Raw footage of the development of the El Reno, Oklahoma, tornado - May 31st, 2013
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 10 окт 2024
- This is the raw footage I filmed of the weather conditions leading up to the development of the El Reno tornado, the moment the 'main' tornado span-up under the potent low-level mesocyclone, and our (my partner Helen Rossington, and me) escape from the tornado as we headed eastwards. There are much better videos of the tornado - but this footage shows what it was like to race eastwards to remain ahead of the tornado.
The footage concludes with a view to the WNW at around 1825CDT, with the huge tornado just about visible in the murky sky. Further footage of the rest of the chase was taken, but not uploaded here, as this post is about the main tornado.
RIP to those who lost their lives on this tragic day.
Footage is Copyright Paul Knightley, and may not be copied, republished, broadcast, or in any other way passed on (other than via sharing the RUclips link to this video) without express permission from me.
This is by far some of the best stormchasing video I have watched. No overreaction, yelling. Just letting the video tell the story, with comments when needed. Great job.
Thanks!
Agree 😊
@@paulknightley Great video, one of the best! Do you get nervous when traffic starts piling up around you? I started to feel very anxious as more cars started crowding in.
That's the most calm and relaxing tornado video I've ever seen..No chaos, no histrionics...Just quiet, calming, beautiful videography. Much obliged.
Thanks!
Man, that gunshot thungerclap at about 35:27 is so EPIC. The way it marks that vortex touching down! Such a beast. Excellent footage and vantage of an incredible phenomenon. Never to forget those who lost their lives and the loved ones left behind.
It was very loud! In fact, you can hear a small clicking sound at the same time you see the lightning flash, which I think comes from the video camera's mic being affected by the electromagnetic 'pulse' of the flash - it was close!
@@paulknightley I was just going to mention that. I believe it's the sound of the static discharge from upward streamers, which can only be heard when in very close proximity to them (probably
There's usually multiple upward streamers reaching from the grounf and only one that connects to the parent bolt, which explains why the thunder was abit more delayed than you'd expect for a stremer that close lol.
The timing of that was crazy, there weren't too many lightning strikes before it touched down and it just happened to strike the moment the funnel began to drop, crazy
I would second the EMI/EMP explanation. The single flash and sonic-boom style of thunder coupled with with tornado genesis points to positive lightning, and given the massively increased energy potential of positive lightning and the exact synchronicity of the clicking sound, EMI/EMP seems likely.
I once had one hit so close it set off my smoke detectors, but it didn't strike the building. Crazy!
47:29 Whoever your driver is, keep her! She acknowledges that she’s scared and keeps her wits about her the entire time. I just love her! Kudos! 👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks! As noted in the description, she is Helen, my girlfriend…and she did an amazing job!
Glad to see more people showing their own view of this tragedy, this is a great video showing the development
Thanks, Kevin
This is awesome. I particularyl liked that you let us watch it develop listening only to the natural sound. Made me feel like I was almost there. Excellent job!
Thanks, Rich - yes, I quite like to leave the camera rolling to get some of the ambience - storm chasing is more than just a few seconds of shouting about tornadoes! :)
I totally agree!
@@paulknightleyI love seeing the green tinge of the sky and the mammatus clouds - I live in the Scottish highlands and I’ve never seen them in person.
Here hear! I've been through two tornadoes, and one of the things about this one was the massive amount of lightning and thunder I've heard in others' videos as the storm intensified. At one point, it almost sounded like fireworks!
@@paulknightley By the way, the audio is absolutely amazing! I'm so glad you pay attention to the audio quality, because I believe it's as important as the visual quality.
That rotation 34 minutes in, crazy! I was watching a live stream as events were unfolding. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
You actually got better video than the chasers inside the rotation...there has been a tendency in recent years to drive waaaaay to close to these tornadoes, with tragic results.
