This is a good lesson for people who are watching this video: not all tornadoes have the classic "funnel" shape and some (like the Joplin tornado) are so large that it becomes very, very difficult to tell a tornado is actually approaching. Can't believe that some people were so crass as to make nasty comments. Too many people died in that storm to warrant the kind of tacky comments which some people felt they needed to make.
Hey I don't know much about tornadoes. Can you tell me why they couldn't tell about Joplin? I mean in other vids it's pretty classic funnel shaped and shows approaching and moving and all.
carp bear You are so right! How anyone can make a flip comment about a storm devastating a whole town, is beyond me! I LOVE EVERYONE IN JOPLIN! BEFORE THE STORM, & AFTER!
@@EphemeralProductions It developed very quickly into a large tornado. It was also rain wrapped, so it would be difficult to see even when it was almost on you.
It’s eerie when the birds stop chirping right before the sirens go off. The whole thing is creepy and terrifying. So sorry for the losses and for the families. Still have to be so painful after all this time. Can’t imagine
For those who are asking this was shot from 33rd and Highland. 9 blocks to the North was total destruction. For those criticizing the videographer, he is doing a public service to show this. Who knows, someone who sees this may live someday because they remember seeing a power flash and know that means to take cover immediately. The most haunting memory for me is the night of May 22nd. Where we are at, is one block from the major East/West route to the hospital that was not destroyed. The only sound we heard all night was the constant blare of sirens.
I lived here all my life and love this city. I am a Pastor in town and would never move. I didn't realize this was a tornado because it was so huge and rain wrapped around it so you couldn't really tell especially that day. When I looked at the video again days later I couldn't believe it. It was so huge it just looked like a bad storm front.
And that makes perfect sense. I was in northwestern OKC the day of the El Reno tornado in 2013, and all one could see out to the west was *tornado*. I remember the roads were clotted after some idiot television forecaster told people the only way to survive was to head south away from the storm; and as the supercell approached I prayed that I would live to see my birthday, which was the next day. There are tornadoes which become so immense that they're no longer recognizable as tornadoes. Joplin was one. El Reno 2013 was another. The Hackleburg Phil Campbell, AL tornado on April 27, 2011 was another. One of the most terrifying tornado videos I've ever seen is this one: ruclips.net/video/NLDR-mfO5Ms/видео.html One *thinks* the worst is over when the tornado passes, but the worst is still to come.
I visited Joplin two weeks ago. I drove thru the residential areas that were wiped out. The path of the tornado is still very obvious because ALL the big trees are gone. The area was 90% rebuilt with very nice new homes. But again, you can tell it was once an old neighborhood because the streets and curbs are all old. I talked with a few folks who now reside there and heard some fascinating stories of that deadly day.
Yeah I went to Joplin every year in high school for their big cross country meet and I can recall that going there in the fall of 2011 during my senior season, a few months after the tornado, was surreal. It looked like a post-apocalyptic warzone even after significant cleanup efforts. Scary shit.
I was so thankful when you decided to get into safety. Too many people don't, and that's how lives are lost. People need to stop taking so much for granted, because you never know when you're going to die. That may sound morbid, but I've lived through two tornadoes, and like I say, life is but a second away from your current breath and the next, which just might be your last. Life is precious.
Actually, you uncovered it after about 15-30 seconds, because the sound came back in both speakers. It went "dim", because I could still hear you and your significant other talking, but it was quite muted. I figured it was because everything on the right speaker became muted, and then, I heard both sides become more muted as if your fingers moved over the mics. Once the sound came back, the trebel or that nice, crisp sound came back. Otherwise, I love the sound quality of the video.
Yeah man, my best friend lost everything he owned in this tornado. Moved to a small town near jefferson city just after (to go to our school). When I asked him about why he survived he said four words. "The birds went silent." Now everytime the birds are silent I stay in my house. His brother did not make it, he was hit with a peice of whatever it was while trying to get to safety.
Yee Yaw:Yeah. Think of how much damage just a little baseball flying at you at 100mph can do. Now think of what softball-sized hail and sharp objects from dozens of houses can do when they hit you going 150mph due to 220mph winds!
That was a power flash at 4:37. When you see those, that usually means that a tornado or high winds have taken out the telephone wires in that particular area. In your case, it was obviously the EF5 tornado.
Jill Jones they're are MOSTLY referred to the same thing. Their just names differently from person to person. For example: telephone wires, power lines, hot wires, or in your case, electrical wires.
I thought it was called power flash because of all the charges from the energy of positive and negative charges clashing. Wish that was what it meant. seems cooler
I live in a town 10 minutes away from here.. its because we get so many severe weather threats. We never know when it will be something major, thats the downside to tornadoes. Id almost rather deal with hurricanes because they can be tracked and when a big one is coming they seem to get a warning. Here these people had minutes. MINUTES. Last year I was outside watching as we typically do in SW Missouri because you can just tell when one is coming.. I saw my leaves flying sideways and knew one was coming so we took shelter and sure enough one just barely missed my house. But it destroyed an elementary school. Crazy world we live in.
Well he says under the video he didn't realize this was the tornado and many ppl have video of storm its the 2000s ppl video everyday and everything now 🙄
Ours failed here in Alabama when we had April 27th. Actually, they went off so often that day, they broke. But we also had our power plant lines get twisted by the tornadoes and had no power for several days across ALL of North Alabama. I didn't have power for a week and a half because the power lines were unspooled like yarn on my street.
@@Totalpleasure1972 yes, I understand that the sirens are a big pet peeve of James spann. He feels in this day and age we should not rely on outdated technology like tornado sirens. He's right
@@Totalpleasure1972 agreed. Btw, glad you and your family made it through ok. Did you guys take a direct hit that day? Where were you at? It was kind of unfair so much coverage was focused on Tuscaloosa (of course it was horrible), but you guys in n. ALA were just pummeled.
