These two tornado seasons were by far some of the deadliest and most notorious. We had the Outbreak from April 14th to April 16th in the Carolinas and Virginia and then the Super Outbreak from April 25th to April 28th. Then in May of 2011 there was the tornado outbreak from May 21st to May 26th.
Time doesn't slow down that's for sure. Years seem to pass faster the older you get because the passing of one year compared to your whole life constantly is a smaller ratio, ie faster. Turning from 2 to 3 is the same as turning 20 to 30... same ratios 😮
The deadliest years for tornadoes .. climate change was a prime example of what was to come for generations of our lives. The 2011 Super Outbreak to this day still teaches all of us a most valuable lesson on warnings and signs about severe weather and the technology we now have
Timeline: Tornado Touch Down. 58:23 Tempest Tours group & Other Storm Chasers flee south on S Fort Reno Rd. 1:00:40 Storm Chaser Aaron Tuttle intercepts tornado. 1:06:43 Brandon Sullivan and Brett Wright hit by tornado, vehicle damaged by debris. 1:07:32 Mike Bettes does his final report before being hit by tornado. 1:09:39 Dan Robinson makes escape route on Reuter Rd E. 1:12:04 Richard Henderson attempts to escape the tornado, but does not make it, snapping a photo just before his death. 1:13:07 TWC Crew hit by tornado. 1:15:35 TWISTEX Crew Overtaken by tornado, with Tim Samaras saying "We're going to die" over the radio. 1:16:39 Tornado hits max wind-speed at 300 MPH. 1:17:33 Emily Sutton nearly caught in the tornado. 1:18:23 TWC Notices Mike Bettes & Crew are potentially in the tornado 1:21:54 Tornado Emergency declared for the OKC Metro. 1:24:02 Tornado crossing I-44. 1:28:46 Tornado dissipates just north of I-44. 1:38:47 Flooding begins in OKC Metro, and massive car jams form on I-240, I-35 due to social media advising citizens on the road to go south. 2:04:06 You can reply to this comment if there are some inaccuracies.
2013 was confined to the second half of May and that's it, and for the most part to central Oklahoma, and that's it. 2013 overall doesn't hold a candle to 2 years earlier, in 2011. 2011, you had Joplin, Tuscaloosa, Smithville, Hackleburg and Phil Campbell, the Raleigh area in mid-April (Sanford, North Carolina). You also had another forgotten El Reno tornado rated EF-5. It's forgotten because it was overshadowed by Joplin, which occurred two days earlier and the 2013 El Reno. RIP TWISTEX team.
The only two noteworthy tornadoes of 2013 aside from the ones in Moore and El Reno, Oklahoma are the EF-4 tornadoes that struck Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 10th and Washington, Illinois on November 17th. What is so surprising about the Hattiesburg tornado is that no fatalities occurred and only eighty-two people were injured. The tornado badly damaged or destroyed numerous businesses and vehicles on Hardy Street and Oak Grove Road in downtown Hattiesburg along with damaging or destroying many homes in residential areas of the city and damaging residence halls on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Fortunately not many students or faculty members of USM were on campus that Sunday as they had gone to New Orleans, Louisiana for Mardi Gras weekend. Plus, the coverage by local meteorologists helped to discourage residents of Hattiesburg from leaving their homes for Sunday evening church services. Mississippi is part of the Bible Belt; so they take their church attendance seriously. With regards to the Washington, Illinois tornado; blessedly none of the churches in Washington were hit by the tornado. This was especially fortunate for Sunnyland Christian Church as the city's mayor Gary Manier was attending services at Sunnyland.
I don’t understand how people are this obsessed with tornadoes that they have to tell you every detail. No one cares. Tornadoes are dangerous and obviously they need to be respected but we don’t need to hear every single detail about how a season went, 2013 was a historic year, compared apples to oranges
At least Mike Bettes realized from his utterly nightmarish experience with the 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado that no footage or report of a tornado is worth losing his life. Though I admit to having been shocked when watching the immediate aftermath of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado seeing Mike Bettes breaking down sobbing on air while covering the immediate aftermath of the storm for The Weather Channel outside of St. John's Regional Medical Center. Though what made me smile and believe in the good of humanity is that following the disaster Mike had adopted a Golden Retriever from the Joplin tornado and named her Joplyn. Aww!
Mike Bettes telling Greg Forbes that he's going south is the biggest mistake he mase that day. Of course, he didn't know that the tornado would pick up speed and basically head straight for him. El Reno broke all the rules.
Didn't break rules really, just reminded us that tornadoes can and will change direction at any time and that the tornado isn't always fully visible (this storm was much wider than the visible funnel)
Thing is, if it had actually been over a populated area like OKC, there would be no doubt that it would have caused EF5 damage. By sheer luck, it went over mostly grassland, and even then, it killed 8 people. Imagine how many people would have died if this thing hit OKC.
