Is That a Car Flying Around This EF-4 Tornado? - The Mystery Continues
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- On March 24, 2023 a violent EF-4 tornado tore through Rolling Fork, MS, claiming the lives of 17. In this video we discuss the mysterious light captured by storm chasers, learn what went into the rating, and hear from the residents today.
NOT FOR BROADCAST OR RE-POST
Contact mesomaxwell@gmail.com to license footage
Please consider donating to the Green Apple Venmo - @RFGreenApple
Help Rebuild Homes in Town - rollingforkrising.org/
Additional footage provide by....
Aaron Rigsby - @ohiostormchasers
Adam Lucio - @AdamLucio
Adri Mozeris - @adrimozeris4171
Ben McHone - @TornadoWarned
Stephen Jones - @TornadoSteejo
0:00 - Intro
0:57 - The Setup
2:15 - The Tornado Strikes
6:27 - The Aftermath
8:00 - NWS Damage Surveyor
9:30 - Was This an EF-5?
12:35 - The Light - Dismissible Theories
14:29 - The Light - Detailed Video Analysis
20:16 - The Light - What did the NWS Find?
22:13 - The Green Apple Interview
Music: Tensions Run High by Soundridemusic
Music: Private Investigation by Soundridemusic
Link to Video: • Cinematic Tension NoCo...
Max H - Tones From Far Away (Purchased on Artlist)
Link - artlist.io/royalty-free-music...
Music by Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
License code: BNPZHQKPMHEEOLVE
Fesliyan Studios - License Code 4f32cc15-6d20-4bd4-b933-00d11ef4aaa1
SUBSCRIBE today for more Extreme Weather, thanks so much for watching!!!
WATCH PART ONE HERE - ruclips.net/video/4FV3woxhVss/видео.html
Please considering sending a few dollars to the Green Apple in Rolling Fork to let them know we haven't forgotten about them - Venmo @RFGreenApple or scan QR code at 27:02.
Help Rebuild Homes in Town - rollingforkrising.org/
A big thanks to all of my colleagues that contributed their time, knowledge and video to make this come together. Links to some of their channels can be found in the description.
There's a few seconds in a certain El Reno video where you can see the Twistex team's headlights high up in the tornado too before being thrown out at great speed.
If it is a car the weight distribution of a car would cause it to swing around with the headlights always shining outward since the trunk area is typically lighter due to the centrifical force?
Hi Max, I just watched this video for the first time tonight. As a person who loves nature, I have went out late at night watching nocturnal animals. I always used very strong spotlights. Some of my spotlights are rechargeable. Some of my spotlights are 750,000 lumens. Other are around 250,000 lumens. Have you considered that one of the buildings that were destroyed by the tornado could have had one of these types of spotlights and that could be the light you and other spotters were viewing ? Some spotlights have a trigger style power button, and others have a switch to turn it on and off. I hope y'all get this figured out. Best of luck. Praying for you and your colleagues have a safe tornado chasing season this year !
@@Mere-Lachaiselonguethe story so far is a great band
the story so far is a great band
Thank you for not constantly screaming "IT'S A TORNADO! LOOK! RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! THERE IT IS! A TORNADO!" like some other chasers.
Very subtle reed timmer callout there😂😂
No “OH MY GOD”
Seeing tornadoes is awe-inspiring and some people who wear their passion on their sleeves can’t help themselves. I like seeing that charisma-it shows an understanding of the scale and magnitude of what they’re seeing. I’ve been guilty of it myself and am proud of being energetic and passionate about something deserving of it.
reed timmer
tornado! that's a large tornado! large, violent tornado, on the ground! large tornado on the ground, a tornadoy tornado tornadoing
Honestly- my guess is a newer vehicle with bright leds that blind others when you drive 😅 they're seemingly the most common type of object that would make that kind brightness. That being said, the fact that it was already large and bright before it lifted off of the ground, leads me to believe it could have been someone who parked their car, ran away from it leaving the engine on as they went for cover, so the lights of the car remained on as it tumbled through the tornado before landing again. With how many vehicles could be destroyed in a tornado, its probably not able to be determined if any of them were running before being destroyed without looking at the computer data for each individual wrecked car and determining where the owners of the vehicle lived in relation to where the vehicle could have been picked up from.
Not really any cover in that area though. Shallow ditches. No basements because it's a floodplain. Homes built on blocks raised off the ground 2 feet usually. The part of town where the tornado went through was the residential west side and then right down the middle of town and out the east center side.
@tripplefives1402 ditches are still safer than cars in some instances but also even then someone could have pulled into a driveway and in their panic left their cars running when running inside knowing a larger tornado was coming
@@tripplefives1402Interior rooms are still way better than a car
Also, pushing the stick forward makes my highbeams turn on for my car even if it's off. So if the vehicle had a heavy impact that jolted the stick forward, it could have turned them on
@@eliad6543 Unless the tornado hits your house and those interior rooms become exterior ones.
Such a great breakdown focusing on science and data, and not filling in blanks with speculation. Watched from start to finish.
