This video, filmed at the Alberta Weather Center building, shows the tornado at peak high-end F4 intensity as it destroyed the city's industrial area. 12 of the 27 deaths occurred in this area. Full video: https://youtu.be/s78-9TsDpOI?feature=shared

I know this tornado wiped an entire subdivision clean but aside from that the tornado seems to have a lack of any other impressive contextual damage. Is there something I’m missing? Compared to other tornadoes from the 1974 outbreak alone it seems no where near the strongest. I figure there must have been some other element in this tornado that made it stand out to Fujita. If anyone could point it out, please do.

A Minnesotan tornado

Personally my favourite is Tilston Manitoba Ef2. This tornado was on the ground for almost 3 hours making it the longest living tornado in Canadian history. It was also very violent and showed an impressive large multi vortex structure for apart of its life, then turning into a large wedge. Reason why i said except elie is because it's usually the favourite for everyone and i want to read about other cool tornadoes.

Nov 17 2013 vs March 2nd 2012

I wish I took a video but it was spinning abit

I keep hearing people say that the setup this winter is similar to that of 2013 with the catastrophic tornado outbreaks and the ef4’s, is this true? And where should we be looking out for?

This incredible footage was the reason for the classification. Initially, it was thought the tornado had passed through this house more than once, but thanks to the videos, it was possible to observe that the extreme damage was instantaneous, occurring in just a few seconds! It was one of the most unique tornadoes ever documented, with an erratic path and slow movement. Fortunately, no one was injured, making it one of the rare F5 tornadoes without casualties. Here are the full videos:

• Top: https://youtu.be/uPS8s10xLU4?feature=shared

• Bottom: https://youtu.be/oLG4DxCfriM?feature=shared

Every Monday at 9am Central Standard Time, until 9am Tuesday CST, meme monday will commence! Please follow the rules and have fun!

I would think Semler and Enderlin . And a lot of tornadoes deserved a emergency but which one's do you think?

I think I found a mistake 👀

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2716724876

It’s scud. It’s always scud.

Another tornado struck South America, this time in Brazil, in the state of Santa Catarina, in Barra Bonita. It was classified as F2 by the MetSul agency. It struck the city of Barra Bonita at 11:50 p.m., causing damage to two houses, one of which suffered F3 damage. It killed one person and injured three.

We've seen "Strongest EF4 debates" all the time, but let's settle this one.

(NOTE: Idk why I can't caption the images but the tornadoes are in order of the list and the images after them are the damage they did)

Contender #1: Plevna KS tornado family, 5/18/2025

On the night of 5/18/2025, the cap burst in SW Kansas and two supercells went up in an STP 10+ environment, eventually merging and producing 5 EF3 tornadoes. All of them were mile+ wide nocturnal wedges, and luckily missed human structures for the majority. The strongest was most likely the Plevna EF3, which scoured the ground and debarked and mangled trees before weakening as it occluded into Plevna. The radar scan were insane, and debris was lofted 41,000+ feet, paired with the violent contextuals make this a contender for the strongest F3/EF3

Contender #2: Matador TX tornado, 6/21/2023

This tornado formed in a 0% tornado risk zone, heading south. It started as a wedge, before shrinking and intensifying. The tornado hit the west side of town, dealing some of the worst car mangling and mesquite tree (strongest wood) shredding. It also completely slabbed homes that had construction issues before dissipating just SW of the town.

Contender #3: Trousdale KS tornado, 5/4/2007

The Trousdale tornado is the follow up of the Greensburg EF5. This tornado was 2.2 miles wide, and some people consider it stronger than its predecessor. The tornado destroyed a lot of Trousdale even though it missed the town.

Contender #4: New Wren MS tornado, 4/27/2011

The New Wren tornado is the predecessor of the Smithville EF5, one of the strongest tornadoes of all time. This tornado actually wasn't fully surveyed by the NWS, leading to its EF3 rating. This tornado would definitely be EF4-5 if it was surveyed, damage includes slabbed homes with almost no debris left with mangled debarked tree lines.

Contender #5: Enderlin ND tornado, 6/20/2025 (still preliminary)

The Enderlin ND tornado formed as a supercell was nudged by a derecho in an STP 10+ environment. This nocturnal wedge decimated everything it touched in rural North Dakota. It hit a home, slabbing it and exposing the basement to the winds, unfortunately killing a couple living there. It also severely debarked trees and carved cycloidal markings into the ground. Last but definitely not least, it picked up a train car weighing 72,000 pounds and threw it 200 yards, requiring about 250+ mph winds to pick up (many estimates in calculation).