Thanks - my opinion is that footage is much more interesting when back a way from the storm - however, the 'need' of some to get clicks, etc, appears to make them lose sense of reality
Paul, this is incredible. Thank you so much for sharing. The sirens are very haunting, as well. I chased a tornado close to Marietta, OK, in 2009. It began to “rope” down from the wall cloud, then either dissipated or became rain-wrapped. I decided not to pursue it, since I could not see it. Couple of thoughts that have probably been addressed. At 53:00, you say you think it is taking a left turn. I wonder if this is when the TWISTEX Crew perished? Also, I had always believed that the birds stop chirping when a strong/violent storm is approaching. Mother Nature can be fascinating…
Many thanks for your kind words :) And, yes, unfortunately the part you reference about the left turn is right around the time of that particular tragedy, sadly.
It’s so wild to see the vehicles I’ve seen in other chaser videos of this storm. I love that you’re back a bit further and getting so much detail at the same time!
Thanks!
At 29:29 Growing up in OKC (19 yrs.) this is, absolutely the biggest structure I’ve seen in a T- storm ⛈ ever. We got VERY lucky this tornado did not take any more lives than it did. RIP to the 8 victims that were lost in the storm.
Thanks for your comment, Jason…yes, it was lucky this didn’t develop a few miles north, as it would have run right over El Reno…or a few 10s of miles east and affect the metro…it was just 11 days after the devastating Moore et al tornado of May 20th, of course
How do people live in Oklahoma? How do you put up with this shit?
@fredharvey2720 That's what I be thinking lmao just waiting for your house to be blown apart 😭
@@paulknightley Your Welcome
@@fredharvey2720 people from the south ask me how i deal with 4 feet of snow every year in Canada. You get used to it. Similarly , i would do horribly in the south or southwest , but id problably love new england. Pretty much , people just adapt to their environment. The only natural disasters i have to deal with are Ice Storms , so the one time this year we had a tornado warning and the skies were green and the clouds were swirling , i had a panic attack. Someone from Oklahoma problably wouldve just been annoyed and waited inside.
this is the view of the storm we've all been given only glimpses of before. upper level height and power of collapse is extraordinary 👀
Thanks for watching!
R.I.P. to the 8 victims, it's been 10 years.
Twistex didnt need to die that day. I miss them
Yes, very sad indeed
@MrIceCreamGamer Of course…I heard the next day too and was extremely shocked
@@user-otzlixr Turn the volume down - you're welcome!
@@user-otzlixr Thanks…with your no videos, the advice is much appreciated.
I do usually use a mic, seeing as you want to engage on this…but for the opening parts I just used the video cam’s mic…later you’ll have heard that it switches to a mic with wind protection, if you got that far…
Yeah man thanks for sharing this video with us. I would never forget that day. I remember watching this on TV that day. May all of those people continue to RIP 🙏.
Kudos to you and Helen, Paul. This is truly terrifying.
Thanks!
There’s something so sinister and brooding, yet calm and surreal, as the system builds prior to the tornado. I’ve always found the Great Plains region to be beautiful in its vastness, but the storms that move over add another element entirely and simply leave you awestruck.
Definitely one of the more interesting Videos re: Tornado's. Understanding & taking us Viewers thru the proclivity of the gathering Storm in the Skies was something I've never seen before. It was also a refreshing change not to hear a lot of chatter, screaming & yelling usually with people pointing out & repeating the same thing!. EXCELLENT DRIVING - you didn't realize how strong the Winds were buffeting the Car until you could see a Tree or Greenery and her ability to keep the Car on track was impressive. Also noticed her astute focus on the Road not turning to look at any of the Views going on all around them. Due to retrospect, it was hard not to recall that what we were watching was the beginning of Mass Destruction and incredible Loss. Thank you for your efforts in both taking such Risk and sharing your Experience.
Thank you!
