April 12 Severe Event

[DanLarsen34]

 

[DanLarsen34]

131 tornadoes. Insane!

[Bob's Burgers]

We may not see anything like this again for several years

 

[DanLarsen34]

Can someone post the practically perfect tornado probability map now that we have an updated tornado report map?

[DanLarsen34]

7 hours ago, Bob's Burgers said:

We may not see anything like this again for several years

 

This outbreak has officially made it to the top the second-tier for me if you were to try and rank its place all-time. In terms of the sheer number of tornadoes, and the significant number of intense tornadoes, this outbreak is up there with any of the major ones we've had in the past 20-30 years, maybe longer. Numerically, it's even ahead of 11-17-2013 and 4-14-2012 which were the two biggest outbreaks I've followed since I really got into following these set-ups every year

The only thing this outbreak is missing for it to be considered a Super Outbreak is a high number of violent tornadoes. That's the one thing that still sets apart days like the Palm Sunday 1965 outbreak, the 1974 Super Outbreak, and April 27, 2011. 

Still, this was an historic outbreak.

[WhirlingWx]

19 minutes ago, DanLarsen34 said:

The only thing this outbreak is missing for it to be considered a Super Outbreak is a high number of violent tornadoes. That's the one thing that still sets apart days like the Palm Sunday 1965 outbreak, the 1974 Super Outbreak, and April 27, 2011.

The semi-discrete cells in Southern Mississippi showed us what more this outbreak was capable of. If there had been more of them, this likely would be considered a 'Super Outbreak' with more violent tornadoes, as you said. Fortunately for the people affected, this wasn't the case.

[buckeyefan1]

1974......148 tornadoes across 13 states in 15 hours with 30 confirmed EF4/EF5. That violent day in April isn't anything I'll ever forget.  2011 was over 3 days with 343 tornadoes, 207 on the 27th, but only 15 were EF4/EF5. 

This is why there are only 2 "super outbreaks".  Nothing else is comparable. 

 

[janetjanet998]

6 hours ago, DanLarsen34 said:

This outbreak has officially made it to the top the second-tier for me if you were to try and rank its place all-time. In terms of the shear number of tornadoes, and the significant number of intense tornadoes, this outbreak is up there with any of the major ones we've had in the past 20-30 years, maybe longer. Numerically, it's even ahead of 11-17-2013 and 4-14-2012 which were the two biggest outbreaks I've followed since I really got into following these set-ups every year

The only thing this outbreak is missing for it to be considered a Super Outbreak is a high number of violent tornadoes. That's the one thing that still sets apart days like the Palm Sunday 1965 outbreak, the 1974 Super Outbreak, and April 27, 2011. 

Still, this was an historic outbreak.

it was very impressive but keep in mind it had several things to help confirm all the tornadoes then other outbreaks in the past didn't have:

1) it didn't occur in the plains with lower population ,  it would be hard to confirm all the tornadoes in rural areas in wheat fields 

2) better spotter and chaser network  these days

3) and of course modern radar with TDS signatures to help pinpoint any quick spin up qlcs tornadoes

While  studying local  tornado climatology for my area...I noticed Sangamon county had an anomaly one summer day in the late 1970's, with something like 14 tornadoes in one day. It wasn't until  years later I found out why.  Dr  Ted Fujita did a study that day on what turned out to be qlcs tornadoes and gustnadoes evident in corn fields(F0s and F1s)....that is why the stats were "padded" that day.  

The above detailed study would be the 1970's equivalent of modern storm surveys backed up with modern radar

 

Regardless , these were some of the most intense and usually qlcs tornadoes I have seen

[Hoosier]

6 hours ago, DanLarsen34 said:

This outbreak has officially made it to the top the second-tier for me if you were to try and rank its place all-time. In terms of the shear number of tornadoes, and the significant number of intense tornadoes, this outbreak is up there with any of the major ones we've had in the past 20-30 years, maybe longer. Numerically, it's even ahead of 11-17-2013 and 4-14-2012 which were the two biggest outbreaks I've followed since I really got into following these set-ups every year

The only thing this outbreak is missing for it to be considered a Super Outbreak is a high number of violent tornadoes. That's the one thing that still sets apart days like the Palm Sunday 1965 outbreak, the 1974 Super Outbreak, and April 27, 2011. 

Still, this was an historic outbreak.

While 11/17/2013 didn't have the total numbers that this outbreak does, I'd argue that 2013 was actually a more anomalous tornado outbreak due to time of year and region.  

11/17/2013 had over 70 tornadoes with like 90% of them occurring north of the Ohio River.  The breakdown in that outbreak was 13 EF0, 29 EF1, 23 EF2, 7 EF3, 2 EF4.  Just incredible numbers for that time of year in the region affected.

