Surviving an EF5, Video from inside the Greensberg tornado

OK,
Let me try to explain something here to clear things up a bit. I am not trying to be misleading in any way.

The night of Greensberg we were certain we were in either RFD or inflow. The video shows us saying this over and over. The next day we chased into the area and saw the major damage along the exact route we were on the night before. Then we saw the velocity maps and the tracking maps. What we now believe is that we were in the area of the circulation that turned over 183. It was most likely dieing out at this time. If we could discuss this and share what we have, then we may be able to ALL figure it out.....

We have 2 parts to the video. One is of the chase with an HD cam in the back of the van which shows our every move. This cam shows the major cross winds (RFD? Inflow? circulation?) from the west.

The second part is of the city. I asked a member to bring his pro model camera to light up the areas me and the other pro firefighter on the team worked.

I am sorry if it is being portrayed that I or any member is looking for fame and glory out of this. That is truly not the case. I would like to get MY story out to help get those who deserve recougnition, get it!! I have worked hard since the hight of the disaster to get many firefighters and other chasers recougnized for their part in helping out. As a carear firefighter and lead instructor I am in a position to make this happen. The video will help make this happen.

When I made the name of the thread up I was still very shook up from the disaster. If I need to change the name of the thread then I will look into it.

WHEN you see the video you will know my intentions in the city. I had only one thing on my mind and it was to help out in any way I could. The team did exactly what I asked them to do and I am sorry if I keep saying I am proud of them but I am.

I can name the heros I saw that night... I have been a professional firefighter on VERY busy companies for many, many years. I know heros when I see them. There were plenty there that night and I was lucky to be there with them...
 
How is this video going to make that happen?? I mean you won't be able to see anything.

I think if the NWS says, don't punch cores at night, especially if it's tornadic and has a large wedge on the ground, then someone with common sense will probably not do it.

Your video will do nothing more than make YOU look like a "yahoo" for relying on wx worx, which is KNOWN to have a 10 minute delay and punching through a core.

Most would have never punched that core at night, and I definitely wouldn't have admitted to Stormtrack that I drove through an EF 5 and survived.

What about the victims? You claim to care about the victims, but you are boasting on a public forum that you "survived."

I guess I am just not seeing your point, or if it's valid at all. Video of wind at night, is not going to help train anyone, even if it WAS RFD or tornadic winds, which you are still not sure of, and probably will never know.
 
Sorry Dick,
I can't argue with you about this anymore.... I guess you will have to waite and see what you can see and then realize we knew better than to rely on the Threat NEt.....

Like I said before, Whipping post......
 
I'll stand corrected, if someone within the profession can claim your tornadic winds. And before you go claiming whipping post, read your post a little ways up about calling me a yahoo. As most of my chasing friends know, that I am only a yahoo at heart.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just a thought but perhaps the media etc. should just strongly consider not even showing video to the public of any tornado footage taken from less than like 1/4 of a mile away. Most footage closer than that doesnt show much detail and even when it does ot gives others "bad ideas" of either wanting to chase too closely or at night especially for those wanting to start as newbies. It can also just make chasers look reckless and selfish. I know crap happens and we cant avoid it.....but we can also monitor ourselves in deciding what to and not to show to the public. I still think how Amos and his gang handled their situation this year was AMAZING. Those are chasers who "GET IT".
As for weather worx. It is amazingly handy as it updates every 5 minutes....but it can be finicky and also does not show true supercell characteristics very well at all. We just need a better radar that updates at least every 5 minutes and works without internet or we need something that keeps you connected to the net een if your in the freakin Amazon. Its coming.....;-) Soon we will have radar pop up on our windshied that you can see through connected to the net.......thats my wish anyways lol

As for chasing at night....once the sun goes down....I go into lightning photography mode as tornadoes in the dark are hard to see....hence why they call it NIGHT.
 