This is some of the best footage of the El Reno monster I've seen...concise, sparse, intelligent narrative... no screaming, and you put yourselves in the right spot ahead of the hundreds of boneheads chasing that storm.
Well done PN!
Keep calm and storm chase!
Thanks! PK ;)
Thanks for this! Just absolutely tops to see unreleased footage of this monster shared.
Many thanks!
Fantastic footage! Rest in peace to the twistex team.
Thanks, and yes
Such a large and frightening storm. Very disorienting to look it. Looks so powerful. Can’t imagine what it was like to be there.
It was an intense day
This video was so amazing. As far as education. I loved the fast forward of the clouds. I’ve learned a lot. Thank you.
Many thanks! And you’re welcome!
seriously excellent work in documenting this historical tornado! Loved the raw take on this storm. YT has became too "instant action," I really enjoyed seeing the build up of this storm.
Many thanks!
Those people who told you that they were getting out of El Reno had some kind of premonition about it.
They’d seen the forecasts and saw the storm forming
That was intense. Amazing footage from incredibly beautiful to terrifying. Thank you.
Thanks!
Those gentleman that spoke to you before the storm had fully developed that mentioned they were leaving El Reno had good instincts.
Incredible footage. A haunting day. Thanks so much.
Thanks Shawn
Found out the other day that I briefly knew Paul Samaras back in middle school. Played on a hockey team together in the Denver area (circa 2001 approx). Over the years i always remembered that last name but never made the connection between that and the el Reno storm. Never in my life would've thought that would end up being the same person 🤦. Was literally in shock. 😢
I had to pause the video to comment. I've never seen a storm more beautiful yet so terrifying. I've seen a lot of videos about El Reno but this is my first time watching yours and I am stunned by your footage. Watching the rotation around 33:39 and on was mesmerizing. The entire storm looked like it was coming down to the ground. Insane storm structure! Beautiful camera work. Continuing on with the video now.. lol
Thank you!
This is one of the best videos I've seen of that day...thanks for posting.
Many thanks!
I really liked this footage. This storm was so ugly and massive it’s difficult to make out what you’re looking at when up close.
Many thanks!
Awesome video! I enjoyed every second of this! Rip Tim, Paul and Carl 🙏
33:23 Lightning backlights the tornado. Use pause or slow playback speed to see it.
Were you near the in-flow? (Please note that I can only hear these videos, as I'm totally blind.) I hear the winds picking up as time goes by, and the distant thunder is ominous.
Thanks for your comment, and I hope the sound gave an impression of what was going in..yes, we were in the inflow…the wind you can hear is a mix of the ambient flow plus the inflow
Man! That was terrific! I know how scared you both were while @@paulknightley driving away from that beast! I'm so glad you captured everything from that escape using the exterior camera, because you can hear which side of the car was being hit by the rain and wind at times. You couldn't get that from the interior mic. I've been totally blind since birth, so the audio is just as important to me as the visual, because it's almost like having binocular vision when the audio is binaural like that. I know a guy who had his sight until he was in his mid 30s, and that's how he described that great audio quality. It really put things into perspective.
@@heatherstub I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for your kind words! The mic did remain in the car, as it’s attached to the camera, but tends to give a better sound…I’ve found it picks the bass up from deep roars of thunder better than the cam’s mic…it wasn’t an expensive one either! I would urge more chasers to get a mic to get away from the horrible wind noise, but a lot film with phones these days, which is fine for the visuals, but leaves a lot to be desired for the aural!
By the way, if you want to hear something cool, try my video of hail roar from a supercell…there is a bit of wind noise at the end but the roar at the start is hail roar. ruclips.net/video/aes1M_xns8E/видео.html&feature=sharea
The iPhone 11-14 Pro all do a great job with every bit of the audio. I listen to videos from a frequent flier channel here on RUclips. He's been using them, and the videos are fabulous! Please let me know if you'd like to know the name of the channel. Thanks.@@paulknightley
God that wall cloud hangs so low it looks as if you could stand under it and touch it lol
It's scary to see that people underestimate the radius of the tornado. The wind field of the tornado is actually bigger than the funnel cloud. So you get sucked into the tornado even if you are still quite away from the funnel cloud, but in the wind field of the tornado. In this special case it was a monster wedge tornado with satellite tornados swirling around the huge center of the main tornado. If hit by such a satellite tornado, death is unavoidable.
