FASTEST MOVING TORNADO - New World Record

Here it comes. Over the last couple decades,   There it goes. Crossing the road. Hauling ass! Over the last couple decades... I found myself trying to  outrun some fast tornadoes. What exactly is considered a fast  tornado? and how fast can tornadoes move? I'm part of a scientific field  operations team with the objective   of gathering near-surface wind  field data close to tornadoes In aggregate we've tallied around 100 years  of tornado chasing and in that time we've seen some freaky stuff. In this video the team and  i will discuss five scary fast tornadoes. each one with a forward moving velocity faster than the previous. including a mind-blowing new world record for the fastest tornado ever recorded. On April 29th 2017 I was monitoring a  deadly tornado outbreak in the forested terrain around Canton Texas. There it is. Big daddy! coming right this way. i gotta run, gotta run. It's coming,  it's coming fast. It's going fast! Little too close. These tornadoes were moving up to 37 miles per hour. That's not slow but it's not terribly fast either. The miscalculation that got me  in trouble was that the burrito I was targeting dissipated and another monster  suddenly materialized closer to me. What I thought was one tornado moving really fast was actually two separate tornadoes. You may think you can easily outrun a burrito moving over 30  miles per hour. Assuming trees aren't blocking your path, blinding wind and rain isn't whipping  across the road, hail isn't smashing your vehicle and there's no traffic. Near a tornadic storm  there's a good chance you'll have to contend with these elements and always factor in  another burrito could develop closer to you. The majority of burritos I encounter  track roughly 25 to 30 miles per hour.  For me, anything slower than that I consider slow and anything faster than say 39 miles per  hour, I consider a fast tornado. But tornadoes can move much faster than that. Right Jennifer? Indeed they can as Skip Talbot and I observed near Tupelo Mississippi. We found ourselves in similar conditions as Hank's last account in that high precipitation storm modes and trees made for terrible visibility and risky chasing. Around 2:15 p.m we were racing toward Tupelo Mississippi trying to head off a tornadic storm.   When we cleared the trees and were first able to get eyes on the tornado the base was so low that the roiling grey mass of tornado looked like a  wedge. It looks both huge and violent. (Jennifer) Skip, oh my god! (Skip) Wedge! It's a big wedge! Give me the motion! Left or right? Which way is it moving? The lack of left or right motion made it obvious that we were in the tornado's path. We could see the gray mist moving through the trees and the cyclone surging overhead. it was coming in very fast (Jennifer) It's too close! (Skip) Ok! Yeah, let's go! (Jennifer) Yeah we gotta go. It's right on us. Wow! (Jennifer) Ok, keep going! C'mon, Cmon. It's on us, We gotta move fast. (Skip) We're moving. We're clear. This is RFD. Almost immediately we were impacted by  rear flanking downdraft (RFD) and inflow winds   wrapping around and into the tornado. Our vehicle bucked and rocked as we plowed through the severe winds adjacent to the tornado while I snapped  photos. The tornado tracked roughly 31 miles in 38 minutes Giving it an estimated ground speed of  49 miles per hour. With winds up to 150 miles an hour, this ef-3 rated tornado damaged or  destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses. There were 40 injuries and surprisingly only one fatality associated with this storm. As formidable as this tornado was the terror doesn't come close to that afflicted by the great tri-state tornado of 1925. Dr Tracie Seimon will elaborate more about  this incredibly fast-moving historic nightmare. On Wednesday March 18, 1925 A highly visible funnel appeared under a classic supercell thunderstorm at 1pm near Moore Township Missouri. Shortly after the deadliest tornado in u.s history would claim its first life. Town after leveled town would endure  a horror unlike anything the world has ever seen. After crossing into Illinois, the parent  storm transitioned to high precipitation mode   obscuring the intense tornado behind a curtain of rain while the strength and size of the tornado increased. With wind estimates perhaps in excess  of 300 miles per hour this tornado obliterated the towns directly in its path while racing across the  landscape at an average speed of 62 miles per hour. Entire rows of homes were leveled and swept away. Schools were devastated. Railroad tracks were reportedly ripped from the ground and sheets of iron were carried as far as 50 miles away in rural areas farmhouses were also leveled, trees were debarked and the tornado carved deep scours into the earth indicating this tornado would have easily earned the highest intensity rating on the Fujita scale. An f5. Back in 1925 there were no  technologies yet available to detect tornadoes nor systems in place to warn the public. even using the word tornado in forecasts and warnings was banned by the u.s weather bureau at the time to prevent panic among the public. Many victims likely had little or no warning before the tornado struck. Between the obliterated town of Gorham and the highly devastated town of Murphysboro   the mile wide tornado raced at an incredible speed of 73 miles per hour and for a long time it was recognized as the fastest tornado ever recorded. In its wake large fires burned structures with trapped victims inside thousands were left without shelter or food as looters raided the rubble. After three hours and 38 minutes of unspeakable horror the tornado or family of tornadoes finally dissipated at 4:38 pm near Petersburg Indiana. Along a 235 mile damage path approximately 15,000 homes had been destroyed and 695 men women and children lost their lives. By far the largest death toll registered by any U.S. tornado. To the present day almost 100 years later America still hasn't seen anything  like that terrible Wednesday in March 1925. So we know that the great tri-state tornado  of 1925 calculated to be 73 miles per hour was fast.   but let's examine some revealing  calculations highlighted in this next tornado. (Hank) In more recent years, many of us recall unbelievable scenes of tornado horror times two... The day of the twins near Pilger Nebraska. (Greg Johnson) That's not good. (Hank) The small town of Pilger took a direct hit from this violent EF4. Close by to the east another almost identical EF4 develops and together they carve a parallel  path of terror across the countryside. (Daniel Shaw)Two tournaments on the ground at the same time. I think one has directly impacted Pilger. (Hank) After 12 miles the eastern  twin dissipates in a rainy mass but the Pilger twin refuses to die. Can still see that other tube in there. It emerges from the rain as a thin writhing rope but again intensifies to inflict more EF4 damage to a farmstead. meanwhile to the east another EF4 is being born. This sets the stage for a mind-blowing stream of events. Jennifer Brindley and Skip Talbot was also  on the scene making some incredible observations. So yeah, Jennifer and I arrived late on the scene but unknowingly in perfect position to witness something we could have never expected. We were intently watching the newly developing Wakefield EF4. The Pilger tornado emerged from the rain,  what we initially thought was a new satellite. As the tornado roped out it became entrained in the RFD surge feeding the Wakefield EF4. The rope started to accelerate as it slingshot past the larger multi-vortex tornado. lightning struck between the burritos and then the ropes started