locomusic01
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Since we're doing vehicle damage, seems fitting to include one of my favorites - this Model T from the Tri-State Tornado in Owensville:
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Significant Tornado Events
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locomusic01
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Yeah, that's the kind of thing I was talking about. It's become one of a growing number of examples where someone has really important photos/videos, agrees to send them to me, and then.. nothing. I just don't understand it. I waste so much time chasing down leads and repeatedly following up and whatnot, but I'd guess probably less than half of them ever produce anything. Drives me crazy.
I did eventually track down one that's supposedly from Tionesta, but I'm still working on trying to verify it.
Some impressive stuff from Yazoo City
Home swept from its foundation
Plastic wedged into a column
I'm not sure what this is, my guess is a farm outbuilding or something similar got slabbed.
Tree and power pole damage - Photo by Taylor Kuykendall
Splintered tree - Photo by Taylor Kuykendall
Home swept from its foundation
Plastic wedged into a column
I'm not sure what this is, my guess is a farm outbuilding or something similar got slabbed.
Tree and power pole damage - Photo by Taylor Kuykendall
Splintered tree - Photo by Taylor Kuykendall
MNTornadoGuy
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Damage from the 1974 Kennard tornado.
Lake Martin EF4
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Could you post this image there? Even if it isn't Tionesta, it could be another one of the wedges of that outbreak! (or of that decade)
J-Rab
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That last picture of the splintered tree is really unusual looking. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen one done like that before.
akt1985
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Anyone have any information about the 1932 Alabama tornado outbreak? Today is the 90th anniversary and more than likely was deadlier than 2011 but we will probably never know the final death count.
DetectiveWX
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On that same token, how about the Mid-South 1952 event, possibly the most severe outbreak in that region comparable to Louisville 1890, Tri-State, Super '74 (though they're an extreme example), Super Tuesday and Mayfield? It's the 70th anniversary of it but gets talked about rarely.
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Juliett Bravo Kilo
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So, have you managed to track down any photos/videos of the Atlantic or Moshannon State Forest tornado? Or did those become dead ends?
Lake Martin EF4
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There are photos of Atlantic, just none from when it really wedged out - they're all from when it was in stovepipe stage. Moshannon however seems to have become the deadest of ends.
Juliett Bravo Kilo
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Given Moshannon's remote wilderness location their probably won't ever be photos found of it as there wasn't much people (if any) who would have been able to see it for the majority of its path.
Juliett Bravo Kilo
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This is apparently of the tornado while it was crossing Route 417; looks partially wedge here.
Juliett Bravo Kilo
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I think the crazy thing is that the very center of the tornado actually didn't directly hit a lot of the industrial buildings. It was very close, obviously, but many of the buildings were sort of on the northern edge of the core. It's hard to imagine the damage being much worse either way, but who knows.
My guess is if the core hit most of those buildings dead center they would have been swept away completely, including the steel frame (like what happened with some of the factories struck by Barrie).
I still can't get over just vicious this thing was, particularly while going the Wheatland area, the sheer amount of devastation it was able to do in a rather small area and of course, the geographical oddity of its location. Amazing it didn't kill more people.
Marshal79344
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Hey yall, it's been a while since I've posted a lengthy discussion in here about a particular tornado event, but I'd like to showcase some photos I've found of Vilonia. Recently, I've done a big dive into the Vilonia Tornado itself and have discovered several things that have led me to form several theories about tornado behavior and interaction with complicated geography. It's not a secret that the terrain around Little Rock, Arkansas (and across most of Arkansas in fact) is very hilly, filled with valleys and forests from end to end. The Vilonia Tornado was no exception to this, and, especially in its earlier and later stages, encountered very complicated terrain. However, it's worth noting that the tornado was at its most extreme intensity in the Vilonia area, where the terrain is pretty flat.
The environment which spawned the tornado is also pretty unusual, at least when comparing it to other violent tornadoes that have occurred both in Arkansas (3/1/1997, 3/21/1952, 1/21/1999, 2/5/2008), given that the thermodynamics played a much more important part in this event than the past events did. If you take a look at the 00z Little Rock sounding below, which was taken literally 6 minutes before the tornado formed, you can see that it is very favorable for tornadoes, but seems to be rather "unique" when compared to other violent tornado events, it's kind of like a hybrid between the Plains and Dixie Alley.
