Significant Tornado Events

[DetectiveWX]

I do consider it part of Dixie Alley, I just meant the 1916 outbreak doesn't to have been that widespread outside of Arkansas.

But yeah, based on this chart Arkansas does straddle two separate 'alleys'. Also my home state (Missouri) straddles 3, assuming you believe this chart.

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I thought all of TN, LA and AL were in Dixie. Heck, I consider ATL, Columbus and Macon Metro part of Dixie. As for "Classic Plains," I always considered the southern part to include Abilene along I-20 to the DFW Metro area.

 

[TH2002]

One of Kansas' lesser known violent tornadoes struck Hoisington on the night of April 21, 2001. The tornado touched down in SW Hoisington and rapidly intensified to F4 intensity, destroying 200 homes and 12 businesses including a few that were swept away. Vehicles were thrown and mangled as well, and trees were stripped of foliage with some debarking. One person was killed and 28 others were injured. The tornado continued for another 2 miles past Hoisington and abruptly dissipated after spending only five miles on the ground.



Damage photos from NWS Wichita

Some other photos

 

[Lake Martin EF4]

One of Kansas' lesser known violent tornadoes struck Hoisington on the night of April 21, 2001. The tornado touched down in SW Hoisington and rapidly intensified to F4 intensity, destroying 200 homes and 12 businesses including a few that were swept away. Vehicles were thrown and mangled as well, and trees were stripped of foliage with some debarking. One person was killed and 28 others were injured. The tornado continued for another 2 miles past Hoisington and abruptly dissipated after spending only five miles on the ground.



Damage photos from NWS Wichita

Some other photos

Probably the only video footage of the actual funnel (at the very beginning, you don't see it again for the rest of the video) and it's blocked by text.

Sigh.

 

[TH2002]

Probably the only video footage of the actual funnel (at the very beginning, you don't see it again for the rest of the video) and it's blocked by text.

Sigh.

At least we do have a viewable version of the video, though I do hope the raw footage will be released one day like Silver Lining Tours has done with many of their videos, and fantastic channels like vortexva and Blake Naftel.

For some tornadoes like Winter Garden '98 we merely have stills available and no footage which is even worse, though that's a topic for the "Historic tornado videos missing from the internet" thread.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

This is a fascinating event; the 1924 Lorain-Sandusky tornado. What's interesting about this thing is that it formed over a bay connected to Lake Erie, came ashore in Ohio before moving back over Lake Erie for several more miles before coming ashore again striking Lorain, just west of Cleveland. This thing's path is eerily close to that of another tornado in the 1953 outbreak that spawned the Flint-Beecher F5.

Deadliest Ohio Tornado In History

On this date, June 28th, 1924 the deadliest tornado in Ohio history struck Lorain and Sandusky. This tornado is now estimated at $1 Billion in damages in today’s dollars. While the Fujita scale was not established at this time, it is estimated ...

www.wtol.com

Photo of path:



FYI as this thing spent much of it path over water there's no way to know for certain if it was a single tornado or a family of 2-3 that cycled over the water (no way to ascertain over a massive liquid body) but it seems reasonable to believe it was a single tornado (the same can be said for the Temperance, MI F4 of 1953 that spent 30-40 mile over Lake Erie). Makes me wonder how often tornadoes have gone across the Great Lakes and were never recorded because really, how could you over nothing but water for miles?

 

[TH2002]

Joplin ground scouring montage

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Joplin ground scouring montage
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Most of this strikes me more as grass scouring than true ground scoring but yes this is even more proof that Joplin was a lot more violent then most give it credit for.
Also the last photograph, that one tree in the center; that is about as thorough debarking and denuding of branches that is possible. Wow.

 

[TH2002]

Most of this strikes me more as grass scouring than true ground scoring but yes this is even more proof that Joplin was a lot more violent then most give it credit for.
Also the last photograph, that one tree in the center; that is about as thorough debarking and denuding of branches that is possible. Wow.

I didn't know the terms "grass scouring" and "ground scouring" couldn't be used interchangeably, my apologies.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I didn't know the terms "grass scouring" and "ground scouring" couldn't be used interchangeably, my apologies.

I'm probably just nitpicking, my bad; I suppose it depends on who you talk to as to where one draws the line between grass/soil scouring and as to which is more "true".
Also, the more I look at a couple of the photos (particularly the one with the drainage ditch) and there may have been some legitimate scouring done there; some of the ground marks may be debris impacts but the ditch looks to have been scoured on both sides; which is impressive considering the winds would be going down instead of up and against one of the sides.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

So going through my old book collection tonight & I came across some old books stormchasing/extreme weather books from the mid-90's to early 2000s (al, the nostalgia for this era). Anyways, I took some pictures because I found one thing that even I forgot about it that is (to me) pretty cool and sentimental, if rather bittersweet. Anyways, on to the pics.

Two Warren Faidley books (does he still post here)? I don't want to post any pictures within in case of copyright issues but these books really captured my mind in severe weather at an impressionable young age (being given these after viewing 'Twister' innumerable times only helped lol):






I also found something I forgot about even having; an Advanced Field Spotters' Guide from either the late 90s or early 2000s. This is back when they still issued physical copies of them.