[DanLarsen34]

9 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

While 11/17/2013 didn't have the total numbers that this outbreak does, I'd argue that 2013 was actually a more anomalous tornado outbreak due to time of year and region.  

11/17/2013 had over 70 tornadoes with like 90% of them occurring north of the Ohio River.  The breakdown in that outbreak was 13 EF0, 29 EF1, 23 EF2, 7 EF3, 2 EF4.  Just incredible numbers for that time of year in the region affected.

It was. I think that context would heavily lean in favor of 11-17 if you were to go and rank each individually.

[DanLarsen34]

41 minutes ago, janetjanet998 said:

it was very impressive but keep in mind it had several things to help confirm all the tornadoes then other outbreaks in the past didn't have:

1) it didn't occur in the plains with lower population ,  it would be hard to confirm all the tornadoes in rural areas in wheat fields 

2) better spotter and chaser network  these days

3) and of course modern radar with TDS signatures to help pinpoint any quick spin up qlcs tornadoes

While  studying local  tornado climatology for my area...I noticed Sangamon county had an anomaly one summer day in the late 1970's, with something like 14 tornadoes in one day. It wasn't until  years later I found out why.  Dr  Ted Fujita did a study that day on what turned out to be qlcs tornadoes and gustnadoes evident in corn fields(F0s and F1s)....that is why the stats were "padded" that day.  

The above detailed study would be the 1970's equivalent of modern storm surveys backed up with modern radar

 

Regardless , these were some of the most intense and usually qlcs tornadoes I have seen

Absolutely! It’s likely the 1974 super outbreak had more tornadoes than what the official number stands at for the reasons you just gave.

[DanLarsen34]

2 hours ago, buckeyefan1 said:

1974......148 tornadoes across 13 states in 15 hours with 30 confirmed EF4/EF5. That violent day in April isn't anything I'll ever forget.  2011 was over 3 days with 343 tornadoes, 207 on the 27th, but only 15 were EF4/EF5. 

This is why there are only 2 "super outbreaks".  Nothing else is comparable. 

 

The sheer number of violent tornadoes is what sets those two apart from any other outbreak.

This raises an interesting question: how many total tornadoes, and violent tornadoes, do you need for an outbreak to be considered a super outbreak? This would be a fun discussion topic.

I’ve seen some discussion that 10+ violent tornadoes could qualify. 

[andyhb]

10+ violent tornadoes and the rest of the numbers usually follow suit. Any outbreak like that automatically earns the title "historic" in my book. Actually any outbreak with more than a half dozen violent tornadoes does so.

There are other factors such as location (see: 5/31/1985) and time of year (e.g. 1/21-22/99, 2/5/08) that also factor in.

[Calderon]

Live Storms Media put out an on-site interview and good damage inspection of the site in question for the Bassfield EF4, for now, and really shows the foundation and anchoring extremely well. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQpTt_FLX84

[Bob's Burgers]

Excellent verification page from the Easter outbreak can be found here:

 

 

https://cams.nssl.noaa.gov/comparisons/?dataset=det_cams_00&comparison=cref_uh&sector=spc_se&date=20200412&daily_time=0000

[janetjanet998]

several twitter reports

The Estill, South Carolina Tornado has been upgraded to a EF4 Tornado

 

[andyhb]

Estill SC tornado upgraded to EF4.

[crossbowftw3]

How many violent tornadoes have occured within the domain of a QLCS? Early morning 4/27 had two high end EF3s, 1/30/13 had a high end EF3, and I believe Harrisburg 2012 was one, so does that make two?

[Bob's Burgers]

5 minutes ago, crossbowftw3 said:

How many violent tornadoes have occured within the domain of a QLCS? Early morning 4/27 had two high end EF3s, 1/30/13 had a high end EF3, and I believe Harrisburg 2012 was one, so does that make two?

Truly remarkable event

[Bob's Burgers]

Now we just need to have the Bassfield tornado get upgraded to EF-5 and we're all square with the house again.

[crossbowftw3]

Just now, Bob's Burgers said:

Now we just need to have the Bassfield tornado get upgraded to EF-5 and we're all square with the house again.

I can envision a re-opened investigation in due time that reveals EF5 damage.

[Bob's Burgers]

Sounds like this upgrade is not official yet.

 

 

[Calderon]

I can envision a re-opened investigation in due time that reveals EF5 damage.

It’s still being investigated as the rating has not been finalized by JAN yet.

[Bob's Burgers]

 

[burrel2]

My wife drove through Seneca to pick up my son from my dad’s house on Sunday.  Here’s my grandmother’s house I grew up in. She passed away a few years ago and my dad has since sold it. Her house was right on the edge of the path it appears. 
 

 

[Solak]

Wow! Lucky!

 

[Radtechwxman]

Any final report on Soso/Bassfield tornado yet?