The 00z Little Rock Sounding:
When looking at the sounding, we see, from a kinematic (the term used to generalize wind shear, jet streaks, LLJ, all that stuff) point of view, a profile that's more reminiscent of the Plains or High Plains in the summer. There is a lot of lower-level directional wind shear, which was influenced by the proximity of Little Rock to a stationary front, but there isn't a lot of support higher up. It's not uncommon to see similar types of mainly lower-level hodographs associated with big Plains tornado events. However, compensating for the less-than-ideal mid and upper layer shear (not to say that it isn't sufficient already, which shows how high-end this sounding really is) is the presence of a lot of instability. That much instability is easily enough to compensate for environments that don't have a lot of mid to upper layer shear, however, in this case, there was decent mid to upper layer shear in place. The presence of that much instability really made this high-end. However, the Dixie-esque part to this sounding lies with the moisture, there was a lot of moisture present around the warm sector. This, combined without 3/25/2021 or 4/12/2020 levels of mid to upper layer shear to provide a lot of venting meant two things. First, there was likely going to be a rather messy storm mode was likely on that day. Supercells would have some (but not much) issue organizing and would also have problems being cut off by other convection (which happened with several cells to the north). Second, the supercells would rather be flood-producers, generating lots of rain but not much hail, they would be of the HP type. Supercells would also be lower-based, which would make it hard for people to see a tornado, if present. However, the extreme levels of lower-level shear were able to vent all precipitation away from the base locally, making the tornado visible before sunset. but one supercell that formed further south than most of the convection that day was able to survive a few mergers and become the dominant supercell across Arkansas that evening.
The supercell also evolved really, really quickly into its tornadic phase. Over the span of around 20 minutes, the supercell underwent two mergers with convection to its south, and then rapidly developed a deep mesocyclone and the tornado. At 23:56 UTC (top below), there wasn't even a deep mesocyclone visible on the parent supercell, but there was a hook echo visible from the recently completed merger. However, a mere five minutes later, at 00:01 UTC (bottom below), there was a very well-defined, strong, and healthy deep mesocyclone a few tilts up. At the lowest level there was a very well-defined convergence zone. 6 minutes later, EF4 damage (in my opinion, that is), was already taking place. I wonder if these mergers had something to do with the rapid intensification of the parent supercell, but I'm not sure, given that the environment was already extremely impressive to begin with.
The 23:56 UTC scan from the KLZK radar
The 00:01 UTC scan from the KLZK radar, which shows a very well-defined mesocyclone aloft.
I'll post more about the individual tornado later, SAT scores are also coming out today so I'm bloody nervous.
The environment which spawned the tornado is also pretty unusual, at least when comparing it to other violent tornadoes that have occurred both in Arkansas (3/1/1997, 3/21/1952, 1/21/1999, 2/5/2008), given that the thermodynamics played a much more important part in this event than the past events did. If you take a look at the 00z Little Rock sounding below, which was taken literally 6 minutes before the tornado formed, you can see that it is very favorable for tornadoes, but seems to be rather "unique" when compared to other violent tornado events, it's kind of like a hybrid between the Plains and Dixie Alley.
The 00z Little Rock Sounding:
When looking at the sounding, we see, from a kinematic (the term used to generalize wind shear, jet streaks, LLJ, all that stuff) point of view, a profile that's more reminiscent of the Plains or High Plains in the summer. There is a lot of lower-level directional wind shear, which was influenced by the proximity of Little Rock to a stationary front, but there isn't a lot of support higher up. It's not uncommon to see similar types of mainly lower-level hodographs associated with big Plains tornado events. However, compensating for the less-than-ideal mid and upper layer shear (not to say that it isn't sufficient already, which shows how high-end this sounding really is) is the presence of a lot of instability. That much instability is easily enough to compensate for environments that don't have a lot of mid to upper layer shear, however, in this case, there was decent mid to upper layer shear in place. The presence of that much instability really made this high-end. However, the Dixie-esque part to this sounding lies with the moisture, there was a lot of moisture present around the warm sector. This, combined without 3/25/2021 or 4/12/2020 levels of mid to upper layer shear to provide a lot of venting meant two things. First, there was likely going to be a rather messy storm mode was likely on that day. Supercells would have some (but not much) issue organizing and would also have problems being cut off by other convection (which happened with several cells to the north). Second, the supercells would rather be flood-producers, generating lots of rain but not much hail, they would be of the HP type. Supercells would also be lower-based, which would make it hard for people to see a tornado, if present. However, the extreme levels of lower-level shear were able to vent all precipitation away from the base locally, making the tornado visible before sunset. but one supercell that formed further south than most of the convection that day was able to survive a few mergers and become the dominant supercell across Arkansas that evening.
The supercell also evolved really, really quickly into its tornadic phase. Over the span of around 20 minutes, the supercell underwent two mergers with convection to its south, and then rapidly developed a deep mesocyclone and the tornado. At 23:56 UTC (top below), there wasn't even a deep mesocyclone visible on the parent supercell, but there was a hook echo visible from the recently completed merger. However, a mere five minutes later, at 00:01 UTC (bottom below), there was a very well-defined, strong, and healthy deep mesocyclone a few tilts up. At the lowest level there was a very well-defined convergence zone. 6 minutes later, EF4 damage (in my opinion, that is), was already taking place. I wonder if these mergers had something to do with the rapid intensification of the parent supercell, but I'm not sure, given that the environment was already extremely impressive to begin with.