@@vibrantgleam Yes, he survived as did his colleague Brad Reynolds. Another colleague of his by the name of Austin Anderson was badly injured in this accident with a broken neck.
I'm still perplexed as to why Mike & his team risked it all, and chose to drive south into the path of it. The storm had already shown signs of unpredictability. I figured they would've turned north, through some hail but away from the tornado.
I was born in Oklahoma and lived there until I went into the service in 1965. I came back to try again several times. I love Oklahoma but I can't live there now. I got tired of the Spring storms. I left in forever in 2003 and never looked back. I live in the southwest desert now and watch the tornados on TH-cam.
A few key lessons from the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado on May 31st, 2013 is that no footage, report or data is ever worth losing your life and there will always be more storms to chase.
You might also find this synchronised video of the tornado forming on the West side of Joplin interesting too. th-cam.com/video/ZsLfonogKkY/w-d-xo.html
I'm all the way in Tennessee and remember watching this live especially around 1:21:47 and being able to breathe again at 1:24:14 after thinking I just watched someone die on air.
Watching it again, after reading book about Tim Samaras, and rewatched Reed Timmer's Tornado Chasers "Nemesis" episodes - they put exact locations of Dominators as they chased this storm, and I realized that they actually were not far behind Twistex team. At some point, Dominator's hood was ripped off by power lines and they had to abandon the chase and turn around - in a way, it saved their lives, because if they had continued ahead, they could've ended up in same situation as Twistex as they were really not far behind.
Something I dont understand is, if you make a csr or truck into a Tornado "hunt" vehicle - why not fit a roll cage into the car? Its not that expensive, and can without a doubt save your life.. well, just something I have thought about many, many times.. stay safe guys 🙏 and take care 🙂
@@Raya-ir4tmim not blaming anyone, I just Wonder why People dont do that, if they chase tornadoes- there is a chance of getting hit.. so why not try and be as safe as possible 🤷♂️
@@viggy6758 well, yes and No, just a Cage in the car, no need to make it like a dominator or the TIV .. I Mean the People Who chase every season, in normal cars they use for chasing only, if they put in a roll cage the car can roll around and still maintain structure..
The driver of the Tornado Hunt SUV actually sued TWC after this happened for not giving them better protective equipment. It was settled out of court I believe. That being said, after this event along with the Twistex deaths, corporate media began to be a little more careful when treating severe weather as entertainment.
Because unless you're going to fit harnesses and wear a helmet at all times, it can be more dangerous to drive a caged car on the street because of the fact that if you get into an accident and you're not wearing a helmet your head can get bounced off the cage
Does anyone knows if there is full length live coverage from the channel (kfor or something) Reed Timmer was working for in that season? I could only find short 1-2 minute long snippets, but not full length coverage like this one Never mind - I didn't know this channel also included reports from KFOR-4 channel.
So wild. The tornado went south of the El-Reno airport. Reed was on the road between the tornado and the airport. I fully believe God saved Reed's life that day. A power pole was knocked down in front of the dominator and they had to stop. Only a couple of mins after they stopped is when the tornado rapidly expanded to 2.5mi wide and accelerated to a ground speed of over 50mph. The tornado would've also killed him and his team if not for that power pole.
I can remember when i watching this live. It was pretty crazy not knowing about Mike Bettis and really crazy after finding out too... Now days i only watch TH-cam during weather events. Sorry TWC! Really should think about starting something like Ryan Hall or Max Velocity or any live streaming chase for the cord cutters.
They used to do that about 10 or 11 years ago and stopped sometime after this incident happened. It was live tornado streaming from different chasers and the car that was rolled took part in it along with lots of others and then this happened with those chasers getting injured and killed, and a little while later, they quit doing it.
The El Reno, Oklahoma tornado occurred on May 31st, 2013; a Friday. I was attending my high school graduation ceremony that day even though I live in Ohio. While I was having the time of my life the people of central Oklahoma were enduring Hell on Earth.
In 2023 on 1-25-23 I saw something unreal a tornado touched down in freezing temperatures Are you kidding me tornadoes don't happen in cold weather. None the less I filmed that. This 2013 outbreak I was in Northeast central Oklahoma north of Tulsa. Largest tornado in the world El Reno. The one I filmed freezing my B off I wasn't looking for a tornado for sure but I filmed that in Bartlesville not far from Osage county.
Little Skippy constantly asking "So what's THAT?!" This is emergency weather coverage, not a learning opportunity. Stop mansplaning everything and let Dr. Forbes tell the viewers where the tornado is.
This level of tornado doesn't typically happen, even in Oklahoma. I've lived here my whole life and only had a couple tornadoes even come close to me, none of them even close to this big. I probably wouldn't live in the OKC area, but the rest of Oklahoma doesn't really get hit this hard.