moving so fast I was literally stunned. Oh my god look at that satellite! I've  never seen anything like this. When Skip and I were reviewing our footage of the chase we could not believe how fast that rope was moving. (Skip) I had never seen forward speed like that on a tornado. I did some initial calculations and came up with a rough estimate of almost 90 miles per hour. These speeds and just how exceptional this event was seemed to go largely unnoticed in the community. I think many people assumed this was a satellite or part of the parent Wakefield tornado rather than its own  identity. (Hank) from my slant the burrito doesn't appear to be moving that fast but it's also tracking away from me. From Skip and Jennifer's position the tornado is moving more perpendicular and man is it cruising! (Skip) Recently our team decided to re-examine this event in greater detail and get a better fix on these measurements. Dr Anton Seimon was able to locate a scar this tornado left on the landscape visible in google satellite imagery With precisely synced video from Hank Schyma, Josh  Vanden Top, Rob Hurkes and my own our team was able to triangulate the location of this tornado  at key times and produce highly accurate forward ground speed measurements. (Dr. Anton) This event which was  so visually stunning is also scientifically intriguing. We expected to find an arcing path  consistent with an orbiting satellite circulation, however the damaged scar showed that the tornado was a pre-existing circulation that emerged from rain very likely the end stage to the EF4 tornado that it passed through Pilger It maintained an almost straight path while passing just south of the much larger Wakefield tornado.   We applied techniques from the El Reno survey to analyze the videos and by using Hank's careful mapping of the fast-moving tornadoes  passage-past features seen in each video   we calculated its speed between each marked point. This refines Skip's earlier work since we now had an actual track allowing us to  fix the tornado's positions with precision. At 4:42 central time the tornado is moving at just 20 miles per hour and slowly accelerates to 33 miles per hour minutes later. Then after briefly slowing to 26 miles per hour it begins a pulsing acceleration to about 62 miles per hour at 4:46 pm when the intense lightning bolt occurs. (Skip) Holy cow! (Hank) Did i just see that? The vortex then accelerates extremely  rapidly gaining another 30 miles per hour in just 10 seconds and at 4:47 p.m we fix  its fastest ground speed at 94.6 miles per hour sustained over 5.33 seconds before  equally rapid deceleration starts. When the tornado dissipates half a minute  later it is slow to less than 50 miles an hour. If you're a storm spotter, chaser  or anyone observing a severe storm   keep your head on a swivel to  maintain situational awareness.   Don't fixate on one tornado but check  your six so you don't miss the other one sneaking up from behind. It's what we chasers call the stupid check and we do them often. The next case is especially notorious. The May 31st, 2013 El Reno Oklahoma tornado. Look at the size of that monster. Skip created this animated graphic of the tornado position combining weather  radar and resulting damage path. The moving icons represent storm chaser positions. Note how instead of chasing the tornado everyone's trying to escape it. This tornado had many unusual characteristics that made it extremely hazardous to storm chasers. It grew to the largest size of any documented tornado reaching a diameter of 2.6 miles. It also changed direction several times  and underwent a remarkable acceleration to 55 miles per hour right as it expanded to  its maximum size catching many chasers in its circulation The colossal tornado also featured  numerous secondary circulations. Tornadoes inside the tornado that had their own highly unusual  characteristics. This is going to get really ugly really fast here. (Shaw) break station  bk 2fsrv confirming multivortex wedge extremely dangerous. (Hank) All five of us were on  the scene documenting this freak spectacle. At first many of us were focused on the  sub vortices the oblivious of how dangerous  the situation was becoming. (Tracie) it was hard to even recognize this huge mass as a tornado. (Anton) Look at that velocity! (Jennifer) Walls of rain  careening at tornadic speeds from left to right. (Skip) It became apparent that the tornado  was much larger than we initially thought. (Anton) Inconceivably large and moving very very fast. Go! It's crossing the road just behind us. (Tracie) and that's when I realized just how close we've been to being injured or possibly killed. A bunch of faces were hit by that no  doubt. Anyone behind us would have been hit. Dr Anton Seimon led a research project  to analyze this exceptional storm   using imagery captured by storm chasers. The El Reno tornadic supercell was observed by two scientific teams operating advanced mobile research radars. at the same time hundreds of storm chasers converged  on El Reno as the storm developed. In an effort to harvest the trove of chaser  visual data for scientific applications   I convened a group of chaser researchers in a crowdsourcing effort we call The El Reno Survey.   From more than 90 respondents who generously contributed their valuable assets we were able to assemble the largest archive of visual material ever compiled for a single tornado event. Then through careful analysis we were able to establish the precise time and location of almost all video segments collected. The radar teams examining the inner structure of the enormous tornadic mesocyclone reported the existence of numerous sub-vortices... tornado strength circulations themselves developing and orbiting along the periphery of the El Reno tornado. These circulations were tracked in successive radar scans which revealed several undergoing   slingshot accelerations when passing  along the south side of the larger tornado    reaching forward motions far greater than  ever documented for any tornadic circulations. Two of these circulations, each the size of a conventional tornado, were tracked at motions that reached a hard to believe 78 meters  per second which is about 175 miles per hour. By matching video times and locations with  radar data we can now see what a tornadic   vortex moving at 175 miles per hour looks like. Looking northwest from a distance of 3.7 miles Skip and Jennifer observed the  sub-vortex as it arced around the wedge tornado. Simon Brewer captured this view of the incredible vortex rocketing  directly towards his position   as his chase partner Justin Drake fought severe headwinds while trying to drive them to safety. We know from the careful analysis by the  University of Oklahoma and cswr mobile radar  teams that the exceptionally fast-moving  sub-vortices in the 2013 El Reno tornado   are generated within the same mesocyclone producing the record-diameter tornado.   What's more the sub-vortices move in sweeping arcs in the manner of satellite tornadoes Revealing them to be secondary circulations of the giant tornado. The Pilger event differs considerably in that a discrete long-lived tornadic mesocyclone is the parent of the vortex that slingshots past the far larger Wakefield tornado and the absence of curvature in its track inward towards the larger vortex shows  that it did not behave as a satellite circulation. We therefore conclude that this tornado, being the end stage of the Pilger Nebraska EF4 tornado that formed 46 minutes earlier should be recognized as the fastest moving tornado yet documented. Song: La Male'diction De La Danse Du Poulet Anything else you'd like to add... No all right good enough.