I heard it is standing over two miles out because at first they thought this thing was over four miles wide
We kept saying, keep watching the skies, knowing something was brewing that day. Never knew how bad it would be. That place is cursed by bad storms. Very scary place to live.
I live in moore… I agree it’s scary!
It's very difficult for me to digest the forces that did that to the Twistex vehicle.
4:02 you started fast motion and that's when we get to see how the lower level southeasterly inflow jet works, feeding the supercell. Great camera work and editing.
The 2013 El Reno Oklahoma tornado was the largest tornado ever recorded in history, reached a peak width of 2.65 miles (4.26 km) which is the widest tornado ever. and a Mobile RaxPol radar measured Windspeeds of 295+ mph, which maybe the highest winds ever measured on Earth. Also during that time, due to the tornado’s rapid intensification and growth, 4 storm chasers have passed away from this tornado. It later died west of El Reno at 6:43 pm. It killed 8 people in total and injured 26 others over its 16.2 mile path. Despite the tornado have recorded wind of almost 300 mph, but it was only rated an EF-3. But why did it decrease to an EF3? Because it spawned in the plains of El Reno.
A rare huge, fast moving beast of an EF5.
It was very unusual for it to accelerate as it did
Ef 3
@@jonadkins768 Yes, damage rating was EF3…stronger winds were detected by mobile Doppler radar but that is not used in the EF rating, as that is based on damage
Thank you for specifying it was the damage rating. I still feel like it should have been an EF5 for so many reasons. Especially to take down such an experienced team such as Twistex… RIP 😢
@@dogtrainerjenLooks like EF5 damage to that car, that's for sure. Unfathomably violent.
Have seen numerous videos of this monstrosity...the fact it didn't hit a city directly is fortunate... thousands may have been lost...(according to NWS.) Truly, a storm of gargantuan power...God bless victims & families...
Incredible footage / chase. That was A Monster Storm & Tornado!
Great video, man ! This tornado was apocalyptic !
Thx…and yes!
1st time viewer new subscriber. Well done ✅
What I always find sobering about El Reno is the fact that if you moved its path a relatively short distance and you would have had catastrophe. Oklahoma City and Tulsa to the East. Wichita, El Dorado and Hutchinson to the North. Dallas abd Fort Worth to the South. Sort of like on the evening of the Moore OKC disaster in 1999, a possible F *06 tore up a stretch of countryside between Oklahoma City and Wichita along I 35.
I guess all natural disasters, as we classify them, are based on them happening where there are people...what I find hard to fathom is how places like OKC and DFW are growing year on year, increasing the footprint of human habitation which can be impacted by tornadoes. So, it it's inevitable to me that a major, 2 mile-wide EF5 will, some day, move through the central portion of a very large conurbation, perhaps impacting stationary traffic and causing a big loss of life. Sobering, as you say.
phew that was a bit of a close call huh
i had one that day too (but i wasn't chasing, i was fleeing mustang)
awesome footage
Thanks…and glad you got out
God, I hate living in Virginia. I can't believe I miss Oklahoma. Tornados , terrible flash floods and extreme heat , every year. Ugh
Wow! Amazing footage!! 👍👍
Many thanks!
The audio quality becomes more compressed once you drive further away from El Reno near the 25 minute mark, but I'm still listening. So are you using two different cameras? I can hear the difference at around 28:21 again. When you mention the mesocyclone, those winds were really blowing, and when the audio changes after that, (the better sound), it seems the camera you use then has better mics. It's that audio quality that makes a good video a great video! Keep up the great work!