I can't believe it's been 10 years already. 2011-2013 Tornado seasons were something else.
These two tornado seasons were by far some of the deadliest and most notorious. We had the Outbreak from April 14th to April 16th in the Carolinas and Virginia and then the Super Outbreak from April 25th to April 28th. Then in May of 2011 there was the tornado outbreak from May 21st to May 26th.
I was watching the weather channel throughout all of these outbreaks.
Time doesn't slow down that's for sure. Years seem to pass faster the older you get because the passing of one year compared to your whole life constantly is a smaller ratio, ie faster. Turning from 2 to 3 is the same as turning 20 to 30... same ratios 😮
The deadliest years for tornadoes .. climate change was a prime example of what was to come for generations of our lives. The 2011 Super Outbreak to this day still teaches all of us a most valuable lesson on warnings and signs about severe weather and the technology we now have
@Tonysopranoyafinooksurvival of the fittest
Timeline:
Tornado Touch Down. 58:23
Tempest Tours group & Other Storm Chasers flee south on S Fort Reno Rd. 1:00:40
Storm Chaser Aaron Tuttle intercepts tornado. 1:06:43
Brandon Sullivan and Brett Wright hit by tornado, vehicle damaged by debris. 1:07:32
Mike Bettes does his final report before being hit by tornado. 1:09:39
Dan Robinson makes escape route on Reuter Rd E. 1:12:04
Richard Henderson attempts to escape the tornado, but does not make it, snapping a photo just before his death. 1:13:07
TWC Crew hit by tornado. 1:15:35
TWISTEX Crew Overtaken by tornado, with Tim Samaras saying "We're going to die" over the radio. 1:16:39
Tornado hits max wind-speed at 300 MPH. 1:17:33
Emily Sutton nearly caught in the tornado. 1:18:23
TWC Notices Mike Bettes & Crew are potentially in the tornado 1:21:54
Tornado Emergency declared for the OKC Metro. 1:24:02
Tornado crossing I-44. 1:28:46
Tornado dissipates just north of I-44. 1:38:47
Flooding begins in OKC Metro, and massive car jams form on I-240, I-35 due to social media advising citizens on the road to go south. 2:04:06
You can reply to this comment if there are some inaccuracies.
I think this was the event that caused Mike Bettis to retire from storm chasing and ride the anchor desk full time at TWC.
Thx for taking the time to detail this.,. Well done. 👍🏼
Thank you very much for uploading this. I syncronized this to real time and relived the entire event. It felt like it was actually happening again.
Super appreciated that you have archived this important event. Many thanks for your channel 👍
Is it me or do I like to binge watch tornado coverage? Also this was a week after our most recent EF5 tornado to hit the US and possibly the world.
2013 was confined to the second half of May and that's it, and for the most part to central Oklahoma, and that's it. 2013 overall doesn't hold a candle to 2 years earlier, in 2011. 2011, you had Joplin, Tuscaloosa, Smithville, Hackleburg and Phil Campbell, the Raleigh area in mid-April (Sanford, North Carolina). You also had another forgotten El Reno tornado rated EF-5. It's forgotten because it was overshadowed by Joplin, which occurred two days earlier and the 2013 El Reno. RIP TWISTEX team.
The only two noteworthy tornadoes of 2013 aside from the ones in Moore and El Reno, Oklahoma are the EF-4 tornadoes that struck Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 10th and Washington, Illinois on November 17th. What is so surprising about the Hattiesburg tornado is that no fatalities occurred and only eighty-two people were injured. The tornado badly damaged or destroyed numerous businesses and vehicles on Hardy Street and Oak Grove Road in downtown Hattiesburg along with damaging or destroying many homes in residential areas of the city and damaging residence halls on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Fortunately not many students or faculty members of USM were on campus that Sunday as they had gone to New Orleans, Louisiana for Mardi Gras weekend. Plus, the coverage by local meteorologists helped to discourage residents of Hattiesburg from leaving their homes for Sunday evening church services. Mississippi is part of the Bible Belt; so they take their church attendance seriously. With regards to the Washington, Illinois tornado; blessedly none of the churches in Washington were hit by the tornado. This was especially fortunate for Sunnyland Christian Church as the city's mayor Gary Manier was attending services at Sunnyland.
I don’t understand how people are this obsessed with tornadoes that they have to tell you every detail. No one cares. Tornadoes are dangerous and obviously they need to be respected but we don’t need to hear every single detail about how a season went, 2013 was a historic year, compared apples to oranges
And it didn’t take over 1000 tornadoes for 2013 to be historic. So your argument holds no weight.
