Wow. That special part where he started talking to kids who might be home alone if their parents went out for dinner or something, and he told them to turn the TV volume up loud as possible so they could still hear him and then go to their storm Shelters or interior room in house and cover themselves with blankets, pillows, mattresses, etc.... That was really cool. I've never heard a meteorologist do a special message for kids who might be alone home scared. Awesome guy, he should have been given an award for this coverage. Super amazing dude.
I've been chasing tornadoes for 20 years, and watched about every tornado related video on RUclips, but somehow missed this one. This dude is one of the best I've ever seen. Reaching nearly Jeff Piotrowski levels of tornado badass.
William W. Campbell-Shepherd IX no, no where near as good as James Spann. Not too say he’s bad but James is on his own level, don’t believe me? Watch the full coverage of the April 2011 super out break.
Wow...cheers to that.....I was a kid caught alone for a Tornado Warning when I was just barely old enough in the early 90s and it was terrifying....so it meant a lot to see/hear him do that for them.
@@scaperune32 yes! James was able to stay cool and give clear concise instructions and give landmarks etc despite the gravity of that horrible situation
This system produced two other huge tornadoes after destroying Greensburg, too. The next one was near 2 miles wide (An EF3) and the other was about a mile wide, and was also an EF3. Very dangerous storm.
The crazy part about that storm is the tornado had an eye in it like a hurricane. The weather channel documented it and this meteorologist mentioned that the north side of the tornado hit then there was a pause in the wind then they got hit with the south side. You NEVER see that with tornadoes
Jarrell, TX. May 27, 1997. EF5 moving @ about 5 miles per hour. NWS estimated it took about 180 seconds for it to move from house to house. That is a worst case scenario.
they all do. one for keeping it together when they know that while they are warning people, people were dying, and there was nothing more they could do about it.
I was living in Dodge City KS when this happened. The next day my cousin and I drove to Greensburg to see what we could do to help, since he was in the construction business. All I can tell you as we drove East into town is that is a moment in time I will never forget for the rest of my life. Mother nature is absolutely the most powerful thing in the universe, and she showed it on that night
Boss Key I can certainly see that. When it comes to the power of an EF-5 tornado, it's like you're not dealing with a tornado anymore, but a nuclear blast. That's the only comparable thing faster. Good on you and your cousin.
I know I'm showing my age here, but if you have time, Google "Barneveld, WI tornado". It was in 1984, and I was in my early teens. My family drove through Barneveld about a week or two after the tornado hit, and it was mind-blowing. Barneveld is a small town, yes, but literally the only things left standing were the water tower and a church's bell tower. Everything else had been obliterated. It was just nuts how much power that tornado had (I believe it was an EF-5).
Yes, Barneveld was an F5. For some reason that area has been a tornado magnet throughout history even in the valleys. We must be about the same age storyofcory? I grew up in Lake Mills, and my grandpa sold Bobcats to a dealer there so we knew some of the people who died. The storm stat night was horrific!
18:15 We’re NOT seeing any sort of circulation, no sort of tornado threat with these..... But this guy down here, near Greensburg, *Thats a WHOLE different story* DAMN
Empathetic, Caring Meteorologists are their own kind of hero. We have James Spann here in Dixie Alley and I swear I would do anything for that man and I’ve never met him. Having a caring human connection in the middle of hell is a kindness that goes unappreciated too often. Our area has years of cleanup and rebuilding ahead of them after the Dec. 10 outbreak a few weeks ago.
James Spann would insist on Wall to Wall coverage. ( I'm in Alabama too, he's a super hero in my eyes) This was a different time back then. I think most stations do Wall to Wall in Dixie/ tornado alley.
Sam Mondello He did a fabulous job warning people. Saved dozens of lives. Unlike Joplin. Unprofessional and confused local News Anchors and a poor meteorologist.
@@plawson8577 Not helped by the suddenness of the situation. Tornado dropped barely outside of town and intensified in very short order before marching its way through. The whole thing was a fustercluck, though I won't deny that local media was _not_ on top of things like they should've been.
Jimmy Seaver The Greensburg,Kansas F5 was a MONSTROSITY. It formed quickly, gradually intensified and occurred during the Evening. A Nightmare of a Tornado. Due to this Storm eradicating nearly 90% of the town wiping it off the face of the earth, The old Fujita Scale was retired in Spring of 2008 after 32 years and replaced by the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The Parkersburg,Iowa Tornado 🌪 of May 2008, was the first EF5 Tornado to be recorded. The Greensburg Twister was the final F5 Tornado to be recorded.
I was 17 when this happened... Don't think I'll ever forget this broadcast on a Friday night. I remember watching this with my mom and being absolutely shocked.
When he took that moment to address the children alone and home who were most likely scared and worried about their parents, that's what all meteorologists should do. This man is a pro.
Dave Freeman worked in Dayton, Ohio until the early 1990’s when he moved over to KSN - Such a great talent. The struggle with having such a large coverage area and choosing which translators to put regular programming on vs which ones to put weather coverage on is a true nightmare for any programmer with multiple translator/repeater sites.
Yeah, he's who I have always associated with informing me about tornadoes. It's amazing that our species have figured out how to pump this guy's monologue into your home and he can literally sit there and beg you to take shelter. Just that entire concept is incredible to me.
Not for people like James Spann, dude will stay on the air even if the tornado isn’t in his market, because he’s the goat. There’s people from Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee that watch his coverage during bad weather because he’s that good.
@@TheWaynelds There wasn't just one violent tornado that day. There were several throughout Central/Northern Oklahoma into south central Kansas. Mullhal, OK, Fort Cobb, OK, Haysville, KS.. All notable tornadoes that happened on May 3, 1999. Not just the Moore tornado. Just like on April 27, 2011. Tuscaloosa wasn't the only place that got hit.
@TNStormSpotter If a meteorologist in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Nebraska mentions May 3rd, 1999; the people who live in those states know that they need to get their asses to safety or lose their lives.
@@rattmausch Yeah. Phil Campbell also got hit hard, much harder in fact. Tuscaloosa had a bigger population, so that was why it was covered more. Had the Phil Campbell tornado hit Huntsville........Tuscaloosa would have been way overshadowed.
Top notch professional. I love it when I see the weather man explain how to read high res velocity and help people understand what they are seeing. Great guy.
My hat goes off to this gentleman. This is a local weather reporter, and he sees quite clearly a monster twister destroying his town. He doesn't melt down. He doesn't freak. He stays cool and does his job, continuing to offer up-to-the-minute weather casting. I could not have done that. To coin a phrase, you're lookin at the right stuff here.
Tornado Emergency was created by the National Weather Service after OKC... It’s an extension of a Tornado Warning. It means the threat of death and or serious bodily injury is high.
The criteria for a Tornado Emergency to be issued by the National Weather Service is extremely strict to prevent radio and television meteorologists from overusing the term. The criteria for a Tornado Emergency is as follows: 1.) A large destructive tornado has been sighted by either storm spotters, Doppler radar or law enforcement agencies. 2.) The tornado is moving quickly towards a heavily populated area. 3.) There is a high possibility of fatalities or serious injuries resulting from the tornado. The first ever Tornado Emergency was issued during the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 3rd, 1999 and the text of the broadcast is extremely sobering. This is the text: "Tornado emergency in South Oklahoma City metro area! At 6:57 PM Central Daylight time, a large tornado was moving along Interstate 44 west of Newcastle. On its present path; this large damaging tornado will enter southwest sections of the Oklahoma City metro area between 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM. Persons in Moore and south Oklahoma City should take immediate tornado precautions! This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation! If you are in the path of this large and destructive tornado, take cover immediately! Doppler radar indicated this storm may contain destructive hail up to the size of baseballs, or larger." While the text of the Tornado Emergency that was broadcast during the tornado that hit Moore on May 20th, 2013 was not as alarming; it still did its job of telling the residents of Moore to get their butts to safety or lose their lives. This is the text of the broadcast: "The National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern McClain County in central Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma County in central Oklahoma, and northern Cleveland County in central Oklahoma until 3:45 PM Central Daylight time. At 2:59 PM Central Daylight time; National Weather Service meteorologists and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado near Newcastle. Doppler radar showed this tornado moving northeast at 20 MPH. This is a Tornado Emergency for Moore and south Oklahoma City! In addition to a tornado; large, destructive hail up to the size of tennis balls is expected with this storm. Locations in the path of this storm include Midwest City, Moore, Newcastle, Stanley Draper Lake, Tinker Air Force Base, and Valley Brook. This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation! If you cannot get underground; go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now! Stay away from doors and windows!"
I did learn when the tornado emergency was used and I know only the nws can issue it.when I first heard it with greensburg I looked it up to see what it meant and when it was first used
Just imagine living in Greensburg, watching this, knowing it's coming right for you. You basically had 20 minutes max to grab your most cherished possessions, find your safe spot, and then...WAIT.