@@spcoll7587 Thank you. My house, among many others, was hit that days. I live a bit east of Athens, in Limestone County. I was watching it from the store I was working at a couple of mines from home. We watched things fall from the sky and by the time it was it's closest, panes of glass were falling in the parking lot. I can show you the video and tell you when it was hitting my area. I lived in French's Mill, basically. I could tell you so much about going home, jumping over trees and power lines to see if my dog, Bailey was still alive. He was, but was never the same after the tornado hit. Storms scared the hell out of him after that. Of course, I think it did all of us. Watch around 8:27 in the video clip I am sharing. The Dopplar Radar was thrown across the field, which was a huge radar tower, and a brick church, right below there radar, was destroyed. Many people took shelter in the basement survived there too. Praise God! Video for the tornado for me here---> ruclips.net/video/KLI7aJQvTpg/видео.html
I live here. And tornado season is approaching us again and I'm not ready. Just the beginning of the video gives me the creeps, because we know when a tornado is coming. Everything calms down (weirdly enough) and everything looks super green... I can walk outside one day and tell if a tornado is coming soon almost every time.. can't wait to move out of here. ugh. Stay safe to everyone else in tornado alley.
Jessica B I am a trained skywarn storm spotter how ever you are partically correct every thing calms down which indicates you are in the updraft area of the storm where tornado do form how ever green looking sky's do not mean a tornado is there green looking sky's indicate the hail core
Please keep the trolling out of my comments. I had a great friend that died in this tornado so how about you go find something else to waste your time with!
crohnbone1 I'm so sorry for your friend and everyone else that died in this monster. To think that 158 people could die in a single tornado in this day and age is almost incomprehensible, but unfortunately this was the absolute worst case scenario for a tornado. Incredibly strong, multi vortex, wide and rain wrapped with a direct hit on a city. I'm glad you and your family are ok. Yeah, for anyone else, blue flashes are power flashes, not lightning. Gutsy of you to stay out as long as you did. I hear Joplin Is recovering well. Thoughts and prayers to all there.
I apologize for stupid people in the comments. They have no idea what you went through. I was also affected by a tornado a few months ago. I fell and broke my leg because I was jumping on my trampoline when the sirens went off. I had to wait until after the tornado to go to the hospital. I also lost an uncle in the joplin tornado.
First, sorry for your loss, man. Secondly, thanks for sharing this video. It brings back childhood memories (I grew up in west Tennessee), scary clouds & those tornado sirens. My heart & thoughts are constantly with those affected by this tornado. As a trained skywarn weather spotter, videos like this reinforces the desire to alert the public of severe weather, to save lives, and to document for future study.
We lived 2 houses to the South of where this video was shot. I had the same view but went to the basement when I saw the transformer flash. We had a 10"-12" tree uprooted in our yard.
Ugh. Those sirens are creepy. 😳 I lived in Fargo, ND for a short time when I was a kid, and when those sirens would go off, it would send a chill up my spine.
Nice, but spooky, video. To think of the hell that was taking place under that dark part of the sky gives me chills. Sorry about your friend mate; and God bless the people of Joplin.
Growing up in St. Louis, I've known about the wonderful town of Joplin all my life. It is just a wonderful community and now we know it is a heroic community. Bless you all.
Can definitely sympathize here in the South. We had April 27th. That was awful. You all helped us here, so we returned the favor as much as we could the next month. I remember that well. I was worried about a lot of people up that way. I am originally from St. Louis and I have a brother that lives in Springfield, and someone I went to high school with that lives in Joplin. I was so scared for her that day. I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. It is eerie to watch this stuff. I was at work when I saw the tornado go through here (which hit my house), and watched debris fall from the sky. Hope everything is better for you now.
At the start, I thought this can NOT be right. Birds singing. But, before the sirens go off, they stop. Everything gets still and quiet, just before a tornado. Birds are barometers. So, LISTEN up folks! I was once at a park, where the ranger advised me to leave, due to an incoming storm. I said, "hear that?"... "What?" ... birds... "As long as the birds are singing, nothing is going to happen." If I'd driven a couple of miles to where I lived, I would have been caught in a windy hailstorm!
So scary that the tornado appeared as hurricane clouds on the horizen. It was so large that what looked like a thunderstorm was the tornado funnel itself!
This video is a prime example of why rain wrapped tornadoes are so dangerous and deadly. From a distance there’s no clear sign that there is a tornado on the ground asides from the power flashes which many people won’t associate with a tornado. The quick formation of this tornado from nothing to an EF5 in a matter of seconds, the fact that it was rain wrapped, and the fact that it struck a city that was less tornado aware than cities in Oklahoma for example all combined to make this tornado the most tragic in decades.
They only run them a few minutes at a time to keep them from over heating or something like that they let it go long enough to warn people but they do it in intervals. I wish they would let people know this during emergency broadcasts or something because a lot of people end up getting injured or dying thinking that when the siren stops sounding it means the threat is over. It is not.
the sound of the alarm gives me chills. i live in arizona and have luckily never experienced anything close to a tornado, but they fascinate me. i’m so sorry for your loss. may your friend rest in peace and this video serve as a cautionary tale to the dangers of nature.
we lived at 20th and Arizona back then.... insane indescribable stuff that many will never understand. Was trying to figure where this was video'd from, but couldnt read all the nasty remarks,,, I have PTSD from that ordeal and have trouble making light of it :) Glad u guys were all ok!
All those flashes were there electrical power flashes. Also it looked really nasty, brown and grey from all the dust and debri in the air being shredded apart. Storms are very cool, but need to be taken seriously, and man can it look like your worst nightmare. Love weather and huge storms, but when a storm like this rolls through I get the chills.
This video is extremely helpful in showing the difference in power flashes (green) and lightning (white). Power flashes = Tornado is very close, take cover immediately.
