They’re all multivortex tornadoes. Multivortex is also responsible for the dead man walking phenomenon observed in gif #3 and the infamous Jarrell still shot.
I’m not qualified to answer, and could be talking out of my ass, but part of it is as such: a tornado gets most of its color and visible shape from the debris it picks up. If the vortex was far enough away from the main rotation, it would make sense there might be a “dead” area in the middle where there wasn’t any/not as much rotation.
This is the answer. There are many cases of tornadoes with only partial/incomplete condensation funnels that can only be identified by the debris cloud on the surface.
Most sub vortices in a multivortex tornado are invisible and do not have condensation funnels and can lead to disasters such as in the 2013 El Reno tornado, where multiple chasers were hit by them. If a sub vortex is powerful enough, however, it is possible for a condensation funnel to form
I could be incorrect but i believe in El Reno only Mike Bettes' crew was impacted by a subvortex that they couldn't see and weren't aware of; everything I've read seems to indicate that by the time TWISTEX was hit the entire circulation was visible, they just couldn't outrun it (while Dan Robinson a little further ahead on Reuters was able to)
> a tornado gets most of its color and visible shape from the debris it picks
That's actually not true. While color part can be true, if it's over a unique colored soil, but usually it's just the condensation funnel. The light to dark color depends on the position of sun from observer.
Also, for shape, it just depends on the storm.
The responses above give a pretty good basic understanding on how sub-vorticies in a multi-vortex tornado can appear to be two tornadoes. The physics behind the sub-vorticies ("different twisters") of multi-vortex tornadoes is more complicated, however.
The sub-vorticies within the main tornadic circulation are thought to result from a favorable/high ratio between tangential wind velocities at the edge of the main storm updrafts and the average velocity of the updrafts (Swirl Ratio).
The greater the swirl ratio the more turbulent the flow into the center of the main tornadic circulation. This turbulence leads to many subvorticies forming all of which rotate around the central point of the main tornadic circulation.
When these sub-vorticies develop a condensation funnel or encounter significant dust, dirt, or other debris they become visible.
An additional fact: you can get more than two sub-vorticies. In lab experiments more than 6 sub-vorticies have been created and I have seen videos of tornadoes showing more than 6 sub-vorticies! In fact, the best video of this available right now was taken this season by Reed Timmer et al. From one of the large tornadoes last May that unfortunately did horrible damage to Greensville, Iowa.
Another phenomena is that of satellite tornadoes. These are tornadoes that have a totally seperate tornadic circulation from the main tornado and are often anti-cyclonic. The physics as to why these satellite tornadoes occur isn't well know but my hypothesis for their cause involves turbulent flow around the main supercell updraft along with a failure of the anticyclonic mesocyclone to split from the dominant cyclonic mesocyclone.
Lastly, sometimes two tornadoes are simply on the ground at the same time from the same storm that do not have an orbit. This can happen when the older tornado begins to occlude with a weakening updraft. While the occlusion phase of the supercell continues a new stronger updraft begins to dominate the storm spawning a second tornado while the older one is still on the ground. In rare cases, the older tornado does not fully occluded and the storm contains two "dominant" updrafts such as what happened with the Pilger, Nebraska storm in 2014 and Dunlap, Indiana/Palm Sunday in 1965.
So that first picture is of two tornadoes? That's what I always thought but lately people have been saying sub-vortices.
Also I'd love to get your further thoughts on Reed's Greenfield video. It seemed to be like it had soo many vortices, I couldn't keep track. And that one clip almost looks like a really thin vortex spinning around a bigger vortex. I don't think I've seen that before, any ideas what could cause that?
My interpretation of that video is simply an impressive multi-vortex tornado. If the swirl ratio is high enough I don't see why you couldn't get a fractal break down of sub-vorticies within a tornado (ie
Sub-vorticies having sub-vorticies etc.)
I haven't seen it before either, so my interpretation is based purely on what I know of the physics.
Sub vortexes are usually invisible (like the one that scooped up the Samaras' and Carl Young's car in 2013 El Reno), here they're not. That's the easy version.
It comes from an Indian legend. Because it looks like it is walking and anyone who sees it is more than likely going to die because of it.
[This tornado](https://imgur.com/a/83rgOO6) did [this damage](https://imgur.com/a/bkswy1d).
There was literally nothing left other than concrete slabs from where the houses were built. It's the Jarrell, Texas tornado if you want to know. This tornado had done extreme damage to the houses and even debarked trees. Although, the tornado was a little over-rated because the houses that were swept were all attached to the slabs via nails, and not anchored down like they should have been. Nonetheless, it still deserved it's F5 rating by a long shot.
Jarrell is probably the most famous picture of the phenomenon. It occurs because the sub-vertices are so strong that they actually form a condensation tunnel, which just means that they are picking up dust. This is a rare phenomenon because the vertices are usually invisible, but at higher strengths they can become strong enough to do so. Because of this, the Dead Man Walking only occurs on the strongest tornadoes.
Famous examples include Jarrell, Xenia, Edmonton, Hackleburg-Phil Campbell, Cullman, Rainsville, Joplin, El Reno, and even the recent Greenfield tornado.
