My Top 5 Tornado Events of 2013

[andyhb]

Decided to write this up over the past couple of days as another year in severe weather winds to a close. Would appreciate any corrections of spelling/grammar since I didn't spend a ton of time editing it.

 

Honorable Mention: January 29th/30th Southern Outbreak

One of the more prolific January tornado outbreaks on record took place at the end of the month this year. Tornadoes were reported across multiple states from OK to GA as a powerful trough with very strong low-level shear (ESRH in excess of 500 m2/s2 in many areas) moved through. A very prolific QLCS overnight produced over 20 tornadoes across portions of Tennessee, particularly in Nashville’s CWA. The following morning on the 30th, a supercell developed ahead of the line and produced a large EF3 which caused severe damage through portions of Bartow and Gordon Counties in GA, particularly in the town of Adairsville. The tornado crossed I-75 and tossed numerous cars from the road in the process. Hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed with 17 injuries and 1 fatality, the first in the US from a tornado since June 24th, 2012. Overall, the outbreak resulted in over 60 tornadoes, 11 of those were significant.

 

#5: May 15th North Texas Tornadoes

Following an extremely quiet March and April, largely due to unseasonably strong cold shots into the central and eastern portions of the country, activity began to pick up as a modest upper level low moved through the Southern Plains on the afternoon and evening of the 15th. Nearly 3000 J/kg of CAPE had built up across Northern TX in advance of the disturbance’s passage, while a LLJ of 25-30 kts and a mid level jet of 40-50 kts provided adequate shear for supercells. Storms erupted west of DFW metroplex and slowly progressed eastward on erratic paths, spawning several tornadoes in the process. Most heinous of the storms was a supercell that moved ESE across Hood County around 8:00 pm. A violent tornado quickly developed and devastated portions of Granbury and De Cordova, killing 6 people. While only on the ground for two and a half miles, the EF4 tornado swept several homes completely off of their foundations (destroying over 100 in total), debarked trees and injured an additional 54 people. It was the first violent tornado to strike North Texas since Lancaster in April of 1994 and was also the deadliest tornado in the state since the Eagle Pass storm on April 24th, 2007. Shortly after, another large tornado touched down from the same storm and turned abruptly northward towards the city of Cleburne. Fortunately dissipating before reaching the city, the EF3 tornado still managed to damage numerous homes to the south of town. Tornadoes also touched down on the 16th and 17th in LA and AL as a part of the same storm system, although they were not of the ferocity with which the storms on the 15th struck, fortunately.

 

#4: October 4th Central Plains Outbreak

As part of a powerful leeside low pressure system that also lead to a major blizzard in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, the warm sector side also became unusually explosive as supercells fed by moderate to strong destabilization and intense low-level shear in the vicinity of the triple point in northeastern NE, northwestern IA and southeastern SD spawned multiple large tornadoes. The most destructive was a massive EF4 that caused significant damage on the east side of Wayne, NE, leveling an industrial complex and destroying several homes. Tornadoes from the same supercell also approached the Sioux City metropolitan area. Another large EF4 tornado moved near Moville and Pierson, IA damaging multiple farmsteads. This made it the first October tornado outbreak to feature multiple violent tornadoes since modern record keeping began in 1950. The Wayne tornado was also the first violent US tornado in October since the Windsor Locks, CT tornado in 1979, a span of over 30 years. Several other tornadoes including an EF3 touched down. Fortunately, no fatalities resulted from the outbreak, especially considering the intensity and size of the tornadoes that developed and the unusual time of year that it struck the region.

 

#3: May 31st El Reno, Oklahoma Tornado

May 31st, 2013 will forever be remembered as a day of sorrow for the storm chasing and research community. It will also be remembered as a day of infamy for the chaos brought to the roads and, in general, the entire area of Oklahoma City. The day began with many anticipating a potentially volatile situation. Following several days of tornadoes as part of a slow moving system across the Plains and also eastward into portions of the Great Lakes region, a strong upper level jet dove across the northern Four Corners region nosed towards the Southern Plains through the morning. An extremely moist air mass with dewpoints in the mid 70s provided an excess of buoyancy with CAPE in excess of 5000 J/kg and even 7000 J/kg through some portions of the day across Oklahoma. As the cap eroded with upper level support approaching from the west and convergence along the dryline to the west of Oklahoma City increased, storms rapidly exploded in the incredibly favorable thermodynamic environment, also supported by strong effective shear magnitudes of 50 kts or greater. It was amazing to see live on the various news stations, as the updrafts literally were visually growing by the second. Eventually, one supercell along the I-40 corridor became dominant, and went through multiple storm mergers as it rapidly intensified and moved east. An enormous and potently rotating wall cloud soon descended and warned of the impending danger. Storm chasers watched as an intense multiple vortex tornado developed and boiled like a cauldron across the fields west of El Reno, a town which had suffered a glancing but still destructive blow from an EF5 on May 24th, 2011. As the tornado continued to expand to frightening proportions, DOW captured violent winds within the funnel and its offshoot sub-vortices at over 290 mph, the second strongest wind speed ever measured on Earth after the May 3rd, 1999 Bridge Creek storm. The tornado eventually grew to a width of 2.6 miles, surpassing the Hallam, NE tornado as the widest ever recorded. A tornado emergency was issued for the Oklahoma City metro area as the massive wedge tracked towards the city and its suburbs, with the events of less than two weeks earlier still fresh on the agenda. 