Channel: Pecos Hank

Views: 3,421,217

Keywords: fastest tornado, fastest tornado speed, fastest tornado ever, fastest tornado speed ever recorded, fastest tornado wind speed, fastest tornado wind ever recorded, fastest tornado travel speed, fastest tornado ground speed, fastest tornado recorded in history, fastest tornado speed recorded, fastest speed, fastest moving, tri-state tornado, tri state tornado of 1925, pecos hank, tornado video, tornado, fastest, Tornado youtube

Id: gMws8ueXJ7U

Length: 19min 38sec (1178 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/hoagiemouf]

Caught this earlier on my YouTube feed and was thrilled to see something from Pecos Hank for the first time in a while. Follow this man’s channel, his work is absolutely stellar. I particularly love his sprite videos.

[u/musicmunky]

I'm a simple man - I see a Pecos Hank video, I upvote.

[u/RomanV]

Holy shit - CSI: Tornado.

[u/Samura1_I3]

The triangulation methods use to track the Pilger tornado is some incredible work. Hats off to these guys. We've never had so much valuable data about tornados and it's wonderful to see research progressing so rapidly now.

[u/foco_runner]

Yeah those twin Nebraska tornadoes were intense

[u/sorrybabyxoxo]

Wow fantastic video.

[u/MinerAlum]

Love his videos!

[u/PanickedPotato]

I've been jonesing for a new Hank video. That man never disappoints!

[u/a-dog-thats-russian]

i honestly love pecos hank. he’s so wholesome and in general just loves the environment. good dude. makes good videos.