Those sirens are scary. I lived in Saratoga, North Carolina. Whenever a tornado would come through (usually at the other side of town to the east), the sirens would go off.
I ve lived in NC 63 years and didn't know any place that had tornado sirens. I ve only been able to research a few. We used to have a siren for fire dept but it no longer is in use.
Yep, the white misty looking area outside the tornado is called the Bird Cage. This was a horrific tornado, and I feel for all the people, that were affected by this storm! Good video!
you can see the edges of the tornado pretty well defined near the end on the video. Did you not notice the rotation and know it was a indeed a tornado?
I've been looking through the footage of the enormous destruction from the 2011 tornado in Joplin, MO. The loss of life was just unbelievable and I am sorry for the loss of your friend. I lived near Nashville, TN the day our state had 52 tornado's in the summer of 1995. Those 52 tornado's together, didn't have near the devestation as the 1 in Joplin. So much can be learned from the footage you gathered; continuing to pray for your town.
I ve been studying tornadoes for many years. Im not a chaser but have learned much from them and videos. I guess everyone like me has their nightmare tornado. This is mine. I have studied every bit of footage over and over, some listening as It approaches then devastates the home. That coupled with the scenes of destruction after made me amazed the fatilty numbers were not higher. Thank God they weren't and my condolences to the families that experienced such. I m glad I ve never experienced such but this shows the advice of the experts does save lives. If no other shelter is available, the center room with no windows and as many walls between you and outside saved many many of Joplins residents that evening. It's so unreal to see a home almost gutted but the one place the occupants huddled somewhat intact and they lived. Can you imagine the terror of going thru that has to be. The US loves Joplin.
Yeah we were. We knew it was a tornado when it was passing us. The sound and the color outside our basement window gave us the hint. That day will be forever be burned into my brain!!
It's hard to believe that it's been ten years ago yesterday since you all were hit by that terrifying tornado, and I know how hard it can be to find anything good out of something where you've lost someone who means so much to you. I really hope you're healing or are healed as best as you can be. May God grant rest to the souls of the departed, and may their memory be eternal.
Didn't realize that it already had the category set to comedy! This was definitely not a comedy but such a tragedy! My heart breaks for the other people in our town that lost so much!
Tornado sirens in Oklahoma are like when the smoke alarm in your house goes off, you just thinks someone is cooking or blew out a candle, you never think it's actually a fire.
I just saw that when the lightening flashes at 1:48, the edge of the tornado can be seen slightly to the left of center of the two trees behind the right side of house and again at approximately 3:56--3:57.
Why do that, when you can already see it in the sky! If you can hear the tornado sirens, you can see what's going on or at least know that there's a tornado in your area.
When she says "The whole storm has rotation" ...it just goes to show how HUGE that tornado really was! They didn't realise that it wasn't just a storm front, but it WAS the actual tornado in front of them! Crazy stuff.... awesome....but crazy! 🌪️👀
On the way back to Jersey from Arizona a couple of weeks ago, we stopped into a Starbucks in Joplin. Almost immediately upon seeing the sign for Joplin, I recalled this awful event.
Crohnbone1, my apologies. I thought you were viewing this from the south, not from the EAST! ">() So glad you all survived. BTW, another thing about that storm system - an hour or two after it hit you, to the south one could see constant electric flashes that looked like they were from a plasma ball lamp. (That was about the time the southern storms in this line were hitting us in Bella Vista, AR, with dime size hail disks that were thrown against our house.) Later that night, to the north toward Joplin the same "plasma ball lamp" effect was IN effect. I've never seen such giant, continuous lightning as was happening near you. Sadly, lightning would claim the lives of some policemen the next day who were trying to help.
Just imagine you standing out there, thinking that this is some regular big storm, only to find out there's a giant tornado coming for you, the sirens are going off, and you need to seek shelter... Scary...
Crohnbone, you're on the Newton County side, aren't you? It's amazing how little (comparatively) damage Newton had compared to Jasper County. Eerie how calm it seems in your video (where you are) but how much was happening not far north. That's how tragically amazing these storms are. Thank you for the video.
We had the outbreak in April that spawned the Tuscaloosa Tornado..we found debris from that storm all the way here in Tennessee..I was on my way home from work..we had tornado warnings all day every 30 min or so..I worked at a call center at the time and we were off the phones most the day..I was freaking out because since being in a tornado I have some crazy anxiety when storms hit...on my way home I was stuck in traffic because a tree had fallen over the overpass bridge so traffic was stopped completely for a good while..right then they gave a tornado warning for our area..it was dark and all of us were so scared..we all took turns backing up so one by one we all could turn around and go to the food city close by for shelter..I have never been that scared...I just froze in fear and wouldn't even move so my dad drove 40 min away just to snap me back and let me follow him back to our town..then when this one happened in Joplin my heart hurt for y'all..your community is so loving and it was amazing seeing you all bounce back❤
"It looks like rain". I saw that power flash towards the end of the video. Thats how you know that there is rotating winds within the rain. I would've either dipped or stayed put.
this day started off to be such a nice day thats the crazy part i live over in illinois like 15 minutes away from st louis and this storm came to us it was nuts
Those blue flashes you see around 4:27 and 4:37 are "Power Flashes" caused by the tornado ripping down power lines and or transformers... Seeing those, you should take cover immediately.
I can't understand people who go outside, record the approaching storm, and then take shelter at the last minute. Even if you know it's going to miss you, it's never a good idea to go out there with the chance you could get hit by lightning.
Living in north Texas I've seen quite a few funnel clouds and even had some minor tornados skip right over my neighborhood to come back down and destroy the next but I have never seen a tornado of this magnitude! At one point you can kind of see the funnel or the center of it through that black haze on the right side of the shot. This past spring an F5 dropped down in Canton which is about 30 mins east of me so yeah it's always on my mind that something like this could come my way. I'm glad you were not harmed.