Randy, thank you for participating in this thread, and sharing your experiences. I'm sure most readers 'get' the idea behind your thread's title, and appreciate the data and post-mortem analysis you and others have supplied. :cool:

-Greg
 
Last edited:
Im curious about a couple of things.
1. Did you (MESO) loose any windows to your vehicle? Refering to the 120 mph winds that you claim to have been through. Seems like 120mph winds will do significant damage to a vehicle...
2. I think that before you start selling the video claiming to be inside an EF5 tornado that you might want to have an expert (NWS, OU SOM) look at the video.
3. You will probably be able to pass this off as video from inside, whether it was or not, for a couple of reasons: 1 IT WAS DARK. 2 IT WAS DARK.

Look i know that your intentions are probably good but it is probably not a good idea to make such historic claims and not provide any real evidence for nearly 3 weeks now backing up your story... Im glad you guys helped out, but maybe its time to realize what exactly happened and get on with it.. Calling other forum posters "YAHOOS" when they question you, really seems to only damage your credibility. I will be the first to admit im wrong if and when we get to see the video and there is sufficent evidence that it actually was the TOR, but until then ??????????
 
Look i know that your intentions are probably good but it is probably not a good idea to make such historic claims and not provide any real evidence for nearly 3 weeks now backing up your story... Im glad you guys helped out, but maybe its time to realize what exactly happened and get on with it.. Calling other forum posters "YAHOOS" when they question you, really seems to only damage your credibility. I will be the first to admit im wrong if and when we get to see the video and there is sufficent evidence that it actually was the TOR, but until then ??????????[/quote]


i agree 100%
 
Greensberg

I was just keeping to myself reading this post, but a few names came up that I recognized, and decided to get into the thread. I could honestly care less about the media and this debate, and I really don't want to be known by MANY chasers, and I'm not for most part. Hey Dick, remember me? Anyway, I vented to Carl V who doesn't know me from Adam.. Sorry Vern.

Anyway, my chase partner and I were raceing to get to Greensberg before I lost signal with my verizon card. The last thing we knew, was the storm was supposed to clip the east of Greensberg. I wanted to get there in a hurry. We were on 54 heading East. We ended up driving into part of it, and the front end of my car got damage from fencing being blown across the road. My chase partner and I started to freak out because all we had was a scanner, and my Ham radio had blown a fuse earlier. My verizon card lost signal for my laptop. So this was like a bad movie or something. Our last report was from the NWS saying what mile marker it was at, and that the storm turned north.

Now I have never seen an F5 before, and I didn't see this one. It was wrapped in rain, and were getting beat with hail very badly. All we saw were power flashes and all we could do was sit helpless on 54 due to debris, rain, and hail. A cop pulled up behind us after it passed, and we both went into town together. We didn't realize how close we were.

When we entered town, I started to shoot video. NO ONE was there. No MESO, NO ONE. Well a few mexican truck drivers who's trucks were blown over. We drove to the other end of town with the officer and helped the pumper who JUST pulled in start incident command. My chaser buddy is a firefighter with CJC in eastern Jackson county Mo. He knew the ropes and beleive it or not the fire crew listened.

We then caught word that the police/Fire HQ had people trapped. As we started after the police/fire folks MESO drove in and around. They didn't look like they were doing much at the time we were there. We went to police/fire HQ, and went into the basement. NO one was trapped, but people did have broken bones, and a baby was hurt. I could go on and on, but I knew a thread like this would come.

Anyway, there was a thread where someone said they rescued a women out of her basement. Well if you are reading this, do you recall if you saw a guy flagging down a chopper with a flash light? that's how few people were there. So for Meso to say, "Uh, we were first in, look at how great we are", I never met you.

Now there was a chaser helping me pull a nurse out of her basement. If your reading this, I'm sorry for yelling at you because I know you will remember me. You were standing on her back. Anyway, that's my blerb. I let a few out on this forum every now and then, but this is the most so far. My video is on YOUTUBE. It is called Greensberg Tornado Aftermath by AKAThunderhead.

Now I'm not looking for credit or anything, so don't piss me off by flaiming me or critiqing me, or whatever. I just wanted to post my two cents thats all. Well, more like 50 cents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top