Most underrated tornadoes?

[Jonathan Scrogham]

I am curious to see what you guys think are the most underrated tornadoes are. It can be that a tornado should have been rated stronger on the F/EF scale, or a tornado that no one talks about. Me personally, I think the 2011 El Reno tornado was incredibly overshadowed by the rest of the tornadoes that year, then the 2013 El Reno tornado.

 

[Gavin Nichols]

2013 EL Reno is NOT overshadowed in the slightest, to be brutally honest its kind-of overrated due to its infamy. BUT a tornado that is underrated in my opinion is the 2004 hallam F4. that tornado kinda ended up in being greensburg-style scenario by engulfing the whole town at its max width, luckily there was only 1 fatality. it could have been MUCH worse. it was 2.5 miles wide at the time, making it 2nd largest to el Reno. i am generally surprised people do not talk about it. maybe its because it has BARELY any video on it during its climax.

 

[Jonathan Scrogham]

2013 EL Reno is NOT overshadowed in the slightest, to be brutally honest its kind-of overrated due to its infamy. BUT a tornado that is underrated in my opinion is the 2004 hallam F4. that tornado kinda ended up in being greensburg-style scenario by engulfing the whole town at its max width, luckily there was only 1 fatality. it could have been MUCH worse. it was 2.5 miles wide at the time, making it 2nd largest to el Reno. i am generally surprised people do not talk about it. maybe its because it has BARELY any video on it during its climax.

No, I was talking about the May 24, 2011 EF-5 in El Reno, not 2013.

 

[Gavin Nichols]

No, I was talking about the May 24, 2011 EF-5 in El Reno, not 2013.

i know, i was implying that 2013 was overrated, not 2011.

 

[Cameron E.]

The Vilonia Arkansas 2014 tornado was not rated an EF5 but rather an EF4. If you read this article, Why April 27 Tornado Wasn't EF5 (kark.com), it explains a fair argument scientifically why it was rated an EF4. In the general sense of damage however that was caused, a lot of the homes in this picture were put down to just the slab. Thats basically and EF5... yeah? But in general, the article makes a good point that the building construction of the homes were faltered and not built to the best of standards.

 

[Jonathan Scrogham]

i know, i was implying that 2013 was overrated, not 2011.

I don't think El Reno 2013 was overrated. Yes, it did not cause much damage, but the erratic behavior of the subvortices is enough to make it noteworthy. But being the widest tornado at 2.6 miles wide, the second fastest windspeeds recorded on earth (296 mph via doppler), and the first known chaser deaths directly via tornado, especially because it was multiple members of Team Twistex (Tim and Paul Samaras, and Carl Young), who were known for being especially careful around tornadoes, calling something like that overrated is VERY much of a stretch. It left a huge hole in the chasing community, and made many question the ethics and aggressive tactics, as well as many people changing the way they chased.

 

[Jonathan Scrogham]

I don't think El Reno 2013 was overrated. Yes, it did not cause much damage, but the erratic behavior of the subvortices is enough to make it noteworthy. But being the widest tornado at 2.6 miles wide, the second fastest windspeeds recorded on earth (296 mph via doppler), and the first known chaser deaths directly via tornado, especially because it was multiple members of Team Twistex (Tim and Paul Samaras, and Carl Young), who were known for being especially careful around tornadoes, calling something like that overrated is VERY much of a stretch. It left a huge hole in the chasing community, and made many question the ethics and aggressive tactics, as well as many people changing the way they chased.

Also, let me know if any of this information is incorrect, and I will fix it.

 

[Gavin Nichols]

Also, let me know if any of this information is incorrect, and I will fix it.