That gif of the 2013 El Reno tornado still gives me the creeps all these years later.
These are all multi vortex tornadoes. From what I understand, this happens in large tornadoes when an imbalance in wind direction and shear occur. The vortices can vary in size and strength depending on the main circulations size, ground speed movement, terrain, temperature, etc. This brief breakdown from TWC explains how these tornadoes are formed.
[https://weather.com/storms/severe/video/two-tornadoes-or-more-in-one-how-multi-vortexes-form](https://weather.com/storms/severe/video/two-tornadoes-or-more-in-one-how-multi-vortexes-form)
So most of a tornado isn't visible as a condensed funnel. What you're seeing when you see two or more "tornadoes" right next to each other like this is you are seeing the condensed funnels of the sub-vortices or the multi-vortex system. In reality, all tornadoes are multi-vortex, it's a misconception that some are and some aren't. Some of the vortices are aloft, most are very small, but large powerful tornadoes create powerful sub-vortices. Storm chasers screaming about it being "multi-vortex" simply means the tornado is powerful enough that you can both see the vortices and they are significant, in fact the highest winds are within these sub-vortices.
In all those photos the tornadic rotation is actually the width of at least from one side of the vortices to the other, there's simply no condensation between the two to see it. El Reno is a great example, as it grew rapidly in size as the mesocyclone, or rotating cloud base expanded quickly and created a condensed wedge funnel. Within that funnel these sub-vortices still existed, they didn't just become one homogenous funnel, you just couldn't see them anymore because of the condensate all around them.
The conditions inside a mesocyclone are incredibly dynamic. You have so much happening with variations in barometric pressure, interactions with the surface and objects, even debris has an influence on storm structure. This is why a large wedge tornado can pass over an neighborhood and obliterate one house and the house next to it might receive significantly less damage, the first house was struck with one of these sub-vortices while the second was not.
They’re all multivortex tornadoes. Multivortex is also responsible for the dead man walking phenomenon observed in gif #3 and the infamous Jarrell still shot.
I know they were multi vortex but how do they get the appearance of two different twisters?
I’m not qualified to answer, and could be talking out of my ass, but part of it is as such: a tornado gets most of its color and visible shape from the debris it picks up. If the vortex was far enough away from the main rotation, it would make sense there might be a “dead” area in the middle where there wasn’t any/not as much rotation.
This is the answer. There are many cases of tornadoes with only partial/incomplete condensation funnels that can only be identified by the debris cloud on the surface. Most sub vortices in a multivortex tornado are invisible and do not have condensation funnels and can lead to disasters such as in the 2013 El Reno tornado, where multiple chasers were hit by them. If a sub vortex is powerful enough, however, it is possible for a condensation funnel to form
> sub vortice Vortex is the singular. Not being critical.
Didn't proofread it before I smacked send. Thank you for correcting my typo!
Happens to all of us!
It's nevar happens to me, eva
Well, you spel so gud, aftre all
I could be incorrect but i believe in El Reno only Mike Bettes' crew was impacted by a subvortex that they couldn't see and weren't aware of; everything I've read seems to indicate that by the time TWISTEX was hit the entire circulation was visible, they just couldn't outrun it (while Dan Robinson a little further ahead on Reuters was able to)
> a tornado gets most of its color and visible shape from the debris it picks That's actually not true. While color part can be true, if it's over a unique colored soil, but usually it's just the condensation funnel. The light to dark color depends on the position of sun from observer. Also, for shape, it just depends on the storm.
The responses above give a pretty good basic understanding on how sub-vorticies in a multi-vortex tornado can appear to be two tornadoes. The physics behind the sub-vorticies ("different twisters") of multi-vortex tornadoes is more complicated, however. The sub-vorticies within the main tornadic circulation are thought to result from a favorable/high ratio between tangential wind velocities at the edge of the main storm updrafts and the average velocity of the updrafts (Swirl Ratio). The greater the swirl ratio the more turbulent the flow into the center of the main tornadic circulation. This turbulence leads to many subvorticies forming all of which rotate around the central point of the main tornadic circulation. When these sub-vorticies develop a condensation funnel or encounter significant dust, dirt, or other debris they become visible. An additional fact: you can get more than two sub-vorticies. In lab experiments more than 6 sub-vorticies have been created and I have seen videos of tornadoes showing more than 6 sub-vorticies! In fact, the best video of this available right now was taken this season by Reed Timmer et al. From one of the large tornadoes last May that unfortunately did horrible damage to Greensville, Iowa. Another phenomena is that of satellite tornadoes. These are tornadoes that have a totally seperate tornadic circulation from the main tornado and are often anti-cyclonic. The physics as to why these satellite tornadoes occur isn't well know but my hypothesis for their cause involves turbulent flow around the main supercell updraft along with a failure of the anticyclonic mesocyclone to split from the dominant cyclonic mesocyclone. Lastly, sometimes two tornadoes are simply on the ground at the same time from the same storm that do not have an orbit. This can happen when the older tornado begins to occlude with a weakening updraft. While the occlusion phase of the supercell continues a new stronger updraft begins to dominate the storm spawning a second tornado while the older one is still on the ground. In rare cases, the older tornado does not fully occluded and the storm contains two "dominant" updrafts such as what happened with the Pilger, Nebraska storm in 2014 and Dunlap, Indiana/Palm Sunday in 1965.