Wait my beehine!!!! With 20 mins until arrival. Me my wife and daughter would have grabbed wallets, pocketbooks, black box and pistols, and headed to the East like a scalded dog!!!!!!! When something like that is approaching, and you don't have a underground shelter, and have 10 plus minutes to safely leave, that is the absolute best thing to do.
Your main things you absolutely need are first aid kits (any cuts or bruises) sneakers (so you can walk out), your family (obviously), any money you have (for safety sake and for identification and info for insurance companies), and finally noise makers (the most uncommon thing you could think of but this is extremely important because god forbid you got trapped in debris, using that noise maker could have first responders hear it and you become freed)
His successor did the same thing with Andover almost 15 years later on April 29, 2022, and it also saved about 10-60 lives. it was EF4 Two meteorologists, storm chasers, saved about 100-200 lives during the Milden IA and Elkhorn NE EF5 tornadoes almost 17 years later.
@ZackSansing Curious as to which meteorologists you are referring to on the April 26th storms? I know on a national/streaming scale, Ryan Hall and his spotter team did great work. Locally, in Omaha, Bill Randby did a great job. I live in Lincoln and watched that long lasting tornado form in northeast Lincoln and spin through northwest Omaha and into Iowa.
@@mikesciandra3841 also talking about Andover low end ef4. Minden/harlan, Elkhorn, and greenfield were all EF5s and the wind speeds were measured by the droppler as more than 200mph just like Greensburg 17 years earlier.
I'm a truck driver,and was shut down at the truck stop in Dodge City. It was storming bad there,and my NOAA weather band was screaming. Not a good night
I have seen an interview with him about this very thing and he said he knew it went right through the town. He was so scared of how many possible casualties there were there he said that to tell himself it "might be OK" so he could go on warning people and not focus on that in his mind.
There's a really great documentary about this specific tornado. When weather changed history the Greensburg tornado--great documentary from when the weather channel had programming that was specificially about weather.
I am a survivor i never watched this till today. I had a ems radio in my hand as my mom was ems but out of town I was just 13 years old. This will forever haunt me. I'm a survivor. I lived in the middle of it all. 406 s Grove. Half block from the hospital and half a block from the big well park... if I wasn't home my father would have passed away the dark green and black clouds haunt me with how the wall clouds it was sunny all day we didn't even have track practice.. I will forever be grateful im alive today
I first knew of him from the episode of *_When Weather Changed History_* that covered this tornado. The fact that he did so much coverage of the twister is insane and he deserves all the praise in the world.
I’ve always been extremely interested in Meteorology and the science behind it and if I ever made a career out of it Dave Freeman (the man in the video) would be one of my idols.
People like Mr. Freeman kept this situation from becoming another Udall. The similarities between the tornadoes at Udall and Greensburg are uncanny, except for the death toll. Good warnings made all the difference.
Even on the older radar tech you can see that that tornado had a clearly defined hook and intake. When it looks like a mini hurricane, you really need to get into shelter. The velocity (red/green radar) was so clean and pronounced, it's no wonder it was a massive tornado.
Dave Freeman, Merrill Teller and the dearly departed Jim O’Donnell were extremely important to us in Kansas in my time of the 80’s and 90’s. You knew their voices no matter where you were in any place with a TV. If they were talking outside of scheduled newscast hours then you paid attention. All before social media.
The main difference is that Teller and O'Donnell remained professional in their coverage, not taking dramatization to extremes as Freeman did, especially in later years.
Sounds like us here in Florida with hurricanes… you can tell when the senior meteorologists are getting worried but keep it calm and stay professional.
@@stirlingschmidt6325Are you referring to May 19, 2013? Because if so, the NWS literally put on a Tornado Emergency for that and was saying in their alert that complete destruction was likely and people would die. It’s a miracle that that thing weakened before it went into downtown Wichita, because it was apparently huge in southwest Wichita.
This man should be a meteorologist legend for this state. I’m 6’3” I’m a decent sized guy, I had to look up a little bit when I saw him at dillons lol. From what I’ve heard he is a pretty good guy too, I’ll say he was at least nice to my face when I met him lol
I remember watching this. His voice was such a calming force. I lived in Derby and had the honor of going with my military unit to Greensburg to help with cleanup and recovery. ❤️
I've watched this at least 50x. Idk shit about storms and this man explains it in a way that is both terrifying... and interesting... very cool and professional. I like.
This is the coverage I watched while I was working in Great Bend that night. We were convinced that it was going to hit us, but about 10 miles outside of town, it split in two and missed us. First time my husband has ever been worried about a storm. He called me at work and told me not to be a hero.
Storms and Saugeye compleatly. I watched this stream live that night from 7 or 8 pm all night till like 3 am when was getting to great bend. Hard to find on RUclips but when his team said to each other when thought GB was missed and said 75-80% of town was damaged I was like ughh
Saddest part about this is Greensburg never really covered. Over half the population of the town has left. Both Greensburg and Joplin are still trying to recover.
@@justintime2989 Moore was but one in a larger outbreak, but it also surprises me he didn't mention it. Maybe he's trying to keep it as local as possible.
@TNStormSpotter Anytime a radio or television meteorologist in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Nebraska ever mentions May 3, 1999; the residents of these states know that they need to get their asses to safety or lose their lives. In fact; Mike Morgan- the chief meteorologist at Oklahoma City's NBC affiliate KFOR Channel 4- said during his coverage of the tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013 that he hated having to say it but it was May 3, 1999 all over again.
Dave Freeman (the man in this video) is my idol 😁. He is from my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Hopefully I can become a successful meteorologist like him some day 😁
It says a lot about a news team when they believe their microphones are off, and yet still act professional. I've definitely seen the opposite side of that. Cursing, laughing and joking. This is awesome.
His computer model erroneously estimated at 9:44pm that the people of Greensburg had apx. 8 minutes to take cover ( 20:16 ) when in fact the tornado was less than a mile away at that point and struck the southern populated edge of town at apx. 9:45pm. By 9:52pm most of the town had been destroyed by the 1.7 mile wide EF-5 wedge.
I don't think the model was erroneous. NEXRAD WSR-88D doppler radar back in 2007 had a much longer delay between when the radar beam was sent out, when the beam was returned, and when that data was interpreted into what you saw on-screen. Technology was slower. He did the best with what he knew standing there in the weather center. It's difficult forecasting things like this, even with modern day technology.
Scary. Just looked up the day and this took place on a Friday. I was 21 and probably drinking beers with friends or at the bar. I was south of the Jewel county warning so the storm probably went through already. The next day, it was eerie to hear an entire town had been wiped out. Living in a small town in Kansas you think "This town has successfully avoided tornados for well over a 100 years! It won't ever happen here." but Greensburg was a wake-up call and a sobering reminder of how fortunate we've been.
I want to add a word of praise for Dave. Staying on air and communicating the situation minute by minute. He's a real pro. After Greensburg, our town took no chances and aired sirens whenever a severe storm approached. One day in 2008, i remember i had just bought a 47" hdtv and during a bad storm, Dave kept us updated right until the sirens blared and i immediately ran outside to the shelter. It's spooky to be outside with sirens and swirling clouds. After 20 minutes i returned and he was still talking about the storm. It was comforting to see him and the radar.
this guy is remaining so calm and professional, but seeing that radar image and seeing that the tornado is wider than the town, he must be freaking out and thinking that the entire town of greensburg is about to be wiped off the map.
I was flying into Oklahoma City from Atlanta GA that evening and could see the massive Supercell that produced the Greensburg monster tornado, from 160 miles away! That storm reached a height of 22km or 72,000ft!
I had just gone through there about an hour before the bad weather started, I was headed to Abilene ran into a hail storm on the way back, had all kind of damage to my truck. That was a long scary night.
We used to drive through Abilene regularly, and there were tornado sirens going off on several occasions. When I hear "tornado alley" I think of the Abilene and Chapman areas!
Watching truly professional and empathetic meteorologists like Freeman and Spahn is just incredible. There is no telling how many lives that these Gentleman have saved. Hats off to them and every other meteorologist that have shown such poise under fire.
Probably ushering someone suddenly out of the way of the prompter or along that line. Couple that with anxiety at an unreal level and trying to read fresh data.
This tornado is so interesting. One of the largest tornadoes ever hits a small town in Kansas, completely destroying it. I'm related to the founders of the town and my great grandpa died during this disaster.
Wonderful coverage of this historical tornado!!!! Dave did an extraordinary job. Can someone tell me what that awesome karate chop at 35:40 was? That was a great chuckle for me that distracted from the extreme seriousness of the moment. Well done my friend, well done!
