5 Biggest Tornadoes in All History

tornadoes are some of the most interesting yet destructive forces on earth i'm sure many of us have seen videos of tornadoes online but never in person so it's hard to get an accurate idea of just how powerful and alarmingly massive these systems can become the united states especially is prone to more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world and it's here where all of the largest in history have occurred so sit back and relax as we dive into the history of the five biggest tornadoes in all of recorded history in terms of tornadic activity 1925 was a year of note this was the year of the deadliest outbreaks of tornadoes in american history and the second deadliest in world history specifically march 18th is the deadliest single day of tornadic activity in the world on this day an incredibly powerful storm system moved across the united states generating at least 12 significant tornadoes these various tornadoes spanned various states such as tennessee kentucky indiana alabama and kansas among a few others all of these occurred on the same day and were all part of the same storm system in addition to these confirmed tornadoes there were undoubtedly a few others that touched down in various places but with much less impact or notoriety one particular tornado that was spawned from this storm system came to be known as the tri-state tornado it first touched down in reynolds county missouri just north of ellington it started as an ef-1 or ef-2 upending trees and toppling structures it claimed its first life when a farmer was caught in its path but as it continued on it grew larger and its winds whipped faster there were some reports that it even formed into a double funnel for a while it went through many populated areas even destroying some schools in the process it eventually grew into a massive ef5 tornado with winds of nearly 250 miles per hour this was one of the worst tornadoes that the world had ever seen not only because of its power but because of its speed how far it traveled and how long it was on the ground this tornado was more than a mile wide or 1.6 kilometers and moved at an incredible 70 miles or 112 kilometers per hour it spent more than three hours on the ground traveling for nearly 219 miles across three states and devastated over 164 square miles of land in the end 700 people died from this tornado with nearly 13 000 others suffering injuries oklahoma is located inside one of the most active places on earth for tornadoes known as tornado alley it is a place in the central united states where cold air from the rocky mountains meets with warm moist air from the gulf of mexico resulting in some of the most powerful storms on earth on may 3 1999 the city of oklahoma city was seeing some pretty severe weather while this was nothing new to them this particular cell was a bit different it produced a strong tornado that devastated southern portions of oklahoma city along with numerous suburbs when it first dropped out of the sky it registered as an ef2 tornado but it quickly gained strength and became an ef-4 from that point on it fluctuated in strength between an ef-2 and an ef-5 after it had been on the ground for over an hour it strengthened into a very powerful ef5 much like the tri-state tornado the bridge creed more tornado was particularly unique not just because of its incredible wind speeds but because it was on the ground for so long the majority of tornadoes are only on the ground for a few minutes even with that short amount of time they're still able to do tons of destruction so just imagine what sort of devastation a tornado is capable of when it lasts for longer than an hour by the time it had died out the twister had produced some of the highest wind speeds ever measured globally fluctuating between sustained speeds of 280 and 321 miles per hour or 450 to 515 kilometers per hour the tornado grew to a size of about 1 mile or 1.6 kilometers in width and traveled for 38 miles or 61 kilometers during its lifespan 36 fatalities were reported and the total costs associated with the destruction amounted to over 1 billion u.s dollars when we see them from a distance many of us could describe tornadoes as ominously beautiful they look like skinny fingers of cloud that reach down to the earth sometimes forming strange shapes one particular type of tornado are known as wedge tornadoes which are twisters that are wider than the distance from the ground to the sky in other words it looks like a wall of cloud this was the case on may 22nd 2011 when an ef-5 tornado landed in the city of joplin missouri that day the national weather service in springfield missouri issued a tornado warning 17 minutes before the twister even touched the ground when it did it wasn't apparent to the people in its path that a tornado was approaching it looked like a large wall of cloud that was surrounded by rain and wind and anyone with an untrained eye would not have been able to recognize the danger they were in the duration of the joplin tornado was more typical of an average tornado as it lasted for 38 minutes but this one stands apart from most of the others due to its enormous shape the people of joplin were not fully aware even with advanced