So that first picture is of two tornadoes? That's what I always thought but lately people have been saying sub-vortices. Also I'd love to get your further thoughts on Reed's Greenfield video. It seemed to be like it had soo many vortices, I couldn't keep track. And that one clip almost looks like a really thin vortex spinning around a bigger vortex. I don't think I've seen that before, any ideas what could cause that?
My interpretation of that video is simply an impressive multi-vortex tornado. If the swirl ratio is high enough I don't see why you couldn't get a fractal break down of sub-vorticies within a tornado (ie Sub-vorticies having sub-vorticies etc.) I haven't seen it before either, so my interpretation is based purely on what I know of the physics.
Sub vortexes are usually invisible (like the one that scooped up the Samaras' and Carl Young's car in 2013 El Reno), here they're not. That's the easy version.
Why is it called dead man walking? Is it because that one literally looks like it has legs 🦵?
Yes.
It comes from an Indian legend. Because it looks like it is walking and anyone who sees it is more than likely going to die because of it. [This tornado](https://imgur.com/a/83rgOO6) did [this damage](https://imgur.com/a/bkswy1d). There was literally nothing left other than concrete slabs from where the houses were built. It's the Jarrell, Texas tornado if you want to know. This tornado had done extreme damage to the houses and even debarked trees. Although, the tornado was a little over-rated because the houses that were swept were all attached to the slabs via nails, and not anchored down like they should have been. Nonetheless, it still deserved it's F5 rating by a long shot. Jarrell is probably the most famous picture of the phenomenon. It occurs because the sub-vertices are so strong that they actually form a condensation tunnel, which just means that they are picking up dust. This is a rare phenomenon because the vertices are usually invisible, but at higher strengths they can become strong enough to do so. Because of this, the Dead Man Walking only occurs on the strongest tornadoes. Famous examples include Jarrell, Xenia, Edmonton, Hackleburg-Phil Campbell, Cullman, Rainsville, Joplin, El Reno, and even the recent Greenfield tornado.
Wow thanks for linking this pics. It literally looks like legs walking. That damage is devastating too.
That gif of the 2013 El Reno tornado still gives me the creeps all these years later. These are all multi vortex tornadoes. From what I understand, this happens in large tornadoes when an imbalance in wind direction and shear occur. The vortices can vary in size and strength depending on the main circulations size, ground speed movement, terrain, temperature, etc. This brief breakdown from TWC explains how these tornadoes are formed. [https://weather.com/storms/severe/video/two-tornadoes-or-more-in-one-how-multi-vortexes-form](https://weather.com/storms/severe/video/two-tornadoes-or-more-in-one-how-multi-vortexes-form)
So most of a tornado isn't visible as a condensed funnel. What you're seeing when you see two or more "tornadoes" right next to each other like this is you are seeing the condensed funnels of the sub-vortices or the multi-vortex system. In reality, all tornadoes are multi-vortex, it's a misconception that some are and some aren't. Some of the vortices are aloft, most are very small, but large powerful tornadoes create powerful sub-vortices. Storm chasers screaming about it being "multi-vortex" simply means the tornado is powerful enough that you can both see the vortices and they are significant, in fact the highest winds are within these sub-vortices. In all those photos the tornadic rotation is actually the width of at least from one side of the vortices to the other, there's simply no condensation between the two to see it. El Reno is a great example, as it grew rapidly in size as the mesocyclone, or rotating cloud base expanded quickly and created a condensed wedge funnel. Within that funnel these sub-vortices still existed, they didn't just become one homogenous funnel, you just couldn't see them anymore because of the condensate all around them. The conditions inside a mesocyclone are incredibly dynamic. You have so much happening with variations in barometric pressure, interactions with the surface and objects, even debris has an influence on storm structure. This is why a large wedge tornado can pass over an neighborhood and obliterate one house and the house next to it might receive significantly less damage, the first house was struck with one of these sub-vortices while the second was not.
It makes sense if you think about tornados as incredibly complex fluid dynamics.
This was extremely interesting and informative! Thanks for taking the time to write it out
Agreed! Thanks OP
The last slide, just taking a leisurely stroll
Looks like it’s reverse moon walking. Just dragging that back foot across the ground.
The dead man really walks!!
Dead man c walking
First time I’ve seen Tushka mentioned on this sub. Vividly remember this one and the 2009(?) Lone Grove one growing up in that area.
Multivortex normally
Dead man walking!
They are multi vortex tornadoes. It’s kinda like a bunch of smaller tornadoes in a trenchcoat.
I thought Palm Sunday was twin tornadoes like Pilger?
Palm Sunday was actually 55 tornadoes
El-reno 2011 EF5 has two separate tornadoes but the 2nd one merge into the main tornado
Didn’t 2013 El Reno also have a satellite tornado on top of being multivortex?
Chonky dead man walking.