Respect to this dude, I still consider James Spann the best meteorologists out there just for his coverage during the super outbreak back in April 2011 but this dude was on point and possibly saved many lives
James Spann is IT. He's a meteorological genius, a fantastic communicator, cool as a cucumber, and knows Alabama like the back of his hand. His ability to look at radar and then start naming nearby landmarks so viewers can put weather information in context is on another level. He's such an intelligent man. As he watched an EF-4 tornado on tower cam barreling towards his hometown (Tuscaloosa) live on air he lost composure for only a second, asked everyone to pray for those people, and then kept right on doing his job and warning folks. And I love that he commanded the entire station/producers to stay with weather even when they tried to break away to reporters and damage information. He saved so many lives, though he would never agree it was enough. I've watched the entire 8hrs of footage uploaded to RUclips from that day more than once, but I believe he and Jason were actually on air for something like 16 hours? I read that James never even went to school for meteorology but was so knowledgeable that he was hired anyway. I do think he went and earned his degree eventually, though. He is a through and through GOOD man. And although I myself am agnostic, I freely admit he is the best type of Christian. So humble. The Birmingham market is blessed to have him. (I'm next door in GA)
Dave Freeman is Kansas' James Spann. Dave covered quite a few really intense outbreaks in Kansas over his career. The Greensburg storm was just night 1 of some absolute craziness that went down in Kansas that weekend. Obviously I'm gonna be a bit biased though because I grew up with his reports. He's since retired and I definitely miss his broadcasts.
How many different colors of awesome can there be? There's some great guys out there for sure. Hard to rank one as the best but Spann is my personal hero. Mike Morgan is very good at his job too, if you can get past the circus they put both those mets up to in that. market.
my ela teacher is from kansas originally, and she had to go back to her hometown and drove through greensburg right after the tornado. she said it was the most horrific sight she had ever seen in her life.
From the neighboring state of Oklahoma, I was following severe weather coverage on my local Oklahoma City TV station as this outbreak was taking place. Many of these storms were moving into Kansas, and I remember seeing this teeny tiny storm on radar that was forming just north of Buffalo, Oklahoma. I remember vividly my local weatherman saying, "that's moving into Kansas, so we're not going to worry about it". And I think that was the very same storm that grew into the monster that swallowed Greensburg, KS!
It's hard to believe that two years before that,Evansville had their killer torndado...our meterologist,Wayne Hart,earned the respect of the entire area for staying calm in the face of a tragedy'
Morgan Grey I think that they knew what a worst case scenario would be. After his retirement, Dave said that as the tornado passed over Greensberg, he was heartsick because he was thinking that 200-300 people would be killed. Dave also dianosed the Trousdale Tornado just to the west of Greenberg once the first EF-5 hit Greensberg. The Greensberg Supercell spawned one of the most terrible tornado families in US history.
I remember when I was a kid watching this on TV it was such a haunting eerie thing, the tornado just tickled right past where my family lived at the time. All I remember was the absurd wind speed and we weren’t even in the path. Crazy times
Not true. In Storm Chasers, they interviewed a survivor. He went into his bathroom and got in his tub. Put towels over himself. He said the whole house came down.
Only eleven people died. The average lead time for tornado warnings is about thirteen minutes. Eleven people died. Most likely because they did not get to shelter in time. It could have 100% been worse.
A lot of people mentioned that this was one of those tornadoes where if you weren’t underground, you were probably going to be dead. A lot of people got to their shelters but those that rode it out on first floor shelters were most likely going to die. You never hear that unless it’s an EF4 or EF5 tornado
The advanced warning system had greensburg had been credited for saving many lives. The tornadoes sounded starting 30 minutes before the tornado hit the tornado hit the town saving almost all of the population by allowing many people to get to safety in their tornadoes shelters well before the tornado hit. If they didn’t have that system that night more than 200 people would have died that night which could have been 100 percent worse.
I can't remember the source (probably some weather chat forum or another I've lurked at ) but I read somewhere that three or four people in this died even though they did everything right--sheltered in their basement and all of that.
I remember watching the lightning from this storm while this broadcast was going on. I was almost continuous, one of the most intense electrical storms I’ve seen in my lifetime.
His successor did the same thing with Andover almost 15 years later on April 29, 2022, and it also saved about 10-60 lives. it was EF4 Two meteorologists, storm chasers, saved about 100-200 lives during the Milden IA and Elkhorn NE EF5 tornadoes almost 17 years later.
Still looking back at this event it was a terrible experience to many. But this is an iconic moment in weather history. This is one of the best of all time in coverage.
I must admit, this is the first time I've ever heard a "Tornado Emergency" ever being declared. To this point, it was only a "Tornado Warning " as the highest alert I've heard, but somehow I knew there was something going to be higher than that....
The criteria for the National Weather Service to issue a Tornado Emergency is extremely strict to keep radio and TV meteorologists from overusing the term. Said criteria is as follows: 1.) A large violent and destructive tornado has been sighted by National Weather Service Doppler radar, storm spotters or law enforcement agencies. 2.) The tornado is moving rapidly towards a densely populated area. 3.) There is a high possibility of deaths or serious injuries from the tornado. When the first ever Tornado Emergency was issued it was for the infamous May 3, 1999 tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma; this is the text: "Tornado Emergency in south Oklahoma City metro area! At 6:57 PM Central Daylight Time; a large tornado was moving along Interstate 44 west of Newcastle. On its present path this large damaging tornado will enter southwest sections of the Oklahoma City metro area between 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM. Persons in Moore and south Oklahoma City should take immediate tornado precautions. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you are in the path of this large destructive tornado; take cover immediately! Doppler radar indicated this storm may contain destructive hail up to the size of baseballs, or larger." While the text of the Tornado Emergency that was broadcast for the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013 wasn't as alarming it still did its job of letting the residents of Moore know that they needed to get their asses to safety or lose their lives. This is the text: "The National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern McClain County in central Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma City in central Oklahoma, and northern Cleveland County in central Oklahoma until 3:45 PM Central Daylight Time. At 2:59 PM Central Daylight Time; National Weather Service meteorologists and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado near Newcastle. Doppler radar showed this tornado moving northeast at twenty miles per hour. This is a Tornado Emergency for Moore and south Oklahoma City! In addition to a tornado; large destructive hail up to softball size is expected with this storm. Locations impacted include Midwest City, Moore, Newcastle, Stanley Draper Lake, Tinker Air Force Base and Valley Brook. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you cannot get underground go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now. Take cover now in a storm shelter or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Stay away from doors and windows!"
At least the National Weather Service has extremely strict criteria to keep radio and TV meteorologists from overusing the term. Said criteria is as follows: 1.) A large, violent and destructive tornado has been sighted by National Weather Service meteorologists, storm spotters, Doppler radar or law enforcement. 2.) This tornado is moving rapidly towards a densely populated area. 3.) There is a high possibility for deaths or serious injuries from the tornado. The first time the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Emergency was during the infamous May 3, 1999 tornado that tore through Moore and Bridge Creek, Oklahoma. This is the text from the broadcast: "Tornado Emergency in south Oklahoma City metro area! At 6:57 PM Central Daylight Time, a large tornado was moving along Interstate 44 west of Newcastle. On its present path; this large damaging tornado will enter southwest sections of the Oklahoma City metro area between 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM. Persons in Moore and south Oklahoma City should take immediate tornado precautions! This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you are in the path of this tornado; take cover immediately! Doppler radar indicated this storm may contain destructive hail up to the size of baseballs; or larger." While the text from the tornado emergency issued for the tornado that tore through Moore on May 20, 2013 wasn't as alarming; it still did its job of letting people in the path of the tornado know that they needed to get to safety or lose their lives. This is the text: "National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern McClain County in central Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma County in central Oklahoma, and northern Cleveland County in central Oklahoma until 3:45 PM Central Daylight Time. At 2:59 PM Central Daylight Time; National Weather Service meteorologists and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado near Newcastle. Doppler radar showed this tornado moving northeast at twenty miles per hour. This is a tornado emergency for Moore and south Oklahoma City! In addition to a tornado; large destructive hail up to tennis ball size is expected with this storm. Locations impacted include Midwest City, Moore, Newcastle, Stanley Draper Lake, Tinker Air Force Base and Valley Brook. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you cannot get underground go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now! Stay away from doors and windows!"