I would be finding out which way the storm was heading instead of standing outside just wondering were the tornado is going. It looks like those homes are just sitting on concrete slabs with no basements. People need to wisen up so they can keep there family's safe.
i live in tornado alley and i know when sirens go off its time to take cover .... thats why there was no deaths in oak grove, sirens went off they took cover
here's the thing. at the time Joplin would always sound there sirens even if they knew the tornado was never going to strike. the issue here was that the city had cried wolf (or in this case tornado) so many times that when 1 actually turned up no one believed it.
@@xDTHx It's called the "Plainfield" syndrome. That 1990 tornado was already on the ground killing many people for about 5 minutes before a warning went out. Afterward the NWS decided that it was better to "cry wolf" than to miss warning for one single tornado. The end result now is that nobody believes the warnings without some verification, which likely gets more people killed than before.
This one developed so fast that it was already causing major damage before they got notification and could start the sirens. Here's the proof. It was already right on the outskirts of Joplin and headed straight in. ruclips.net/video/XT7CtF5ljxY/видео.html
It's remarkable how unintimidating ths storm appears on video, yet it's another thing altogether to face one of these in person. At this point it's only about 1.5 miles NW from your location on Delaware near 33rd. If I plotted correctly the tornado is about to cross S. Main when you are about to go inside. That's a guess since I was largely using the angles of your neighbors houses to figure direction. The damage path missed you by just less than a mile to the north near Connecticut and 24th.
Rain wrapped tornadoes like this can fool folks And the meso that produced this monster was so large it just blotted so much light out as to make visuals very difficult
Tornado sirens sound don't tornado season constantly with false alarms. It's easy to get used to it. Because this tornado was rain wrapped and non visible until it was on top of you, most didn't realize this was the real deal until it was extremely close
This specific tornadoe formed so fast that there was literally not enough time to warn people before it was already doing damage. I came across this excellent video showing how fast it developed. ruclips.net/video/XT7CtF5ljxY/видео.html
The tornado touchdown really close to joplin.the people did not have the time to react to what was happening.by the time the sirens went off it was to late because the tornado was already In joplin doing damage and people were dying.
Well, you don't exactly have the greatest view. Then again, a lot of these tornados coming out of the sky these days aren't your typical, clearly distinguishable funnel cloud. Thank you for the video!
This is a good lesson for people who are watching this video: not all tornadoes have the classic "funnel" shape and some (like the Joplin tornado) are so large that it becomes very, very difficult to tell a tornado is actually approaching.
Can't believe that some people were so crass as to make nasty comments. Too many people died in that storm to warrant the kind of tacky comments which some people felt they needed to make.
I agree this was a very large wedge tornado one of the worse kinds.
Hey I don't know much about tornadoes. Can you tell me why they couldn't tell about Joplin? I mean in other vids it's pretty classic funnel shaped and shows approaching and moving and all.
vishal Sharma: it was funnel shaped at first but then it grew and turned into the big wedge that almost didn't look like a tornado
carp bear You are so right! How anyone can make a flip comment about a storm devastating a whole town, is beyond me! I LOVE EVERYONE IN JOPLIN! BEFORE THE STORM, & AFTER!
@@EphemeralProductions It developed very quickly into a large tornado. It was also rain wrapped, so it would be difficult to see even when it was almost on you.
It’s eerie when the birds stop chirping right before the sirens go off. The whole thing is creepy and terrifying. So sorry for the losses and for the families. Still have to be so painful after all this time. Can’t imagine
For those who are asking this was shot from 33rd and Highland. 9 blocks to the North was total destruction. For those criticizing the videographer, he is doing a public service to show this. Who knows, someone who sees this may live someday because they remember seeing a power flash and know that means to take cover immediately. The most haunting memory for me is the night of May 22nd. Where we are at, is one block from the major East/West route to the hospital that was not destroyed. The only sound we heard all night was the constant blare of sirens.
I am not finding that intersection on google maps
My exact address was 3245 S Highland Ave. you should find it using that.
That was close. 9 blocks is about 1/2 mile.
The lack of sound except for birds making their night time noises is scary
Mark Thomas my father was decapitateded.
I lived here all my life and love this city. I am a Pastor in town and would never move. I didn't realize this was a tornado because it was so huge and rain wrapped around it so you couldn't really tell especially that day. When I looked at the video again days later I couldn't believe it. It was so huge it just looked like a bad storm front.
I hear ya, me too could be fooled bye the looks of it, I was close to same thing in 1983, lost my friend in 1.
@@jamesmillard4498 sorry for your loss
And that makes perfect sense. I was in northwestern OKC the day of the El Reno tornado in 2013, and all one could see out to the west was *tornado*. I remember the roads were clotted after some idiot television forecaster told people the only way to survive was to head south away from the storm; and as the supercell approached I prayed that I would live to see my birthday, which was the next day.
There are tornadoes which become so immense that they're no longer recognizable as tornadoes. Joplin was one. El Reno 2013 was another. The Hackleburg Phil Campbell, AL tornado on April 27, 2011 was another. One of the most terrifying tornado videos I've ever seen is this one:
ruclips.net/video/NLDR-mfO5Ms/видео.html One *thinks* the worst is over when the tornado passes, but the worst is still to come.
I visited Joplin two weeks ago. I drove thru the residential areas that were wiped out. The path of the tornado is still very obvious because ALL the big trees are gone. The area was 90% rebuilt with very nice new homes. But again, you can tell it was once an old neighborhood because the streets and curbs are all old.
I talked with a few folks who now reside there and heard some fascinating stories of that deadly day.
Yeah I went to Joplin every year in high school for their big cross country meet and I can recall that going there in the fall of 2011 during my senior season, a few months after the tornado, was surreal. It looked like a post-apocalyptic warzone even after significant cleanup efforts. Scary shit.