Exactly my thoughts watching it. Too many people today go into things with a confirmation bias and get the results they wanted.
Incredible work Max, especially loved how you brought it back to talking to the victims of that day, they are the ones that really matter in all this.
By the way, its more than likely an LED battery back up emergency or outdoor light. Those can be super bright. I saw a weird light glowing on the side of the highway one night, came back around pulled over, and found out it was just a Snap On Brand light that fell off a truck.
This is exactly what I thought too
The idea of a car captures the imagination, especially since a car with operating lights would mean that a person is involved. And also because of the incredible amount of force involved in keeping a car aloft. But the chances of it being a car are so incredibly small compared to a battery operated security light.
Advances in battery and LED technology mean that security lights have gotten brighter, cheaper, and lighter than ever before. I have a $10 motion activated solar light over my driveway. You could buy one bright enough to be seen for miles for less than $100.
There have been cars with headlights for a century, with no similar reports of headlights in tornadoes that I can recall.
But these incredibly bright solar powered and battery operated LED security lights have only really become affordable recently. These days, installing a solar powered light is cheaper and easier than running an electric line to a security light.
Unlike a flashlight or a car, a security light operates without a human being involved. It would also be working as intended to be shining automatically because of a power outage or motion.
It would also be light enough to be lifted high into the air in strong winds and be carried along. While a 1 or 2 ton vehicle can become airborne, a 5 lb light is way easier.
This would also explain the possible second light being seen. Two security lights is far more likely than two running cars.
Compared to a car, a battery powered security light is:
Far lighter
Far cheaper (so there could easily be many in the path)
Automatic
Bright from a wide angle
More common now than in the past.
It will never be possible to know for sure, but I think something like this is much more likely.
All I can think is...SCORE! Those snap-on LEDS are pricey!
Nope it's a car. A car flying through thr atmosphere that just happened to not tumble or roll in the rapidly rotating and wildly turbulent wind but instead conveniently kept shining its lights towards a distant camera. Thoughtfulness right there. Wish more people could be so polite. 🌪️
@@discoj7112 My problem with this theory is how slow it was moving. I would think the much lighter weight of a security light would have flown/bounced around much faster.
It’s wild that we’ll never truly know what those lights were, but car or not it’s still terrifying to think about. Btw excellent work as always Max!
Something smaller but with lights, so maybe a UTV or something?
I think it was a cellphone flashlight
@@Bardmusic66 Way to big xd
@@matthewsteinmetz729the story so far is a great band
the story so far is a great band
Knowing what I've learned so far in my mechanical engineering major, I am still convinced it is a vehicle because only vehicle lights at that distance can be seen, and the painted reflective coating inside the light housing along with intentionally reflective textures of the light housing lens itself can make the lights seen from a distance at a wide variety of angles and not only from straight-on. Not to mention, the dust, rain, and other fine particle debris in the air directly in front of the light can further scatter the light beam into even more directions, further appearing brighter and/or being able to see it from even more angles.
If you were a flight engineer maybe you could explain how a vehicle could not only be lofted into a level flight but a level flight where the front of the vehicle was always pointed towards the the camera. Vehicles that are lifted by a tornado are lifted by violent and most importantly turbulent winds. Nothing gets a smooth flight.
@@iamscottsweeney he did explain why the light would be seen from many angles, in a rather spot on way. And yes, a large heavy object will react, especially when seen from a distance, slowly and smoothly even to violent and choppy winds. There is a serious mass discrepancy involved. Anything can be a wing if there is enough air speed and lift. This is very well understood in everything from aerospace to Nascar. Even a balloon lofting into the air appears to be moving smoothly from enough of a distance. If the balloon was made of iron, and the wind was moving at high enough rate to actually provide it with lift, the iron balloon would appear from distance to be moving even more smoothly then the regular balloon as per the demands of the law of conservation of energy, as well as the Newtonian laws of physics.
Ever seen what happens when an air pocket makes it under a funny car? Now imagine if it was the wind moving not the car, and you were seeing it from a distance. It would almost appear to be a smoothly unfolding event in slow motion from your subjective perspective.
That is absolutely most likely a vehicle. Doesn't mean it IS one, but it's very much the most likely answer by orders of magnitude. Are you aware of any battery powered street lights? I'm not. Are you aware of any solar powered walkway lights this bright? You do know that a security floodlight fixture wouldn't still be glowing flying through the air, right? Im not so sure you do know that, if having been explained something point blank you still had not realized your question was already answered. Stuff like that is why people genuinely think the world is flat in 2024.
moving objects at a distance appear to move more slowly in direct relation to how much smaller they appear to be. This is called perspective and it's something that's been used to create art for centuries. And there are a staggering amount of reflective and refractive surfaces circling around that very bright light in front of a camera with high exposure at a low frame rate in the dark. If you cant critically think to a reasonable conclusion with this information, then it's not even worth trying to explain this any further lol.
