2026-04-14 EVENT: IA, IL, WI, MO, KS, OK, TX

[Brian R.]

Had a very impressive lightning show, almost non stop lightning from around 10:15 until 2 am with insane amounts of rain on the nort side of the metro Chicago area.

 

[Randy Zipser]

Here is an X post from Brandon Clement of WX Chasing showing a drone view of the Wyoming, IA tornado yesterday:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2044218230126842334

 

[Kristian K]

This here is the EF2 in Sussex Wisconsin, it was completely rain wrapped, the photo was just north of the tornado, taken around 6:23 pm, I considered this to be the first tornado I’ve ever seen, we had to take shelter right after this photo was taken. Also my main question: is this a tornado pic?

 

[William Monfredo]

If it was completely rain-wrapped,
then you did not see it, and the picture is but a storm.
I agreed with what was posted on the shout box in March:
" Skip Talbot: Re: Your first tornado. I always thought your first time should be special, or at least a time when you know that you're definitively looking at a tornado and can experience all the emotions that that evokes. Something you can show your friends and family and they're like oh wow. I feel bad when newcomers have this bird fart dust whirl or scuddy grey maybenado, and they're like that was my first. Maybe just think of that as a tantalizing tease, building up to getting your actual first tornado."

 

[Kristian K]

If it was completely rain-wrapped,
then you did not see it, and the picture is but a storm.
I agreed with what was posted on the shout box in March:
" Skip Talbot: Re: Your first tornado. I always thought your first time should be special, or at least a time when you know that you're definitively looking at a tornado and can experience all the emotions that that evokes. Something you can show your friends and family and they're like oh wow. I feel bad when newcomers have this bird fart dust whirl or scuddy grey maybenado, and they're like that was my first. Maybe just think of that as a tantalizing tease, building up to getting your actual first tornado."

I mean, it wasn’t fully wrapped in rain, what do you think? here’s another photo I took 5 minutes before that one

 

[Kristian K]

I mean, it wasn’t fully wrapped in rain, what do you think? here’s another photo I took 5 minutes before that oneView attachment 29064

Plus, tornadoes sometimes won’t have a condensation funnel at all

 

[Kristian K]

another thing, I don’t really seen any other media on this tornado that was taken at the time it was on the ground, so it’s probably the best angle of it or in fact the only picture of it existing

Plus, tornadoes sometimes won’t have a condensation funnel at all

 

[Kristian K]

I’m guessing this chat’s dead I guess

 

[Boris Konon]

Try adjusting the contrast/brightness of the photo. Sometimes this will reveal the outline of the tornado not discernible to the naked eye.

 

[Kristian K]

Try adjusting the contrast/brightness of the photo. Sometimes this will reveal the outline of the tornado not discernible to the naked eye.

How’s this?

 

[Luke Penney]

@Kristian K , I can't see anything in the photos that I can make out as a tornado, so I wouldn't count it.

It is sometimes possible to determine a tornado after the fact: Last month, I caught a clear funnel, but I couldn't see whether it reached the ground from where I was. By carefully comparing against other chasers' footage, I was able to determine that at the time I was watching it there was a debris cloud at the ground, so it was an actual tornado. That does require the carefully mapping of timings, and you need a way to ensure that the thing you saw was the tornado itself, rather than some other feature - I know from personal experience that it's easy to notice cone-shaped clouds that don't reach to anything on the ground.

Boris's suggestion was a good one; by fiddling with things like contrast, saturation, and warm/cold balance, I've been able to distinguish features that weren't clear in photos beforehand. But the tornado does actually need to be in view for that - if rain totally blocked the path to see the tornado, no amount of photo-editing would reveal it.