What caught my eye was this writing on one page:



What's weird is I can't remember meeting Bill Bunting in person or how exactly I got an autographed copy from him; all I know is I have it and it's a nostalgic and rather bittersweet reminder of how once upon a time I was going to be a stormchaser and/or work in meteorology as a career. For whatever reason, that didn't happen and I'll mostly be doomed to armchair surveying status on Talkweather but at least I got some place to talk about tornadoes with other like-minded individuals to help me take my mind off my currently lackadaisical academic and career prospects.

 

[TH2002]

What's weird is I can't remember meeting Bill Bunting in person or how exactly I got an autographed copy from him; all I know is I have it and it's a nostalgic and rather bittersweet reminder of how once upon a time I was going to be a stormchaser and/or work in meteorology as a career. For whatever reason, that didn't happen and I'll mostly be doomed to armchair surveying status on Talkweather but at least I got some place to talk about tornadoes with other like-minded individuals to help me take my mind off my currently lackadaisical academic and career prospects.

The sheer amount I relate to that paragraph is phenomenal. I'm not gonna go into detail about my personal life or anything, but I kinda feel like I'm walking on eggshells right now lol

On another note, here's the exact tornado featured on the Twister movie poster and cover of Storm Chaser: In Pursuit of Untamed Skies

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The sheer amount I relate to that paragraph is phenomenal. I'm not gonna go into detail about my personal life or anything, but I kinda feel like I'm walking on eggshells right now lol

On another note, here's the exact tornado featured on the Twister movie poster and cover of Storm Chaser: In Pursuit of Untamed Skies

Ah yes, that's the one! Amazing I never bothered figuring out which tornado that was after all these years....

Well in terms of walking on eggshells I was doing fine until COVID came along; most people are walking on eggshells where I am (the rural Midwest) so you're not the only one with that feeling don't worry.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

I have both of those books by Warren Faidley. I don't know if he ever was active on here, but he does still post on Stormtrack from time to time. One of the few old-school chasers who still does, actually.

I also recognize that video from a mid-'90s Weather Channel documentary called Target: Tornado. They didn't use that video itself but another one of the same tornado that was taken from the front-lit side, so the tornado appeared white and I didn't recognize it as the same one on the cover of Storm Chaser until now. Although I've long since lost my VHS tape of that show, I remember the tornado starting as a perfect little cone funnel that gradually stretched down to meet a dust swirl on the ground, then became a tilted elephant's truck partially shrouded in dust (that phase reminiscent of the famous Cordell, OK tornado from May 1981, and also of pictures I've seen of Tuesday's Gilmore City, IA tornado which I was once again frustratingly close to seeing, but didn't).

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

I have both of those books by Warren Faidley. I don't know if he ever was active on here, but he does still post on Stormtrack from time to time. One of the few old-school chasers who still does, actually.

I also recognize that video from a mid-'90s Weather Channel documentary called Target: Tornado. They didn't use that video itself but another one of the same tornado that was taken from the front-lit side, so the tornado appeared white and I didn't recognize it as the same one on the cover of Storm Chaser until now. Although I've long since lost my VHS tape of that show, I remember the tornado starting as a perfect little cone funnel that gradually stretched down to meet a dust swirl on the ground, then became a tilted elephant's truck partially shrouded in dust (that phase reminiscent of the famous Cordell, OK tornado from May 1981, and also of pictures I've seen of Tuesday's Gilmore City, IA tornado which I was once again frustratingly close to seeing, but didn't).

Cordell is the one that looked like the Wizard of Oz tornado, right?
Out of curiosity, do you know the source of the tornado still used in the Wizard of Oz film from 1939?

 

[UK_EF4]

Cordell is the one that looked like the Wizard of Oz tornado, right?
Out of curiosity, do you know the source of the tornado still used in the Wizard of Oz film from 1939?

The tornado in that film was actually made with a sock, with a fan blowing through, and a bunch of dust. Way better than many modern CGI tornadoes, and back in 1939!

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The tornado in that film was actually made with a sock, with a fan blowing through, and a bunch of dust. Way better than many modern CGI tornadoes, and back in 1939!

Yeah in many ways it does beat lots of CGI-fests; that being said, the F5 wedge in Twister still holds up pretty well (at least on DVD, not so much in blu-ray lol).

Also, I do wonder if the shape and diameter of the tornado was inspired by any sort of famous pictures of tornadoes of the time?

 

[TH2002]

Maybe I should start another thread for random but tornado-related comments?

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Maybe I should start another thread for random but tornado-related comments?

Oh no I'm done with this discussion, I was just trying to get the thread going again lol.

 

[tennessee storm chaser]

A violent tornado outbreak that sometimes gets over looked is the March 21. 22 1952 outbreak … course I wasn’t even ever thought of that time . But always heard my father n grandpa talk to me a lot bout . Henderson Tennessee was just demolished ., a town just 15 to 20 miles to my south nearly 50’fatalities by near ef5 . It was officially high end ef4. There were close 250 casualties total from Missouri Arkansas to Tennessee …. Those areas were hardest hit

 

[DetectiveWX]

I also believe Louisville 1890 gets rarely mentioned. The description makes it comparable to Mayfield as 1952 is the more violent/deadlier version of Super Tuesday.