Significant Tornado Events

[TH2002]

Some videos from the May 22, 2008 tornado outbreak. For this post I'm focusing on the four tornadoes that touched down in Southern California. The same storm system reportedly dumped a foot and a half of hail in parts of the Los Angeles metro area.

Perhaps the most impressive video. Shows the EF2 crossing the 215 and the EF0 that tracked parallel is visible as well.



The EF2 crossing the freeway filmed from much closer. At this location an 18 wheeler was thrown 40 feet through the air seriously injuring the driver.



Another view of the EF2 with the overturned train cars visible. The tornado derailed nine heavy boxcars, this damage was awarded an EF2 rating.



This is either the EF2 or the EF0 that tracked parallel. The rotation on this thing is clearly visible:



Finally, a clearer view of the overturned boxcars.

 

[TH2002]

Strong multi vortex tornado recorded in video is definitely rare outside of US. Here were several cases that I remembered
2015 India tornado


2019 Luxemburg tornado


2020 Russian tornado

Anyone know where I can find that Luxembourg tornado footage without any stupid media watermarks or narration over the original audio?

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Some large pre-1950 Canadian Prairie tornado outbreaks:

June 30, 1912 Saskatchewan (including possibly Alberta) Tornado Outbreak:
11-19 tornadoes
5-6 significant tornadoes
1 violent tornado

June 25, 1915 Alberta Tornado Outbreak:
11 tornadoes
4 significant tornadoes
1 violent tornado

July 7-8, 1927 Alberta-Saskatchewan Tornado Outbreak:
19 tornadoes (one source lists as many as 40 tornadoes)
5 significant tornadoes
3 intense tornadoes

 

[speedbump305]

Similar to Beauregard, without very significant debarking and scouring, it's hard to say contextual damage was classic EF5 level. But these vehicle damages were impressive for a fast moving tornado. I even don't remember Rochelle had vehicle damage like these.

Beauregard actually i heard had pretty impressive tree debarking and vehicle damage

 

[buckeye05]

The Union City tornado was extremely violent. The NSSL gave the Union City an F5 rating in its report on the tornado but it was downgraded to an F4 for unknown reasons. Farm fields were scoured, a car was separated from its engine with the engine block being carried 328 yards while the frame was carried 874 yards, mobile home frames were wrapped around poles, two homes were completely swept away, a 2000 gallon gasoline tank was carried 874 yards, a 132-154 pound steel container was carried over a mile, trees were debarked and a steel I-beam was carried a long distance.

I had no idea this thing was so violent. I have it cataloged in my brain as a landmark event for tornado research, and one of those classic “retro tornadoes” that most people have seen photos of but don’t realize it (like Orienta, Cordell, Binger, Dimmitt, Seymour, Wichita Falls etc.) I actually forgot that it was a deadly event that caused major damage.

 

[buckeye05]

Oh another interesting thing about Rochelle, when it reached its second intensity maxima as it obliterated that row of homes and wind-rowed them across a farm field, it threw a car a full mile!

This was confirmed on the DAT. What they don’t tell you, is that it was a SmartCar. Kind of an important detail there lol.

 

[TH2002]

Oh another interesting thing about Rochelle, when it reached its second intensity maxima as it obliterated that row of homes and wind-rowed them across a farm field, it threw a car a full mile!

This was confirmed on the DAT. What they don’t tell you, is that it was a SmartCar. Kind of an important detail there lol.

One thing I do know about SmartCars is that those frames are TOUGH. Was the vehicle mangled at all?

 

[buckeye05]

One thing I do know about SmartCars is that those frames are TOUGH. Was the vehicle mangled at all?

It was left caked in mud and in pretty bad shape, but I wouldn’t exactly call it mangled.

 

[TH2002]

It was left caked in mud and in pretty bad shape, but I wouldn’t exactly call it mangled.
View attachment 8941View attachment 8942

Yeah that's pretty bad however the frame appears to be mostly intact. Was the field in that picture scoured or already muddy?

 

[buckeye05]

Yeah that's pretty bad however the frame appears to be mostly intact. Was the field in that picture scoured or already muddy?

It was already muddy to begin with.

 

[speedbump305]

It was left caked in mud and in pretty bad shape, but I wouldn’t exactly call it mangled.
View attachment 8941View attachment 8942

The grass scouring tho-

 

[pohnpei]

It was left caked in mud and in pretty bad shape, but I wouldn’t exactly call it mangled.
View attachment 8941View attachment 8942

I have been a little confused about that discription for some time. The ground near this smartcar was severely scoured but it seems like it was not like one mile away from that row of house which showed in the background of the picture.

 

[buckeye05]

The grass scouring tho-

It’s a plowed farm field. There was no grass to begin with.

 

[buckeye05]

With that said, there was genuine grass scouring that took place in the lawns of the nearby row of homes.

 

[speedbump305]

It’s a plowed farm field. There was no grass to begin with.

Ohhhhh thanks for letting me know

 

[pohnpei]

Beauregard actually i heard had pretty impressive tree debarking and vehicle damage

Beauregard did several high end vehicle damages confined in a small forest which also showed moderate debarking but not extreme level. This tornado's peak intensity was short lasted but violent. It may already weakened when it hit that EF4 rating house which was only 800 yards north of that small forest.

 

[locomusic01]

Speaking of Union City + vehicle damage, there was another violent tornado that struck two days later near Keefeton, OK. It didn't hit very many structures, but it did do this to a pickup truck:

That engine block is reportedly all that was found of the truck aside from a few scraps here and there. It was thrown well over half a mile and, as you'd probably guess, all four occupants were killed. Sadly, the family had been trying to get to their local storm shelter when a large limb over the road delayed them. Their home ended up virtually untouched.

Edit: I thought the story sounded a little sketchy so I did some more digging. It turns out the rest of the truck was eventually found, or at least the majority of it.. three-quarters of a mile away:

 

[WhirlingWx]

Though this event pretty obviously pales in human impact when compared to a lot of the tornadoes talked about here, I still thought I'd share the following because it is, after all, a case of an intense tornado that tracked through a major metropolitan area.

The North Dallas/Richardson, TX EF3 on October 20, 2019 was the first time since becoming passionate about weather in which me/my family and my friends have been directly in the path of a confirmed damaging tornado. The tornado occluded a few miles before reaching my area, but my friend to the southwest did sustain some minor damage at his home. While the low-end EF3 damage that occurred was confined to a single home, the tornado still became one of the costliest on record, with around $1.5 billion in damage occurring along its 15-mile path and 32-minute duration. I guess the tornado damage cheat code is to strike a bunch of wealthy neighborhoods and office parks with commercial buildings (including my father's workplace, which had a portion of the roof torn off). Only a few people sustained relatively minor injuries from this tornado, which is still frankly a miracle to me.

Anyways, given the location that it occurred, there are tons of videos showing the tornado, but in a lot of them, the structure of the tornado itself is usually difficult to discern given that it became at least partially rain-wrapped and was at night. However, the following video series that I came across recently (with only ~1.5K views on the most viewed video) gives one of the most clear visuals of the actual shape, despite the somewhat low quality. The tornado can be seen primarily in its wedge phase, illuminated by multiple power flashes. The rotation can also be seen pretty clearly.

(Warning for NSFW language on one occasion)

 

[buckeye05]

Here are some rarely seen alternate photographs of the 1967 Oaklawn, IL F4. This is still the worst tornado disaster to occur in the Chicago metro to date.

 

[speedbump305]

The Nashville tornado of 2020 was actually more costly ive heard