The conclusion is definitely, thats *probably* a vehicle but we don't know. But the good news is, that it was motionless for a bit before hit when already pointing away from the storm. The driver, if it was a vehicle, likely grew up there and knew what to do. They were probably face down against the ground in a ditch to better their wind resistance/mass ratio, and likely survived even if beat all to hell and back.
If that was my vehicle and i saw that funnel that close, id immediately abandon my vehicle and find the closest low point near the road and lay face down covering my face with my hands. Exactly as ive always been told to do in this situation when i lived in the midwest. I wouldn't even turn off the car or take the keys. I would abandon that death trap without a second of thought as quickly as humanly possible. That things suspended like a foot off the ground with a low center of gravity, a flat bottom, and a curved top... In this context it is **literally** a wing.
Remember that scene in twister with the mini van sucked up into a tornado, slung around in circles while staying mostly right side up, before being slammed into the ground. That depiction is more accurate then most people think of what could be possible in the presence of a mile wide cyclonic vortex rotating at nearly 300 miles per hour. And yes, the inertia involved in the rotational movement would very likely keep the heavier engine bay of the vehicle pointing outward as it rotated around the vortex, keeping the lights oriented pretty well towards anybody looking at it from any direction would be a by product of centrifugal force and rotational inertia in that context.
@@thefloop2813 this is not a vehicle. Have you ever seen a car lifted by a tornado? Have you ever seen anything other than light roofing materials complete and orbit? Large, heavy, irregular objects are tossed/thrown by tornados. Smithville 2011 and the Ford Explorer are a great example. Just because there isn't a clear explanation as to what the source of the lights is you don't default to the least possible, least logical explanation. Be smarter. Don't grasp at straws. Logic and reasoning.
I'll give you a hint on the easiest tell that those are not headlights. Watch it at 60 fps.
@iamscottsweeney the lights being some kind of running vehicle is definitely not the least likely, least possible explanation. I'd imagine that would be something more like 'aliens' or 'ghosts'. I'd probably have an easier time believing either of your arguments if you weren't so pompous about being right. Which is rather funny because you've only shot down theories telling us what it isn't instead of simply just telling us what it is. You seem to know for certain, why not share? For my 2 cents I think there are many vehicle-type objects around farms that are smaller than cars yet have bright lights and can run on their own.
@@iamscottsweeney I must ask you this then, if it *isn't* a vehicle of some sort, then what could it possibly be?
Most household lights (such as a walkway light or a porch lamp) wouldn't be bright enough to be seen as such a distance. It couldn't be a streetlight since all of them in the town were connected by wires, and I doubt that if any of them were to be powered w/o a connection, they'd be bright enough to be seen.
The only thing(s) I could see it being, if it weren't a vehicle, would be a large lantern - such as the large security lights that are hung outside of farms/shops at night. This has its own issues though, such as where it originated.
Whatever it is, it needs to be omnidirectional and/or seen from a large variety of angles, and it needs to be bright enough to be seen from over a mile away.
Violent tornadoes like the mayfield tornado, in bremen the EF4 190 DI was not given EF5 because of the lack of contextuals around the home but it was pointed out that a suction vorticy hit the home making a vary small path of even more extreme damage when in EF4 tornadoes the same reasoning isnt used or even in past tornado events. I just can't see how using the fact the next house over isnt slabbed has anything to do with the 195 DI. I mean when you look at EF5 damage in moore, pictures show right across the street homes only had EF1 damage done so why was this argument not given there? same thing in parkersburg and Greensburg as well. Why is there so much inconsistencies?
I thought the same thing exact thing. I just think that the EF5 rating is such an incredibly hard rating to earn that you need multiple clear reasons to support it. These include but are not limited to a well built home slabbed, neighboring home’s sustaining extreme damage and possibly slabbed, and multiple possible EF5 DI’s. And the true last time we saw all of those come together was Moore at its widest stage. For me, a tornado that is 190 mph or higher is essentially an EF5.
It's far from a perfect system and there are definitely inconsistencies between offices, but for this particular tornado, I think NWS Jackson nailed it. One of the most detailed damage surveys I've seen, I think 195mph was the right call.
In my opinion both Mayfield and This one had F5 winds in it especially the suction vorticies but those winds didn’t hit the proper DI’s to warrant the rating.
in my opinion this tornado was an ef2
@@TJ89741first of all, EF not F, and secondly, they just hit, unlike the El Reno tornado. Scientists are simply coming up with newer and newer excuses not to give EF5. I can still believe that Rolling Fork was EF4, but Mayfield at Bremen was for sure EF5.
I'm still in the camp of "it was a bright battery powered lantern" above anything else but i agree that its still a mystery and its not worth wasting a huge amount of time and energy into it.
Thanks for checking up on them and relaying everything they've said to us viewers.
Agreed, I have a hard time believing a vehicle would say suspended for two full revolutions, but who knows.
And no problem, I was hoping there'd be someone that came forward with info by now but here we are, approaching the 1 year mark with nothing.
@@MaxOlsonChasing yep.
