Western_KS_Wx
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Probably Tuscaloosa, still having some issues overlaying the imagery for Mayfield. I’ve got a section near Benton to load properly but everything else im still trying to work out.
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Significant Tornado Events
- Thread starter locomusic01
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tornado examiner
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locomusic01
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Finally had a chance to get into the meteorology of the New Richmond event a little bit. Kinda limited as far as the info available, but it looks like an interesting evolution. A broad, messy low dropped down from the Canadian Prairies into the Northern Plains in the preceding days while a stout area of high pressure moved into the Northeast and eventually just off the coast. As you'd expect, this basically set up a firehose of deep, rich Gulf moisture in the Mississippi Valley and up into the Upper Midwest.
On the 11th, the low was centered in South Dakota with a warm (stationary?) front sort of slicing diagonally through Iowa into northern Illinois. It looks like the main storm that spawned the Homer-Salix F4 may have formed pretty close to the low. Anyway, the next day the low seems to have dropped further south while the warm front started lifting north. By mid-afternoon, the front was pushing into southern Minnesota and central/northern Wisconsin, where it more or less stalled.
Obviously still a work in progress; I tried to give it sort of a vintage/old-timey look to reflect the time period but I'm not sure I like it. At any rate, a shortwave was also beginning to push in from the west by the afternoon as temps rose into the low-mid 80s with dew points in the low-mid 70s. Not a bad recipe for a nasty tornado or two, especially with any cells that ride along the boundary (as New Richmond seems to have done - I marked roughly where the first tornadoes formed). Might also help to explain the training/flooding issues as well as the seemingly abrupt right turn the New Richmond storm made.
On the 11th, the low was centered in South Dakota with a warm (stationary?) front sort of slicing diagonally through Iowa into northern Illinois. It looks like the main storm that spawned the Homer-Salix F4 may have formed pretty close to the low. Anyway, the next day the low seems to have dropped further south while the warm front started lifting north. By mid-afternoon, the front was pushing into southern Minnesota and central/northern Wisconsin, where it more or less stalled.
Obviously still a work in progress; I tried to give it sort of a vintage/old-timey look to reflect the time period but I'm not sure I like it. At any rate, a shortwave was also beginning to push in from the west by the afternoon as temps rose into the low-mid 80s with dew points in the low-mid 70s. Not a bad recipe for a nasty tornado or two, especially with any cells that ride along the boundary (as New Richmond seems to have done - I marked roughly where the first tornadoes formed). Might also help to explain the training/flooding issues as well as the seemingly abrupt right turn the New Richmond storm made.
Lake Martin EF4
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Hey, remember this? I was just browsing WesternKsWx's twitter account and randomly searched up his posts on Mullinville and I found this.
Now, I don't know where exactly the tornado is in the photo, but he put this in a post all about the Mullinville tornado so I'm fairly certain the tornado is in this photo. I have 3 specific areas I'm keeping my eye on:
The area I'm most confident about is on the far right of the image, but I'm still slightly unsure. @Western_KS_Wx can you help clear things up a bit?
tornado examiner
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how much progress have you made back so far...?
Lake Martin EF4
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I'm retracting this. Per Will Reid himself, no actual tornado was in progress at this point.
BUT:
Is it a raincore? A microburst? No, it's Mullinville!
Western_KS_Wx
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So the mesocyclone they’re looking at in the center of the screen and the one they photographed the most is actually an occluding meso that spawned the two brief tornadoes prior to Mullinville.
While he says there was no tornado on the ground, the timestamps he gives with the pictures and video matches up perfectly for the time Mullinville began.
In this photo the giant blob of rain on the right side of the screen is actually where the tornado developed, albeit completely obscured in rain.
Now this screen grab is actually showing the left edge of the massive tornado, and is probably the only known image of the tornado in progress. They are looking north and the tornado has just crossed Highway 34.
At this point in these two images the tornado is curling to the northeast and is now at maximum width; nearly two miles wide, and is probably at peak intensity as well. They are looking directly northeast at the wall cloud and tornado which is completely obscured, and is also hard to identify due to it being so huge. Unless you were directly in front of it you weren’t going to get a clear shot of this tornado.
