How rare are double tornadoes?

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I see many cases where multiple tornadoes are usually associated with the same meso, or even a satellite rotating around the main system (sometimes the satellite can be large too, almost as large as the main).

 

[Olivier Staiger]

Stratford, TX , 2003 May 15

 

[Greg Stumpf]

6 landspouts on the ground at the same time near Lazbuddie, TX on 4 June 1995:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0JrdIUw80&feature=player_embedded

I recall watching video of that event in the NSSL archives that show that these tornadoes were born of a supercell. Some of the smaller tornadoes were along the flanking line and not associated with the low-level mesocyclone, some possibly anticyclonic.

 

[Jim Placzek]

Before there were videos there was the June 3, 1980 Grand Island, NE tornado outbreak. I think there were 7 tornadoes which formed in various parts of the thunderstorm. 3 were anticyclonic. Hopefully this link works. www.gitwisters.com.

 

[Paul Sherman]

Has anyone at Norman ever done a Study into the Dynamics and Set-Up's of Multiple Tornado days ?

I also witnessed this 3 times on May 23rd 2008 in 1 single day.

Dighton had a Wedge with Satelite Cone Tornado

Quinter had the EF4 With Satelite (Others have posted pics on here)

Later that day Ellis had a Wedge on the ground crossing I-70 Whilst we were further back at a Roadblock with another Cone Tornado on the ground to our west with Power flashes

Seems May 3rd 1999 and the 4/5th May 2007 had these types of Set-Ups or is it indeed luck that these all happen on the same day/outbreak ??

Paul S

 

[Justin Walker]

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/staff/landolt/2007mar28/

The tornadic sup just north of the KS one I was on had twin wedges as well. I was driving during that part and only got stuff after they were merged. That link above shows the "twins" sequence well though. Justin Walker had them too but I see his site is down. As did Chris Rozoff and Matt Kassawara...but hey...no site there anymore either. I thought Chris, Matt, and Justin's showed them both as wedges better. Interesting more than one storm was doing that the same day.

Yeah, I let my website go down, I didn't have the time to keep it going right now. Here was my view from the south, I went up a dirt road and it turned to crap and I stopped and let it run away. I enhanced it quite a bit. This was near the time when the tornado was near Grant, which I suppose is about the time you were shooting it Mike.

Edit: This also was clearly one large circulation as this progressed. The tornado on the right side was the main part of the circulation and the tornado on the left actually started as a little needle on the right and it circulated around the main circulation and got much bigger. This stage of the storm only lasted about 4-5 minutes, it was pretty brief. Early, this storm had multiply circulations with multiply tornadoes. It was quite a storm....as many were that day!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Thanks for posting that Justin. I think that is pretty much right when I first saw things...

I drove west a few more miles losing site of it for a bit, not that much further, before I pulled over on east side of Grant. When I first pulled over, it had to be right when those two merged into one another.

About here on his sequence which I wasn't yet taking stills of...

That is what I remember seeing when I looked about straight south(he's right by me I believe as I think it is his parked car in my stills and the car was there when I pulled up). Probably the wildest looking thing I've seen chasing. All that chaos was merging as one messed up the other, but at the same time something really really wanted to come down out of it. All the sudden bam that crazy intense stovepipe appears, but what made it so crazy was how intense it looked AND the motion it had as in left to right and right to left movement of the whole stovepipe. But then same moment about, it was all gone again. I then got the still cam mounted and my sequence begins after that. With the bowl still there but not ready to plant the big single one down just yet.

 

[afischer]

I got a pretty good look at two smaller tornadoes occurring in the eastern semi-circle of the Greensburg KS EF-5, about 25 minutes before the tornado struck Greensburg. The farther away (and smaller) of the two was definitely moving from right to left within my vantage point looking due north... i.e., apparently satelliting in a westerly or northwesterly direction around the northeastern periphery of the primary tornado. http://www.tornadohead.com/050407chase.htm