I interchangeably had my exterior mic connected or just the video camera’s mic…I usually try to have the external mic when outside to try to keep the wind noise at bay
Aha, I get it. I wish the interior mic sounded as good as the exterior mics, because when the audio is so compressed, it aims the sound directly at the inner ear and the vestibular nerve. That wide open sound is much better on peoples' hearing, because it's spread out more as if we're there with you.
Again, keep up the great work! @@paulknightley
@@heatherstub The on-board mic actually does surround sound but I don’t know whether this made it through the export…the exterior mic is stereo…I didn’t compress the sound…I don’t tend to watch with headphones so don’t get the full effect!
I think at about 46:40 you see a few cars turn right to what it sounds like was the South direction and I have to wonder if those were the people who lost their lives right there. With that tornado being right on their heels I’m dying to know why anyone would turn right there, pretty much turning right into it
I’m not sure about how they faired…I know that we had to make a split second decision and we chose to keep east…you can hear me saying that I don’t know why anyone would want to go south at that point
Can someone draw some arrows- where is the tornado? I legit can not pinpoint where it is.
I read somewhere, that this tornado,was the biggest ever measured.Two and a half miles wide.With 295 mph winds.
Pretty much, yes
It just didn't look that big to me.
@@FunnyVideoCollector where can I see the 2.6 mile wide tornado 🌪️ at?
Because I just don't really see any videos of it being that vehicle it looks normal size to me.
it did not have a visible condensation funnel that was 2.6 miles which is what you normally 'see' a tornado visibly. the tornadic windfield was actually much greater (by a factor of miles) than the visible condensation funnel it had. here's a good video by mr skipper that visualizes it for you ruclips.net/video/jVTs55W3Iag/видео.html@@cs77smith67
That little bird had a lot to say!!
The sounds of the prairie are beautiful
Why is it happiness over a tornado and how many people died
😂❤😮
I really want to move out there to Oklahoma. Because I love the beauty of mother Nature. And her danger.
Twistex didnt need to die that day 😢
It was a tragedy, as are any tornado-related deaths
Looking rather cloudy there.
a day when the chasers became the chased. Good stuff.
Very much…and it seems that the lessons were not fully learned, given some of the incidents this year with chasers being directly affected by tornadoes
@@paulknightley A lot more storm chasers + technology that makes them feel safe + a busy storm season. An interesting recipe.
Awesome footage 👏
Thanks, Adam
A guy I knew named Dustin Bridges died in that tornado.
cool footage man
Many thanks!
June 1st 2013 record number of new underwear sales. Great footage but had to have been scary as hell.
So it's not like tornados are impervious to gravity so why is that thing at 34:43 not collapsing onto the ground.
Can you expand on your question? Of course, air is subject to gravity…and a tornado is essentially just air…and a bit of water. The tornado’s cloud signature is governed by pressure and humidity…but the cloud is not the tornado per se. So I don’t know what you mean by ‘collapsing to the ground’.
@@paulknightley It looks like it's suspended above ground, hard to get a perspective how far above ground but definitely above ground, similar to clouds which also do a good job of not falling to the ground.
@@paulknightley So what's keeping it where it is?
@@malibustacy3606 The cloud is not a solid object per se - it's a process of air lifting into the updraught via convection (plus the augmentation of the lift via the rotation aloft in the parent thunderstorm) - the cloud forms at the point where the relative humidity reaches 100%. Cloud material can fall to the surface, but it has to group together to form precip to be able to do this in most cases. Otherwise, if the air descends, the cloud evaporates.
Precious Paul....thank you.
What were those lights or beams on the right hand side at around 31:35
I can't see anything like that on the left hand side of the video image - whereabouts do you mean?
