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Significant Tornado Events

tornado examiner said:
what a strange outbreak...
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Yeah any isolated supercell that developed on that day became a steady-state cyclic tornado producing machine. By far the largest and most significant tornado outbreak in Western Kansas history, and it nearly doubled the previous Kansas record for tornadoes in one day. What really amazed me was just how massive the tornadoes were and how close Greensburg got to nearly getting hit twice.
 
One forgotten yet significant tornado outbreak is the October 18, 1908 High Plains tornado outbreak. The Weather Bureau and Grazulis don't list any tornadoes from this outbreak, despite reliable newspaper reports of funnel clouds, debris being carried long distances, and significant tornado damage. At least three significant tornadoes occurred on this day, two of which were likely long-tracked tornado families.

Tornado #1 - Tucumcari NM
This intense tornado (family?) moved from near House to 12 miles NE of Tucumcari, devastating rural areas. Two people were killed on separate farms and several were injured. At least three farms were completely destroyed, including one that was swept away with "the only piece of timber of which the building (house) was constructed found in that vicinity after the storm being a piece of the door about a foot and a half long with the knob and lock." This was likely one of the most intense tornadoes in New Mexico's history and was possibly an F4.

Tornado #2 - Clayton NM
A complex long-lived family of possibly 3+ tornadoes begin just SE of Clayton, moving through the OK panhandle and ending NE of Campo CO. In Clayton itself, a large two-story brick courthouse lost its upper story with timber being carried 200-300 yards to the north, and numerous other buildings were damaged throughout town. Homes were destroyed both west and east of Clayton, likely by other tornadoes produced by different storms. 1 person died west of Clayton and 2 people died east of town. In Oklahoma, an entire farm was destroyed with one man dying on it, and a two-story building was destroyed at Mineral. In Colorado, the damage was much more minor with some windmills being destroyed.

Tornado #3 - Boise City OK
This brief but likely significant tornado completely destroyed at least four barns east of Boise City.

googleearth_mgpXmF7AvX.jpg
 
MNTornadoGuy said:
One forgotten yet significant tornado outbreak is the October 18, 1908 High Plains tornado outbreak. The Weather Bureau and Grazulis don't list any tornadoes from this outbreak, despite reliable newspaper reports of funnel clouds, debris being carried long distances, and significant tornado damage. At least three significant tornadoes occurred on this day, two of which were likely long-tracked tornado families.

Tornado #1 - Tucumcari NM
This intense tornado (family?) moved from near House to 12 miles NE of Tucumcari, devastating rural areas. Two people were killed on separate farms and several were injured. At least three farms were completely destroyed, including one that was swept away with "the only piece of timber of which the building (house) was constructed found in that vicinity after the storm being a piece of the door about a foot and a half long with the knob and lock." This was likely one of the most intense tornadoes in New Mexico's history and was possibly an F4.

Tornado #2 - Clayton NM
A complex long-lived family of possibly 3+ tornadoes begin just SE of Clayton, moving through the OK panhandle and ending NE of Campo CO. In Clayton itself, a large two-story brick courthouse lost its upper story with timber being carried 200-300 yards to the north, and numerous other buildings were damaged throughout town. Homes were destroyed both west and east of Clayton, likely by other tornadoes produced by different storms. 1 person died west of Clayton and 2 people died east of town. In Oklahoma, an entire farm was destroyed with one man dying on it, and a two-story building was destroyed at Mineral. In Colorado, the damage was much more minor with some windmills being destroyed.

Tornado #3 - Boise City OK
This brief but likely significant tornado completely destroyed at least four barns east of Boise City.

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Interesting how many tornadoes that have gone forgotten or are just completely undocumented over time, some of them very notable events like this one. Makes you think about if there was some historic unprecedented super outbreak that we have no record of just because of time or poor record keeping.
 
Western_KS_Wx said:
Interesting how many tornadoes that have gone forgotten or are just completely undocumented over time, some of them very notable events like this one. Makes you think about if there was some historic unprecedented super outbreak that we have no record of just because of time or poor record keeping.
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I think that 4/20/1920 was a Dixie super outbreak but was so poorly-documented that the full of scale of it will forever be lost to time. So many potential super outbreaks have likely happened in the South but due to poor record keeping, the hilly terrain and tornadoes down there tending to be rain-wrapped and obscured by low-hanging cloud bases so many tornadoes from them were never documented.
 
