Tornado Debris - How Far Can It Go?

Over the course of April 27 and April 28, a severe weather outbreak commenced over the south-central to southeast United States. 107 tornadoes were reported over the course of two days (filtered per SPC). A few of the tornadoes were rather intense, launching debris from populated regions several miles away.

Photograph Found by Family Member of Ryan Difani - Located 82 Miles from the Tornado — Photograph Found by Family Member of Ryan Difani – Located 82 Miles from the Tornado

Wx Or Not BG team member Ryan Difani can attest to a tornado’s ability to throw objects several miles. His father found this photograph in his neighbors yard. They were able to track down the owner of the photo via Twitter and the owner lived 82 miles away.

This is fairly common when strong to violent tornadoes strike populated regions. During the November 15, 2005 severe weather outbreak in western Kentucky, pieces of mail from Marshall County, KY was found several counties over, the result of a strong F3 tornado.

4029tv.com recently published a story about debris being found several miles away from the recent tornadoes in Arkansas. Of particular interest is a car that was found 27 miles from the owner. Pretty amazing.

Does this mean the tornado picked up the car and never dropped it for 27 miles? Maybe, but I doubt it. Perhaps another explanation is the car was picked up, then dropped, and picked up again several times along the tornado’s path. There can be endless conversations and theories, however, this will remain a remarkable story for years to come.

To watch the story, the link can be found here.