Greensburg first EF-5 Tornado Under New Scale

KWCH ^ | 5/6/2007

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Here's the ultimate in "super" tornadoes...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-State_Tornado

The one that hit Xenia, Ohio in 1974 was similar...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Outbreak

[PAR35]

A F5 hit Jackson, MS and surrounding areas in 1966; 57 dead, 500 plus injured. And that was before modern, radar based warning systems.

The tornado track was over 200 miles long.

An F5 hit Lubbock in 1970, 26 dead and 1500 injured. At one point the largest tornado was 1.5 miles wide.

Waco, which wouldn’t qualify as a metro area, was hit by an F5 in 1953, 114 dead, taking out a chunk of downtown. Waco never fully recovered from that storm.

For bigger cities, Atlanta has been hit by several smaller tornadoes, and Fort Worth took a direct hit on its downtown area a few years ago. It both cities, damage was costly, but injuries were few.

To predict ‘thousands of deaths’ shows an unfamiliarity with how tornadoes work.

[PAR35]

That would be a hurricane Andrew - that puppy took out half a state.

Andrew took out Homestead, FL. Significant damage was between and including Miami and the Keys (and, of course, Louisiana). The vast bulk of the state escaped significant damage from that storm, and the largest city in Florida was not impacted at all.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

So I’ve been told.

[ga medic]

That’s nice. The people of Kansas have suffered a terrifying and tragic tornado, and you are indicating that they somehow deserved this terrible event? I don’t know what religion you are, but I feel sorry for you. Whenever anything goes wrong in your life, you must deserve it.

When things go wrong in my life, God provides me strength and comfort. I like it much better that way.

[streetpreacher]

It’s a quote from the movie “Twister”. Stop being so sensitive. The insurance companies will call it an act of God.

[Tarpon]

As the weather observations increase in accuracy, as the wind estimates become more precise, how long before we have a series of worst evers all due to glubull warming?

Like with hurricanes, in the old days unless it hit where people were, no one even knew where the hurricanes were. Case in point, one of the largest death toll hurricanes to hit America hit Galveston Texas in 1900. People had about one hour warning, it was basically too late to leave the island before the hurricane hit. There was in essence, no warning the island was crowded with beach goers, and the local weather guy had no clue there was a CAT 5 bearing down on Galveston.

Don’t fall victim to the nonsense. It’s only been in the last tens of years, out of 4.5 Billion years, that man has had the kinds of weather observation capabilities you now see on your TV. I remember back in the late 80s when the current Doppler system was just a twinkle in our eye as we installed the very first computer prototypes for testing.

[ga medic]

Ok, my bad. Didn’t see the movie. It wouldn’t be the first time that I did hear something like that on FR though.

[Moonman62]

Andrew was like a big tornado, but with 160mph winds, not 205. And it took out half a county not half the state.

I was about 40 miles away, but Andrew produced a constant hum or buzz outside. All the other storms were much more gusty.

[SamAdams76]

Eventually a major earthquake (8.0 or higher) is going to hit Southern California. An event of this scale could easily turn Hurricane Katrina into a footnote.

Might happen tomorrow but then might not for another 100 years. Still, I'm glad I'm not living there anymore.

[aft_lizard]

Not planning on falling for the nonsense, thanks. However considering this is the first tornado at that rank using the new definition, it is news.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

Yes, thank you. I’m well aware of that.

[Moonman62]

That doesn't look all that wide, but I think the Xenia tornado started as two and then merged into one.

The global warming alarmists would go apes__t if we had a year like 1974 again. And back then global cooling was the thing to worry about for the eggheads.

[Tarpon]

So where is the nonsense, you making it up or just tugging on my leg??

[aft_lizard]

Reread what you wrote again and what I replied to. I am saying I am not falling for any nonsense and am just reporting what it’s EF scale rating is. The proof is at the link.

[Tarpon]

Sorry, you are right, my apology... I was just trying to point out what is next. The new stuff is news worthy, it’s just that it is oh so tempting to say we never saw that before ...

[VOA]

bump

[dufekin]

The hurricane-force winds from Andrew extended no further north than the Dade/Broward county line (somewhat further north on the barrier beaches). Before reaching Louisiana, Andrew clobbered parts of two counties (Dade and the mainland portion of Monroe County, largely if not entirely the Everglades National Park). Hurricane Wilma by contrast brought hurricane-force winds well north of Lake Okeechobee, along the Atlantic coast as far north as Cape Canaveral, and south beyond the Keys and across the Florida Straits to the Cuban coastline. That’s the difference between a “narrow” hurricane and a much broader damage path.

[dufekin]

On 27 May 1896, long before tornado warning systems, modern construction, or speedy transport for the masses, an F4 tornado made a direct hit on downtown Saint Louis, Missouri and killed 255 to 400 when people lived in densely packed tenements because they couldn’t afford cars for commuting. Only two tornadoes in American history have exceeded that death toll, and none has equaled the monetary damage ($3 billion) that it wrought. Those two more deadly tornadoes were the 1840 Natchez (317 dead) and the Tri-State Tornado of 1925 (695 dead).

I therefore find the probability of a single tornado killing 2000 or more people in this country exceedingly remote to nonexistent regardless of any circumstances.

[aft_lizard]

I agree it isnt likely to ever happen like that.