I was so thankful when you decided to get into safety. Too many people don't, and that's how lives are lost. People need to stop taking so much for granted, because you never know when you're going to die. That may sound morbid, but I've lived through two tornadoes, and like I say, life is but a second away from your current breath and the next, which just might be your last. Life is precious.
Did you cover the mic at 3:36 to keep rain from getting inside your recorder? Notice how the sound becomes somewhat distorted.
Heather stubbs I think it was the change in air pressure if I remember right.
Actually, you uncovered it after about 15-30 seconds, because the sound came back in both speakers. It went "dim", because I could still hear you and your significant other talking, but it was quite muted. I figured it was because everything on the right speaker became muted, and then, I heard both sides become more muted as if your fingers moved over the mics. Once the sound came back, the trebel or that nice, crisp sound came back. Otherwise, I love the sound quality of the video.
Everything's fine until the bird stops singing.
Yeah man, my best friend lost everything he owned in this tornado. Moved to a small town near jefferson city just after (to go to our school). When I asked him about why he survived he said four words. "The birds went silent." Now everytime the birds are silent I stay in my house. His brother did not make it, he was hit with a peice of whatever it was while trying to get to safety.
Kitten Fluff wow... I am so sorry about that. That’s deep.
Kitten Fluff heartbreaking and just chilling. I'm sorry for his loss. :(
My brother didn't make it either he was on his way back from work when a car hit him
Yee Yaw:Yeah. Think of how much damage just a little baseball flying at you at 100mph can do. Now think of what softball-sized hail and sharp objects from dozens of houses can do when they hit you going 150mph due to 220mph winds!
That was a power flash at 4:37. When you see those, that usually means that a tornado or high winds have taken out the telephone wires in that particular area. In your case, it was obviously the EF5 tornado.
+bkriegel95 Electric wires, not telephone wires.
Jill Jones they're are MOSTLY referred to the same thing. Their just names differently from person to person. For example: telephone wires, power lines, hot wires, or in your case, electrical wires.
I thought it was called power flash because of all the charges from the energy of positive and negative charges clashing. Wish that was what it meant. seems cooler
Glenn Johnson it was an ef5
@@bkriegel95 no, they're not
Its odd to think that while he's recording this, homes and lives are being destroyed just a few blocks away.
I live in a town 10 minutes away from here.. its because we get so many severe weather threats. We never know when it will be something major, thats the downside to tornadoes. Id almost rather deal with hurricanes because they can be tracked and when a big one is coming they seem to get a warning. Here these people had minutes. MINUTES. Last year I was outside watching as we typically do in SW Missouri because you can just tell when one is coming.. I saw my leaves flying sideways and knew one was coming so we took shelter and sure enough one just barely missed my house. But it destroyed an elementary school. Crazy world we live in.
That was the first thought I had while watching this.
It's like when the smoke alarm in your house goes off, you just thinks someone is cooking or blew out a candle, you never think it's actually a fire.
Well he says under the video he didn't realize this was the tornado and many ppl have video of storm its the 2000s ppl video everyday and everything now 🙄
@@jessicab4751 You ain't lying. We use to get 20 sirens a summer.
Just a reminder... Sirens are on timers... They can fail so don't think it's automatically safe if they aren't sounding...
Ours failed here in Alabama when we had April 27th. Actually, they went off so often that day, they broke. But we also had our power plant lines get twisted by the tornadoes and had no power for several days across ALL of North Alabama. I didn't have power for a week and a half because the power lines were unspooled like yarn on my street.
@@Totalpleasure1972 yes, I understand that the sirens are a big pet peeve of James spann. He feels in this day and age we should not rely on outdated technology like tornado sirens. He's right
@@spcoll7587 I follow James, and know how he feels. I agree with him whole heartedly.
@@Totalpleasure1972 agreed. Btw, glad you and your family made it through ok. Did you guys take a direct hit that day? Where were you at? It was kind of unfair so much coverage was focused on Tuscaloosa (of course it was horrible), but you guys in n. ALA were just pummeled.
@@spcoll7587 Thank you. My house, among many others, was hit that days. I live a bit east of Athens, in Limestone County. I was watching it from the store I was working at a couple of mines from home. We watched things fall from the sky and by the time it was it's closest, panes of glass were falling in the parking lot. I can show you the video and tell you when it was hitting my area. I lived in French's Mill, basically. I could tell you so much about going home, jumping over trees and power lines to see if my dog, Bailey was still alive. He was, but was never the same after the tornado hit. Storms scared the hell out of him after that. Of course, I think it did all of us. Watch around 8:27 in the video clip I am sharing. The Dopplar Radar was thrown across the field, which was a huge radar tower, and a brick church, right below there radar, was destroyed. Many people took shelter in the basement survived there too. Praise God! Video for the tornado for me here---> ruclips.net/video/KLI7aJQvTpg/видео.html
How eerie . . . birdsong, windchimes, and then a siren that cuts off . . .
Suzanne Gillespie The Siren blew away never to be found
I live here. And tornado season is approaching us again and I'm not ready.
Just the beginning of the video gives me the creeps, because we know when a tornado is coming. Everything calms down (weirdly enough) and everything looks super green... I can walk outside one day and tell if a tornado is coming soon almost every time.. can't wait to move out of here. ugh. Stay safe to everyone else in tornado alley.
I wish I could come and live there.
Btw stay safe.