 

However, much more deadly than its size was its unpredictable path. Following a seemingly steady easterly/east-southeasterly course, the tornado suddenly veered to a northerly component of motion and rapidly accelerated. Due to the suddenness of the change and the immense size of the tornado, people on the roads to the north of the funnel, including Highway 81 and Interstate 40 east of El Reno, which included numerous storm chasers, were caught off guard and had limited time to react. Cars were swept off the roads including the vehicle of TWC’s Tornado Hunt, which was rolled over a hundred yards and the occupants injured. Days later, the storm chasing community suffered a devastating blow when it was discovered that renowned wind engineer and storm chaser Tim Samaras (once a star of Storm Chasers with his TWISTEX team), his son Paul and meteorologist Carl Young (also a member of the TWISTEX team) were among the nine fatalities caused by the tornado. Their vehicle was overtaken by the funnel as they attempted to escape after the storm’s sudden change in course. Fortunately, before the tornado could rampage through the heart of the Oklahoma City area, it dissipated. However, its effects had triggered a potential disaster as thousands of vehicles, perhaps encouraged by the controversial actions of Mike Morgan, the lead weather caster at KFOR, crowded the arteries of the Oklahoma City area. Morgan had encouraged people to “get below ground or get out of the way”, which likely prompted many to leave when they would’ve been much safer at home. This lead to gridlock on virtually all of city’s roads as frantic motorists attempted to outrun the storm’s path. While the El Reno tornado had dissipated, a venerable complex of storms moved into the Oklahoma City and spawned several weaker tornadoes and dumped copious amounts of rain leading to significant flash flooding throughout the metropolitan area. Had a tornado of the size and intensity of the El Reno tempest moved into the city with roads clogged as they were, there could’ve been hundreds or even thousands of fatalities. A potentially worst case scenario was needlessly created or, at the very least, encouraged by Morgan’s actions, which have been a hot topic in the meteorological community ever since. The shockwaves through the chasing community also turned to anger as videos of several chasers performing dangerous acts circulated the web. The arrogance displayed by some of the chasers on this day and the tragic loss of three positive stalwarts within the community highlighted the need for a second look at storm chasing as a whole, and most importantly that no one is above the forces of nature when they are at their worst.

 

#2: November 17th Great Lakes/Ohio Valley Outbreak

A significant tornado outbreak developed and the second high risk of 2013 was issued as an intense upper trough with a 500 mb jet max in excess of 110 kts rapidly translated east through the morning and afternoon hours of November 17th. In addition to a LLJ in excess of 55 kts providing ESRH of over 300 m2/s2, an unseasonably moist boundary layer with dewpoints in the low to mid 60s entrenched itself across eastern MO, IL, IN and KY, with CAPE values in excess of 1500 J/kg in some areas, particularly in IL where a plume of steep mid level lapse rates further enhanced buoyancy. Instability was weaker with eastward extent, but was still sufficient to support significant severe weather. Multiple pre-frontal supercells developed across western IL in the late morning hours with the most significant south of Springfield and around the Peoria metro. A violent and large tornado developed out of the latter and proceeded to devastate portions of Washington, a suburb to the east of Peoria, with 2 fatalities and 125 injuries. Numerous homes were swept away with intense wind-rowing evident in overhead shots. On the ground for over 45 miles, the high-end EF4 reached a max width of around a 1/2 mile. The same supercell spawned tornadoes in the Chicago metro as well, with two EF2s in the Coal City and Manhattan areas. An EF4 tornado also caused extensive damage in and around New Minden, IL and killed 2 people when their farmstead was swept away. A damaging EF3 struck the Paducah, KY area, killing 3 in Brookport, IL as numerous mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. A fast moving QLCS and embedded supercells produced numerous tornadoes and widespread wind damage across eastern IL and IN, including several strong ones. Kokomo and locations in the vicinity of Lafayette suffered hits from EF2 or EF3 storms as a total of 32 significant tornadoes touched down. The 7 tornadic deaths made it the deadliest outbreak on record in IL in the month of November and the 73 confirmed tornadoes made it the largest single day outbreak in the Fall on record in the US (larger multi-day outbreaks occurred in November, 1992 and November, 2002).

