FORGOTTEN Tornadoes

In this video I wanted to talk about tornadoes that don't get nearly as much recognition, so that way we don't forget these incredible but forgotten tornadoes.

#tornado #history #weather

0:00 - Intro
0:11 - 1955
0:43 - 2000
1:21 - 2004
2:03 - 2011 A
2:50 - 2011 B
3:57 - 2003
4:42 - 2012
5:30 - 2014
6:06 - 2021
7:38 - 2023

On June 27, 1955 a tornado would form on the nebraska-wyoming border. The tornado would continue southeast straight towards the Weather Bureau Office east of Scottsbluff Nebraska. During its’ 40 mile path there would be multiple photos, video, as well as radar taken of this tornado.
In 1974, Xenia Ohio was hit by one of the strongest tornadoes in modern history. But most don't know, 26 years later, in the year 2000 it was hit by yet another violent tornado that went down almost exactly the same path. According to the local Shawnee Indians, the area of Xenia Ohio was called “The Land of the Devil Wind”. Which I can almost promise you was referring to tornadoes.
It’s unfortunate that this next tornado was forgotten. On July 13, 2004 a powerful tornado would form outside of the town of Roanoke Illinois. This tornado would slowly move east, heading directly towards the Parsons Manufacturing Plant. All 150 employees took shelter in one of three reinforced concrete rooms put here for exactly this situation. Despite it taking a direct hit, there were zero fatalities.
There's one EF5 that’s almost never talked about. And that is the 2011 Rainsville EF5. This tornado is forgotten for a few reasons- Tuscaloosa, Phil Campbell, Cullman, Smithville were all much more notable tornadoes. The video captured by Sharlene Stephens is in my opinion the best view of this tornado. You can see how the Rainsville tornado was a strong multi-vortex tornado. It even appears to produce the “Dead Man Walking”. Which is only seen in the strongest tornadoes.
Less than a month later, on May 24 a El Reno-Piedmont EF5, the most remembered tornado from this day. I think it’s quite possible a few other tornadoes were capable of achieving the EF5 rating. Especially the Canton Lake EF3. This is the strongest, most menacing looking tornado I have ever seen on video. Also, both the Goldsby and Chickasha Tornadoes were given a rating of EF4 with highest winds of 200 miles per hour. Just one mile per hour short of the EF5 rating. Had any of these tornadoes been rated EF5 I can almost promise you they would have been much more remembered. It’s also worth noting this outbreak occurred two days after Joplin, which overshadowed even the El Reno-Piedmont EF5.
So May 4, 2003, and April 14, 2012. stands out- the F4 that went through Kansas City. At one point, a horizontal vortex rode the front side [of the tornado], showing that this tornado was extremely strong. Now let’s go back to the April 14th tornado outbreak. Only one [tornado] would achieve EF4 status- the Salina EF4. This tornado was an absolute BEAST. The most epic video was taken by Team Twistex when the tornado crossed the road right in front of them. You could also see a large horizontal vortex manifest in front of the tornado, just like the horizontal vortex seen in the 2003 Kansas City tornado
I covered the Pilger Nebraska Event, where four different EF4 tornadoes were spawned by the same supercell. But most don't know about the other tornado. In Burwell Nebraska a classic looking tornado would form. Up close this was an incredible tornado, but the true beauty is seen from the further vantage point. The tornado was below unbelievable surpell structure. Had this tornado occurred on any other day, I almost guarantee it would be considered one of the best tornadoes of 2014
On the night of December 10th 2021 history would take place. The Mayfield EF4. The second EF3 would directly impact an Amazon warehouse, taking the lives of six workers. Bowling Green Kentucky, killing 17, making this the second most deadly tornado of the outbreak.
On the night of March 24, a single storm would end up dominating the atmosphere, producing the Rolling Fork EF4 tornado. The storm continued on, well past Rolling Fork, producing two other EF3 tornadoes- the Winona tornado, and the Amory tornado. Radar scanning the storm showed that the Amory tornado had winds higher than the Rolling Fork EF4. Also, the Amory tornado’s path was less than a mile from the path of the Smithville EF5. And what’s crazy, the Amory tornado was actually wider than the Smithville EF5.

