4/10/09 Disc: TN/AL/GA

shane turner said:
Those are interesting damage photos. Some of those homes that were swept clean off their foundations appear to be only nailed to the foundation with straight nails. On the other hand there are some homes swept clean off their foundations were I see anchor bolts protruding from the foundation and nearby trees debarked could possibly be at least an EF4. One home appears to be a bare concrete slab but the debris appears to be only about 10-20 feet away from the foundation so I dont think that would be EF5. With an EF5 doesnt a well-built home have to be cleaned off its foundation but also the disintegrated remains have to be blown downwind leaving little or no trace.
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While anchor bolts will work to keep the bottom plate on the foundation, it looked on some of the photos that the walls were straight nailed. Also, it looks like some of these homes had crawl spaces as there wasn't really a foundation so much as cinder blocks where the walls attached. Which is interesting because I don't know if the EF scale has any applications for this type of construction (unless it counts as modular home type construction).
 
Kiel Ortega said:
While anchor bolts will work to keep the bottom plate on the foundation, it looked on some of the photos that the walls were straight nailed. Also, it looks like some of these homes had crawl spaces as there wasn't really a foundation so much as cinder blocks where the walls attached. Which is interesting because I don't know if the EF scale has any applications for this type of construction (unless it counts as modular home type construction).
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That's kind of normal construction practice when you get into areas that are hilly. The ground is rarely level so you have to excavate some to pour your footer then build up to grade with cinder blocks. That's the reason there are fewer slab houses here, most either have basements or crawl spaces. It's not modular construction but I doubt that it can stand up to sideways wind loads as well as a slab house can since cinder block walls are good only for compression loading and not torque loading.

I think one of the things that has to be considered (and probably is) is that Tennessee building codes are not as stringent as they are in many states. For that reason we see the disparity in anchoring the walls to the foundations in these homes. Murfreesboro is also a town that has been somewhat of a boomtown in the past 10 years. There were a lot of builders here and many different levels of quality are represented.
 
Picture 78 shows where a stud was toe-nailed -one nail on each side, and too close to each other, this looks to be a baseboard setup and if so, this is CHEESY construction. An inspector should have caught this
 
I need help interpretering this radar grab from the HUN NWS. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hun/stormsurveys/2009-04-10/marshallpm.php

I was 1 mile NE of Rainsville which is at the crossroads out of Powell and Sylvania (not marked on their map/ scale of map:4 miles between Powell and Rainsville, 4.5 miles between Rainsville and Sylvania). It looks to me that the tornado passed north of me, correct? Though I did see a rotating wall cloud and possible funnel cloud pass 1/4 mile to my south, moving ENE. I'm starting to doubt the funnel cloud.

Really trying to understand what I saw and what actually happened. Your help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff
 
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Angie Norris said:
Ok, that has to be the best waterspout ever!! Any details on the storm and did it hit land?
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This is a great picture and has to be one of those waterspouts vs tornado over water debates. I remember a long hashed out thread with several decent arguments for or against it. Obviously this was a supercellular tornado, that just so happened to be moving over a lake. It *probably* started over land as a tornado. As the fundamental processes are very different in tornado formation and waterspout formation. I know the politically correct term is a waterspout, but when I think of waterspouts I don't think of a tube like that ;)!
 
Danny Neal said:
This is a great picture and has to be one of those waterspouts vs tornado over water debates. I remember a long hashed out thread with several decent arguments for or against it. Obviously this was a supercellular tornado, that just so happened to be moving over a lake. It *probably* started over land as a tornado. As the fundamental processes are very different in tornado formation and waterspout formation. I know the politically correct term is a waterspout, but when I think of waterspouts I don't think of a tube like that ;)!
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This was an EF-3 over land- most certainly a supercellular tornado
 
It was a resident female that was visiting the area from what I understand. I saw it in Dan Satterfield's blog....he was giving credit to her. I believe that I saw a potential second tornado in that photo as well. Radar would kind of back up that assumption. Maybe it's just my eyes....
 
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