Here’s a radar grab they showed moments after those two video stills, proving the tornado was indeed in progress. Hope I cleared some things up!
Do consider yourself patient because I've shattered laptop screens with my fist on at least two occasions, also shattered the screen on my previous phone by chucking it across the room, lol.
Hoping that doesn't happen to the new ThinkPad I just bought cause I need it to run ArcGIS, working on a certification in that field but also using it to map out some tornadoes. Focus is Shoal Creek Valley currently, an incredible (and rather overlooked IMO) Super Outbreak tornado which my next post will be about.
tornado examiner
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interesting. i tried getting into arcgis but was not prepared for it lol.
tornado examiner
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i once tried to map tuscaloosa myself but for some reason at the time i couldn't figure out but i couldn't reload the file in google earth and i lost progress constantly. i figured out that it was because i had 3D terrain turned on.
The Shoal Creek Valley tornado was an extremely violent storm and had one of the most impressively persistent violent damage swaths I have ever seen, and that's saying something considering it's far from alone in the club of impressive Super Outbreak tornadoes.
For the first 13 miles of its path the tornado essentially paralleled Shoal Creek Road; within five miles of touching down the tornado was already obliterating homes and scouring the ground, and homes were leveled or swept away almost to the very end of the path.
Note that I'm gonna have to split this into two separate posts, so bear with me. Anyways, here's some of the damage along Shoal Creek Road:
The home in the bottom left corner was one of the first to be hit, and the first that was swept away. The tornado's violent core likely passed just north of the house. Debris impact marks and scouring are evident on the neighboring property.
About a mile and a half further up the path, the tornado struck the Alpha Ranch foster home. Despite not even taking a direct hit, the house was completely destroyed; with the exception of its collapsed chimney and a part of the subfloor, the foundation was swept clean. A large shed/outbuilding was also swept clean, and farm implements were reportedly thrown up to a half mile away. Denuded/debarked trees and wind damaged grass marked the tornado's inner core in this area.
As the tornado approached Neely Lake, it continued to obliterate block foundation homes all the way to the lake shore, where yet more homes were leveled or swept away, vehicles were tossed, and trees were debarked.
Crossing the lake into Calhoun County, the tornado began to fluctuate in intensity after destroying additional lakeside homes in the northern edge of Ohatchee. Still, many trees were downed, site built homes were severely damaged and mobile homes and outbuildings were destroyed in this rural area. It had intensified again by the time it struck a cluster of homes at the intersection of Rock Springs Rd and Gilberts Ferry Rd in Ohatchee; mobile homes vanished and a two story home was left as a concrete slab.
For the first 13 miles of its path the tornado essentially paralleled Shoal Creek Road; within five miles of touching down the tornado was already obliterating homes and scouring the ground, and homes were leveled or swept away almost to the very end of the path.
Note that I'm gonna have to split this into two separate posts, so bear with me. Anyways, here's some of the damage along Shoal Creek Road:
The home in the bottom left corner was one of the first to be hit, and the first that was swept away. The tornado's violent core likely passed just north of the house. Debris impact marks and scouring are evident on the neighboring property.
About a mile and a half further up the path, the tornado struck the Alpha Ranch foster home. Despite not even taking a direct hit, the house was completely destroyed; with the exception of its collapsed chimney and a part of the subfloor, the foundation was swept clean. A large shed/outbuilding was also swept clean, and farm implements were reportedly thrown up to a half mile away. Denuded/debarked trees and wind damaged grass marked the tornado's inner core in this area.
As the tornado approached Neely Lake, it continued to obliterate block foundation homes all the way to the lake shore, where yet more homes were leveled or swept away, vehicles were tossed, and trees were debarked.
Crossing the lake into Calhoun County, the tornado began to fluctuate in intensity after destroying additional lakeside homes in the northern edge of Ohatchee. Still, many trees were downed, site built homes were severely damaged and mobile homes and outbuildings were destroyed in this rural area. It had intensified again by the time it struck a cluster of homes at the intersection of Rock Springs Rd and Gilberts Ferry Rd in Ohatchee; mobile homes vanished and a two story home was left as a concrete slab.
