Springfield, MA Tornado Damage

[NickSeyour]

I have never seen anything like this. Went to Springfield today not knowing what to expect. Here is the video I took of the damage and destruction in the area. Watch video >

Hope you guys enjoy!

 

[John Vandehei]

I came across a video of a parking lot surveillance camera that got footage of the tornado. I found it interesting because you can see pedestrians walking through the lot only about two minutes before the tornado hits. Presumably they made it inside to safety. However, about a minute before it hits, a car enters the lot looking for a parking spot. The car parks, then as the winds start to increase, the driver appears to sense trouble (possibly seeing the tornado?). With the tornado almost upon it, options for shelter rapidly diminish. The car moves from its relative open parking space to one between two other cars. Shortly after, the tornado hits, with debris flying around and the cars in the lot being shifted slightly. I does appear that the driver did escape injury. You have to wonder how often of an occurrence is this; people just going about their business being caught unaware of a tornado heading their way.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Nice capture of a subvortex beginning at about 1:25 in that surveillance video. Looks like perhaps leading and trailing inflow jets merged into a vortex right over that puddle of water. That'd be nice to see in a slower motion.