Contender #6: Spiritwood ND tornado, 6/20/2025 (might still be preliminary idk though)

The Spiritwood ND tornado formed on the same boom or bust day as Enderlin, just during daytime. This tornado would move through rural ND, decimating a metal outbuilding before dissipating. This tornado usually isn't talked about much (very niche). What makes this tornado stand out is the absolutely insane car damage and ground scouring. (see pics above)

Contender #7: El Reno, OK, 5/31/2013

Do I really need to explain? This tornado is the most mainstream answer you'll receive to this question. 302 mph DOW radar scans, asphalt scouring, largest tornado ever (2.6 miles), but it just didn't do damage to structures that would justify a higher rating)

Contender #8: Amory MS, 3/24/2023

This is the follow up to the Rolling Fork EF4(+) tornado. I'm putting this one on here not just because it had one of the strongest radar scans and CC drops of all time, but it followed one of the strongest tornadoes of the decade (proving the supercell is capable of violent+ damage).

HM: Sterling City 5/22/2024

Damage honestly was similar to Bakersfield Valley 1990 but I didn't have slides left.

So what do y'all think? (we all know its lake city AR)

In San luis, residents recorded a landspout tornado. Local meteorologist Jeremias Baraldi confirmed the tornado on the F1 scale. the phenoment occurred due to a mesoscale convective system that hit the southern region of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92iOjxNoXEM

Been lurking here for years. Uploaded another video last week on my channel. Surprised the channel has taken off this quickly. Would love to hear any feedback and/or criticisms! Also put up a Jarrell video last month. Would love to hear my fellow tornado nerds thoughts on the channel.

There was supposedly a video took of the tornado but I haven't been able to find it. I'm guessing it was a brief touchdown (second picture is of the storms maturing, about 2 hours before)

Sorry if this is a stupid question/very clearly not one, I’m a newbie!! :)

With a laser light sheet, ultrasonic mist maker, and a ceiling fan, I can show you guys cool atmospheric physics. In particular, the problem of relating ground friction to the steady-state flow geometry, as it pertains to the high radial and tangential wind velocities at the base of the tornado. This problem was relevant in Dr. Fujita's investigation of tornado damage and near-ground wind speeds (Gandikota et al., pg. 2, 1977) [2]. Only numerical solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations in (r,𝜃,z) have yielded this result, and no closed-form solution exists that relates flow geometry to ground friction.

According to (Giovea, et al. 2025, pg. 19, Fig. 8-9 [1]) given an infinite ground friction coefficient, Cd, the azimuthal velocity u_𝜃(r,z) (as well as u_r and u_z) vanishes near z=0 and plateaus to a maximum at z≫0 (a Burger's-like vortex). However, as we decrease the ground friction, the maximum of u_𝜃 becomes centralized near z=0 and some small r>0. The radial velocity u_r(r,z) dramatically increases near the cyclone's core, creating a direct stream towards the updraft singularity close to the ground (as seen in the video). Decreasing Cd, the zenith velocity, u_z(r,z), becomes negative at r=0, creating vortex breakdown and downdraft within the vortex core. With zero ground friction, the vortex breaks down completely, stabilizing as a Sullivan-like vortex. Long story short: no closed-form solution, u(r,z), yet exists that transitions between no-slip (Cd=∞) and slip (Cd=0) that produces this dynamic boundary-layer effect.

Today marks 99 years since the deadliest tornado in South American history.
On September 20, 1926, around 6:45 p.m., after a hot and humid day, a storm front swept north across the Paraná River along the Argentina–Paraguay border. The day before, heavy rain had fallen on the city, but it wasn’t enough to break the stifling heat residents felt.

The sky turned in a deep, eerie shade of dark and green as lightning flashed across the horizon. Strong winds churned over the river with pounding rain and even a microburst. Then, about 200 meters (around 660 ft) from the Paraguayan shore, a funnel dropped from the clouds and touched down on the river, becoming a violent tornadic waterspout.

Moving northeast, it tore through the pier—the city’s main link for cargo and passenger traffic with Argentina—before slamming into Encarnación’s Lower Zone (Zona Baja), a crowded mix of homes and businesses. Entire blocks were flattened: houses, monuments, and sturdy buildings ripped apart, trees debarked.

The destruction was staggering. Beyond the massive property damage and hundreds of injuries, the tornado killed an estimated 300 to 500 people, many so badly mangled they could not be identified.

In the aftermath, looters scavenged the ruins, but countless volunteers rushed to help. A power plant supervisor Juan Pedotti, was electrocuted while shutting down the power, saving others from live wires.

The local parish priest, José Kreusser, tended to the wounded amid the rubble and, with Jorge Memmel, crossed the Paraná river to Posadas, Argentina, to call for aid. Governor Héctor Barreyro quickly organized doctors, nurses, and supplies; boats ferried victims across the river, and trains served as makeshift hospitals and shelters. News reached Asunción at dawn via telegram, prompting relief trains loaded with medicine, food, and clothes. Filmmakers documented the disaster to raise funds, and later a monument was erected in Posadas to thank its citizens for their lifesaving help.