32:04. The moment those poor people were under 300mph winds. The worst kind of radar image a meteorologist wants to see, coupled with a “debris ball” signature.
my grandmother was from kansas and she hated tornadoes and storms... the day she died greensburg hit and i couldnt help but think of how she went thru sev crazy tornadoes from a baby till she left for michigan w my grandpa about the tine she was 18 or 19... she really had mild ptsd from storms and wouldnt say much and i never asked her alot as a kid
Yea wth was that about. lol I know this is a serious and not funny type of video but I genuinely laughed at that super aggressive dragon ball sorcery move he made at 35:40
Are there other News station coverage videos of this night? The only other one I can find is Jay Praters coverage but it’s heavily edited with a lot cut out. I wanted more info or images on the other 2 large twisters that touched down after the Greensburg tornado lifted. Apparently Trousdales tornado was almost 2.5 miles wide.
22:57 "it is right at Greensburg, *your time is up.* " Are the words that will probably stay with us for a long time knowing they possibly saved hundreds of lives alone. RIP to all the victims.
His successor did the same thing with Andover almost 15 years later on April 29, 2022, and it also saved about 10-60 lives. it was EF4. EF3-EF5 will usually be numerous deaths and widespread destruction. Strong IA tornadoes 15 (Winterset EF4, 2022) and 16 years later (Hedwick and Keota EF4) came after this one years and years later. The meteorologists also explained their calm delivery of take cover now saved about 50-300 lives Two meteorologists, storm chasers, saved about 100-200 lives during the Milden IA and Elkhorn NE EF5 tornadoes almost 17 years later.
Anytime a radio or TV meteorologist in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Nebraska ever mentions May 3, 1999 when covering a severe thunderstorm or a tornado the people who live in those states know that they need to get their asses to safety or lose their lives.
Not being rude but actually he is called a meteorologist. That’s what this man does. You probably couldn’t think of it at the time you wrote it. But in case you didn’t know I was just letting you know.
During that storm I was probably sleeping I was living in webb city Missouri at the time witch is about 5 hours away from Greensburg where this happened I was about 6 at the time
I was 5 when this happened and I moved back to Kansas in 08-09 and then left again (military). I still remember stopping by Greensburg and seeing the worlds largest well and this was a couple months before this tornado it’s very crazy, that it was all gone when I was there before it. (I don’t remember much but we still have our magnet from it.
Dave is a to the point Meteorologist and did an amazing job with this storm. Wife and I drove through Greeensburg sometime around 2015 and its made an amazing recovery and looks great.
The total path length was 22 miles, and the width of the funnel reached 1.7 miles . Overall, 95% of Greensburg was destroyed. A total of 961 homes and businesses were destroyed, 216 received major damage and 307 received minor damage.
Did they go to commercial break right after announcing the Tornado??? Were people watching commercials (while the screen on this video is showing their logo) while an EF 5 tornado was bearing down on them?? The commercial break appears to start at 1:05 and coverage resumes at 4:05- 3 minutes during which I am SURE some viewers thought "Hey, they are showing commercials so everything must be ok because they wouldn't break to commercials during a REAL emergency, right?" Everything that can be wrong about this IS wrong about it. Greed trumping peoples safety and lives. It's so disturbing on so many levels. If it was moving North at 20 miles an hour and it was 6.7 mi South it would be there in 3 minutes
KSN is a network of stations. At those points, some of the stations in northwest and north central Kansas, not affected by that storm, were back to normal programming. The other stations directly affected or in the path were on the majority of that time.
A horrible, horrible storm. Anyone in Oklahoma sympathizes with this and remembers this. The worst tornado since the Moore tornado of 1999 to that point.
I’ve never been to Kansas but seeing this just gives me anxiety for that city, such a horrible and a incredibly freak twist of fate. I mean how rare is an EF 5 to begin with but it goes directly through the entire town which is 1.2 miles wide or something I’d be terrified! He said “this tornado is flirting with Greensburg” but no, this tornado isn’t flirting , it’s more like raping Greensburg.
@@Sj430 Yeah exactly and what is so terribly ironic and unfortunate is that Greensburg is like in the middle of nowhere just that city and nothing around it and of all places it hit directly there
The tornado that formed as this one was dissipating (Trousdale tornado) was even larger . The Mullhall, Hallam, and El Reno tornadoes were even larger than the Trousdale tornado.
Wow. That special part where he started talking to kids who might be home alone if their parents went out for dinner or something, and he told them to turn the TV volume up loud as possible so they could still hear him and then go to their storm Shelters or interior room in house and cover themselves with blankets, pillows, mattresses, etc.... That was really cool. I've never heard a meteorologist do a special message for kids who might be alone home scared. Awesome guy, he should have been given an award for this coverage. Super amazing dude.
I've been chasing tornadoes for 20 years, and watched about every tornado related video on RUclips, but somehow missed this one. This dude is one of the best I've ever seen. Reaching nearly Jeff Piotrowski levels of tornado badass.
William W. Campbell-Shepherd IX no, no where near as good as James Spann.
Not too say he’s bad but James is on his own level, don’t believe me? Watch the full coverage of the April 2011 super out break.
Wow...cheers to that.....I was a kid caught alone for a Tornado Warning when I was just barely old enough in the early 90s and it was terrifying....so it meant a lot to see/hear him do that for them.
@@scaperune32 yes! James was able to stay cool and give clear concise instructions and give landmarks etc despite the gravity of that horrible situation
20:23
This tornado was 1.7 miles wide and travelling at 20 mph. This means that some areas of the town were in the tornado for more than FIVE MINUTES
Im suprised it didnt speed up. sometimes these EF4/5 monsters do that
This system produced two other huge tornadoes after destroying Greensburg, too. The next one was near 2 miles wide (An EF3) and the other was about a mile wide, and was also an EF3. Very dangerous storm.
The crazy part about that storm is the tornado had an eye in it like a hurricane. The weather channel documented it and this meteorologist mentioned that the north side of the tornado hit then there was a pause in the wind then they got hit with the south side. You NEVER see that with tornadoes
@@Josh3B That was the "suspicious circulation" that Dave noticed toward the end of the video.
Wow..A beast...👌🏾👌🏾
An EF-5 in a populated area moving only 20mph? That is absolutely worst case scenario.
Hence how it destroyed *_95%_* of the town.
@TNStormSpotter That would feel like an eternity
Jarrell, TX. May 27, 1997. EF5 moving @ about 5 miles per hour. NWS estimated it took about 180 seconds for it to move from house to house.
That is a worst case scenario.
@TNStormSpotter It really did. It was a monster indeed, a slow one at that.
This was an F5. EFs started being used BECAUSE of this Tornado right here.
Dave Freeman deserves a medal of honor for his coverage of this event.
they all do. one for keeping it together when they know that while they are warning people, people were dying, and there was nothing more they could do about it.
Not so much. With only 8 miles of warning he would be laughed out of Oklahoma
@@ALSNewsNowMoving at 20 miles per hour. Over 20 min lead time.
Yes!!!!
@@ALSNewsNowyou don't have a clue.
Dave Freeman was a huge part of my childhood. I miss him as a meteorologist.
You and me both!
I was living in Dodge City KS when this happened. The next day my cousin and I drove to Greensburg to see what we could do to help, since he was in the construction business. All I can tell you as we drove East into town is that is a moment in time I will never forget for the rest of my life. Mother nature is absolutely the most powerful thing in the universe, and she showed it on that night
Boss Key I can certainly see that. When it comes to the power of an EF-5 tornado, it's like you're not dealing with a tornado anymore, but a nuclear blast. That's the only comparable thing faster. Good on you and your cousin.
I know I'm showing my age here, but if you have time, Google "Barneveld, WI tornado". It was in 1984, and I was in my early teens. My family drove through Barneveld about a week or two after the tornado hit, and it was mind-blowing. Barneveld is a small town, yes, but literally the only things left standing were the water tower and a church's bell tower. Everything else had been obliterated. It was just nuts how much power that tornado had (I believe it was an EF-5).
I lived
In goodland it was shitty up there too but down there whole different level of bad
I was at the Flying J. My NOAA weather band was going off all night
Yes, Barneveld was an F5. For some reason that area has been a tornado magnet throughout history even in the valleys. We must be about the same age storyofcory? I grew up in Lake Mills, and my grandpa sold Bobcats to a dealer there so we knew some of the people who died. The storm stat night was horrific!
18:15 We’re NOT seeing any sort of circulation, no sort of tornado threat with these.....
But this guy down here, near Greensburg, *Thats a WHOLE different story*
DAMN
Empathetic, Caring Meteorologists are their own kind of hero. We have James Spann here in Dixie Alley and I swear I would do anything for that man and I’ve never met him.
Having a caring human connection in the middle of hell is a kindness that goes unappreciated too often. Our area has years of cleanup and rebuilding ahead of them after the Dec. 10 outbreak a few weeks ago.
Love James Spann. Amazing professional
I've watched live coverage of several EF-4/EF 5s in the past decade plus, and weathermen like Spann and Freeman are exceptional.
I'm not even from Dixie Alley and I've heard of James Spann. You all are REALLY lucky to have him!