 

#1: May 19th/20th Oklahoma Tornadoes

As a sizable upper trough developed across the Central US, a moderate risk was issued on May 19th for the southern Plains, as strong destabilization took place and locally backed low level winds enhanced deep layer and low-level shear. The setup was somewhat similar to May 31st, as an upper level jet in excess of 80 kts moved in from the west. The initial storms that developed were in southern KS, one of them spawning a tornado that prompted a tornado emergency for the Wichita area before fortunately dissipating on the outskirts of town. It was the second consecutive year that such a bulletin was issued for Wichita, following the night time EF3 on April 14th, 2012. Further to the south, a powerful supercell formed north of the Oklahoma City area and dropped a tornado in the Edmond area, causing damage to several structures. However, as this tornado occluded, a much stronger tornado touched down to the east of town and quickly intensified into a violent half mile wide wedge. Incredible motion was evident in the tornado as it moved through rural areas towards the small community of Carney. Multiple homes were severely damaged as the EF3 tornado (undoubtedly stronger if it had hit anything substantial further west) moved through and eventually dissipated east of the town. To the south, another supercell quickly developed near Norman and a tornado formed in the vicinity of Lake Thunderbird. This tornado also quickly intensified into a very intense multiple vortex storm as it was tracked by multiple news networks. EF4 damage was done west of Shawnee in the Bethel Acres area as the tornado swept through a mobile home park and destroyed multiple homes. 2 fatalities occurred in this area. The tornado crossed I-40 and tossed an 18 wheeler off of the US 177 overpass before the storm weakened north of Shawnee. While these storms were certainly destructive, the worst was unfortunately yet to come.

 

The next day, with the dryline remaining to the west of Oklahoma City, strong instability evident in the noon sounding from OUN stayed in place as locally backed low-level wind fields, much like the previous day, enhanced low-level shear and support for supercells. A storm developed to the SW of Oklahoma City around 2:00 PM. Around 2:40 PM, a tornado warning was issued for the southern Oklahoma City metro as the supercell, already with strong rotation evident in the mid levels, slowly moved east-northeast. The storm bore a striking visual resemblance to the cells that produced the Carney and Shawnee tornadoes less than 24 hours earlier. A large, rapidly rotating wall cloud dropped out of the cell and very quickly, as if on cue, a cone funnel began to develop. The tornado eventually touched down in the vicinity of Newcastle at 2:56 PM CDT. Immediate intensification was evident as the tornado grew in size and became a violent, dust-cloaked wedge and churned up the I-44 corridor. EF4 damage was caused north of Newcastle less than ten minutes after the initial touchdown as the ever-expanding tornado prompted a tornado emergency for the southern OKC metro area. In a cruel twist of fate, the storm was on a direct path for Moore, a city no stranger to devastating tornadoes. The city was struck infamously on May 3rd, 1999 by the Bridge Creek F5 and also on May 8th, 2003 by an F4. Various media outlets frantically urged the people of Moore to take cover as the tornado, now in excess of 3/4 of mile wide with extremely violent rotation evident visually entered the city. The debris ball on radar more than doubled in size as the tornado moved through Moore, destroying everything it touched. Moore Medical Center suffered extensive damage, while Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary Schools were both completely destroyed, with seven children killed at the latter. Block after block of homes were obliterated with many swept away and intense ground scouring evident in aerial shots of the area. Almost continuous EF4 damage occurred through Moore with sporadic EF5 damage confirmed in the vicinity of Briarwood. In total, over $2 billon in damages occurred along with 24 fatalities (1 indirect) and over 370 injuries. The tornado narrowed as it crossed I-35 and eventually dissipated after a 17 mile path of destruction in the vicinity of Lake Stanley Draper. It followed a similar path to the May 3rd, 1999 storm and was easily the most destructive tornado of 2013, in addition to being the deadliest. The after-effects of this storm were partly to blame for the chaos that ensued on the 31st, as people were undoubtedly frightened with the memory still extremely fresh on their minds. Several other tornadoes touched down in the southern Plains and Ozarks region although none came close to the intensity or destructiveness of the Moore disaster.

 

2013 was a year of efficiency rather than numbers. While less than 1000 tornadoes will likely be confirmed for the second straight year in the US, 9 violent tornadoes developed, which is significantly more than many other years that featured over 1000 overall. Several historical events occurred as well, such as the enormous El Reno tornado, the November 17th outbreak and the October 4th outbreak. So as we look ahead to 2014, we remember the events of this year and prepare for another Spring tornado season, which is almost shockingly less than two and half months away.

[Torchageddon]

Something I remember reading and I don't know if its true or not, is that on May 31st with the historic El Reno EF5 tornado, one of the supercells went from not a cloud in the sky to a tornado on the ground in just 10 minutes, true or not? It was indicative of how insanely explosive the atmosphere was.

[SluggerWx]

Great write up, thanks for doing this!

It would be interesting to look at yearly trends regarding only EF-4 or higher tornadoes.

Maybe we should have a prediction thread about that each year, too.

[tornadotony]

Meteorologically, I'd switch 1 and 2.  Otherwise good list.

[Quixotic1]

The speed and the wild motion of the el reno tornado stands out to me. Other than that, I like the list and descriptions.