What's The Widest Tornado Ever?

[Saul Trabal]

So-what's the widest twister ever? How strong were the winds?

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I'm pretty sure it was the Hallam tornado on May 22, 2004. It was a beast. It looked like a wall of dirt and debris. You couldn't see where it ended. I believe the survey showed it as a 2.5 mile wide F4. There was one in TN or some place out East that was pretty big too.

 

[Terry Kollmeyer]

The Hallam, Ne. F4 on 5/22/04 has got it on this one. 2 1/2 mi. wide @ it's widest point going from Gage Co. into SW Lancaster Co. (and ultimately Hallam). Path length was about 50 miles, if memory serves me correct.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

The widest tornado ever occurrs tommorow 6/9/06 in NE Nebraska with windspeeds exceeding 325 mph yeah go ahead laugh I'm not joking!!
No, but really I do believe Michael is right the Hallam tornado is the widest on record, however it was not the strongest although I do not believe there were any wind speeds recorded by doppler on that storm I could be wrong though, many in these woods still argue that the tornado deserved an F-5 rating!

 

[Gabe Garfield]

Ahh, one of my favorite topics returns!

Some links:
Damage Map
WFO Omaha Event Description

FYI, the previous tornado width record was (arguably) held by the Gruver, TX tornado of June 9, 1971. It was listed at a whopping 2 miles in diameter. Another large tornado that was a contender for this distinction was the Woodward, OK tornado of April 9, 1947. When the tornado struck Woodward, it was 1.8 miles wide.

Gabe

 

[Mikey Gribble]

The survey for the Hallam tornado did show that it had a path length of something like 50 miles, but I will swear up and down until the day I die that there were three seperate tornadoes that day. If I remember correctly, the survey showed three tornadoes, but the first one was incredibly weak(I don't count that one, I think it was a spin up) and they did count the satellite tornado that happened later in the day(it was the strongest satellite tornado I have ever seen). I have video of the first one touching down, but not of it lifting up. I have video of a second one right after it touched down (so I can't prove definitevly that it was a new tornado) and I have video of a third one that was a satellite tornado on the South side of the main tornado. That day was such a blur that I can't really remember much more than what I recall from watching video, but I am pretty damn sure I'm right on this. The cloud base and circulation were so close to the ground that day that I am sure damage surveys would make it look like one long track tornado, but I don't think that was the case.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Michael,

That day is a big blur to me as well... Gabe was acting as navigator, and I didn't look at the map for most of the chase, which means that I'm having a little more difficult of a time matching locations with memories. Unfortunately, my GPS log from that day did not save either, so that makes it worse...

I do remember several satellite tornadoes doing the merry-go-round around the large tornado that eventually hit Hallam. There were also a couple of tornadoes that occurred, IIRC, BEFORE the Hallam tornado developed. Actually, I should say that I know of at least one before then -- see my picture HERE of a tornado near (IIRC) Alexandria. The Hallam tornado eventually became so rain-wrapped and dark that I actually thought it had lifted. I remember thinking that one of the satellites was actually THE tornado, unknowingly missing the historically-massive wedge in the pitch-blackness a little farther north.

Following that one, everyone seems to have video of driving through and out of Daykin as the tornado that later goes on to hit Hallam develops. I got a chuckle watching highlight videos from that year, since almost every person who was on that storm seems to have the same piece of footage -- driving out of Daykin, with that water tower passing in front of the tornado on the way east out of town.

 

[Danny Neal]

i thought i heard somewhere that the mulhall tornado on may 3rd 1999 was up there in width, i know the moore one was 3/4 to a mile wide, i thought i heard somewhere that the mulhall one was over 2 miles wrong, please correct me if i am wrong

 

[Karen Politte]

When thinking of "widest tornadoes", for some reason my mind just pulls big historic days out of the hat no matter whether they actually hold the title or not (Jordan, IA, Last Chance, CO) - and I generally tend to forget about May 22nd, 2004.

I guess that technically the May 22nd, 2004 Hallam tornado WAS the widest tornadic circulation ever recorded. That was NOT a storm that one wanted to mess with - especially considering it was, I believe, mostly at or after dark.

The question is - was Hallam one big wedge or was the damage path an amalgamated path of true tornadic winds and micro/downburst/RFD wind damage?

I'm sure there are some studies/papers online that may well answer my questions about Hallam - but I don't know how detailed a damage survey was done. I'm a bit out of touch these days.

KL

 

[Bob Hartig]

I recall reading of a two-mile-wide tornado in McColl, North Carolina, during an eastern outbreak some years ago, possibly as far back as the 1980s.

 

[MatthewCarman]

According to my extreme weather book they dont say what the widest tornado was but they do name 2 contenders.

From Extreme Weather: Tornado Expert Thomas Gruzulis suggests that the widest tornado to have been measured (by it's tornado path) was probibly the 2.2-mile-wide monster that cut through Pennsylvania's Moshanon State Forest on may 31, 1985. This had a path length of 69 miles and, of course, was not 2 miles wide for it's entire length but only at it's widest. Fortuitously, this extremely violent storm passed through a largly uninhabited portion of what is otherwise a heavy populated state. Another contender for widest-ever tornado is the storm that struck the Red Springs-McColl area of North Carolina on march 28, 1984. This tornado may have been 2.5 miles wide at it's greatest.

 

[Tony Lyza]

Woodward, OK, back in April 1947 was also about two miles in width.

As for the question to whether Hallam was just a tornado or a tornado/microburst combination, COD caught the tornado as it hit Hallam. The pics they have are very much the way Jeff described it; too big to tell what it is unless you were there. They are pretty vehement about its width being 2+ miles. Also, keep in mind that the WCM of Omaha/Valley, Brian E. Smith, was a direct understudy of Prof. Fujita at U of Chicago and studied many complex tornado cases with him, such as the Plainfield tornado in 1990.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I am pretty sure the damage from the Hallam storm was caused by a huge tornado. The stormgasm guys have the best video I have seen of the tornado growing before it hit Hallam. They were ENE of it if I'm not mistaken and there is fairly good contrast. From my angle to the SE it just looked like a wall. You couldn't see the sides of it due to the lack of contrast with the rain shaft in the background. There is no doubt that it was a massive tornado though.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Ahh, one of my favorite topics returns!

Some links:
Damage Map
WFO Omaha Event Description

FYI, the previous tornado width record was (arguably) held by the Gruver, TX tornado of June 9, 1971. It was listed at a whopping 2 miles in diameter. Another large tornado that was a contender for this distinction was the Woodward, OK tornado of April 9, 1947. When the tornado struck Woodward, it was 1.8 miles wide.

Gabe
[/b]

Man, looking at that map again, I'm reminded of how glad I am that I didn't chase that day. I was at work, and saw the supercell on radar, and begged my boss to let me take a long break to chase it. He did. My plan was to drive like hell down 77 from Lincoln and try to get south of it before the core. Didn't really think I'd make it, but I was going to try anyway. So I got my laptop and my cellphone and the GPS and everything all set up in a jiff. Then, I went to gas up my crappy '88 Civic, but the flaky fuel relay wouldn't let me restart the car for 15 minutes. By then I decided just to shuck it and go back to work, since the storm was already near 77 and the light was fading.

When you figure that it was a good mile wide when it crossed 77 as an F2, and almost impossible to see, at that, I think my fuel relay did me a favor.

 

[Bill Hark]

Here is my greatly enhanced video still of the massive tornado near the time it hit Wilber. It was very dark and I couldn't see much under the massive storm. It was an amazing storm.

Bill hark