Western_KS_Wx
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Interesting, I’ve never seen these aerial images before from this tornado. I’ve always thought Shoal Creek was on the same level as Tuscaloosa in terms of violence and it too likely reached EF5 status. They both traveled around the same distance as well (Tuscaloosa ~92 miles, Shoal Creek ~98miles) it’s a shame Shoal Creek is so overlooked and has little info on it.The Shoal Creek Valley tornado was an extremely violent storm and had one of the most impressively persistent violent damage swaths I have ever seen, and that's saying something considering it's far from alone in the club of impressive Super Outbreak tornadoes.
For the first 13 miles of its path the tornado essentially paralleled Shoal Creek Road; within five miles of touching down the tornado was already obliterating homes and scouring the ground, and homes were leveled or swept away almost to the very end of the path.
Note that I'm gonna have to split this into two separate posts, so bear with me. Anyways, here's some of the damage along Shoal Creek Road:
View attachment 14952
The home in the bottom left corner was one of the first to be hit, and the first that was swept away. The tornado's violent core likely passed just north of the house. Debris impact marks and scouring are evident on the neighboring property.
About a mile and a half further up the path, the tornado struck the Alpha Ranch foster home. Despite not even taking a direct hit, the house was completely destroyed; with the exception of its collapsed chimney and a part of the subfloor, the foundation was swept clean. A large shed/outbuilding was also swept clean, and farm implements were reportedly thrown up to a half mile away. Denuded/debarked trees and wind damaged grass marked the tornado's inner core in this area.
View attachment 14955
View attachment 14957
As the tornado approached Neely Lake, it continued to obliterate block foundation homes all the way to the lake shore, where yet more homes were leveled or swept away, vehicles were tossed, and trees were debarked.
Crossing the lake into Calhoun County, the tornado began to fluctuate in intensity after destroying additional lakeside homes in the northern edge of Ohatchee. Still, many trees were downed, site built homes were severely damaged and mobile homes and outbuildings were destroyed in this rural area. It had intensified again by the time it struck a cluster of homes at the intersection of Rock Springs Rd and Gilberts Ferry Rd in Ohatchee; mobile homes vanished and a two story home was left as a concrete slab.
View attachment 14958
tornado examiner
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what is the most intense instance of lake side home destruction? i'd personally say of course cambridge shores. but then again i don't know of many others besides shoal creek and...lake martin? was it. down further south in alabama on april 27
tornado examiner
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the tornado archieve's new update is awesome. they got some stuff from tornado talk on there now. and other sources that i dont recognise!
tornado examiner
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OOO. you need to convince the guys that work on tornado archive to put some of your maps. especially of mayfield into there data viewer! that would be dope!
Western_KS_Wx
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Might have to consider lol, I doubt they’d take the full detail map probably just the EF0 if they were to take me up on it. Mentioning Tuscaloosa, the path length is quite a bit longer than what the NWS and storm data lists, there was pretty consistent damage for about 30 miles outside of Tuscaloosa before it weakened significantly around I-20, but the full length was 92 miles.
tornado examiner
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yassss. hows tuscaloosa coming back along btw?
Western_KS_Wx
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Hate to admit it but I’ve been slacking a little bit ever since the ‘great crash’ happened lol. However the EF1 swath is pretty much done just need to finish about 5-6 more miles in the beginning of the path. Also due to how ridiculously complex and squirrelly the damage path was the EF1-2 contours are taking a little longer than I expected, but I’d imagine the EF3-4+ swaths will take less time.
tornado examiner
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they've got surprises like F/EF-scale maps for grand island. xenia. el reno 2011. parkersburg. joplin. moore 99. greensburg. linwood. and a whole host of other special treats for us to geek over lol!
tornado examiner
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would it be of too much bother to share each new EF-scale polygon number as it's completed? to see the progression up the scale? or is that too much...