The 23:56 UTC scan from the KLZK radar
The 00:01 UTC scan from the KLZK radar, which shows a very well-defined mesocyclone aloft.
I'll post more about the individual tornado later, SAT scores are also coming out today so I'm bloody nervous.
CheeselandSkies
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Great explanation, I'd always been curious about how that day produced such a singularly violent tornado and little else of note. Usually such events are the result of localized, mesoscale driven later spring or summer setups (Chapman, Jarrell, Oakfield, Plainfield for example) but this was an April high risk.
Marshal79344
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Alright, here's for part two. The tornado initiated in a valley a couple of miles south of Lake Maumelle and about 12 miles west of Little Rock at 00:05 UTC. By the 00:06 UTC scan, KLZK was already detecting a tornado debris signature. Initially, the tornado's path followed the valleys and was inconsistent, but as it descended into a valley, where multiple homes were located along Deer Drive, it quickly became strong. Three homes were destroyed. One of these homes was swept away completely, killing three people inside of it. This home was controversially given a rating of high-end EF3, due to "poor anchoring," even though contextual evidence nearby showed that trees had been debarked and debris was wind-rowed thorougly. The small nature of the valley makes me wonder if the tornado's winds being enclosed in a smaller area might have briefly tightened up the circulation into a very intense tornado for that particular moment. Personally, I believe that the tornado was at lower-end EF4 intensity in this region.
An aerial view of the homes along Deer Drive. The home where fatalities occurred is at bottom right.
A ground view of the home that was swept away with the three fatalities along Deer Drive
After leaving this area, the tornado became very inconsistent in strength and even appeared to dissipate completely as it entered Lake Maumelle, where two inconsistent swaths of lower-end tree damage were noted. The tornado crossed a stretch of land between Lake Maumelle and the Arkansas River, passing south of Roland. Satellite imagery showed a very consistent swath of tree damage here, with gradual intensification. The terrain south of Roland was relatively flat, which may have contributed to the tornado's ability to gradually intensify and maintain an uninterrupted structure.
As the tornado crossed the Arkansas River, it regained EF4 strength (which my personal opinion has it at 185 mph in this area) and struck the Plantation Subdivision southwest of Mayflower. The terrain leading up into the valley is also relatively flat, and the damage swath in this region was very consistent. Several homes along a small but violent swath were leveled to the ground, and a woman lost her life in one of these homes when a faulty storm shelter's door failed. Trees were debarked and debris was wind-rowed considerable distances. Most photos of the tornado were taken in this region, as it was approaching the Arkansas River (the sun would set shortly afterward, preventing few good photos of the tornado in its latter stages). In this stage of its life, the tornado maintained a low-based Hackleburg-esque appearance.
This image shows the Vilonia Tornado as it approached the Arkansas River, which is visible in the foreground. It was destroying a transmission tower of some sort around the time of this image.
The tornado then plowed into the southwestern side of Mayflower at a slightly weaker but still violent tornado, where several homes were badly damaged and warehouses were completely destroyed. One of these warehouses housed an RV company. RV's from this company were completely destroyed. One person lost their life in this area. As Mayflower was struck, the tornado maintained its large wedge appearance, although the base appeared to have risen slightly. What's interesting about this tornado is how the base appeared to gradually rise throughout its lifecycle.
This image shows the forest just northeast of the RV Company in Mayflower
An image of the tornado around the time that Mayflower was being hit
The tornado then struck a subdivision of homes along Lake Conway at a very high intensity, likely in the high-end EF4 range at this point (even though it was officially EF3 165 mph here). Several homes were completely slabbed and swept away. An estimated 569,000 pounds of debris was recovered from the Lake by cleanup crews. One elderly man lost his life here. Vehicles were mangled, and all types of vegetation, even low-lying shrubs, were debarked here.
This image shows an aerial of the Lake Conway region
The tornado crossed over Lake Conway without impacting much else, before making landfall southeast of Saltillo. It passed less than a mile south of the town, destroying several homes. The tornado again began to impact complicated terrain in this stage, and exhibited an irregular damage swath as a result. At times, the tornado would seem to dissipate on one side of the hill and re-appear on the other side of the hill after a few hundred feet before continuing as normal. This was observed twice during the tornado's lifespan.
The damage incurred to the Saltillo area as viewed from Google Earth.