Dave freeman is to Kansas and Ohio as Mike Morgan and Gary England are to Oklahoma and James Spann is to northern Alabama
James Spann would insist on Wall to Wall coverage. ( I'm in Alabama too, he's a super hero in my eyes)
This was a different time back then. I think most stations do Wall to Wall in Dixie/ tornado alley.
22:53 One of the most popular lines said that night.
20:25 There's no telling how many young people he saved with this.
Sam Mondello He did a fabulous job warning people. Saved dozens of lives. Unlike Joplin. Unprofessional and confused local News Anchors and a poor meteorologist.
@@plawson8577 Not helped by the suddenness of the situation. Tornado dropped barely outside of town and intensified in very short order before marching its way through. The whole thing was a fustercluck, though I won't deny that local media was _not_ on top of things like they should've been.
Jimmy Seaver The Greensburg,Kansas F5 was a MONSTROSITY. It formed quickly, gradually intensified and occurred during the Evening. A Nightmare of a Tornado. Due to this Storm eradicating nearly 90% of the town wiping it off the face of the earth, The old Fujita Scale was retired in Spring of 2008 after 32 years and replaced by the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The Parkersburg,Iowa Tornado 🌪 of May 2008, was the first EF5 Tornado to be recorded. The Greensburg Twister was the final F5 Tornado to be recorded.
Patrick Lawson You do realize that I was talking about the Joplin tornado, right?
I was 17 when this happened... Don't think I'll ever forget this broadcast on a Friday night. I remember watching this with my mom and being absolutely shocked.
When he took that moment to address the children alone and home who were most likely scared and worried about their parents, that's what all meteorologists should do. This man is a pro.
I was 18 and living in kanorado ks.....I watched this happen live..... mature is powerful.... respect nature!!
i got chills when he told the children to get to shelter and gave them clear instructions
Dave Freeman worked in Dayton, Ohio until the early 1990’s when he moved over to KSN - Such a great talent. The struggle with having such a large coverage area and choosing which translators to put regular programming on vs which ones to put weather coverage on is a true nightmare for any programmer with multiple translator/repeater sites.
Yeah, he's who I have always associated with informing me about tornadoes. It's amazing that our species have figured out how to pump this guy's monologue into your home and he can literally sit there and beg you to take shelter. Just that entire concept is incredible to me.
Not for people like James Spann, dude will stay on the air even if the tornado isn’t in his market, because he’s the goat.
There’s people from Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee that watch his coverage during bad weather because he’s that good.
@@scaperune32 he's boring
@millhouse millard he doesn't have to be interesting. his job is to keep people safe, not to entertain viewers
@@abigailc9322 fax
"In fact the last time I saw one of these this pronounced, you have to back to May 3 of 1999."
Well shit.....
I dont know why he says that was the Hayesville tornado since that happened in Moore Oklahoma 5/3/1999.
@@TheWaynelds There wasn't just one violent tornado that day. There were several throughout Central/Northern Oklahoma into south central Kansas. Mullhal, OK, Fort Cobb, OK, Haysville, KS.. All notable tornadoes that happened on May 3, 1999. Not just the Moore tornado. Just like on April 27, 2011. Tuscaloosa wasn't the only place that got hit.
@TNStormSpotter If a meteorologist in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Nebraska mentions May 3rd, 1999; the people who live in those states know that they need to get their asses to safety or lose their lives.
@@rattmausch Yeah. Phil Campbell also got hit hard, much harder in fact. Tuscaloosa had a bigger population, so that was why it was covered more. Had the Phil Campbell tornado hit Huntsville........Tuscaloosa would have been way overshadowed.
The greensburg tornado happened one day after the 8 year anniversary of may 3rd 1999 outbreak
Top notch professional. I love it when I see the weather man explain how to read high res velocity and help people understand what they are seeing. Great guy.
My hat goes off to this gentleman. This is a local weather reporter, and he sees quite clearly a monster twister destroying his town. He doesn't melt down. He doesn't freak. He stays cool and does his job, continuing to offer up-to-the-minute weather casting. I could not have done that. To coin a phrase, you're lookin at the right stuff here.
Tornado Emergency was created by the National Weather Service after OKC... It’s an extension of a Tornado Warning. It means the threat of death and or serious bodily injury is high.
The criteria for a Tornado Emergency to be issued by the National Weather Service is extremely strict to prevent radio and television meteorologists from overusing the term. The criteria for a Tornado Emergency is as follows:
1.) A large destructive tornado has been sighted by either storm spotters, Doppler radar or law enforcement agencies.
2.) The tornado is moving quickly towards a heavily populated area.
3.) There is a high possibility of fatalities or serious injuries resulting from the tornado.
The first ever Tornado Emergency was issued during the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 3rd, 1999 and the text of the broadcast is extremely sobering. This is the text:
"Tornado emergency in South Oklahoma City metro area! At 6:57 PM Central Daylight time, a large tornado was moving along Interstate 44 west of Newcastle. On its present path; this large damaging tornado will enter southwest sections of the Oklahoma City metro area between 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM. Persons in Moore and south Oklahoma City should take immediate tornado precautions! This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation! If you are in the path of this large and destructive tornado, take cover immediately! Doppler radar indicated this storm may contain destructive hail up to the size of baseballs, or larger." While the text of the Tornado Emergency that was broadcast during the tornado that hit Moore on May 20th, 2013 was not as alarming; it still did its job of telling the residents of Moore to get their butts to safety or lose their lives. This is the text of the broadcast:
"The National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern McClain County in central Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma County in central Oklahoma, and northern Cleveland County in central Oklahoma until 3:45 PM Central Daylight time. At 2:59 PM Central Daylight time; National Weather Service meteorologists and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado near Newcastle. Doppler radar showed this tornado moving northeast at 20 MPH. This is a Tornado Emergency for Moore and south Oklahoma City! In addition to a tornado; large, destructive hail up to the size of tennis balls is expected with this storm. Locations in the path of this storm include Midwest City, Moore, Newcastle, Stanley Draper Lake, Tinker Air Force Base, and Valley Brook. This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation! If you cannot get underground; go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now! Stay away from doors and windows!"
I did learn when the tornado emergency was used and I know only the nws can issue it.when I first heard it with greensburg I looked it up to see what it meant and when it was first used
And they are really (and luckily) rare
It was created during the Moore tornado.
@@ooo_Kim_Chi_ooo The 1999 Moore tornado.
Just imagine living in Greensburg, watching this, knowing it's coming right for you. You basically had 20 minutes max to grab your most cherished possessions, find your safe spot, and then...WAIT.
or drive away
You dont grab ANYTHING but your children and animals in this situation. Don't go for items, Theyre not worth a life.
Wait my beehine!!!! With 20 mins until arrival. Me my wife and daughter would have grabbed wallets, pocketbooks, black box and pistols, and headed to the East like a scalded dog!!!!!!! When something like that is approaching, and you don't have a underground shelter, and have 10 plus minutes to safely leave, that is the absolute best thing to do.
@@scotabot7826 I would go for it if you have much much time until the tornado hits
Your main things you absolutely need are first aid kits (any cuts or bruises) sneakers (so you can walk out), your family (obviously), any money you have (for safety sake and for identification and info for insurance companies), and finally noise makers (the most uncommon thing you could think of but this is extremely important because god forbid you got trapped in debris, using that noise maker could have first responders hear it and you become freed)
Dave is incredibly professional. His calm delivery of the facts no doubt saved many lives.
His successor did the same thing with Andover almost 15 years later on April 29, 2022, and it also saved about 10-60 lives. it was EF4
Two meteorologists, storm chasers, saved about 100-200 lives during the Milden IA and Elkhorn NE EF5 tornadoes almost 17 years later.
@ZackSansing Curious as to which meteorologists you are referring to on the April 26th storms? I know on a national/streaming scale, Ryan Hall and his spotter team did great work. Locally, in Omaha, Bill Randby did a great job. I live in Lincoln and watched that long lasting tornado form in northeast Lincoln and spin through northwest Omaha and into Iowa.
@@mikesciandra3841 those meterologist called a tornado warning four dozen minutes in advance. Greensburg was 30 minutes of tornado warning.
@@mikesciandra3841 Those meterologists saved lives
@@mikesciandra3841 also talking about Andover low end ef4.
Minden/harlan, Elkhorn, and greenfield were all EF5s and the wind speeds were measured by the droppler as more than 200mph just like Greensburg 17 years earlier.
I'm a truck driver,and was shut down at the truck stop in Dodge City. It was storming bad there,and my NOAA weather band was screaming. Not a good night
Absolutely life saving work, every bit as excellent as James Spann, Mike Morgan and Gary England.
24:32 unfortunately it wasn’t a “very very close call”, it was a direct and deadly hit.