@@paulknightley I’m sorry. I meant right hand side 🫤 At around 31:35
@@itsme2365 Ah…they are beacon lights on some kind of tower…likely a radio mast
Yall was driving awful slow to be in the circulation. Killer video
60 mph on wet gravel roads was pushing our luck!
Is that twistex at 34:08?
No, as far as I know they were on a road to the north of this location.
Looks like a relaxing time there watching that storm form. I'd just back the truck up, pop the taigate and sink a cold one. Thats what we do in Australia anyways.
Nice video :) looks good but the tornado is a little bit to small
Thanks! It was the largest recorded tornado in history!
@@paulknightley yeah i know 😅 like a lot of the others said, the calmness is really nice.. Its like watching a nature documentary without a lot of talking.. In other videos its absolute chaos.. they need to yell all the time like they are in an action movie..
And we have not had an F5 tornado 🌪️ sense like that really scare me 😱
What happened to twisted crew?
Maybe you should be asking this question on Google instead of youtube, you could've found out much quicker that way 🤷🏾♂️
crazy event
Is that two tornados?
No, not at this stage…although it was multivortex
Man oh man. I realized that day, 20 yrs of chasing was enough. I was through. If it can catch Tim, his son and cameraman and Mike Bettis and the weather Channel. I was finished . And then just like today u had a entire convoy of inexperienced, wannabe chasers and those people had no safe escape route.I am to old to have a total idiot cost me my life
It was busy around that storm, although I don’t believe the traffic played a part for those poor folks…but we saw a lot of cars…of course we were one of the cars
My 13 year old son wants to be a storm chaser so I said u become a storm chaser u better take me
As long as he's aware that most of the time spent chasing is on long drives!
People now watch to see the news weatherman to see if he rolls up his sleeves and loosens his tie. If so, a long rough night is in store for everyone and many deaths to come.
Does anyone know the road they head east on?
Do you mean us, the videographers? If so, we were heading east on E1070 road.
@@paulknightley Yes. Im currently going down the El Reno rabbit hole ty for the answer
Scary stuff.
75 dewpoint is every summer day in the south lol
True…not with around 40 to 50 knots of deep layer shear though!
@@paulknightley That's not my point.
@@Manbunmen65 Fair enough...then you just imparted a fact
I miss those $5 foot longs
The legend the biggest twister of all time will no longer be back
With his 8 deaths including storm chasers
This is a little beyond---
Top footage!
Many thanks!
I wish the twistax team would have made it out fine and well
Rest in peace twistax team we missed you guys
Me too they were my favorite chase team
fun fact: you would need about 10 burj khalifas laid down to match the width of this tornado, which was 2.6 miles or 13000 ft long.
Never did see a tornado!
That guy in the red dodge...he thinks he is Bill...lol
Rip peace tim samaras
good job! +1like +1sub! shared!
yep,,too windy to raise a grain bin!! construction holiday👍🏼
Very dangerous tornado 2.6 miles wide tornado
Our Human brains are overwhelmingly insufficient to have us comprehend why these are permitted by God.
All I can say is----- I throw my arms up in the air in despairing bafflement.
Tim samaras got killed by 2.6 mile wide
Wasn''t it in Nevada?
No…Oklahoma
You're thinking of Reno, not El Reno
hahahaha
@@grategrant
34:00 top right, watcher.
I’m not sure what you mean…I don’t see anything at top right at that time stamp
Way too many people trying to chase these storms with little to no experience that’s how you get people killed getting in the way if you haven’t seen a traffic jam with tornado in front of you 😂
That's become more of an issue these days, to be honest - you can find a number of videos from relatively inexperienced chasers from this last season who got impacted by tornadoes, simply by making poor choices
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
1080p, huh? Isn't 1080p usually kinda sharp? :P Next time wipe the vaseline off the lens.
Depends on the camera, I guess - have you been to the opticians recently for a check-up? ;)
Thanks for your constructive comment, nonetheless!
NoICE
Reed Timmer watch and learn 😂