Strongest tornado of 2010

[Mark Blue]

You could really feel the power of that thing.

That's what I was referring to above Skip. I'll never forget those inflow winds up close and personal around that Bowdle wedge. I felt like what I imagine some guy on TV feels when he's in a wind tunnel and they crank it up more and more. It definitely made an impression on me, that's for sure.

Have you had any buffalo hot dogs lately? That story on your website cracked me up!

 

[Dick McGowan]

Having seen the 3 out of the 4 tornadoes (from extremely close range) in the poll.......without a doubt the Bowdle tornado was the most visually strongest tornado. I have no doubt that the winds were in the EF-5 range, had it hit anything significant at its strongest point. The first EF-4 tornado that missed Wadena to the west, on the first supercell, definitely looked stronger than the EF-4 that hit Wadena, MN about 20-30 minutes later (on the second supercell). The one that actually hit Wadena actually looked like a large cone tornado before it wrapped in rain and hit the city...I was shocked to hear it did so much damage. With that being said, Yazoo City was definitely the most scariest as it was pulling in inflow from nearly a 1/2 mile away--rain "sheets" were just above the surface getting sucked in from all sides of the tornado...very scary appearance as the tornado moved at over 60 mph towards us.

Picture of Yazoo City, EF-4:



Picture of Bowdle, SD EF4:



Picture of 1st supercell SW of Wadena rated EF-4 and was 1.3 miles wide (much wider previously than this, I'll have to upload another picture):

 

[Danny Neal]

I guess I should have been more clear. My basis for the "strongest" tornado was thinking back to all the discussion/surveys where the NWS/QRT mentioned the possibility of the higher than EF-4 rating. IIRC the ones in OK were lower end EF-4 (correct me if I am wrong). Then I left the window open for those I may have missed or those who could make a case for any other tornado. I remember reading the Wadena tornado survey and I thought for sure that would achieve EF-5 status. Bowdle was just disgusting mean and had the capability of putting a MAJOR hurt on anything or anyone it contacted. I will use Yazoo City for example. If any of those tornadoes mentioned had hit Yazoo, the one most likely to cause the worst damage in my opinion would have been Bowdle. The YC tornado was rated EF-4 and it hit the west and south side of town if I remember correctly. The Bowdle tornado missed hitting anything dead on but still reached EF-4 status.

I am not limiting myself to chased tornadoes. I chased 2 of the 4 I mentioned, however every tornado has been surveyed more or less. So with that being said you could look for A) appearance/type of damage it could have done (Really holds no weight scientifically since it'll be hard to prove; ropes wipe homes off foundations/wedges barely take a roof off) B) type of damage it DID do C) environment around tornado or prior to tornado. D) Human impact. Stuff like that.

 

[mwenzbauer]

Two that I have not seen mentioned that I would be interested to hear discussed would be the Millbury, Ohio EF4 of June 5 and the Sibley, Iowa EF4 from June 26. I thought the damage photos from both of these were pretty impressive but I'm not near the level of expertise of most of you. Of course, neither was nearly as visible or chased as Bowdle or Yazoo or the Minnesota tornadoes.

 

[Kevin Walters]

The NW Iowa (Sibley) tornado certainly was very intense. Although not as large as some of the others mentioned, it is very possible that it is on par with them in wind speed. The fact it was a late night event is interesting as well.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I was definitely not impressed with the Wood County Ohio tornado damage that I saw. Granted, I didn't visit until 2 weeks later, but almost all of the damage was EF-3. The EF-4 rating came from a couple houses it wiped off the foundation in Millbury. It definitely didn't snap metal high tension power line poles off at their base (It hit some just east of I-280 though) nor did it do the kind of damage to brick houses that was seen in some of the other tornadoes.

For that part of the country, however, it was definitely one of the strongest in a number of years. There are two tornadoes that were similar in strength that come to mind - Van Wert and Nappanee. Van Wert was a solid F4, and Nappanee was a very high-end EF-3. Wood County was a very low end EF-4.

With that said, if we're measuring the human impact, Yazoo City wins hands down.

 

[Shane Adams]

Not to be a poopoo head, but if we're truly discussing the strongest tornado of the year, the whole abstract "human element" shouldn't be a factor. IMO "strongest tornado" means a combo of survey windspeed estimates and first-hand, eye witness opinions of the event just after it happened.

As chasers we're already biased enough as it is, we shouldn't add in "intangible" factors like human impact. Unless I'm way over-simplifying the original poll question.

 

[Danny Neal]

This illustrates the raw power of the Bowdle storm... just as the EF-4 dropped.

 

[Adam Lucio]

A look at some of the damage, specifically to the high tension towers:

 

[MatthewCarman]

This thread reminds me of the Greensburg EF5 vs Parkersburg EF5 thread and which one was stronger. I don't think we ever settled that one. I am suprised we had no EF5 tornadoes yet this year given we had so many tornadoes. We still have 3 months to go but I doubt we will seen one this year.

 

[Jason Foster]

This thread reminds me of the Greensburg EF5 vs Parkersburg EF5 thread and which one was stronger. I don't think we ever settled that one. I am suprised we had no EF5 tornadoes yet this year given we had so many tornadoes. We still have 3 months to go but I doubt we will seen one this year.

I don't think it's about 'settling' anything, just great chaser related discussion. This is the good way to discuss stuff in the off-season...which is barely started.

 

[Jonathan Merage]

Having chased only the Bowdle wedge I'm sure my vote's also biased; but regardless would have to agree with the theory stating that tornado almost definitely generated winds in the EF5 range for a number of reasons:

For one, similar to Skip & Mark (and anyone else nearby during re-intensification), I remember being at LEAST 1/4 mile from the tornado (roughly to its ESE) as the vortex reconnected with the main updraft and just guzzled huge amounts of CAPE & helicity-rich air and still having my ears popped more than once. Until then I never actually had my ears pop that many times (painfully) while I stood in the 80kt+ inflow feeders that far out. We had split off from the V2 armada the night before and were able to record the impressive pressure dip & correlated wind speed graphs while stationary. It's interesting to see how "little" the local pressure field needs to drop to make your ears feel boxed-out!

Second of course was the sheer size & organized structure of the whole storm. Once the wedge became self-reinforcing (i.e. steady-state) you could actually SEE the bulk of the meso's mass & momentum transfer & circulate around the whole thing which more than likely boosted wind speeds inside, as others have mentioned. This was near the time it caused EF4 damage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3tx9eTD6-A

So for pure visuals, overall strength & approachability (had to add that in ) I'd definitely rate this at the top. Again, If I had seen the Yazoo City, Wadena, or other impressive tornadoes might have reconsidered.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Jonathan you have by far the best video I have seen of that tornado. i can't believe I havent seen it until now. At 1:02 just look how far that building is from the tornado and the roof just gets inhaled right in. Incredible shots, if that is not EF-5 worthy I dunno what is. Nice work.

 

[ChristianTerry]

Just to let yall know, im only 17 and don't chase yet, but looking at Bowdle and the Yazoo city tornado makes me thing they could both put EF5 damage to towns if they tore right through the middle of them. Bowdle looks a lot meaner than the Yazoo City tornado. But in my opinion they are close to the same strength. Wadena looks very strong as well. I have seen videos of the inflow into it. Some of the strongest I have seen. Bowdle has the same. Yazoo could of had it, but it was moving to fast and i couldn't find videos of anyone getting to close to it.

 

[mwenzbauer]

If we were discussing this for 2009, would Lone Grove be the likely winner? Have to assume Parkersburg and Greensburg would take this dubious distinction for 2008 and 2007 respectively...