Jessica B I am a trained skywarn storm spotter how ever you are partically correct every thing calms down which indicates you are in the updraft area of the storm where tornado do form how ever green looking sky's do not mean a tornado is there green looking sky's indicate the hail core
Girl right why aren't you ready got to prepare people aren't prepared enough you got to get ready for these things
Jessica B get a shovel,get some friends,and Dig A Tornado Shelter
Car Ramrod enjoy your hepititis and brain rot
Please keep the trolling out of my comments. I had a great friend that died in this tornado so how about you go find something else to waste your time with!
crohnbone1 I'm so sorry for your friend and everyone else that died in this monster. To think that 158 people could die in a single tornado in this day and age is almost incomprehensible, but unfortunately this was the absolute worst case scenario for a tornado. Incredibly strong, multi vortex, wide and rain wrapped with a direct hit on a city. I'm glad you and your family are ok. Yeah, for anyone else, blue flashes are power flashes, not lightning. Gutsy of you to stay out as long as you did. I hear Joplin Is recovering well. Thoughts and prayers to all there.
I apologize for stupid people in the comments. They have no idea what you went through. I was also affected by a tornado a few months ago. I fell and broke my leg because I was jumping on my trampoline when the sirens went off. I had to wait until after the tornado to go to the hospital. I also lost an uncle in the joplin tornado.
I am so sorry that’s awful praying for u
LYacky1 161
Wow....I’m so sry
To make u feel better I lost my dad in it 😭
First, sorry for your loss, man. Secondly, thanks for sharing this video. It brings back childhood memories (I grew up in west Tennessee), scary clouds & those tornado sirens. My heart & thoughts are constantly with those affected by this tornado. As a trained skywarn weather spotter, videos like this reinforces the desire to alert the public of severe weather, to save lives, and to document for future study.
I grew up in West Tennesee too we got some crazy storms where I lived not sure if a tornado ever touched down though
We lived 2 houses to the South of where this video was shot. I had the same view but went to the basement when I saw the transformer flash. We had a 10"-12" tree uprooted in our yard.
I looked up ur address on maps all the results were either LA, Clearwater, Or Largo
+Super Random RUclips Guy I don't know what you are doing wrong. 3245 S Highland, Joplin, MO 64804. Copy and paste to Google Maps.
+Mark Thomas we were at 3219 at that time.
+crohnbone1 I remember you.
The Mac lmao
Ugh. Those sirens are creepy. 😳 I lived in Fargo, ND for a short time when I was a kid, and when those sirens would go off, it would send a chill up my spine.
Nice, but spooky, video. To think of the hell that was taking place under that dark part of the sky gives me chills. Sorry about your friend mate; and God bless the people of Joplin.
Growing up in St. Louis, I've known about the wonderful town of Joplin all my life. It is just a wonderful community and now we know it is a heroic community. Bless you all.
Can definitely sympathize here in the South. We had April 27th. That was awful. You all helped us here, so we returned the favor as much as we could the next month. I remember that well. I was worried about a lot of people up that way. I am originally from St. Louis and I have a brother that lives in Springfield, and someone I went to high school with that lives in Joplin. I was so scared for her that day. I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. It is eerie to watch this stuff. I was at work when I saw the tornado go through here (which hit my house), and watched debris fall from the sky. Hope everything is better for you now.
At the start, I thought this can NOT be right. Birds singing. But, before the sirens go off, they stop. Everything gets still and quiet, just before a tornado. Birds are barometers. So, LISTEN up folks!
I was once at a park, where the ranger advised me to leave, due to an incoming storm. I said, "hear that?"... "What?" ... birds... "As long as the birds are singing, nothing is going to happen." If I'd driven a couple of miles to where I lived, I would have been caught in a windy hailstorm!
This tornado was so massive it took up the horizon of most videos. Most people watching this tornado didn't know there was one there. So wild.
And it was rain wrapped as well.
So scary that the tornado appeared as hurricane clouds on the horizen. It was so large that what looked like a thunderstorm was the tornado funnel itself!
This video is a prime example of why rain wrapped tornadoes are so dangerous and deadly. From a distance there’s no clear sign that there is a tornado on the ground asides from the power flashes which many people won’t associate with a tornado. The quick formation of this tornado from nothing to an EF5 in a matter of seconds, the fact that it was rain wrapped, and the fact that it struck a city that was less tornado aware than cities in Oklahoma for example all combined to make this tornado the most tragic in decades.
The sirens may have been deactivated due to the tornado taking out the power
They only run them a few minutes at a time to keep them from over heating or something like that they let it go long enough to warn people but they do it in intervals. I wish they would let people know this during emergency broadcasts or something because a lot of people end up getting injured or dying thinking that when the siren stops sounding it means the threat is over. It is not.
Just noticed I replied to a 7yr old comment lol 😂😬
@@roxyviola3310 yes but that is a very true statement.
@@bkriegel95 the tornado ripped them off there foundation is why it stopped
the sound of the alarm gives me chills. i live in arizona and have luckily never experienced anything close to a tornado, but they fascinate me. i’m so sorry for your loss. may your friend rest in peace and this video serve as a cautionary tale to the dangers of nature.
We had trees that were ripped from the ground. A friends house two blocks over was lifted up and sat back down.
we lived at 20th and Arizona back then.... insane indescribable stuff that many will never understand. Was trying to figure where this was video'd from, but couldnt read all the nasty remarks,,, I have PTSD from that ordeal and have trouble making light of it :) Glad u guys were all ok!
Shelly Anderson I'm sorry so many people make stupid stupid comments. I hope you're feeling better ...
All those flashes were there electrical power flashes. Also it looked really nasty, brown and grey from all the dust and debri in the air being shredded apart. Storms are very cool, but need to be taken seriously, and man can it look like your worst nightmare. Love weather and huge storms, but when a storm like this rolls through I get the chills.
I got chills when the bird stopped chirping and the alarm kicked in ...
This video is extremely helpful in showing the difference in power flashes (green) and lightning (white). Power flashes = Tornado is very close, take cover immediately.
Those sirens are scary. I lived in Saratoga, North Carolina. Whenever a tornado would come through (usually at the other side of town to the east), the sirens would go off.
I ve lived in NC 63 years and didn't know any place that had tornado sirens. I ve only been able to research a few. We used to have a siren for fire dept but it no longer is in use.