Not impossible for it to be a car that somehow has its headlights pointed at or near the camera the entire time....
just the amount of things that have to "go right" for it to "happen" make it unlikely to me.
And if anyone else is wondering my thought process as to why.. (warning its a long response)
tornados have both, horizontal and vertical winds (really, it's mixed together) and that speed increases when you get close to the core and in the height of the tornado.
If we think in airplane movements/controls for a second and apply it to an airborne car... the mixture of wind directions, differnt speeds and most cars weight distribution (as weight is not evenly distributed in most cars), this should cause the car to pitch, roll, and yaw (aka tumble to some degree).
Pitch of the car would be the biggest issue to me as most vehicles have most of their weight where the engine block is (assuming this wasnt an ev). This should cause the car's headlights to point (pitch) down or up (vertical) when it's airborne and "want to stay in that position", fighting the wind.
This does not look like it is in this case as the light appears (more or less) consistently bright and don't dim much unless something obstructs our view of it (debris or dirt). This would imply the car is mostly horizontal (flat) which wouldn't make sense.
Only way the car could stay perfectly flat is if the heavy end of the car was getting a stronger amount of wind vs the lighter end of the vehicle at almost all times.
Which would mean the heaviest end of the car would (for the most part) have to point constantly at the core of the tornado (where the strongest winds are) and that's where problem #2 comes in.
If the heaviest end of the car is pointing towards the tornado (because you know, it's somehow staying flat) then how is it keeping headlights pointed near us the entire time? (yaw (left-right turning) or could even be argued about the lack of yaw)
The engine block isn't constantly shifting where it is inside the car to cause that effect (and magic wind to follow the engine block) nor is the strongest winds changing spots between 'near the core" and 'far from the core" in a tornado as the car orbits around it...
So based on that, we should see tail lights (or at least nothing) for a moment before the headlights come back, and we don't....
So the only conclusion i can come up with besides "bright battery lanterns" is an off road light kit on a vehicle (one where you can see it at any angles) and it was turned on and left before the tornado hitting it.
I think less so a lantern and more likely a motion activated security floodlight, but yeah, definitely not a car
@@WowCoolHorse hmm could be on to something.
There are enough bulbs/panels on most of them that they can be pointed at multiple directions and be seen at decent angles per bulb/panel.. (and can be battery operated to)
And at that distance, you most likely wouldn't be able to identify the different bulbs on them (just would look like a single light source)...
Yeah, highly possible it could be it.
I've been through the area afterwards, there were several vehicles resting on top of buildings, even 3 semi trucks with trailers still attached stacked on top of each other on top of a house. Though those probably didn't have to get very high up to reach those heights. A battery powered flashlight or yard light would not be bright enough to be seen like that at that distance. It was most defiantly a super bright light, even if it was just the headlight on a motorcycle.
Excellent video Max! And great retrospect given everything. Your footage from that day is astonishing honestly
Thank you Will, much appreciated!
I mean the pic of the potential headlights shining way up in the circulation is straight nightmare fuel..
You too? I was getting the same exact vibe from that.
One thing I noticed, there is a couple points where the light shines brighter-flickers brighter toward the camera then away from it. This means the light source had some form of focusing; like a headlight of a car or some other form of projection lensing of the light. This does tend to make any theories and investigation lean toward it being a car more.
Or it's _reflecting_ light back at the camera brighter when aimed toward the camera than at any other point. In which case I'd argue it's a retroreflector. I'd want to know what kind of light sources were behind him while he was filming.
@@NetherStray, there are just so many variables here, it's unlikely it will ever be known. Also, this phenomenon was also seen at multiple angles, many different cameras, and even by people not filming.
This night was a nightmare, but I made some lifelong friends that night.
were you in it or near it
@@zachsattack_2020 I was in an area coinciding with EF0 DIs consistent with the time that the tornado was hitting town, but realistically it was RFD winds wrapping around the tornado where I was. If you’ve seen Freddy McKinney’s video on Rolling Fork, it was me and my chase partner that passed in the white truck while the tornado was hitting the edge of town causing all those power flashes. Here’s my video, it’s unlisted for right now, but I am going to release it fully on the anniversary ruclips.net/video/DYazCvRQz98/видео.htmlsi=AM5sQMeVsxZTezJ9
Great stuff as always, man! Thank you for going so far in depth with trying to solve this mystery for everyone. Sometimes, it's just meant to remain a mystery. Catch you on the next one, broski!
I can’t help but believe it was a vehicle. It’s easy not to comprehend the size and scale of a tornado like this, so people suggesting a tiny little lantern I think are confused by how big the funnel is. Just like the apparent lofted vehicle in the El Reno footage (RIP to them), the lights spear to be of a vehicle scale-obviously that’s even difficult to say with full confidence since a small light can seem larger at distance, but El Reno and this just look like “vehicle scale”, IMHO. Great video.
great video!! i love that you involved interviews that gave more context in how the NWS made their rating decisions! you went above and beyond! nice job!