The tornado would soon emerge over flat terrain as it entered subdivisions southwest of Vilonia and would gradually reach absolutely extreme intensity. Some of the most violent tornado damage I've ever seen, definitely the worst I've ever seen in Arkansas by a mile, documented in a tornado occurred in this area. However, I'll have to save that for another post. Miraculously, no lives were lost between Mayflower and the subdivisions southwest of Vilonia. I will post one image of the tornado in this region. It was posted on Facebook with the caption "the tornado nearing Vilonia." In this image, the base has risen even more, and the tornado has taken on a stovepipe DDC-esque appearance.
An aerial view of the homes along Deer Drive. The home where fatalities occurred is at bottom right.
A ground view of the home that was swept away with the three fatalities along Deer Drive
After leaving this area, the tornado became very inconsistent in strength and even appeared to dissipate completely as it entered Lake Maumelle, where two inconsistent swaths of lower-end tree damage were noted. The tornado crossed a stretch of land between Lake Maumelle and the Arkansas River, passing south of Roland. Satellite imagery showed a very consistent swath of tree damage here, with gradual intensification. The terrain south of Roland was relatively flat, which may have contributed to the tornado's ability to gradually intensify and maintain an uninterrupted structure.
As the tornado crossed the Arkansas River, it regained EF4 strength (which my personal opinion has it at 185 mph in this area) and struck the Plantation Subdivision southwest of Mayflower. The terrain leading up into the valley is also relatively flat, and the damage swath in this region was very consistent. Several homes along a small but violent swath were leveled to the ground, and a woman lost her life in one of these homes when a faulty storm shelter's door failed. Trees were debarked and debris was wind-rowed considerable distances. Most photos of the tornado were taken in this region, as it was approaching the Arkansas River (the sun would set shortly afterward, preventing few good photos of the tornado in its latter stages). In this stage of its life, the tornado maintained a low-based Hackleburg-esque appearance.
This image shows the Vilonia Tornado as it approached the Arkansas River, which is visible in the foreground. It was destroying a transmission tower of some sort around the time of this image.
The tornado then plowed into the southwestern side of Mayflower at a slightly weaker but still violent tornado, where several homes were badly damaged and warehouses were completely destroyed. One of these warehouses housed an RV company. RV's from this company were completely destroyed. One person lost their life in this area. As Mayflower was struck, the tornado maintained its large wedge appearance, although the base appeared to have risen slightly. What's interesting about this tornado is how the base appeared to gradually rise throughout its lifecycle.
This image shows the forest just northeast of the RV Company in Mayflower
An image of the tornado around the time that Mayflower was being hit
The tornado then struck a subdivision of homes along Lake Conway at a very high intensity, likely in the high-end EF4 range at this point (even though it was officially EF3 165 mph here). Several homes were completely slabbed and swept away. An estimated 569,000 pounds of debris was recovered from the Lake by cleanup crews. One elderly man lost his life here. Vehicles were mangled, and all types of vegetation, even low-lying shrubs, were debarked here.
This image shows an aerial of the Lake Conway region
The tornado crossed over Lake Conway without impacting much else, before making landfall southeast of Saltillo. It passed less than a mile south of the town, destroying several homes. The tornado again began to impact complicated terrain in this stage, and exhibited an irregular damage swath as a result. At times, the tornado would seem to dissipate on one side of the hill and re-appear on the other side of the hill after a few hundred feet before continuing as normal. This was observed twice during the tornado's lifespan.
The damage incurred to the Saltillo area as viewed from Google Earth.
The tornado would soon emerge over flat terrain as it entered subdivisions southwest of Vilonia and would gradually reach absolutely extreme intensity. Some of the most violent tornado damage I've ever seen, definitely the worst I've ever seen in Arkansas by a mile, documented in a tornado occurred in this area. However, I'll have to save that for another post. Miraculously, no lives were lost between Mayflower and the subdivisions southwest of Vilonia. I will post one image of the tornado in this region. It was posted on Facebook with the caption "the tornado nearing Vilonia." In this image, the base has risen even more, and the tornado has taken on a stovepipe DDC-esque appearance.
eric11
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If I may interrupt, here's some damage pics near Lake Conway which I'd like to add about
This type of debris granulation and ground scouring was a clear-cut EF5 fashion, more than a high-end EF4.
eric11
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And it removed the front porch of one of the slabbed house.
Another photo taken by basehunters when it was striking Mayflower
Another photo taken by basehunters when it was striking Mayflower
Juliett Bravo Kilo
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So, this is interesting. Apparently the Niles-Wheatland tornado had the fastest wind speeds ever recorded at 385 mph!
I mean, I know it was a powerful tornado and all, but geez......
en.wikipedia.org
I mean, I know it was a powerful tornado and all, but geez......
Wheatland, Pennsylvania - Wikipedia
Juliett Bravo Kilo
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This damage.....wow. The more and more I learn about this thing the more obvious it is that it was an EF5 and SHOULD HAVE been rated as such.