You are on point and provide good evidence for your reply. and i really hope your right with this, but the only thing i will question is the changing on how people chased. I dont think everyone has changed after El Reno, Chasers are STILL making the same mistakes. And mark my words, if things do not change, history will repeat itself. El Reno could have been MUCH worse if it continued into the more populated areas. and with how bad chasing in a city is, MUCH more chasers (most likely amateur chasers or enthusiasts like me) and people could have died.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

I'd argue that pretty much most tornadoes are likely underrated unless there is a Dopper on Wheels scanning them. Most tornadoes go through just rural areas attaining EF-0 or EF-U ratings, yet if they were to hit more populated areas, they would probably come up with much more significant ratings given the lack of DI's over open country. A good example would be the Morton, TX tornado this year, it likely was stronger than EF-2, however due to its slow motion (nearly stationary) and very rural area, that was the highest DI available to rate it based upon its damage.


This is a thread I think we probably have delved into before and it's something that will probably not go away until we revise the EF scale, even then there will be ones that fall through the cracks and get under-rated. In other words, I could list on for days until I'm blue in the face the number of tornadoes that were likely under-rated; as well there is likely a long list of ones from before the 1970s that were over-rated. The tornado itself isn't what is being rated, it is the damage that it causes and that is used to get an estimated wind speed of what caused *that* particular damage at *that* particular point.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

2013 EL Reno is NOT overshadowed in the slightest, to be brutally honest its kind-of overrated due to its infamy. BUT a tornado that is underrated in my opinion is the 2004 hallam F4. that tornado kinda ended up in being greensburg-style scenario by engulfing the whole town at its max width, luckily there was only 1 fatality. it could have been MUCH worse. it was 2.5 miles wide at the time, making it 2nd largest to el Reno. i am generally surprised people do not talk about it. maybe its because it has BARELY any video on it during its climax.

Most of the people who chased back then don't really get on here today. A lot of people nowadays have short memories when it comes to storms. That is why I always say when people are down and sad about missing an event, just wait a week. People will move on and forget. Just how it is.

Best video that there is out there online of the Daykin/Hallam, NE F4 tornado and its "skull-like" looking collar cloud. Back in the day we used to call this the "skull-headed tornado" because of the skull face appearance that appears at points in the video on the outside of the tornado cyclone.

 

[Mark Egan]

This Twitter thread may be of interest:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1574074751185821700

 

[Jamie H]

I suppose you could say the Hackleburg / Phil Campbell and Smithville EF-5's are underrated in that focus goes to the Tuscaloosa / Birmingham EF-4 from the 2011 outbreak, being that it was on live TV and went through populated areas. Similarly worth a mention is the Mulhall F4 from 1999, for the same reasons.

 

[Jeff Duda]

One way to examine the tornado base for "most underrated" would be to start with the Storm Events Database from NCEI and look just at tornadoes getting the EF0 and EFU ratings. NWS offices are supposed to rate tornadoes EFU if they didn't move over any substantial damage indicators. However, I think some laziness remains in damage surveys, and many tornadoes that only impact open land are rated EF0.

Last year, Josh Wurman published a new paper documenting a pretty significant disparity between the moble-radar-sampled near-ground wind speeds in tornadoes and the NWS ratings they received. The relationship is that many tornadoes are rated 1-2 EF scale categories lower than their wind speeds would have dictated. And this data set is high quality. See the paper here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2021535118

As far as more subjective opinions of underrated tornadoes, nothing beats the 2013 El Reno tornado being rated EF3 instead of the EF5, which it clearly was.

 

[Jeff Wright]

I suppose you could say the Hackleburg / Phil Campbell and Smithville EF-5's are underrated in that focus goes to the Tuscaloosa / Birmingham EF-4 from the 2011 outbreak, being that it was on live TV and went through populated areas. Similarly worth a mention is the Mulhall F4 from 1999, for the same reasons.

I have often wondered what Mulhall looked like from within.

Hallam almost looked supernatural…so help me, I could see faces.

 

[Gavin Nichols]

Something I would be interested to look into is the 98 Birmingham EF5. That tornado is a little historically over-shadowed for being given the 5 rating.