Smallest Tornado Ever?

[Jason Persoff]

On this outbreak day many of us are watching with earnest as the storms develop in chase territory. As I perused the SPC storm report page I found the following report out of TX:

TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY A STORM CHASER 1 MILE NORTHEAST OF SILVERTON. IT WAS 1/8 IN DIAMETER. (LUB)

I thought to myself, "Wow! That's precise! A 1/8 inch tornado." I chuckled and thought I'd share. And, yes, I'm aware it was a 1/8 mile wide tornado...but the report still struck me as funny.

 

[Paul Austin]

Yeah, I got a laugh out of that one too. Gotta have an awefully good HD camera to get that one visibly on tape.

 

[Susan Strom]

Must have been this little guy!
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/images/oversite/store/catalog4/Tornado.jpg

 

[Dan Robinson]

I can see a huddle of chasers with video cameras pointing down at the ground, following it across the road.

 

[John Peters]

I can remember seeing video of an extremely narrow rope tornado in the video compilation "Twister 1" when i was younger. They showed images of the path, which only appeared to be a meter or two in diameter.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

heres what they were probably talking about...its not 1/8 inch but it was small =)..you could see it for a few seconds longer but this was the best picture.

 

[John Peters]

I assumed that the statement intended to report a 1/8 mile in diameter tornado, but through some typo the word "mile" was not printed

 

[B Ozanne]

Not to be an ass, but everytime there is a weather typo do we have to start a topic and talk about it? A topic in W&C no less. Maybe we could point out funny typos in B&G, but I consider W&C to be on a level above that.

 

[Jason Persoff]

everytime there is a weather typo do we have to start a topic and talk about it? A topic in W&C no less. Maybe we could point out funny typos in B&G, but I consider W&C to be on a level above that.

Fair enough and point taken. I was not trying to stir up trouble or irritate people. The mod is welcome to move this or delete it.

 

[John Olexa]

Must have been this little guy!
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/images/oversite/store/catalog4/Tornado.jpg

LMBO!!!

 

[John Olexa]

Not to be an ass, but everytime there is a weather typo do we have to start a topic and talk about it?

No, we don't have to. But if someone wants to There allowed. If it bothers someone all they have to do is simply not reply.

There was a typo Last summer in my area Issuing a tornado warning for like 7 countys! they meant watch but had warning on the screen! That was serious! But it's not the end of the world to poke a little fun at typo like an 1/8 inch tornado.

 

[Doug Mitchell]

If anyone is wondering, I think the "official" smallest tornado per Guinness Book of World Records is 7 feet wide.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The tornado that Peggy Willenberg and Melanie Metz filmed on the highway in front of them in Minnesota a couple of years ago had to be no more than two to three feet in diameter (at least the visible condensation funnel) in its initial stage.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

The tornado that Peggy Willenberg and Melanie Metz filmed on the highway in front of them in Minnesota a couple of years ago had to be no more than two to three feet in diameter (at least the visible condensation funnel) in its initial stage.

Here's a capture from my vantage point that day. Looking at the video, the visible condensation was surrounded by a more broad circulation about the size of the road....

 

[John Olexa]

The tornado that Peggy Willenberg and Melanie Metz filmed on the highway in front of them in Minnesota a couple of years ago had to be no more than two to three feet in diameter (at least the visible condensation funnel) in its initial stage.

Ah, the "Twister Sisters" !

 

[Jeff Wright]

That’s a dead link now.
Antonio Hernandez filmed a very narrow tornado in Maine, Wisconsin on August 10 as per usatornadoes.com

 

[Warren Faidley]

I've always said there are two things never to trust while chasing. A fart and a vortex. I've seen (like a lot of us here), a ten-yard-wide vortex turn into a monster tornado in seconds. As for the fart......

 

[Jeff Wright]

This recent event might be a candidate for the smallest:

The Maine WI event

 

[Jeff Wright]

About the same size as the one above:

This one looks to be even smaller..not a gustnado as it was on radar:

The very compact rope that gave rise to Jarrell was also compact. This waterspout almost seems as concentrated:

Watch: Towering Waterspout Forms Ahead of Monsoon - Videos from The Weather Channel

A fisherman spots a waterspout off the coast of Thailand shortly before a storm rolled in. - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

 

[Ethan Schisler]

I think it would be hard to put into perspective the size of any tornado unless we have the exact survey data. In which case it would be the smallest tornado ever surveyed. A lot of times with tornadoes, the tornadic winds extend beyond the condensation funnel which makes the damage path wider than what the tornado may appear. This isn't the case all the time, but some times.

So once again goes the saying that "big tornadoes aren't necessarily stronger". Smaller tornadoes may appear that way, but could in fact but satellite tornadoes to larger tornadoes or have an expanding wind field. So I think its honestly impossible to say. 10 yards is probably the narrowest I've seen surveyed around here. Usually is the "go to" for an EF-U type tornado or landspout.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

I think this one is a pretty good candidate. It appears in the upper left hand corner at about 1:28.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I don't know the actual size, but this one appears quite narrow:

Then there's this one from the standard-def/480p days from Europe. I keep a list of these extraordinary encounters.

 

[Mike Smith]

It would be nice if operational meteorology could ignore these. Unfortunately, as we know, there is little correlation to appearance of the vortex and its intensity. The atmosphere is so very complex.

 

[Jeff Wright]

True.

Visually, they are delightful…more interesting than wedges that can look like a distant fire.

A very narrow dust devil that came to a point and left a beautiful little track…the funnel having writ, moves on:

 

[Jeff Wright]

A thin rope carving across Iowa recently—that almost came to a point: