Guy gets way too close to Illinois Tornado

[Ben Holcomb]

This is one of the craziest videos I have ever seen. This guy gets insanely close to the tornadoes in Illinois the other day along I-39.

 

[Jeff Duda]

DGAF, Russia style.

Also, much like the Salina EF4 from 14 April 2012, you can see air parcels condense as they horizontally approach the tornado from the right. Cool stuff.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I saw an aerial image posted on Twitter that showed the tornado actually made a small wobble to the right at this exact moment, sparing the guy's life. If it had continued in a straight path, he would have been inside the core flow.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

That guy should play the lottery, he's very lucky

Even saying it at the beginning of the video that he doesn't know which way the tornado is coming or which way he needs to go to get out of the way. The minute you realize that you need to take your escape route. You lost your situational awareness

Great video nonetheless but no video is worth your life

 

[Greg Campbell]

Sam seems eerily calm. Does this fellow fully appreciate what a big tornado can do to a car and its inhabitants?

That said, I greatly appreciate the complete lack of screaming, swearing, and other selfish drama.

(edit)
After thinking about this unusual video a bit more, I can't decide if Sam is the luckiest, dumbest fool on the planet, or the greatest Zen Master in the history of storm chasing.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

Sam seems eerily calm. Does this fellow fully appreciate what a big tornado can do to a car and its inhabitants?

This was also a red flag, I noticed that as well


After thinking about this unusual video a bit more, I can't decide if Sam is the luckiest, dumbest fool on the planet, or the greatest Zen Master in the history of storm chasing.

I vote Zen Master

 

[Greg Campbell]

Or perhaps he's not a chaser at all. Maybe just a Completely Clueless Joe - with one heck of a xanax habit - in the wrong place at the wrong time?

 

[workhard2121]

Wow... speechless with this one. Amazing video, luckiest man ever to catch it and that it did not go right over him.

 

[Mike Marz]

My neck is sore from tilting my head to the right. Peake has nothing on this guy.... OK, but in all seriousness... WOW...He remained extremely calm. I'm pretty sure he isn't a chaser, simply a guy driving on that highway. I can't imagine the discussion from the weather community about this one. Although this was just a case of extreme luck, and it's really not funny, I honestly couldn't help but grin at his commentary and how calm he remained.

 

[Drew Terril]

The calm says military, but the indecision tells me that if he is/was military, he isn't/wasn't combat arms. We were trained to keep moving if we got hit, as movement (especially for us Cav types), is our friend. I've seen very few civilians keep that kind of calm in that kind of situation.

 

[Justin Wilcox]

He could have been seriously injured if he wasnt underneath the overpass. The "ghost train" was blocked right?

 

[Jessie Schafer]

The calm says military, but the indecision tells me that if he is/was military, he isn't/wasn't combat arms. We were trained to keep moving if we got hit, as movement (especially for us Cav types), is our friend. I've seen very few civilians keep that kind of calm in that kind of situation.

Combat engineer here, he's probably an 88M, solid driver but when something happens IVO the front of the vehicle they stop and wait for us to get there [emoji4]

 

[Rick Schmidt]

What struck me more than the tornado itself is the stupidity of the videographer. I think he was so calm because he had no idea what he was doing. IMO, he was trying to do what he sees in the media, and he almost got his wish......them reporting on his death. I have been chasing for 35 years, and would never consider getting that close.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I think he was just average joe that along the way saw a tornado then wanted to get a closer look. One of his first statements is "the things I will do for insight" and you hear a kids voice several times in the video. He didn't act as if he had any experience or even knowledge of what might happen if he got hit. Lucky guy, that Sam is.

 

[JeremyS]

I think he was just an average guy too(not a chaser), that didn't know what he was doing and also apparently didn't realize the gravity of the situation. Some of the things he said just gave me the opinion he really didn't know what a tornado could do to him and his vehicle. Heck he didn't even know if he should at least duck down. Very lucky guy indeed!