KUDOS on a great video! You bring awareness to the very difficult rebuilding efforts these small communities have to go through! Keep up the good work and once again, hats off to a great video!
There's a frame at 16:39, when the lightning hits, where you can clearly see the main vortex, even though the condensation funnel is way bigger. This was a monster, holy crap
Great job Max! I enjoyed and appreciate your thorough analysis. May God bless the people of Rolling Fork MS as they continue to recover.
Very well made video! I love how I was able to learn something new like the shutter speed stuff lol. I also just love weather videos like this and the mystery element is so fun! Also the bit at the end talking about the recovery was so good. It’s always nice to see people doing better after such a disaster like that
Awesome video, definitely one of the strangest things I have ever seen around a tornado. We may never know the answer.
Looks like someone in a pickup truck or SUV was trying to outrun it then got swept up. You can see them driving here next to it 5:41 then at 5:45 they start getting swept up but right at that exact moment your camera goes black but when your camera comes back into focus you see both vehicle's headlights pointing out you at exactly 5:55 as they are already inside the tornado airborne. Looks like there may be 2 vehicles inside that thing as well because there is another set of headlights swirling around in there too if you look closely. Maybe they were a young group of chasers just starting out not really knowing what they were doing?
@amyhartman6786 You say that like it wouldn’t be known a year later that some anonymous “group of young chasers” were killed by a tornado. Unless you’re supposing they survived, in which case you’re assuming that some “group of young chasers” managed to ride the storm and survive and not tell anyone about it even a year later.
I mean, it would not be hard to believe there are other groups of young people trying to chase tornadoes if one appears around the area.
Yes. I'm surprised he didn't notice the second set of lights.
@@xander7ful I think because it got ejected/thrown out of the tornado 1st then it seems the 2nd starts to get thrown out at the same moment the woman says "power line down right in front of us". I do not think things get carried along inside a tornado for a long time while the tornado moves along it's path, but ejected from a tornado sometimes at a distance from where it was ejected from. Like if you hold something and spin and let go of it while spinning.
You're an expert at this man. Fantastic video!
5:57 theres a second light on the right side of the tornado it appears a few times
Agreed, which makes this even more confusing
Yeah that one baffles me, it just sorta sits there suspended, then disappears, then re-appears briefly. At least the main one followed a more predictable path. Strange stuff.
I saw that, too.
@@MaxOlsonChasing It's probably spinning around.
@@MaxOlsonChasingIf it's just been flung out of the orbit and is now flying directly away from you, it will look like it's almost stationary. And as for the disappearances and reappearances, it could've been sometimes obscured by condensation, or spinning in an erratic way where only sometimes the light-emitting face is shown to the camera (and then the light stays on it for a bit due to the shutter thingy).
I watched that original video breakdown. I am so glad you followed up on this!! I still say it was not one but two cars.
I've always maybe thought that the light was some sort of battery operated flood light, like a Ring flood light. Because the Ring flood lights are surprisingly bright, battery operated and they have a feature when power is cut to them they automatically turn on.
This or a construction/site flood light would be my guess, assuming it is in fact not a car.
Excellent video
Thank you very much!
Thank you for your compassion!
Great video.
Thanks Max. Great video!
It was really cool to hear the NWS Meteorologist Logan Poole talk about the rating and the thinking behind all their DI’s. Really insightful and it was a nice peak into their thinking process. Awesome vid!
Agreed!
I wAtched you guys in the live fed and remember all of the heroic things you did...and tried to do...and he young jerks that were out there with their phones recording the less fortunate. Thanks for being out there and helping out...I'm a retired RN. Stay Safe!
Wanted to make this a second post. Leland Presbyterian Chuch 30 mins North of Rolling Fork has a dorm set up for volunteers. Don't need to be a chuch group. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Rolling Fork.
@11:15 mark talking about the destruction of that one store and next door not as bad of destruction.... well same thing happened in Cayce, Ky from the mayfield tornado. One concrete block building was wiped clean down to the foundation. Absolutely no debris was left. Right across the road the same thing another concrete block building was wiped clean with nothing left behind to know a building was there. The trees that wasnt completely ripped out of the ground were all debarked. All around the area. Cayce is a very small town so i guess buildings that was wiped clean down to the foundation wasnt good enough. Not to mention not far away the tornado sucked up dirt 18 inches deep in the fields in spots.
20 years ago the mayfield tornado and the rolling fork tornado would of been F5s
NWS Jackson did a phenomenal job with the survey. Let's not talk about Rochelle IL EF4 though..........
Rochelle’s was an ef5 in my opinion,I’m from Rochelle,I almost drove right through it
Good thing your alright @@jking8408
At 17:20 to 17:23 did you see the dimmer light to the lower left of the bright light? It almost is reddish in color which appears like it is a tail light. Almost tumbling like. Just a thought....
Took me a bit to see it, I thought it was artifacting from the camera but the next frame has a similar thing to the top right of the light, so maybe?