warning that what they were seeing was actually a tornado as a result many didn't seek the shelter that could have saved their lives during its life it reached a width of nearly one mile and covered a distance of roughly 22 miles the tornado killed 158 people and injured around 1150 others it was the costliest tornado to ever strike the united states totaling around 2.8 billion dollars in damages and insurance claims when we think about what makes a tornado dangerous the first answer we typically think of is how fast the winds can blow a few of us may even say that it all depends on where the tornado decides to touch down if it's in the middle of a rural area there isn't much harm in that right but if it's like the bridge creed more tornado and touches down in a densely populated area that's where the real danger is of course all of that is true but let's not forget that tornadoes don't have to have the winds of an ef-5 to be dangerous tornadoes can grow in size measuring thousands of feet across at that size even a weaker tornado can do massive amounts of damage during the afternoon of may 22nd 2004 there was a powerful weather system moving across nebraska and it spawned multiple tornadoes there was one in particular that was of particular significance a powerful ef4 tornado touched down and churned across multiple counties in an hour and 20 minutes but it wasn't the duration of the tornado or even its power that had meteorologists attention this twister measured over two and a half miles across that is over twelve thousand feet it is recognized by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration as the second largest tornado to ever be recorded most structures in the city were completely destroyed there was even a coal train that was tossed off of its tracks in spite of all this there was only one fatality as the city was alerted early enough to take proper shelter the tornado actually touched down as an ef-1 and in the first stages of its life it only damaged things like farmhouses and silos it slowly grew in intensity in size as it moved on once it reached the city of hallam it had intensified into a powerful ef4 tornado and had grown to be just over two and a half miles or four kilometers across the life of the tornado was rather long with total time on the ground right around 100 minutes attract a total distance of 52 miles or 84 kilometers total costs associated with this tornado are just north of 160 million dollars as we just stated the hallam tornado was the second largest tornado ever recorded at two and a half miles across it's hard to imagine exactly how much larger a tornado can grow in all reality not much larger at all but every foot larger is an extra foot that can destroy a building carry off livestock or crush a person on friday march 31 2013 a very large and powerful storm system was moving across oklahoma it spawned a few weak twisters in some rural areas that did no damage but there was one particular tornado that touched down about 8.3 miles southwest of the town of el reno meteorologists were immediately concerned as this particular tornado was gaining strength and becoming more violent at an alarming rate as it moved across the landscape it quickly grew in size mobile weather radar revealed extreme winds of up to 302 miles per hour within the vortex which were the highest observed winds on earth at the time as the twister crossed us highway 81 it had grown to a record-breaking 2.6 miles or 4.18 kilometers across it traveled for a distance of roughly 16.2 miles or 26 kilometers with total time on the ground being about 40 minutes in the end eight people lost their lives from this tornado including four storm chasers they were the first known deaths in the history of storm chasing miraculously total damage was only around 40 million us dollars meteorologists named this tornado as the most dangerous tornado in storm observing history even though it did not strike any towns or cities there were a few reasons aside from its sheer size and incredible wind speed this tornado had an irregular path turning in sudden erratic fashions additionally this was a multiple vortex tornado in which there were many vortexes rotating around a central area this is not only what contributed to its sheer size but its erratic behavior as well the el reno tornado still holds the record as the largest tornado in recorded history tornadoes are some of nature's most alluring yet deadly displays luckily our early warning systems have come a long way and now we are able to detect when one might form saving countless lives but in the end mother nature will do as she pleases to see more videos like this one be sure to click the link on screen now with that thank you all for watching and we hope to see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: Underworld

Views: 3,626,402

Keywords: Underworld, Underworld channel, Top 10, Top 5, Facts, viral, recent discoveries, mystery, scary, 2021, tornado, tornadoes, biggest tornado, largest tornado, largest tornadoes, biggest tornadoes, el reno tornado, joplin tornado, hallam tornado, bridge creek tornado, moore tornado, tri state tornado

Id: j6fdTKThC0U

Length: 12min 21sec (741 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 05 2021