I have seen an interview with him about this very thing and he said he knew it went right through the town. He was so scared of how many possible casualties there were there he said that to tell himself it "might be OK" so he could go on warning people and not focus on that in his mind.
There's a really great documentary about this specific tornado. When weather changed history the Greensburg tornado--great documentary from when the weather channel had programming that was specificially about weather.
It could not have hit more direct
I am a survivor i never watched this till today. I had a ems radio in my hand as my mom was ems but out of town I was just 13 years old. This will forever haunt me. I'm a survivor. I lived in the middle of it all. 406 s Grove. Half block from the hospital and half a block from the big well park... if I wasn't home my father would have passed away the dark green and black clouds haunt me with how the wall clouds it was sunny all day we didn't even have track practice.. I will forever be grateful im alive today
Wow I can't even imagine. I hope you're doing well now and I'm so glad you and your family survived.
I first knew of him from the episode of *_When Weather Changed History_* that covered this tornado. The fact that he did so much coverage of the twister is insane and he deserves all the praise in the world.
The Google earth imaging of this area before and after are just amazing. The scar across the earth is incredible.
My uncle helped a week after. Starting just trying to into the town. It was isolated with debris trying to get them help
Diameter of this tornado was 1.7 miles wide. The diameter of Greensburg was 1.5 miles wide
I’ve always been extremely interested in Meteorology and the science behind it and if I ever made a career out of it Dave Freeman (the man in the video) would be one of my idols.
People like Mr. Freeman kept this situation from becoming another Udall. The similarities between the tornadoes at Udall and Greensburg are uncanny, except for the death toll. Good warnings made all the difference.
Even on the older radar tech you can see that that tornado had a clearly defined hook and intake. When it looks like a mini hurricane, you really need to get into shelter. The velocity (red/green radar) was so clean and pronounced, it's no wonder it was a massive tornado.
I call it a "scorpion tail"!
Goodness it was 2007 it’s not that old.
This dude is the exception to smaller market TV meteorologists. The folks in Joplin could have learned a LOT from this guy. Absolutely awesome
Dave Freeman, Merrill Teller and the dearly departed Jim O’Donnell were extremely important to us in Kansas in my time of the 80’s and 90’s. You knew their voices no matter where you were in any place with a TV. If they were talking outside of scheduled newscast hours then you paid attention. All before social media.
The main difference is that Teller and O'Donnell remained professional in their coverage, not taking dramatization to extremes as Freeman did, especially in later years.
Thats when weather men really showed concern for the public .
Sounds like us here in Florida with hurricanes… you can tell when the senior meteorologists are getting worried but keep it calm and stay professional.
@@stirlingschmidt6325Are you referring to May 19, 2013? Because if so, the NWS literally put on a Tornado Emergency for that and was saying in their alert that complete destruction was likely and people would die. It’s a miracle that that thing weakened before it went into downtown Wichita, because it was apparently huge in southwest Wichita.
This man should be a meteorologist legend for this state. I’m 6’3” I’m a decent sized guy, I had to look up a little bit when I saw him at dillons lol. From what I’ve heard he is a pretty good guy too, I’ll say he was at least nice to my face when I met him lol
I remember watching this. His voice was such a calming force. I lived in Derby and had the honor of going with my military unit to Greensburg to help with cleanup and recovery. ❤️
Thank you for your service 🫡
@@luv2luv720 thank you for the kind words 🩵
I've watched this at least 50x. Idk shit about storms and this man explains it in a way that is both terrifying... and interesting... very cool and professional. I like.
This is the coverage I watched while I was working in Great Bend that night. We were convinced that it was going to hit us, but about 10 miles outside of town, it split in two and missed us. First time my husband has ever been worried about a storm. He called me at work and told me not to be a hero.
This is a great behind the scenes look.
Storms and Saugeye compleatly. I watched this stream live that night from 7 or 8 pm all night till like 3 am when was getting to great bend. Hard to find on RUclips but when his team said to each other when thought GB was missed and said 75-80% of town was damaged I was like ughh
@@justintime2989 95% of the town according to Pecos Hanks on RUclips. Thats how I found out about this tornado
Ki Ra I live in Kansas it was about 95% if not more if I am remembering correctly!
I know this is a serious and not funny type of video but I genuinely laughed at that super aggressive dragon ball sorcery move he made at 35:39
LMAOO 😂
😂😂😂😂
Funny but you can definitely tell he's stressed.
Seeing Dave get nervous as the tornado is hitting Greensburg, but continue to act professionally is a pretty amazing thing to watch.
Saddest part about this is Greensburg never really covered. Over half the population of the town has left. Both Greensburg and Joplin are still trying to recover.
7:43 "You have to go back may 3rd 1999" First F5 tornado since 1999. (Now EF5)
I always think May 3rd 1999 as Moore about to say that then sayes hayesville
@@justintime2989 Moore was but one in a larger outbreak, but it also surprises me he didn't mention it. Maybe he's trying to keep it as local as possible.
@@jimmyseaver3647 no idea but great job on this night. My first live stream thru social media and was a biggie
@TNStormSpotter Anytime a radio or television meteorologist in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Nebraska ever mentions May 3, 1999; the residents of these states know that they need to get their asses to safety or lose their lives. In fact; Mike Morgan- the chief meteorologist at Oklahoma City's NBC affiliate KFOR Channel 4- said during his coverage of the tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013 that he hated having to say it but it was May 3, 1999 all over again.
This was the FINAL F5.
Dave Freeman (the man in this video) is my idol 😁. He is from my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Hopefully I can become a successful meteorologist like him some day 😁
I grew up watching him in SW Nebraska. Preferred his forecasts over the other stations that were closer.
It says a lot about a news team when they believe their microphones are off, and yet still act professional. I've definitely seen the opposite side of that. Cursing, laughing and joking. This is awesome.
His computer model erroneously estimated at 9:44pm that the people of Greensburg had apx. 8 minutes to take cover ( 20:16 ) when in fact the tornado was less than a mile away at that point and struck the southern populated edge of town at apx. 9:45pm. By 9:52pm most of the town had been destroyed by the 1.7 mile wide EF-5 wedge.
I don't think the model was erroneous. NEXRAD WSR-88D doppler radar back in 2007 had a much longer delay between when the radar beam was sent out, when the beam was returned, and when that data was interpreted into what you saw on-screen. Technology was slower. He did the best with what he knew standing there in the weather center. It's difficult forecasting things like this, even with modern day technology.
I know the tornado emergency was issue not long before the tornado came into the city of greensburg.
Scary. Just looked up the day and this took place on a Friday. I was 21 and probably drinking beers with friends or at the bar. I was south of the Jewel county warning so the storm probably went through already. The next day, it was eerie to hear an entire town had been wiped out. Living in a small town in Kansas you think "This town has successfully avoided tornados for well over a 100 years! It won't ever happen here." but Greensburg was a wake-up call and a sobering reminder of how fortunate we've been.
I want to add a word of praise for Dave. Staying on air and communicating the situation minute by minute. He's a real pro. After Greensburg, our town took no chances and aired sirens whenever a severe storm approached. One day in 2008, i remember i had just bought a 47" hdtv and during a bad storm, Dave kept us updated right until the sirens blared and i immediately ran outside to the shelter. It's spooky to be outside with sirens and swirling clouds. After 20 minutes i returned and he was still talking about the storm. It was comforting to see him and the radar.
Dude ikr, on a FRIDAY NIGHT. Ugh.. chills..
this guy is remaining so calm and professional, but seeing that radar image and seeing that the tornado is wider than the town, he must be freaking out and thinking that the entire town of greensburg is about to be wiped off the map.
Well it basically was
I was flying into Oklahoma City from Atlanta GA that evening and could see the massive Supercell that produced the Greensburg monster tornado, from 160 miles away! That storm reached a height of 22km or 72,000ft!
I had just gone through there about an hour before the bad weather started, I was headed to Abilene ran into a hail storm on the way back, had all kind of damage to my truck. That was a long scary night.
We used to drive through Abilene regularly, and there were tornado sirens going off on several occasions. When I hear "tornado alley" I think of the Abilene and Chapman areas!
Watching truly professional and empathetic meteorologists like Freeman and Spahn is just incredible. There is no telling how many lives that these Gentleman have saved. Hats off to them and every other meteorologist that have shown such poise under fire.
What was that at 35:40? Lol
Probably ushering someone suddenly out of the way of the prompter or along that line. Couple that with anxiety at an unreal level and trying to read fresh data.
@@topsam2256 Yea, and proboaly him using sign language or something.
He might have needed to give his voice a break (that's a LONNNG time to talk nonstop) and was trying to get the cameraman to cut for a moment.
