gymengineer Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Using any criteria of your choosing- death toll, damage, anomaly, research opportunities, etc.-- pick the most significant tornado of each decade going back as far as you want. Of course, it's fine to change the criteria for each decade... just explain your rationale. My list: 1920's- Tri-State tornado- most infamous tornado of all-time 1930's- Tupelo 1936- extreme death toll 1940's- Woodward tornado 1947- highest death toll and complete destruction of towns 1950's- Worcester tornado 1953- most damaging tornado of the 1953 set and the most 'out of place' maxi-tornado in the '50's 1960's- Oak Lawn (Chicago area) tornado 1967- one of the most vivid urban disasters in US history 1970's- Xenia 1974- so much concrete data borne out of that tornado helped advance tornado research 1980's- Niles-Hubbard-Wheatland tornado 1985- worst "officially" strongest tornado in recorded history for the eastern states 1990's- tie- Plainfield 1990- NWS got sued, large death toll, only August F5, SE movement- extraordinary case; 1999 Moore tornado- single most destructive tornado up to that point- klling over 30 even in tornado-ready central OK 2000's- Greensburg tornado 2007- town had to rebuilt 2010's- Joplin 2011- 100+ death toll was supposed to be in our past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 1980's- Niles-Hubbard-Wheatland tornado 1985- worst tornado in recorded history for the eastern states The Shinnston, WV (1944) and Worcester, MA (1953) tornadoes would argue this. My list: 1890's: St. Louis/East St. Louis Tornado (May 27th, 1896). Killed 255 (possibly more) and essentially leveled the core of both cities. 1900's: Amite/Purvis Tornado (April 24th, 1908). 143 dead, Purvis was all but wiped out, very long track (unless it was a tornado family). 1910's: Omaha Tornado (March 23rd, 1913). Around 100 fatalities in Omaha, 2000+ homes destroyed. 1920's: Tri-State Tornado (March 18th, 1925). The worst of them all in nearly every category, insanely long tracked, what more can be said... 1930's: Tie between the Tupelo and Gainesville Tornadoes (April 5th/6th, 1936). One wiped out numerous well built homes and had an extremely high casualty rate in the areas it hit (216, possibly more fatalities, over 700 injured) and the other essentially leveled the entire downtown area of Gainesville, highest death toll in a single building in U.S. history as well (Coopers Plant, 70+ dead). 1940's: Glazier/Higgins/Woodward Tornado (April 9th, 1947). 181 dead, nearly 1000 injured, deadliest tornado in OK history, and all but annihilated Glazier and Higgins, TX, by all accounts it was extremely large across most of its track as well. 1950's: Tie between Waco, TX, Flint, MI and Worcester, MA (May 11th and June 8th/9th, 1953). One flattened much of the downtown area of Waco and caused tremendous damage to several mid/high rises, the second did the same thing with an extremely high death toll along a concentrated corridor in northern Flint, and the final is easily the worst tornado in New England history, with near F5 damage in several locations and 94 fatalities/around 1300 injuries. 1960's: Candlestick Park/Jackson, MS Tornado (March 3rd, 1966). Deadliest tornado of the 1960's and one of the worst in MS history. 1970's: Tie between Lubbock, TX and Xenia, OH (May 11th, 1970 and April 3rd, 1974). The former being the last F5 tornado to go through a downtown area of a major city (caused probably the worst damage to a skyscraper from a tornado in history, although it miraculously survived) and the latter being the worst tornado from the original Super Outbreak. 1980's: Tie between Niles, OH/Wheatland, PA and Edmonton, AL (May 31st, 1985 and July 31st, 1987). The first being among the most violent tornadoes of the twentieth century (and in a rather rare location for violent tornadoes) and the other being arguably the worst tornado in Canadian history, with also the rarity of having such a strong tornado so far north (was very close to an F5). 1990's: Bridge Creek/Moore, OK (May 3rd, 1999). Managing to kill over 35 people in such a well warned/prepared location and situation with numerous live stations covering its entire track really speaks volumes to the violence of this tornado, the damage in Bridge Creek was tremendous, and I believe was worse than it was in Moore. 