Not only an F5 tornado but it was wrapped in a super-cell divulging dangerous lightning, rain, and hail.
Yep, the white misty looking area outside the tornado is called the Bird Cage. This was a horrific tornado, and I feel for all the people, that were affected by this storm! Good video!
I've never heard of that. Interesting.
Thanks for the info
Bear not bird
you can see the edges of the tornado pretty well defined near the end on the video. Did you not notice the rotation and know it was a indeed a tornado?
This tornado was rain wrapped and almost impossible to see until it was too close
@@Gilliebeany The rotation is pretty noticeable around 4:35. You can see the funnel forming.
I've been looking through the footage of the enormous destruction from the 2011 tornado in Joplin, MO. The loss of life was just unbelievable and I am sorry for the loss of your friend. I lived near Nashville, TN the day our state had 52 tornado's in the summer of 1995. Those 52 tornado's together, didn't have near the devestation as the 1 in Joplin. So much can be learned from the footage you gathered; continuing to pray for your town.
I ve been studying tornadoes for many years. Im not a chaser but have learned much from them and videos. I guess everyone like me has their nightmare tornado. This is mine. I have studied every bit of footage over and over, some listening as It approaches then devastates the home. That coupled with the scenes of destruction after made me amazed the fatilty numbers were not higher. Thank God they weren't and my condolences to the families that experienced such. I m glad I ve never experienced such but this shows the advice of the experts does save lives. If no other shelter is available, the center room with no windows and as many walls between you and outside saved many many of Joplins residents that evening. It's so unreal to see a home almost gutted but the one place the occupants huddled somewhat intact and they lived. Can you imagine the terror of going thru that has to be.
The US loves Joplin.
Kinda surprised he didn't notice the power flash. Was looking right at that monster :/
Yeah we were. We knew it was a tornado when it was passing us. The sound and the color outside our basement window gave us the hint. That day will be forever be burned into my brain!!
It's hard to believe that it's been ten years ago yesterday since you all were hit by that terrifying tornado, and I know how hard it can be to find anything good out of something where you've lost someone who means so much to you. I really hope you're healing or are healed as best as you can be. May God grant rest to the souls of the departed, and may their memory be eternal.
Didn't realize that it already had the category set to comedy! This was definitely not a comedy but such a tragedy! My heart breaks for the other people in our town that lost so much!
That siren ruined the birds singing.
Tornado sirens in Oklahoma are like when the smoke alarm in your house goes off, you just thinks someone is cooking or blew out a candle, you never think it's actually a fire.
The camera is facing west.
I just saw that when the lightening flashes at 1:48, the edge of the tornado can be seen slightly to the left of center of the two trees behind the right side of house and again at approximately 3:56--3:57.
I find it hard to believe that anyone in "tornado alley" when the sirens start, does not look at the weather radar on their computer.
Why do that, when you can already see it in the sky! If you can hear the tornado sirens, you can see what's going on or at least know that there's a tornado in your area.
Stephen Sisters we do but then we run outside to see it haha until it bears right down on us at least that's how it is in north Texas.
I do and I live near Joplin.
I was 11 years old when the tornado outbreaks happened, my parents, my dogs, my brother and I packed all of our stuff and evacuated. scary!
He said the sky is getting dark. The sky was actually the tornado itself.
Living in St. Louis, I drove through Joplin years later and the devastation was STILL visible.
When she says "The whole storm has rotation" ...it just goes to show how HUGE that tornado really was! They didn't realise that it wasn't just a storm front, but it WAS the actual tornado in front of them!
Crazy stuff.... awesome....but crazy! 🌪️👀
Very, very, very ominous!!
Sorry buddy my footage has not been sold to anyone and has not been used in any way to gain publicity.
I was there. You can't even imagine. Nor do you want to. 💔
On the way back to Jersey from Arizona a couple of weeks ago, we stopped into a Starbucks in Joplin. Almost immediately upon seeing the sign for Joplin, I recalled this awful event.
The damage was horrific, so many lives taken and effected. God bless those involved.🙏
Crohnbone1, my apologies. I thought you were viewing this from the south, not from the EAST! ">() So glad you all survived. BTW, another thing about that storm system - an hour or two after it hit you, to the south one could see constant electric flashes that looked like they were from a plasma ball lamp. (That was about the time the southern storms in this line were hitting us in Bella Vista, AR, with dime size hail disks that were thrown against our house.) Later that night, to the north toward Joplin the same "plasma ball lamp" effect was IN effect. I've never seen such giant, continuous lightning as was happening near you. Sadly, lightning would claim the lives of some policemen the next day who were trying to help.
Just imagine you standing out there, thinking that this is some regular big storm, only to find out there's a giant tornado coming for you, the sirens are going off, and you need to seek shelter... Scary...
Crohnbone, you're on the Newton County side, aren't you? It's amazing how little (comparatively) damage Newton had compared to Jasper County. Eerie how calm it seems in your video (where you are) but how much was happening not far north. That's how tragically amazing these storms are. Thank you for the video.
We had the outbreak in April that spawned the Tuscaloosa Tornado..we found debris from that storm all the way here in Tennessee..I was on my way home from work..we had tornado warnings all day every 30 min or so..I worked at a call center at the time and we were off the phones most the day..I was freaking out because since being in a tornado I have some crazy anxiety when storms hit...on my way home I was stuck in traffic because a tree had fallen over the overpass bridge so traffic was stopped completely for a good while..right then they gave a tornado warning for our area..it was dark and all of us were so scared..we all took turns backing up so one by one we all could turn around and go to the food city close by for shelter..I have never been that scared...I just froze in fear and wouldn't even move so my dad drove 40 min away just to snap me back and let me follow him back to our town..then when this one happened in Joplin my heart hurt for y'all..your community is so loving and it was amazing seeing you all bounce back❤
"It looks like rain". I saw that power flash towards the end of the video. Thats how you know that there is rotating winds within the rain. I would've either dipped or stayed put.