The circulation would go on to spawn a 2.25 mile wide EF3 about a half an hour later
This tornado is so interesting. One of the largest tornadoes ever hits a small town in Kansas, completely destroying it. I'm related to the founders of the town and my great grandpa died during this disaster.
I'm very sorry to hear about your great grandfather's passing.
That took a lot of guts to stay calm in that situation...no wonder Dave was a great man
Wonderful coverage of this historical tornado!!!! Dave did an extraordinary job. Can someone tell me what that awesome karate chop at 35:40 was? That was a great chuckle for me that distracted from the extreme seriousness of the moment. Well done my friend, well done!
someone! was in the way of his promoter or something
Respect to this dude, I still consider James Spann the best meteorologists out there just for his coverage during the super outbreak back in April 2011 but this dude was on point and possibly saved many lives
James Spann is IT. He's a meteorological genius, a fantastic communicator, cool as a cucumber, and knows Alabama like the back of his hand. His ability to look at radar and then start naming nearby landmarks so viewers can put weather information in context is on another level. He's such an intelligent man. As he watched an EF-4 tornado on tower cam barreling towards his hometown (Tuscaloosa) live on air he lost composure for only a second, asked everyone to pray for those people, and then kept right on doing his job and warning folks. And I love that he commanded the entire station/producers to stay with weather even when they tried to break away to reporters and damage information. He saved so many lives, though he would never agree it was enough.
I've watched the entire 8hrs of footage uploaded to RUclips from that day more than once, but I believe he and Jason were actually on air for something like 16 hours? I read that James never even went to school for meteorology but was so knowledgeable that he was hired anyway. I do think he went and earned his degree eventually, though. He is a through and through GOOD man. And although I myself am agnostic, I freely admit he is the best type of Christian. So humble. The Birmingham market is blessed to have him.
(I'm next door in GA)
Dave Freeman is Kansas' James Spann. Dave covered quite a few really intense outbreaks in Kansas over his career. The Greensburg storm was just night 1 of some absolute craziness that went down in Kansas that weekend. Obviously I'm gonna be a bit biased though because I grew up with his reports. He's since retired and I definitely miss his broadcasts.
How many different colors of awesome can there be? There's some great guys out there for sure. Hard to rank one as the best but Spann is my personal hero. Mike Morgan is very good at his job too, if you can get past the circus they put both those mets up to in that. market.
James’ house got hit by a tornado in March... he is a great meteorologist.
@@april-showers77 I'm glad his wife was ok. Ginger Zee, a very notable alumni of Spann, helped out that day.
This should be required study for any broadcast meteorologist. How many lives saved?
Easily most of the town.
@@jimmyseaver3647 Only 11 people died and 63 were injured. Dave Freeman saved a lot of lives that night.
God that couplet on the Velocity display... And the debris ball on the reflectivity before it seemingly became totally rain wrapped... Horrific.
Continued condolences to all families of the deceased but sending continued love and well wishes to you all. ❤️
A tornado moving due north was very rare
my ela teacher is from kansas originally, and she had to go back to her hometown and drove through greensburg right after the tornado. she said it was the most horrific sight she had ever seen in her life.
I drove through 2 years later on a trip and trees were still debarked and snapped like pencils.
There was a large tornado that was supposed on the ground tonight near Kinsley (5-17-19.) We'll see how bad it was when more news comes in.
From the neighboring state of Oklahoma, I was following severe weather coverage on my local Oklahoma City TV station as this outbreak was taking place. Many of these storms were moving into Kansas, and I remember seeing this teeny tiny storm on radar that was forming just north of Buffalo, Oklahoma. I remember vividly my local weatherman saying, "that's moving into Kansas, so we're not going to worry about it". And I think that was the very same storm that grew into the monster that swallowed Greensburg, KS!
It's hard to believe that two years before that,Evansville had their killer torndado...our meterologist,Wayne Hart,earned the respect of the entire area for staying calm in the face of a tragedy'
I live and love Kansas thanks for watching out for all Kansans!
Me 2....lives in junction City Kansas love it👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾
bet they never realized that greensburg was gone while they were talking
Morgan Grey I think that they knew what a worst case scenario would be. After his retirement, Dave said that as the tornado passed over Greensberg, he was heartsick because he was thinking that 200-300 people would be killed. Dave also dianosed the Trousdale Tornado just to the west of Greenberg once the first EF-5 hit Greensberg. The Greensberg Supercell spawned one of the most terrible tornado families in US history.
I think they knew it was going to be destructive. His job was only to be professional and keep people calm
Oscar Banuelos yeah, it spawned 22 tornadoes... absolutely insane
@@StormChasersofOhio wow! 22?!! Ive never heard of one supercell producing that many
@@peachxtaehyung Indeed a monster supercell.
I remember when I was a kid watching this on TV it was such a haunting eerie thing, the tornado just tickled right past where my family lived at the time. All I remember was the absurd wind speed and we weren’t even in the path. Crazy times
This is so special that we could here the behind the scenes discussion between him and his coworker on this violent storm. Wow wow wow
I remember watching this man when I was 3, absolute legend. I love Dave.
For a tornado like this you need to be underground. Basement, cellar, above ground safe room, no other option like an interior room will save you.
Not true. In Storm Chasers, they interviewed a survivor. He went into his bathroom and got in his tub. Put towels over himself. He said the whole house came down.
Only eleven people died. The average lead time for tornado warnings is about thirteen minutes. Eleven people died. Most likely because they did not get to shelter in time. It could have 100% been worse.
A lot of people mentioned that this was one of those tornadoes where if you weren’t underground, you were probably going to be dead. A lot of people got to their shelters but those that rode it out on first floor shelters were most likely going to die. You never hear that unless it’s an EF4 or EF5 tornado
The advanced warning system had greensburg had been credited for saving many lives. The tornadoes sounded starting 30 minutes before the tornado hit the tornado hit the town saving almost all of the population by allowing many people to get to safety in their tornadoes shelters well before the tornado hit. If they didn’t have that system that night more than 200 people would have died that night which could have been 100 percent worse.
Greensburg had a 39 min lead time til the tornado hit the city.
I can't remember the source (probably some weather chat forum or another I've lurked at ) but I read somewhere that three or four people in this died even though they did everything right--sheltered in their basement and all of that.
I remember watching the lightning from this storm while this broadcast was going on. I was almost continuous, one of the most intense electrical storms I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Used to watch Dave on WHIO channel 7 in Dayton and he was the same way ...one cool customer but one of the best
SUPER HUMAN JOB!!!
GOD BLESS YOU GUYS!
YOU SAVED LIVES!!!
His successor did the same thing with Andover almost 15 years later on April 29, 2022, and it also saved about 10-60 lives. it was EF4
Two meteorologists, storm chasers, saved about 100-200 lives during the Milden IA and Elkhorn NE EF5 tornadoes almost 17 years later.
Still looking back at this event it was a terrible experience to many.
But this is an iconic moment in weather history.
This is one of the best of all time in coverage.
I have some very old friends who chased Tornadoes before i did, they described the city as "A warzone." Almost no houses were left over.
US 54, a major highway, was closed for 8 whole months during the cleanup.
I must admit, this is the first time I've ever heard a "Tornado Emergency" ever being declared. To this point, it was only a "Tornado Warning " as the highest alert I've heard, but somehow I knew there was something going to be higher than that....
A tornado emergency was first used on the Oklahoma City tornado of 1999 May 3, 1999.
The criteria for the National Weather Service to issue a Tornado Emergency is extremely strict to keep radio and TV meteorologists from overusing the term. Said criteria is as follows:
1.) A large violent and destructive tornado has been sighted by National Weather Service Doppler radar, storm spotters or law enforcement agencies.
2.) The tornado is moving rapidly towards a densely populated area.
3.) There is a high possibility of deaths or serious injuries from the tornado.
When the first ever Tornado Emergency was issued it was for the infamous May 3, 1999 tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma; this is the text:
"Tornado Emergency in south Oklahoma City metro area! At 6:57 PM Central Daylight Time; a large tornado was moving along Interstate 44 west of Newcastle. On its present path this large damaging tornado will enter southwest sections of the Oklahoma City metro area between 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM. Persons in Moore and south Oklahoma City should take immediate tornado precautions. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you are in the path of this large destructive tornado; take cover immediately! Doppler radar indicated this storm may contain destructive hail up to the size of baseballs, or larger." While the text of the Tornado Emergency that was broadcast for the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013 wasn't as alarming it still did its job of letting the residents of Moore know that they needed to get their asses to safety or lose their lives. This is the text:
"The National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern McClain County in central Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma City in central Oklahoma, and northern Cleveland County in central Oklahoma until 3:45 PM Central Daylight Time. At 2:59 PM Central Daylight Time; National Weather Service meteorologists and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado near Newcastle. Doppler radar showed this tornado moving northeast at twenty miles per hour. This is a Tornado Emergency for Moore and south Oklahoma City! In addition to a tornado; large destructive hail up to softball size is expected with this storm. Locations impacted include Midwest City, Moore, Newcastle, Stanley Draper Lake, Tinker Air Force Base and Valley Brook. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you cannot get underground go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now. Take cover now in a storm shelter or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Stay away from doors and windows!"