@@trigirl48 thats a car being hurled.
The only thing I can think of is maybe a high intensity outdoor solar light that was mounted outside
Hey , Max Olsen.
I have another one that you may want to look at .
It is titled " The ultimate tornado video of 2022 / 2023 , and it's from Weather Report. Around 1550 there is a clip taken from a hospital.... you can see the wind sock..... but a little after 1600 there is a light that matches the tornado circulation low on the funnel then reapears higher on the funnel . It's definitely the same object and it looks exactly like the one that shows up in your video.
Anyway I thought you'd be interested in taking a look.
Great followup!
Max, did you look at the Ace Hardware and Lumber yard off of Hwy 14? I went back to 2016 street view and they had some larger lights in their back lot. Could be a suspect. Real question is what kind of lights they were, or if they had updated since 2016.
How do you not have at least a million subs by now is mind boggling. Your documentaries are so well thought out and so professionally edited. The knowledge and in-depth analysis you provide is outstanding. But above all, the respect that you show the victims of these tragic events is admirable. I will all storm chasers had your work ethic and morals. Thank you for everything that you do for our weather community!
The lights could both be ball lightening, but with it tearing through a town, it could most definitely be vehicles
Hey Max I’m sure you remember there were two other major tornadoes this same supercell dropped after rolling fork. I’ve read reports the one that just missed Amory and Smithville was even stronger and wider than this one basically a Mullhall 1999 situation all over again. Would love to hear your thoughts on that ? 10:50 a true sign of suction vorticies F4 damage right next to F1,F2 damage. The NWS guy nailed it. Great in detail video.
it actually hit amory and it was rated EF3 so
Alright at 17:14, those do look extremely similar to headlights. As an automotive enthusiast, I'd say that if it were a car, it would be either a Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, a Chevy C6 Corvette, or a Toyota Supra due to the shape of them.
This footage is the most scary, spectacular and sad at the same time. I always have gut wrench when I watch it.
Simultaneously people in the comments claiming it cant be a car because its TOO bright, but then others claiming its a cell phone flashlight or a headlamp. Its either a car or a construction type work light, nothing else makes sense. And car headlights can be extremely bright in todays world.
Amazing Documentary ! Quick mention at 9:00 the Music in the Interview is very distracting esp. when you listen with headphones. Music needs to a bit more quiet. But Overall well done. I watched this Night on Livestream it was disturbing how quick this Tornado become so strong and struck so many towns. I watched the Radar the whole time I never saw such a crazy BWER near Sliver City and Amory. The Sheer on BV was almost over the scale. I will never forget this Day even when I'm home here in Germany virtually chase with you all, this has a impact to us too.
Excellent video - like others, I am grateful for your calm approach and professionalism rather than screaming orders in panic and excitement (which would be me, no doubt). That light is so flippin' bright - but at times, the one on the ground seems to still be there (15:17), so I don't want to say that is the one that has gone aloft.
Unrelated, but is that Vegas Pro you're using to edit? Looks very similar to it. Also, great video.
What a wonderful video. I would love if you would create still images from the few frames where the tornado is clearly visible while time continues. Otherwise, perfect video
I live in north central MS. That was a horrible night. It went about 20 miles south of us. It was massive.
The light source is very linear and smooth during travel around the tornados visible circumference which shines its light source constantly. I would imagine a vehicle would be tumbling in air due to aerodynamics not that of a sphere, which would likely cause an intermittent light source and possibly a red taillight at some point. The angular velocity of this object was indeed tremendous. The light source seems to be outside the condensation funnel and took approximately ≈19-20 seconds to make 1 full rotation. The maximum diameter for a angular/tangential? velocity of 175 mph would be approximately 800 ft diameter? Honestly, I have no idea at the estimated tornado width at this point in it lifecycle or if math is applicable. But based on the horizon and the vertical 400 ft to the light source, doubled, it clearly seems to be traveling around a much greater circumference and therefor higher angular velocity? (EE trying to do ME math). The spiral inflow into the vortex (internal centripetal force) would have to be so tremendous to keep a 3000-6000 lb. vehicle with so much angular momentum and centrifugal force from exiting the wind field for such a sustained amount of time (30+ seconds?) at a large radius. This makes me think the mass of the object is much less than that of a vehicle to maintain elevated rotation for that long and maintain its vertical and centripetal component in the wind field at such a large radius and time with a large centrifugal component? Can a tornado of this magnitude pick up a car with that much mass to this height (initial vertical + centripetal component)? Probably, most definitely. But to maintain almost 2 full rotations while maintaining position at camera with focused beam headlights? I suppose that is my question. I might be completely wrong in my math and thinking but just sharing my thoughts. I love your content and what you do and definitely not a post to "debunk" your video. Curious as to your guy’s perspective on this hypothesis.
Given that most of the inflow is coming from the inflow jet, I do have to seriously question if a tornado could produce the required centripetal force. Even in the Smithville EF5, the SUV it picked up and smashed into the water tower traveled mostly linearly before being dropped, rather than ejected. In point of fact, doing some quick Google-fu reveals that this would seem to be the first instance of a vehicle not just being lifted by a tornado, but revolving around it for a significant length of time.