The tornado was already on ground tearing things up when the sirens sound!! WTF ?!?!?!Those sirens should have been turned on when the rad
Thank you friend! Those are some kind words!
Transformer blew at 4:37...CLOSE.
this day started off to be such a nice day thats the crazy part i live over in illinois like 15 minutes away from st louis and this storm came to us it was nuts
I wouldn’t doubt a repeat of the 2011 season this year or something even worse.
I feel the same. It's a La Niña weather season and those are known for deadly weather patterns. I'm hoping Moore is spared this year.
Those blue flashes you see around 4:27 and 4:37 are "Power Flashes" caused by the tornado ripping down power lines and or transformers... Seeing those, you should take cover immediately.
Wow, it's scary how that tornado storm was slow moving yet so quick to form. That when dark so quick 😩
Thank you for showing this..
The birds are a telltale sign
Not denying the gravity of what’s going on here, but my fave part of this video is the random moan after seconds of total silence lol
I can't understand people who go outside, record the approaching storm, and then take shelter at the last minute. Even if you know it's going to miss you, it's never a good idea to go out there with the chance you could get hit by lightning.
You know it's bad when the whole sky is the tornado. Worst nightmare.
@4:25 power flashes on the leading edge of the rain wrapped tornado🌧🌪🌧
Living in north Texas I've seen quite a few funnel clouds and even had some minor tornados skip right over my neighborhood to come back down and destroy the next but I have never seen a tornado of this magnitude! At one point you can kind of see the funnel or the center of it through that black haze on the right side of the shot. This past spring an F5 dropped down in Canton which is about 30 mins east of me so yeah it's always on my mind that something like this could come my way. I'm glad you were not harmed.
I lived there for 12 years. Lived in Webb city when this hit. I moved September that year.
I remember seeing this blog back then bless 🙏💯 y'all
Glad you were ok and it didn't hit your house, and that really nice red Chevy truck in the driveway.
Yes, it doesn’t look like the one in the Wizard of Oz movie.
That’s the only tornado most people ever seen.
how much of the weather did you all get..did you all get much wind and rain and lightning from that.
I would be finding out which way the storm was heading instead of standing outside just wondering were the tornado is going. It looks like those homes are just sitting on concrete slabs with no basements. People need to wisen up so they can keep there family's safe.
My friends and father escaped but their business was hit. Prayers were heard loud that day!!!
Wow great footage it seems it passed in front of you in a good distance 👍
If you go on google maps and look in the path of the tornado you can still see the house numbers yet no house
i live in tornado alley and i know when sirens go off its time to take cover .... thats why there was no deaths in oak grove, sirens went off they took cover
gayle same here
here's the thing. at the time Joplin would always sound there sirens even if they knew the tornado was never going to strike. the issue here was that the city had cried wolf (or in this case tornado) so many times that when 1 actually turned up no one believed it.
The Mac prices and family mainly.
@@xDTHx It's called the "Plainfield" syndrome. That 1990 tornado was already on the ground killing many people for about 5 minutes before a warning went out. Afterward the NWS decided that it was better to "cry wolf" than to miss warning for one single tornado. The end result now is that nobody believes the warnings without some verification, which likely gets more people killed than before.
This one developed so fast that it was already causing major damage before they got notification and could start the sirens. Here's the proof. It was already right on the outskirts of Joplin and headed straight in.
ruclips.net/video/XT7CtF5ljxY/видео.html
It's remarkable how unintimidating ths storm appears on video, yet it's another thing altogether to face one of these in person.
At this point it's only about 1.5 miles NW from your location on Delaware near 33rd.
If I plotted correctly the tornado is about to cross S. Main when you are about to go inside. That's a guess since I was largely using the angles of your neighbors houses to figure direction.
The damage path missed you by just less than a mile to the north near Connecticut and 24th.
The tornado before it hit the mall: Nah fam, that mall too big, ima just stop here.
Before you say, yes. I was in the tornado.
Was literally in Joplin today. Was interesting some damage is still here after 10 years
Rain wrapped tornadoes like this can fool folks And the meso that produced this monster was so large it just blotted so much light out as to make visuals very difficult
if you listen really carefully, you can hear the tornado at about 2:20........that whistle is unmistakeable. Just before the siren goes off.
The tornado sirens going off should have been a big clue as to what was going on.
Tornado sirens sound don't tornado season constantly with false alarms. It's easy to get used to it. Because this tornado was rain wrapped and non visible until it was on top of you, most didn't realize this was the real deal until it was extremely close
This specific tornadoe formed so fast that there was literally not enough time to warn people before it was already doing damage. I came across this excellent video showing how fast it developed. ruclips.net/video/XT7CtF5ljxY/видео.html
The tornado touchdown really close to joplin.the people did not have the time to react to what was happening.by the time the sirens went off it was to late because the tornado was already In joplin doing damage and people were dying.
I missed that tornado by about 10 minutes, I was east bound on I-44, and was 10 minutes past the affected area
Well, you don't exactly have the greatest view. Then again, a lot of these tornados coming out of the sky these days aren't your typical, clearly distinguishable funnel cloud. Thank you for the video!
Lisson to the birds ! They tell you. Take coverage ??? This is bad !
I'm surprised he didn't notice the obvious power flash.....wow...
Eerily quiet, then BAM! Glad you survived this
When the sirens started it was so creepy, you guys were lucky as hell! you just missed it....
It should be a Law that every new home must have and, older homes be retrofitted with Tornado Shelters in every Tornado prone state!
4:33 “I don’t know if that’s just heavy rain”. Scary!!
Looks like the tornado started coming into the shot at around 2:45.
how far away were you from this?
Why are you outside when the sirens go off
Thanks for Dr.Gage and Dex
It looks really scary .
wen did the siren go off