Strongest tornado of 2010

[Danny Neal]

I am proceeding with caution here..... This isn't meant to take anything away from any tornado this year. I created a discussion on my facebook arguing that the Bowdle wedge of 5/22 was "probably" the strongest of 2010. I don't have scientific proof of this as this tornado never impacted that many significant structures (indirect hits to farm houses; high tension lines being ripped out of the ground (not twisted but pulled out or sheared off)). I know others will argue Yazoo City, Wadena, Conger, etc tornadoes were stronger, so I thought I would poll it to see your choices. Based on appearance alone Bowdle was as menacing as they come, however what really sold me was the fact that the Bowdle tornado really didn't impact a whole lot and was still given a high end EF-4 rating. Had it impacted Bowdle and stalled like it did over town... no doubt in my mind we would have achieved a 5. So with that I conclude that of all the tornadoes this year (of the 13 EF-4's or so) the most likely to achieve EF-5 status was Bowdle, South Dakota. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

 

[mikegeukes]

NCDC Storm Events: Description of the Tornado Events
-Bowdle -Conger -Wadena -Yazoo City

Mike

 

[Isaac Pato]

I voted for Yazoo City because if I remember correctly, the storm had a forward speed of 60kts. EF-4 damage was seen in Yazoo City but this was on the left side of the tornado. I'd imagine that the tornado would have been rated EF-5 had it tracked over/just to the west of Yazoo City.

 

[Danny Neal]

I voted for Yazoo City because if I remember correctly, the storm had a forward speed of 60kts. EF-4 damage was seen in Yazoo City but this was on the left side of the tornado. I'd imagine that the tornado would have been rated EF-5 had it tracked over/just to the west of Yazoo City.

I agree, it was a tough call. I have talked to chasers who chased this tornado but couldn't really get a scope of the thing due to it being rain-wrapped and moving 60+. I guess we have the battle of two extremes. Bowdle tornado was moving 10-15 mph and for a brief period of time stalled out; while the Yazoo tornado was huge and traveling at 60+kts. I guess I am *slightly* biased since I chased the Bowdle tornado.

 

[Jason Foster]

I voted Yazoo in part because of the impact of the tornado on human lives. I always try to keep this in mind when thinking about what is worse or better (depending on your perspective) on any severe weather event. It simply isn't fair to discuss things in terms of ____________of the year without considering the people that suffered from the storm. There are scientific ratings of course, but those don't require a vote, they are simply based on a given value. Wind for instance, which of these (or any other) tornado had the highest winds. But 'strongest' could mean a few things (although more narrow than 'best' or 'worst' tornado).

 

[Bob Hartig]

Having chased the May 22 South Dakota tornadoes but not the other events, I can't offer a qualified, unbiased comparison. However, I agree that the Bowdle wedge would likely have inflicted EF-5 damage had it struck the town head-on; I can't imagine anything less with that tornado. It would be interesting to compare SRVs of each storm at its most violent state.

 

[Dean Baron]

I voted other. There was a tornado in North Dakota on June 17th that was rated EF4 with estimated winds of I believe 185mph, which IIRC is higher than any of the other tornadoes that day. I think it was stronger than Bowdle too but I dunno about Yazoo City.

EDIT: Also, there was a tornado that lifted just southwest of Wadena and was on the ground for 36 miles which was rated EF4 with higher estimated winds than the Wadena or Conger/Albert Lea tornadoes. I think Wadena was also given higher estimated winds than the Conger tornado.

 

[L.B. LaForce]

Yazoo City wins on the SRV comparison, but since I chased Bowdle, im biased, and give Bowdle the edge. Dean, the one I think you are referring to is the Bowbells, ND tornado right?

Err.. wait, no your thinking of the Holmes, ND one. The Wilkin County EF-4 was also pretty insane. Fairly small at the base, but the winds in that thing were powerful.

 

[Shane Adams]

There were a pair of F4s in OK on May 10 as well, though I don't think either was chased much (if at all). Far too many variables from the original poll question...might be better to amend it to "strongest chased tornado of 2010"

 

[Mark Blue]

Shane has a point about the strongest chased tornado of 2010 as far as my comments are concerned. I'll never forget the insane winds around the Bowdle storm as the inflow around that mesocyclone was something to remember. I was oh so close but yet so far on the Wadena storm of June 17th and still kick myself in the duff for not seeing that tornado. It seems there were a few strong storms during 2010 that are worth remembering.

