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For some reason I was under the impression that the major 21st century update to Significant Tornadoes was already out, but it isn't. Really curious to see what old man Grazulis has to say about Vilonia. Hope he and his team had access to all the photos recently posted here.
 
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IMO Parkersburg and El Reno '11 (along with Smithville, and JUST ahead of Hackleburg) were the most impressive EF5s of the EF-scale era. But it's really splitting hairs.

Of course it should be a rare rating, it's meant to differentiate the most extreme of already extreme events (violent tornadoes), but if Vilonia and Mayfield don't qualify anymore, what does?
it doesnt really matter. thery could probably make an excuse for high rise damage as well. like. "the structure may be collapsed completely to the ground but there was moderate weathering to small portions of the frame, and it is 50 years old. the structure also sustained several debris impacts. so we applied a high end EF4 rating with winds of 195 mph."

i'd really like to know how the heck they know debris impacts happen when they use that excuse. and why its so random. debris impact happen with every violent tornado yo. why is it only becoming relevent in ratings now and so selectively?

and also how can they know that a washer wasnt present on the bolts before or after the tornado occured? do they go have someone looking for those little round piece's of metal that exist in so many things that decerning it was from any one particular object is practically impossible? like come on. the washer excuse is only valid if no washers are present on any bolt. if theirs still some left then there's a very high likelyhood they were removed by the tornado rather than simply not present in the first place. if its the other way around then alot of engineers need firing.
 

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Just found a really cool video. So the December 15, 2021 outbreak was completely overshadowed by the devastating outbreak just a few days prior, but it was a remarkable, record breaking event in its own right, and the largest December tornado outbreak on record. This video shows a direct hit from a very small, fast-moving EF2 QLCS tornado in Columbus, Nebraska. It's so tiny, and moves so quickly, that you'll miss it if you blink, but it hits at 0:14. This was one of an astonishing 32 EF2s that occurred that day.
 
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For some reason I was under the impression that the major 21st century update to Significant Tornadoes was already out, but it isn't. Really curious to see what old man Grazulis has to say about Vilonia. Hope he and his team had access to all the photos recently posted here.
I emailed him about the update a couple months ago and didn't get a response (it was supposed to be out by September of 2021, I believe). I'm wondering if a bunch of new stuff has come up or maybe he's delayed the release due to needing to document several more recent events (like last month, perhaps).
 

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I emailed him about the update a couple months ago and didn't get a response (it was supposed to be out by September of 2021, I believe). I'm wondering if a bunch of new stuff has come up or maybe he's delayed the release due to needing to document several more recent events (like last month, perhaps).

I think he mentioned some trouble he meet with right before the quad state night began.
 

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Just found a really cool video. So the December 15, 2021 outbreak was completely overshadowed by the devastating outbreak just a few days prior, but it was a remarkable, record breaking event in its own right, and the largest December tornado outbreak on record. This video shows a direct hit from a very small, fast-moving EF2 QLCS tornado in Columbus, Nebraska. It's so tiny, and moves so quickly, that you'll miss it if you blink, but it hits at 0:14. This was one of an astonishing 32 EF2s that occurred that day.

Not only the largest outbreak in December, with 111 tors in a roughly 8 hour span, it was the third largest outbreak in single day, only behind the two Super outbreak, surpassing 2020 Easter outbreak .
December also witnessed the most sig tors(≥EF2) ever since April of 2011.It' s safe to say we're witnessing history.
Despite the extreme tornado drought in Plains, Dixie behaved hyperactive for the past two years, for two historic tornado outbreak.Something odd is definitely going on here
 

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One of the most notable recent MN tornadoes is the 3/29/1998 Comfrey MN tornado. It is the only violent tornado to be recorded in March in MN and one of the longest tracked/largest in MN history. One interesting story related to this tornado is that, according to Grazulis, some residents of Comfrey were expecting this tornado to receive an F5 rating and were mad that it got an F4 rating instead. Shirts that said, "F4 my a**" were sold. I don't see any evidence of possible F5 damage from this tornado and it looks like it was low-end F4 at peak intensity.
comfrey.png
Csptornado2.jpg

Csptornado3.jpg


CottonwoodCounty-032998.jpg

Comfrey-grainbintossedtwoblocks.JPG
 

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One of the most notable recent MN tornadoes is the 3/29/1998 Comfrey MN tornado. It is the only violent tornado to be recorded in March in MN and one of the longest tracked/largest in MN history. One interesting story related to this tornado is that, according to Grazulis, some residents of Comfrey were expecting this tornado to receive an F5 rating and were mad that it got an F4 rating instead. Shirts that said, "F4 my a**" were sold. I don't see any evidence of possible F5 damage from this tornado and it looks like it was low-end F4 at peak intensity.
View attachment 11678
Csptornado2.jpg