Western_KS_Wx said:
Interesting how many tornadoes that have gone forgotten or are just completely undocumented over time, some of them very notable events like this one. Makes you think about if there was some historic unprecedented super outbreak that we have no record of just because of time or poor record keeping.
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i would like to know the process you went through to add that dat imagery too google earth when you do figure it out. cause i may wanna do something like that as well
 
I still really haven’t figured it out yet I’ve gotten it to overlay in as an image but the quality is awful and it’s completely off centered, still trying to work it out. Little bit unrelated but I’ve been working on a certain famous tornado from 4/27/2011 and had just finished adding the final EF4+ contour when Google earth decided to shut down unexpectedly…meaning none of it saved. Every contour from EF1-4 got erased along with hours of work so it’s been good start to the Wednesday so far…at least they apologized for the inconvenience though lol
 
Western_KS_Wx said:
I still really haven’t figured it out yet I’ve gotten it to overlay in as an image but the quality is awful and it’s completely off centered, still trying to work it out. Little bit unrelated but I’ve been working on a certain famous tornado from 4/27/2011 and had just finished adding the final EF4+ contour when Google earth decided to shut down unexpectedly…meaning none of it saved. Every contour from EF1-4 got erased along with hours of work so it’s been good start to the Wednesday so far…at least they apologized for the inconvenience though lol
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was it tuscaloosa?
 
Western_KS_Wx said:
I still really haven’t figured it out yet I’ve gotten it to overlay in as an image but the quality is awful and it’s completely off centered, still trying to work it out. Little bit unrelated but I’ve been working on a certain famous tornado from 4/27/2011 and had just finished adding the final EF4+ contour when Google earth decided to shut down unexpectedly…meaning none of it saved. Every contour from EF1-4 got erased along with hours of work so it’s been good start to the Wednesday so far…at least they apologized for the inconvenience though lol
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just a tip. save often. preferably every time you do a large amount of progress. or like i do. every 2 to 3 minutes if i'm working fast.
 
CalebRoutt said:
Bremen isn’t the only area of **Possible** EF5 damage. For example there’s an area just SW of Mayfield where homes were swept clean. 1 of which was well built with all anchor bolts bent some ripped out. Every tree was sheared to near or at ground level, and several vehicles including a pickup truck was thrown ~300 yards. This home was likely just as well built as the Bremen home, however poor roof connections prevented this from getting rated EF5.

Photo Creds: NWS Paducah and DFW Storm Chasers
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Thanks for posting these, I hadn't seen most of those photos before. From the photos it appears the home's foundation had a CMU perimeter with bolts securing the sill plating to the top of the blocks? Definitely unusual construction, not sure how it would have helped or hurt the home's ability to withstand tornadic winds though.

I will say the contextual damage in that area easily pointed to a high end 4 with the debarking and wind rowing.
 
5/3/99 is an infamous day, but the Mulhall tornado was one that was overlooked by non-researchers. The circulation was quantifiably measured at 4.3 miles wide by the DOW with an entire mile between peak velocities inside the circulation, with suction vorticies showing windspeeds in excess of 260 mph. Many of the same areas were hit again only a couple hours later by the crescent F3.

Does anybody have any information on the Mulhall tornado that isn't already available?
 
theres sooo much too take in and figure out and learn from the mayfield tornado. i still dont think we've covered everything. cause we're likely to find images over time that show something new that indicates how powerful it was.
 
if it was tuscaloosa it definitely have been a very complex and random contour map thats for sure. sucks that most of it was lost when you were almost done with it.
 
Western_KS_Wx said:
Yep. I was going to release it by surprise but decided against it, had it sitting in the files for over a year and forgot about it until recently and decided to start working on it again. Definitely a lot of ground to cover even more so since the whole track other than the EF0 contour got wiped out of existence
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mind showing the EF0 contour?
 
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