 

[J Brooks]

I voted other. There was a tornado in North Dakota on June 17th that was rated EF4 with estimated winds of I believe 185mph, which IIRC is higher than any of the other tornadoes that day. I think it was stronger than Bowdle too but I dunno about Yazoo City.

Yazoo City was rated EF-4 with max winds of 170mph, so yeah that one would have been stronger in terms of wind speed. I voted Yazoo City mainly because of damage done and people affected, and it was the only one I got to see the aftermath of. I couldn't chase it because I was at work about 30 miles south of Yazoo waiting on weather to come through there, which ended up being a waste of overtime.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I am proceeding with caution here..... This isn't meant to take anything away from any tornado this year. I created a discussion on my facebook arguing that the Bowdle wedge of 5/22 was "probably" the strongest of 2010. I don't have scientific proof of this as this tornado never impacted that many significant structures (indirect hits to farm houses; high tension lines being ripped out of the ground (not twisted but pulled out or sheared off)). I know others will argue Yazoo City, Wadena, Conger, etc tornadoes were stronger, so I thought I would poll it to see your choices. Based on appearance alone Bowdle was as menacing as they come, however what really sold me was the fact that the Bowdle tornado really didn't impact a whole lot and was still given a high end EF-4 rating. Had it impacted Bowdle and stalled like it did over town... no doubt in my mind we would have achieved a 5. So with that I conclude that of all the tornadoes this year (of the 13 EF-4's or so) the most likely to achieve EF-5 status was Bowdle, South Dakota. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Before even seeing the options I knew I was going to pick the Bowdle tornado. That thing was a monster (granted, I did not chase the Yazoo City tornado, but I haven't seen a clean picture or video of that one either). I also assume the question you're asking, Danny, is which tornado was physically the strongest rather than which had the greatest human impact.

It might be unfair to use SRV to compare tornadoes because operational WSR-88Ds do not have the azimuthal or range resolution to resolve most tornadoes, especially ones that are more than 10 or 20 km from the radar site. They probably could resolve larger tornadoes being a little farther from the site, and even though both the Bowdle and Yazoo City tornadoes were at similar distances from their respective radars, I think they were both too far away to be truly resolved by the radars. What SRV images most likely depict is the rotation associated with the mesocyclone or tornado cyclone. I will say, however, that the SRV signature on the Yazoo City tornado was unlike any I had seen before. I think I measured 196 kts gate-to-gate at one point for that tornado, whereas I saw 140 kts for the Bowdle tornado. I actually saw stronger rotation associated with an EF2 tornado later on the 22nd.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I voted other. There was a tornado in North Dakota on June 17th that was rated EF4 with estimated winds of I believe 185mph, which IIRC is higher than any of the other tornadoes that day. I think it was stronger than Bowdle too but I dunno about Yazoo City.

The Bowdle tornado was given max winds of 200 mph, i.e., at the very top end of the EF-4 range of the scale. That's the highest of any EF-4 I've seen this year (it would have to be), and of any tornado for that matter. I have an account on my chasing page about this event that shows some images from that day.

 

[Skip Talbot]

There are lots of ways to measure the "strongest" tornado. The wind speeds here are all estimates from damage surveys. You could measure them by damage or potential to do damage had it hit more things. You could even go by which tornado had the strongest visual appearance. i think the Bowdle tornado fits into at least a couple of those categories. It was one hell of a dramatic tornado. You could really feel the power of that thing. Its slow motion also let it hit the same spots for an extended period of time enabling it do catastrophic damage.

 

[Bob Hartig]

Just got curious about the height difference between these two radar scans. GR2AE (you were using L2, right, L.B.?) shows .5 degree tilt at around 3,200 feet at Yazoo, MS, from the KDGX radar in Jackson. From KABR in Aberdeen, SD, the Bowdle tilt is at nearly 4,500 feet. So the read on the Bowdle storm is roughly 1,300 feet higher.

Given the different environments for the two storms--i.e. Yazoo: insane shear/lower CAPE; Bowdle: 4,500 CAPE, moderate shear--it seems logical to me that the Yazoo storm would display gonzo rotation farther up in the storm, where the real story with Bowdle's big CAPE was likely told lower down by its incredible inflow.

Oh to have had DOW probing both storms up close at exactly the same height!

Yazoo City wins on the SRV comparison, but since I chased Bowdle, im biased, and give Bowdle the edge. Dean, the one I think you are referring to is the Bowbells, ND tornado right?

Err.. wait, no your thinking of the Holmes, ND one. The Wilkin County EF-4 was also pretty insane. Fairly small at the base, but the winds in that thing were powerful.