@@blazernitrox6329 I'm sure if a tornado can pick up and throw loaded train cars from a moving train than lifting your average car and spinning it around 3 times would be nothing.
@@tripplefives1402 I'm not questioning that it couldn't lift and throw a car. The problem is that for a car to stay inside the vortex for multiple rotations, there would need to be a force pushing it back into the tornado, and near as I can find that's never been documented. Tornados can keep cars airborne for a significant amount of time - the Smithville EF5 I mentioned kept a SUV airborne for basically the entire time it was in town - but it's well documented that the vehicle didn't _orbit_ the tornado like we see in this video, but rather flew in a mostly straight line.
@@blazernitrox6329 I honestly don't believe this was a car. But it's definitely an interesting event.
Its ok, i feel my post is too fantastical to be plausible. At least your thoughts are backed with math . All i have is a theory and a prayer based off a flyover video from a drone. He asked a question, we responded .
If tornadoes are so dangerous at night what is to stop a group of 4-5 small flatbed trucks with powerful spot lights to aim and light up the tornado as it travels serving as a visual warning to everyone where exactly the tornado is.
True!
Great breakdown video. The shutter speed on your camera is probably something a lot of people miss when it comes to the lights. That being said, I still believe 100% that was a vehicle.
My head says it’s a car, but my heart wants it to be ball lightning
at 5:42 you can see the moment it sweeps that car up and into the air it starts ground level and raises fast
From photos I’ve seen, ef4 lay everything down. Ef5 pulverize debris. Carry and redistribute down stream. Another thing is the oddities. Pieces of wood smashed through concrete. Cars wrapped around trees, practically embedded within. The oil platform in el Reno 11, being rolled several times. The hospital in Joplin moved off its foundations. Like Ted fujita said, “unbelievable damage”.
EF4, incredible damage. EF5, unbelievable damage.
A lot of guys around here have those super bright LED light bars mounted on the tops of their trucks. Wonder if that's what it was?
If you think it's an actual phenomena, I've seen ball lightning traversing below a rotating super cell like that once.
I've worked with mobile light-plants used on construction sites and for other remote security applications. It wouldn't surprise me of it was something of that nature since a lot of newer builds use high-output LED lamps instead of halogen lamps so if one was running off a sealed battery bank it could easily be plucked up and spun around by a tornado like that while still shining for a minute or longer before it crashed into the ground.
i'm of the opinion that it's a very rare form of lightning. i have seen other videos of tornadoes that have balls of light rotating about the funnel even in broad daylight.
But it seems to have the trajectory that an object with mass would follow.
It's definitely a vehicle. It's the only thing with lights that are that bright and constant because of the connection to a battery
And most likely, being a larger vehicle like a truck. The lights are constant because the weight of a large vehicle with the heaviest part of it being the front with the engine. That said, with the vehicle spinning on the outside edge of the tornado, the heaviest part would most likely face away from the tornado. Thus, seeing the lights constantly
In my mind, it was a car. But I also accept the fact that we'll never really know for sure. I agree with you that, at this point, it's unlikely to ever be solved and there's more important things to spend time and energy on now.
Just to add a lil light to the situation, those lights seen in that tornado was definitely NOT a car. I witnessed those bright lights first hand in Rolling Fork, Ms. on that scary night. Yes, two bright orb lights flying within this Ef-4 tornado with ease. It was weird. I'm blessed to still be here on the land of the living. Amen
that lightning is insane
I watched rolling fork tornado live on Ryan hall RUclips channel
If it is a car, my guess on why it sometimes looks like one is because the two lights are overlapping as it tumbles away from the camera. This combined with the shaky camera could explain that. I think the fact that we see two lights at multiple times, and at the same intensity, even when it’s a little blurred- is probably a good indicator of the origin of the light.
Is it possibe that is may have been a construction light tower? sometimes those are illuminated but not raised and they are powered by a generator
In my opinion, if that were a vehicle held aloft around the trunk of the tornado, it wouldn't keep a consistent brightness and relative alignment with line of sight as it moved around the tornado. Pretty mysterious and interesting anomaly.
My first thought was something like Emergency Exit lights or possibly a very bright flashlight but of course it's just speculation just like any other guess.
Parkersburg is looking great after it's EF5, just minus the trees. Amazing how the line of trees went to no trees and how sharp a cutoff it was.
My thought is that it may be a battery floodlight, as used on building sites. More specifically, one of the pole mounted ring floods that have a battery in the base. They can be surprisingly powerful (500w+ equivalent), and are bright enough to illuminate a very large area. Why do I think this? Well, I walked past one a couple of days back, where it was being used by the local phone company while they were replacing a section of underground fiberoptic line. That example was bright enough to light up a couple of hundred yards of normally dark footpath to a level higher than any of the mains powered streetlights in the area.
Just a thought.
