The most underrated Tornado of All Time: Niles-Wheatland F5
Most notable areas of damage:
The tornado touched down west of Newton Falls, Ohio at 6:30 PM, slowly strengthening as the updraft battled the extreme wind shear and nuclear energy of its own atmosphere.
At roughly 6:44 PM the tornado would track along Wood-Lenhart Road intensifying greatly. F4/F5 vegetation damage was noted in the survey, thankfully the tornado would miss larger population centers just before intensifying even further as the tornado strikes Palmyra Road in image 1. The core of the tornado misses every home although F4 and F5 damage still occurs along with sandpapered trees and extreme ground scouring of several inches of topsoil being removed here.
At 6:49 PM the tornado would strengthen again, striking the Ashland Oil and Propane Tank Park in western Niles. 3 propane storage tanks weighing 75,000 pounds were all crumbled and disfigured. One of the tanks would be yanked from its anchoring and lofted into the air landing across the road in image 2.
At 6:50 PM the tornado strikes Nancy Street and Susan Court, F5 damage occurs to several homes as extreme wind rowing is noted in image 3.
at 6:51 PM the tornado continues its extreme intensification as the Convenient Food Mart at the Corner of State Route 46 is mostly swept clean in image 4.
An entire neighborhood of Well Built homes are swept away and granulated in image 5 as well as pavement scouring occurring in western Niles and a woman is reportedly torn in half. Another victim would allegedly be found deceased in an open field, completely skinned.
The core mostly dodges neighborhoods until 6:55 PM, Shadow Ridge Drive is impacted at High End F5 intensity. Several well built homes are pulverized and extreme wind rowing occurs as the core of the tornado is basically a giant blender at this point in image 6.
6:56 PM, the tornado closes in on the Niles Park Plaza. Outrageous damage occurs as the entire plaza is mostly swept away with steel beams being twisted and mutilated at ground level. Cars are lofted extreme distances, parking stops pulverized and the entire plaza is effectively wiped off the earth. At 55 mph, at just roughly 300 yards wide, the tornado basically inflicts this damage instantly in images 7, 8 and 9.
6:57 PM, the tornado strikes Stillwagon Road. Several homes are swept away and even more intense granulation occurs along with trees being sandpapered and even stumped inside the core. Several slabs only remain of the homes inside the core in images 10, 11 and 12.
7:05 PM, homes along the intersection of Wick-Campbell Road and Chestnut Ridge Road are nearly atomized as the core of the tornado slices directly over a row of homes in image 13.
The tornado tracks through mostly rural areas, weakening slightly as it approaches the Pennsylvania state line.
7:11 PM, the tornado takes a deep breath of the nuclear environment of the atmosphere above and comes back to life. Peak intensity occurs as it narrowly misses the town of Masury. After crossing Fruit Avenue in Wheatland, PA, the tornado is seen in image 14, shortly before inflicting nearly unimaginable damage.
7:13 PM, a steel framed trucking plant in Wheatland is utterly pulverized, the large steel industrial building is twisted and mangled. Largely only a concrete slab remains, with pieces of shredded and disfigured steel only remaining along with it in images 15, 16 and 17. Concrete parking stops weighing between 200-300 pounds were never found, every single one of them were atomized along with most of the building and large chunks of asphalt would be scoured from the parking lot. With a forward speed of 50 mph and a core just barely larger than 100 yards, the damage done to this structure is nearly instantaneous. In this moment, I believe this damage rivals tornadoes like Bridge Creek, Jarrell, El Reno 2011 and even damage at Peabody from Tri-State. The damage done to the trucking plant and Niles Park Plaza is astounding. With asphalt and pavement scouring, along with 6-12 inches of topsoil being removed at the deepest points, this tornado may very well belong in the top 5 of all tornadoes.
More F4 and F5 damage occurs to homes and industrial buildings over the next 10 mins, additional areas of extreme ground scouring would occur before the tornado begins to finally weaken for good. At 7:30 PM, the legendary tornado lifts back into the sky.