2000's: Tie between Greensburg, KS and Parkersburg, IA (May 4th, 2007 and May 25th, 2008). One essentially forced the Kiowa County city to rebuild from scratch, while the other had some of the worst damage seen in an extended period of time. 2010's (so far): Joplin, MO (May 22nd, 2011). Despite the extreme violence of the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell tornado on April 27th, which was an extremely close second to this one, the fact that it killed 160 people in the modern warning/radar era (first 100+ death single tornado since 1953) gives this one the title through the first three years so far, and also is the costliest tornado in history (even considering inflation). Also, Wichita Falls, TX (April 10th, 1979) should probably be considered for the 1970's talk too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewxmann Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Agreed on all counts except the following: 1950's: Flint, MI 1953... deadlier and F5 rather than F4 1960's; Dunlap, IN 1965... the double tornado photo is arguably the most famous of all time 1970's: Xenia.... but not because of the research (Union City would top that)... it was the top honcho of the most violent outbreak to strike the U.S. Xenia was the face of the Super Outbreak. 1990's: Bridge Creek/Moore, OK wins by far for being the costliest and the one of most well-filmed tornadoes of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwiz Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Agreed on all counts except the following: 1950's: Flint, MI 1953... deadlier and F5 rather than F4 1960's; Dunlap, IN 1965... the double tornado photo is arguably the most famous of all time 1970's: Xenia.... but not because of the research (Union City would top that)... it was the top honcho of the most violent outbreak to strike the U.S. Xenia was the face of the Super Outbreak. 1990's: Bridge Creek/Moore, OK wins by far for being the costliest and the one of most well-filmed tornadoes of all time. Agreed. Although there will always be a debate as to whether ORH should have been an F5...anyways we have to go by official records and I would pick Flint over Worcester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e pluribus unum Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Although there have been some extreme and conservatively rated EF4s over the years, I personally wouldn't rank a tornado from any decade that wasn't an EF5. 2010s: Joplin,MO on 5/22/11 (hoping it stays that way) 2000s: Greensburg,KS on 5/4/07 1990s: Bridge Creek/Moore,OK on 5/3/99 1980s: Niles/Wheatland,OH/PA on 5/31/85 1970s: Xenia,OH on 4/3/74 1960s: Topeka,KS on 6/8/66 1950s: Flint, MI on 6/8/53, Waco, TX on 5/11/53, or Udall, KS on 5/25/55 1940s: Woodward, OK on 4/9/47 1930s: Tupelo, MS on 4/5/36 1920s: Tri State on 3/18/25 1910s: Fergus Falls, MN on 6/22/19 1900s: Snyder, OK on 5/10/05 The 1950s are the toughest. The Waco and Flint tornadoes were probably more prolific overall with them occurring in big cities, but the Udall storm was extremely violent and completely leveled the entire town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Yeah, Udall, as I think I posted in another thread, was like Greensburg, but worse. That storm also produced an F5 in Blackwell, OK prior to the Udall one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e pluribus unum Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Yeah, Udall, as I think I posted in another thread, was like Greensburg, but worse. That storm also produced an F5 in Blackwell, OK prior to the Udall one. It's definitely up there with the most violent tornado damage that I know of. Also, I tend to overlook the 1966 Candlestick Park tornado in favor of the Topeka one, but only because the Topeka storm was better documented. I just can't find too many pics from the Candlestick Park one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gymengineer Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 The Shinnston, WV (1944) and Worcester, MA (1953) tornadoes would argue this. Well, I know many consider Worcester an F5- Grazulis mentioned that his big regret was year later coming across photographic evidence of F5 damage after he had served on the panel to rate it as an F4. I was going by "official" ratings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 A lot of the structures in Udall, from what I can tell from looking at damage pictures, weren't very shoddily built either, and yet the tornado still completely obliterated them (It was rather long tracked, being on the ground for 56 miles in the Plains is not something you usually see). The casualty rate was extremely high as well, 80 killed and nearly 300 injured (which was basically half of the town's population at the time). School demolished by the tornado (this is a well built, multi-level brick structure)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyFL Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I once heard the inside story of what happened at the NWS on the day of the Plainfield tornado. Really, really bad day for them. I never knew they got sued, after what I heard I would sue them too. I think you have to look at Wichita Falls in the active 1970s too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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