At that distance, the headlights would have appeared as one bright light depending on the angle of the vehicle in the tornado. Tumbling would also cause odd effects in conjunction with the cameras 📷 ability.
When ever I think of the question of if this is a car or not. I remember the Ford Explorer that got thrown into the tank of a water tower in Smithville.
Sometimes the easiest answer is the right answer.
There have been documented cases of trucks being tossed by EF2 tornadoes, so it's not out of the question that a more violent tornado could be capable of lifting a small car...
oki But like real talk, all those people at 7:21 gave me faith in humanity, That shot right there is powerful and iconic. also We might not know what the lights actually were but at 17:11 , that looks like (2013-15) 3rd-Early 4th generation of the Ford Focus, The slant on the light at the top matches up with headlight assembly of the Ford near exactly. it was tumbling really bad and i can see why your camera only got some artifacts
Is there some way to roughly calculate the weight of the object orbiting when you see how fast it start to drop down calculating frames?
10:34 I like his logic. It's right on point.
Only question- did someone die in a car in the tornado. If so, who was it and what type vehicle was it? Most tornado deaths are listed as 'died in home' or 'died in vehicle', etc. The vehicle was obviously being operated, lights were on. Possibly someone left the the vehicle as the tornado approached. Curious, I did a brief search and could only find limited information.
yeah I'm sticking with my guess of light towers from an construction site, you see the point of the light almost the whole time, and you can see a bright light still at ground level.
My neighbors barn has a really bright light on it at night and even when the power goes out it's still on and he said the back up battery is in the light so something like that could get pulled from a garage
I once heard years ago that UFOs have been known to fly around tornadoes. That is possibly what that light could have been. I once saw a video on TV years ago explaining this. My thoughts and prayers for the residents over there.
That looked very like a car being blown around in the vortex!
My theory (take with a large grain of salt if you like) is that the light was from a car. Modern cars are built light and very aerodynamic (as anyone who's been blown all over the road during a blustery day can attest.) Tornadoes have been known to loft much larger and heavier objects. Only one light can be seen because one of the headlights was perhaps knocked out by debris. My only hope is that some poor slob wasn't in the thing when it went airborne.
Im in the some kind of light group. What a fascinating mystery that will probably never get solved. Which begs the question, what other tornado mysteries r out there? How many r out there. Surly this isn't the first tornado related mystery.
have you ever heard of the blackwell ok tornado?
I think what debunks the car theory is that a car which was lifted up that high possible with someone inside would have been found as a unique piece of wreckage. Not sure how big the diameter of the funnel was, but I would guess we talk about an object flying at least 500feet up in the air while gaining quite some velocity. A car, after falling from such hights can clearly be distinguished from cars which just been pushed around or been impacted by flying objects and should have been found by now. On the other hand, there are a lot of battery powered high lumens garden or working lamps out there. The amount of rain and the night time can make a light source look bigger and brighter as well. If this had happened in the daytime, maybe the light would not have been this evident or visible at all. 🤷♀
Ay I see that Title Fight album playing!
Can this be an high battery powered emergency light? I know theres lights can be that bright for an constuction site then light went off after the second spin like the battery got blown out due to the strong winds?
A 360° lantern would be a good guess. Portable storm lanterns that people have, emit light almost in 360°. Those survival lanterns are very powerful and if somebody had one on and it got sucked out of their house, that could be what it is. Just a guess.
I almost wonder if it was one of those ridiculous like, 10,000,000 lumen flashlights that someone had in their home that somehow got activated (or was being used when they got hit)
That’s a good idea, would make sense in context too huge power outage and storm
Coming, they grabbed their flashlight and ran to their safe space. Really tragic if true
i dont think people pointed out that you can see similar lights on the ground in front of the td, im wondering if this light is the same or similar to the one around the td
My thought was it might be one of those big construction lights/shop lights
17:21 almost looks like taillights tho
Whatever it is, it has to be something that can catch air better than a car. Tornadoes can lift cars pretty high, but that light makes a full orbit around the tornado and it looks like it's several hundred feet in the air, which seems a bit unlikely to me. I'd think a car would have been ejected out of the tornado before it could make a full revolution around it, especially since it's such a large tornado. I think something like a box trailer or box-like structure is a more likely explanation since the box part of it would act like a parachute and allow it to be more easily carried by the tornado rather than getting ejected. Maybe some sort of live stock trailer with a bright loading light attached to it? It could also be a box truck, van, or U-haul type vehicle, since that would also be able to catch air as well.
its always sad to hear something like that happening on your bday
The horror. The absolute horror.
There was a storm chser called Chris whose car was picked up by the tornado with him in it, the tornado threw his car 100 yards. You can see this on Reed Timmer's footage of the storm. Chris survived and still storm chases.
We had lightning like that just the other day. The flashes we continuous like a strobe light in the sky. There was minimal thunder though. Does anyone know if that kind of lightning is associated with all super cells?
Dude I live in Michigan and I was constantly watching radar for tornados