[USAR]

I'm so glad you mentioned the 2004 Roanoke, Illinois F4. I have an interesting story about that day. I lived about 10 minutes from there and was baling hay on a farm near Metamora, about 5 miles west of where the tornado hit. I remember it was around 2 hours before the tornado came down, it was bright and sunny out, it didn't even look like it could storm. But then the old farmer I was working for stopped the tractor and looked up at the sky and made a crisscrossing motion with his arms. I had no clue what he was doing but then after we were done and I hopped off the hayrack I asked him what he was looking at, and he said the clouds were moving in opposite directions and we better finish because a storm was coming. I didn't think much of it because there literally wasn't a dark cloud in the sky then, but then a couple hours later when we were in his kitchen after finishing for the day his son called and said he just saw a tornado hit the Parsons plant! My jaw nearly hit the floor. Those old farmers definitely have a 6th sense when it comes to weather. We went to go look at the damage right after and it was terrible.

I actually worked at Parsons for a while and knew some guys who were in the plant in 2004 when the tornado hit. I know many of them were totally traumatized by that experience. Bob Parsons saved countless lives by having the foresight to build top notch tornado shelters inside his plant!

[longlakeshore]

I watched the 1974 Xenia F5 go by. It also produced several horizontal vortices. Fact is that tornadoes are so common it's easy to forget them unless you've ever seen or been struck by one. I'll never forget. It's the most violent frightening thing I've ever seen.

[zisaletter]

thanks for pointing out the parsons plant and how its purpose-built shelters saved lives and prevented injury, and how amazon and the candle factory both completely failed in that respect. carly anna wx did a video on roanoke i think, i remember hearing about the parsons plant from her and she said they rebuilt the plant with _even more shelters_ in it and even better tornado drills. amazing work over there. just goes to show the difference between an employer who cares about their employees' safety and a megacorporation who will put profit over people 100% of the time.

[molecularlionel]

I think the 2010 Wood/Ottawa County, OH EF4 doesn’t get talked about enough. It caused 7 fatalities and destroyed an entire high school.

[natasharufe]

I feel like the march 24 2023 tornado outbreak needs to be talked about way more and is very underated in intensity

[douglasmitchell]

100% thought the Amory tornado was going to be an EF5 based on radar scans. I've never seen such insane velocities before.

[MesoShed]

The Roanoke Tornado is what got me interested in weather! I grew up about 10min from Roanoke and this tornado is legendary in the area. So glad no one died. Thanks for covering this little known but powerful tornado!

[scarpfish]

Three tornado outbreaks that I wish I could find more about...

March 28, 1984 Carolinas outbreak -over 50 deaths.

February 21, 1971 Mississippi Delta outbreak - over 100 deaths.

March 21, 1952 Mississippi alluvial plain outbreak - over 200 deaths.

[dannyllerenatv]

The Rainsville EF5 was so incredibly violent it's insane. It was one of the few "dead-man walking" twisters formed during that outbreak. In terms of maximum intensity, I would say it was right in between Hackleburg and Smithville. The damage this tornado did was unbelievable. It is also the sister tornado of the Philadelphia MS EF5, the Cordova EF4, and the Ringgold GA EF4.

[nancydon]

The January 24, 1967 F4 St. Louis tornado deserves a look. It passed within about an eighth- to a quarter-mile of where we were sheltering. We felt and heard it quite clearly. It was part of a 32-tornado outbreak that afternoon and evening. 24 hours later, it sleeted and snowed. I remember being out walking amongst the damage as the snow fell.