Csptornado3.jpg


CottonwoodCounty-032998.jpg

Comfrey-grainbintossedtwoblocks.JPG

Interesting that some places want an F5 rating and some don't....Vilonia was likely underrated because EF4 is less threatening to most people yet these people for some reason wanted an F5 rating....perhaps it would have helped boost tourism revenue or something like that?
 

buckeye05

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One of the most notable recent MN tornadoes is the 3/29/1998 Comfrey MN tornado. It is the only violent tornado to be recorded in March in MN and one of the longest tracked/largest in MN history. One interesting story related to this tornado is that, according to Grazulis, some residents of Comfrey were expecting this tornado to receive an F5 rating and were mad that it got an F4 rating instead. Shirts that said, "F4 my a**" were sold. I don't see any evidence of possible F5 damage from this tornado and it looks like it was low-end F4 at peak intensity.
View attachment 11678
Csptornado2.jpg

Csptornado3.jpg


CottonwoodCounty-032998.jpg

Comfrey-grainbintossedtwoblocks.JPG

Looks like low-end EF4 at the worst, but the shirt thing is understandable since this was before the concept of poor anchoring affecting ratings was more well-known. People probably saw empty foundations and were confused by the rating.
 
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One of the most notable recent MN tornadoes is the 3/29/1998 Comfrey MN tornado. It is the only violent tornado to be recorded in March in MN and one of the longest tracked/largest in MN history. One interesting story related to this tornado is that, according to Grazulis, some residents of Comfrey were expecting this tornado to receive an F5 rating and were mad that it got an F4 rating instead. Shirts that said, "F4 my a**" were sold. I don't see any evidence of possible F5 damage from this tornado and it looks like it was low-end F4 at peak intensity.
View attachment 11678
Csptornado2.jpg

Csptornado3.jpg


CottonwoodCounty-032998.jpg

Comfrey-grainbintossedtwoblocks.JPG

I'm amazed that a tornado that long-tracked occurred that far north, that hardly ever happens.
 
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Interesting that some places want an F5 rating and some don't....Vilonia was likely underrated because EF4 is less threatening to most people yet these people for some reason wanted an F5 rating....perhaps it would have helped boost tourism revenue or something like that?

1998 was also pretty close after Twister came out, and terms like the Fujita ratings and the sense of mystique attached to the F5 ("Is there an F5? What...would that be like? - The finger of God.") had just entered the public lexicon.
 
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Sadly, Roger Edwards' "Cool Images" section seems to have disappeared from the SPC site sometime relatively recently (archive from May 2021). It had this page on Jarrell:


Unfortunately the radar loop GIF doesn't seem to work in the archive, but the satellite loop showing the supercell blowing up and then unzipping south-southwestward along the boundary, does.
 

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Sadly, Roger Edwards' "Cool Images" section seems to have disappeared from the SPC site sometime relatively recently (archive from May 2021). It had this page on Jarrell:


Unfortunately the radar loop GIF doesn't seem to work in the archive, but the satellite loop showing the supercell blowing up and then unzipping south-southwestward along the boundary, does.
Here's the radar loop.
animjrlr.gif
 
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For some reason I was under the impression that the major 21st century update to Significant Tornadoes was already out, but it isn't. Really curious to see what old man Grazulis has to say about Vilonia. Hope he and his team had access to all the photos recently posted here.
Yeah I'm curious to see his take on Chapman, Rochelle, Washington, Camp Crook, and a lot of the 4/27 tornadoes too. IIRC the new edition goes to 2019, which is kind of a shame since there's obviously been a lot of botched ratings since then.
 

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It's a pretty strong contender for the most violent tornado in Iowa's history, which is saying something.
Apart from what Parkersburg did in downtown, the damage near New Hartford is definitely eye-catching
This is the Oak Hill Cemetery in New Hartford
Nearly 100% tombs were toppled, some tombs were actually dug out and missing, a large stone pagoda was toppled. Low-lying shrubbs near the cemetery were uprooted and suffered extreme debarking.
IMG_20220111_222522.jpg
IMG_20220111_123734.jpg
IMG_20220111_124356.jpg
Large, over 40 years old coniferous pine trees were almost complete debarked.Not a populated area here, so finishing extreme debarking is way more difficult than in town.
IMG_20220111_223221.jpg
IMG_20220111_222825.jpg
Extreme wind rowing just behind the Cemetery, a mixture of automobile parts, building materials, and debarked hardwood branches wind rowed against a cedar tree.
IMG_20220111_223621.jpgIMG_20220111_223705.jpg
A car engine in the field
IMG_20220111_224111.jpg
This is what Oak Hill Cemetery looks like in the air.
IMG_20220111_131015.jpg
 
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