This is, hands down, the most incredible tornado footage I’ve ever seen. And having lived most of my life in Oklahoma City, I’ve seen a lot of tornado footage. This was captured with a Dominator drone over Andover, KS, Friday night just after 5 pm, and posted yesterday by noted stormchaser Reed Timmer.
The video shows the tornado from a number of angles and distances, so watch it all or you’ll likely miss something notable. If you’ve already seen this, you’re forgiven for not watching. But if your local news outlets are like mine, you only saw a brief part of the 9+ minutes here.
Timmer noted on Twitter that this tornado was tentatively rated EF3 and that, remarkably, no lives were lost.
His bio on Twitter:
I think it safe to say this jaw-dropping footage has secured Timmer’s place in stormchaser history.
terrifying
It looks like some vertical shop saw, or a laser, cutting a thin strip right through all those houses.
And quite accurate
Amazing video. I’m guessing he used a drone camera to get these? It’s not an airplane because the camera is nearly stationary.
Yes, a drone. See first paragraph. That’s precisely why the camera is so steady and the image so sharp. I doubt any plane or chopper could have captured something like this. Certainly it’s unlike any footage I’ve seen before. However, I did find one related story about CU developing drones for precisely this purpose. Not your average backyard drone:
https://piedtype.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/screen-shot-2022-05-02-at-10.03.48-am.png
One story said Timmer is based in Golden, CO, so he might be using a drone like this.
Thanks! I’ve been wondering what the drone is like because it is so steady in those winds. Amazing! What really shocked me was at about the 3:30 mark – the altitude the debris went to. The distance it was taken. I’ve been in a couple tornadoes – thankfully our homes have always been left standing. But they are scary. Sounds like a freight train is roaring overhead (yes, we were in the basement).
I too was amazed to see how high and wide that skinny little funnel spread the debris. But I mean no disrespect to that funnel!! No way! I’ve never been closer than maybe a mile from a dissipating funnel, once, and saw a supercell, once, that spawned a funnel shortly thereafter that I could not see. I’ve taken cover a few times in interior closets (no basements or storm cellars) but always for naught. I have the utmost respect for tornadoes.
Terrifying, yes, but there’s almost a beauty to it, too.
Oh, certainly. I’ve always been fascinated by tornadoes … from a safe distance of course.
Holy moly! I may be wrong, but I thought I saw a whole house lifted up into the tornado’s spire. Visions of the Wizard of Oz (although I imagine the house didn’t come down in Munchkin Land).
Certainly I saw whole roofs being lifted into the “blender” and spewing out the top and back side. I’ll watch the debris more closely the next time … and there will be a next time. I see something different every time I watch this.
I thought of you when I saw this the other day. Impressive but terrifying
Horrible about the storm chasers.
Nature’s force occasionally reminds us how vulnerable and little humans are