[glissyyy]

A few more underrated tornadoes are the Mulhall F4, Gans F4, Tracy F5, Bakersfield Valley F4, Sunfield F5, and Candlestick Park F5, All of these tornadoes are extremely notable in one way or another, its a shame they aren't talked about

[kevinjoyce]

One thing about the Xenia F4 in 2000 is it happened at NIGHT. Honestly makes it scarier for a second encounter with another killer tornado, many second hits like Moore happened at day but night? It's worse.

Roanoke has always felt like such a incredibly debris wrecked but photogenic tornsdo at the same time. It is without doubt I consider it F5 due to the plant damage. Quite unbelievable photos at the time.


Rainsville: The Super Outbreak of 2011 is the most packed and terrifying outbreak ever. Rainsville was menacing and deadly, the photos taken by someone as it sped away out of town is incredible. The damage was vile.

Canton Lake, Goldsby, and Chickasha: Canton is menacing as heck, well forgotten. Goldsby and Chickasha are forgotten but most talk about it was how EF5 should've been.


Salina EF4: The Kansas City tornado looks striking to Salina, and that thing was a drillbit stovepipe. The last genuine Kansas outbreak.

The Nebraska EF2: that was quite beautiful, even though it passed significant levels it still looked incredible. Pilger still overtakes any tornado from this day however. It's quite fascinating the setup.

December 10: I don't think a night outbreak like this was any more scarier. Mayfield was true terror and the only tornsdo out of 5 in my list that makes my heart stop. Worse is Bowling Green got DESTRUCTED and nobody attempted to give it any coverage.

Amory: only one photo I believe of this exists, the rsdsr scan was horrifying to watch as it neared Amory, and even famous meteorologist Matt Laubhan had his own prayer for those people. Weaker then Smithville, but still a monster in its own right.


Please do a Part 2 of these, this type of forgotten videos are really good! You also cut it relatively simple while also managing to get important information. Hope to see more soon!

[unfnuuyy]

so i got really interested when i saw the amory tornado, mostly because i hadn't heard about it since the tornado outbreak it was formed during ended. then i did some researching, and apparently there were several more tornadoes formed on the 26th-27th of march, including another ef3 tornado that "caused major damage in North West Point, Georgia". i feel like this outbreak was really only known for the rolling fork tornado alone, and not the other tornadoes, so it would be nice to have a video either specifically on the outbreak that produced the rolling fork tornado, or maybe a part two to this.

overall, great video! keep up the good work!

[joshuasmith]

I remember the 2000 Xenia tornado when it happened. Everyone who grows up or spends time in Southwest or South Central Ohio knows Xenia always has close calls or impacts with tornadoes. Xenia actually had the state's deadliest disaster at the time when a flash flood swamped the town back in the 1800s.

[honeyLXIX]

5:16 these horizontal vortices are terrifying. like a tentacle creature.

[TsunamiSephi]

I think the main reason the April 14th 2012 tornado outbreak wasn't covered super well, or rather forgotten, is there wasn't a lot of footage, as the storms were moving extremely fast and in a direction that made them hard to chase.

I was chasing in Northwest Oklahoma during this and instead of chasing the storms I was staying roughly in one place and moving slightly east or west to intercept the next storm as it went through.

[TheKingSource]

The Mayfield Tornado was a F5 PERIOD! CRIMINALLY UNDERRANKED!

[yanderelover]

May 5th 2007 was a high risk day which featured over 80 tornadoes, which itself is quite impressive. Some of these tornadoes were also quite strong too. Yet this day will always be overshadowed by what happened the night before...

[Strype]

It's mind-boggling how Xenia got hit by two incredibly powerful tornados that took almost the exact same path. And what makes it even more insane is the fact that the spot where the two tornado paths actually intersect one another is right smack in the dead center of the city. That's incredible.

[Dragontacular]

I wish that the Palm Sunday tornadoes of 1965 was covered more. There's almost nothing on them. One of the most interesting photos I've ever seen of any tornado was taken in Dunlap, IN of twin funnels right next to each other. There were so many reports of tornadoes that the NWS issued tornado warnings for all of Northern Indiana counties because they couldn't keep up. The outbreak was so bad that even the president visited here.