@@michaellovely6601 thank you for explaining that.
There are now four main criteria for tornado warnings: radar-indicated, confirmed, PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation), and Tornado Emergency.
A tornado emergency... such a horrific thing to hear...
You know it's serious when the nws issues a tornado emergency.
At least the National Weather Service has extremely strict criteria to keep radio and TV meteorologists from overusing the term. Said criteria is as follows:
1.) A large, violent and destructive tornado has been sighted by National Weather Service meteorologists, storm spotters, Doppler radar or law enforcement.
2.) This tornado is moving rapidly towards a densely populated area.
3.) There is a high possibility for deaths or serious injuries from the tornado.
The first time the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Emergency was during the infamous May 3, 1999 tornado that tore through Moore and Bridge Creek, Oklahoma. This is the text from the broadcast:
"Tornado Emergency in south Oklahoma City metro area! At 6:57 PM Central Daylight Time, a large tornado was moving along Interstate 44 west of Newcastle. On its present path; this large damaging tornado will enter southwest sections of the Oklahoma City metro area between 7:15 PM and 7:30 PM. Persons in Moore and south Oklahoma City should take immediate tornado precautions! This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you are in the path of this tornado; take cover immediately! Doppler radar indicated this storm may contain destructive hail up to the size of baseballs; or larger." While the text from the tornado emergency issued for the tornado that tore through Moore on May 20, 2013 wasn't as alarming; it still did its job of letting people in the path of the tornado know that they needed to get to safety or lose their lives. This is the text:
"National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern McClain County in central Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma County in central Oklahoma, and northern Cleveland County in central Oklahoma until 3:45 PM Central Daylight Time. At 2:59 PM Central Daylight Time; National Weather Service meteorologists and storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado near Newcastle. Doppler radar showed this tornado moving northeast at twenty miles per hour. This is a tornado emergency for Moore and south Oklahoma City! In addition to a tornado; large destructive hail up to tennis ball size is expected with this storm. Locations impacted include Midwest City, Moore, Newcastle, Stanley Draper Lake, Tinker Air Force Base and Valley Brook. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation! If you cannot get underground go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now! Stay away from doors and windows!"
32:04. The moment those poor people were under 300mph winds. The worst kind of radar image a meteorologist wants to see, coupled with a “debris ball” signature.
I haven’t had cable in over 10 years but man rewatching these types of vids gives me flashbacks, this terrified me as a kid
my grandmother was from kansas and she hated tornadoes and storms... the day she died greensburg hit and i couldnt help but think of how she went thru sev crazy tornadoes from a baby till she left for michigan w my grandpa about the tine she was 18 or 19... she really had mild ptsd from storms and wouldnt say much and i never asked her alot as a kid
35:41 He was getting pissed at someone
Yea wth was that about. lol I know this is a serious and not funny type of video but I genuinely laughed at that super aggressive dragon ball sorcery move he made at 35:40
Are there other News station coverage videos of this night? The only other one I can find is Jay Praters coverage but it’s heavily edited with a lot cut out. I wanted more info or images on the other 2 large twisters that touched down after the Greensburg tornado lifted. Apparently Trousdales tornado was almost 2.5 miles wide.
22:57 "it is right at Greensburg, *your time is up.* " Are the words that will probably stay with us for a long time knowing they possibly saved hundreds of lives alone. RIP to all the victims.
His successor did the same thing with Andover almost 15 years later on April 29, 2022, and it also saved about 10-60 lives. it was EF4. EF3-EF5 will usually be numerous deaths and widespread destruction.
Strong IA tornadoes 15 (Winterset EF4, 2022) and 16 years later (Hedwick and Keota EF4) came after this one years and years later. The meteorologists also explained their calm delivery of take cover now saved about 50-300 lives
Two meteorologists, storm chasers, saved about 100-200 lives during the Milden IA and Elkhorn NE EF5 tornadoes almost 17 years later.
He said the last time he seen anything like that was May 3, 1999. This took place May 4, 2007.
Anytime a radio or TV meteorologist in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Nebraska ever mentions May 3, 1999 when covering a severe thunderstorm or a tornado the people who live in those states know that they need to get their asses to safety or lose their lives.
Great job Mr. Announcer.....A salute........
Not being rude but actually he is called a meteorologist. That’s what this man does. You probably couldn’t think of it at the time you wrote it. But in case you didn’t know I was just letting you know.
During that storm I was probably sleeping I was living in webb city Missouri at the time witch is about 5 hours away from Greensburg where this happened I was about 6 at the time
So important, so thoughtful, that he spoke directly to kids watching.
I was 5 when this happened and I moved back to Kansas in 08-09 and then left again (military). I still remember stopping by Greensburg and seeing the worlds largest well and this was a couple months before this tornado it’s very crazy, that it was all gone when I was there before it. (I don’t remember much but we still have our magnet from it.
Dave is a to the point Meteorologist and did an amazing job with this storm. Wife and I drove through Greeensburg sometime around 2015 and its made an amazing recovery and looks great.
17 years to the day…
Let's hope it's a near miss....maybe the last words people heard as thier house exploded
Scary hearing those as your last words..
Some of them lost their roofs or lost both roofs and walls. Some lost all their walls and some items remaining. Some lost all things.
I grew up watching this man he was a treasure in Wichita Kansas him mike smith Jim o’Donald and Merrill teller are legends in Wichita
I heard Dave had to beg the station to let him have continual coverage instead of intermittent. Very thankful he cares about human life!
When Weather Changed History brought me here
Jubilee Jigsaw same
@@joshuameeks6114 I lived in a town nearby when it happened my town almost got hit by 2 tornadoes that was the biggest close call ive been In
Today marks 17 years since this monster occurred.
The total path length was 22 miles, and the width of the funnel reached 1.7 miles . Overall, 95% of Greensburg was destroyed. A total of 961 homes and businesses were destroyed, 216 received major damage and 307 received minor damage.
Did they go to commercial break right after announcing the Tornado??? Were people watching commercials (while the screen on this video is showing their logo) while an EF 5 tornado was bearing down on them??
The commercial break appears to start at 1:05 and coverage resumes at 4:05- 3 minutes during which I am SURE some viewers thought "Hey, they are showing commercials so everything must be ok because they wouldn't break to commercials during a REAL emergency, right?"
Everything that can be wrong about this IS wrong about it. Greed trumping peoples safety and lives. It's so disturbing on so many levels.
If it was moving North at 20 miles an hour and it was 6.7 mi South it would be there in 3 minutes
KSN is a network of stations. At those points, some of the stations in northwest and north central Kansas, not affected by that storm, were back to normal programming. The other stations directly affected or in the path were on the majority of that time.
@Elysian777 I "heard" he had to beg the station to stay with continuous coverage.
A horrible, horrible storm. Anyone in Oklahoma sympathizes with this and remembers this. The worst tornado since the Moore tornado of 1999 to that point.
Or jarrell
It's so hard to do everything you need in 15 min...Prepare!
True (though 15 minutes is a LOT better than nothing at all).
It’s amazing how far radar imaging as come just in 15 years.
These radars actually look cartoonish compared to todays 2022 radars
I’ve never been to Kansas but seeing this just gives me anxiety for that city, such a horrible and a incredibly freak twist of fate. I mean how rare is an EF 5 to begin with but it goes directly through the entire town which is 1.2 miles wide or something I’d be terrified! He said “this tornado is flirting with Greensburg” but no, this tornado isn’t flirting , it’s more like raping Greensburg.
At the time the tornado hit greensburg the city was 1.5 miles wide and the tornado was 1.7 miles wide.
@@Sj430 Yeah exactly and what is so terribly ironic and unfortunate is that Greensburg is like in the middle of nowhere just that city and nothing around it and of all places it hit directly there
And it being nighttime storm. Horrifying
3rd largest tornado in the world, The Trousdale Tornado.
Meme Sir since we started recording them
NitrousGranola huh?
The tornado that formed as this one was dissipating (Trousdale tornado) was even larger . The Mullhall, Hallam, and El Reno tornadoes were even larger than the Trousdale tornado.
Soso, Mississippi would like to say hello.
Jimmy Seaver LOL
Bro this thing yeeted Greensburg off the map
IT REALLY DID
Greensburg is about a third of the size now compared to what it was before the tornado.
95% Destroyed basically
And the 5% was severely damaged
Bro it must have been terrifying I’m glad I’m a kid