapped thick oak trees 15-20 ft above the ground, gravestones were overturned and large stones were reportedly ripped out of the ground and rolled. As it approached the city of Saint Cloud, the tornado rapidly intensified and grew to about 200 yards in width. It then tore through the residential and railroad districts of Saint Cloud. Dozens of small homes were completely swept away, railroad buildings were destroyed, loaded railcars were tossed considerable distances and railroad tracks were torn up. As it crossed the Mississippi River into Sauk Rapids, it destroyed half of an iron bridge before devastating the town of Sauk Rapids. Large sections of the town were completely leveled with multiple homes/businesses being swept away. A one-ton safe was carried across a street, another five-ton safe was moved 6 ft and the ground was reportedly "plowed up." The tornado lofted massive amounts of debris which it dumped over the prairie as it moved through rural areas near the settlement of Buckman, 17 miles NW of Sauk Rapids. The tornado dissipated around here but the storm soon dropped another violent tornado which swept away two farms in the Buckman Township. 74 people were killed by the Sauk Rapids tornado while 2 were killed by the Buckman tornado. These tornadoes were apart of a massive outbreak extending from Minnesota to Texas.