I remember watching this whole broadcast as a 10 yr old. Now I'm 20
That was a whole life time ago for you 😂
Dang so you were only half as old as you are now
7 for me.
Thank you for posting this, I’ve been looking for this coverage and Joplin for years
3:10:45 I think thats the semi that the storm shelter Daniel shaw got hit by and had to use as cover on I40 from the El Reno tornado
They were taking this storm fairly lightly at first, and then BOOM!! Just goes to show how unpredictable these storms can be.
I watched this live as it happened, was a sophomore in high school. So glad Mike was okay
At least Mike Bettes realized from his utterly nightmarish experience with the 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado that no footage or report of a tornado is worth losing his life. Though I admit to having been shocked when watching the immediate aftermath of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado seeing Mike Bettes breaking down sobbing on air while covering the immediate aftermath of the storm for The Weather Channel outside of St. John's Regional Medical Center. Though what made me smile and believe in the good of humanity is that following the disaster Mike had adopted a Golden Retriever from the Joplin tornado and named her Joplyn. Aww!
Mike Bettes telling Greg Forbes that he's going south is the biggest mistake he mase that day. Of course, he didn't know that the tornado would pick up speed and basically head straight for him. El Reno broke all the rules.
Mike Bettes is still considered an absolute dumbass for this stunt in El Reno.
Yea when he says that it gives me chills knowing the future
Didn't break rules really, just reminded us that tornadoes can and will change direction at any time and that the tornado isn't always fully visible (this storm was much wider than the visible funnel)
This was a massive F3 tornado for sure... I remember following this online when it was happening
Thing is, if it had actually been over a populated area like OKC, there would be no doubt that it would have caused EF5 damage. By sheer luck, it went over mostly grassland, and even then, it killed 8 people. Imagine how many people would have died if this thing hit OKC.
@@jimmaloney1121 It would have been the stuff of nightmares and potentially inspire a new horror novel by Stephen King.
@@michaellovely6601 It would've been true Finger of God, according to Preacher
1:09:40 Mike Bettis last interview right before he and his team are caught in the Tornado
And he survived right?
@@vibrantgleam Yes, he survived as did his colleague Brad Reynolds. Another colleague of his by the name of Austin Anderson was badly injured in this accident with a broken neck.
@@michaellovely6601 Omgg..
Then he got on @1:24:13 to say they were ok and not to worry
I'm still perplexed as to why Mike & his team risked it all, and chose to drive south into the path of it. The storm had already shown signs of unpredictability. I figured they would've turned north, through some hail but away from the tornado.
I was born in Oklahoma and lived there until I went into the service in 1965.
I came back to try again several times.
I love Oklahoma but I can't live there now.
I got tired of the Spring storms.
I left in forever in 2003 and never looked back.
I live in the southwest desert now and watch the tornados on TH-cam.
1:24:21 is when Mike Bettes says that their vehicle got hit by the tornado.
As soon as Mike reports that they are going south, the tornado immediately expanded, sped up, and ran right over them.
This tornado was a deviant monster
Well said
A few key lessons from the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado on May 31st, 2013 is that no footage, report or data is ever worth losing your life and there will always be more storms to chase.
Was watching the El reno part live till i had to take shelter all the way up in st louis area a few minutes later from another tornado. Crazy day
What outstanding coverage 👍💯
Do you have coverage video ( local) of the 2011 Joplin tornado?
Someone just uploaded the local coverage of that storm for the first time a few days ago. th-cam.com/video/FagzNHuI5JI/w-d-xo.html
Thanks
You might also find this synchronised video of the tornado forming on the West side of Joplin interesting too.
th-cam.com/video/ZsLfonogKkY/w-d-xo.html
Whats more dangerous in this situation, the amount of drivers who have no idea wtf they're doing or the tornado.
That cop is booking it toward clear sky. Follow him.
You know stuff getting real when you see a radar and Mike Morgan
I'm all the way in Tennessee and remember watching this live especially around 1:21:47 and being able to breathe again at 1:24:14 after thinking I just watched someone die on air.
In a way, so it was, because around that time Twistex was hit, shortly before tornado hit the highway and Mike Bettes' car.
No, after Bettes gets hit at around 1:17:52, and not that truck sitting there.
Watching it again, after reading book about Tim Samaras, and rewatched Reed Timmer's Tornado Chasers "Nemesis" episodes - they put exact locations of Dominators as they chased this storm, and I realized that they actually were not far behind Twistex team. At some point, Dominator's hood was ripped off by power lines and they had to abandon the chase and turn around - in a way, it saved their lives, because if they had continued ahead, they could've ended up in same situation as Twistex as they were really not far behind.
Something I dont understand is, if you make a csr or truck into a Tornado "hunt" vehicle - why not fit a roll cage into the car? Its not that expensive, and can without a doubt save your life.. well, just something I have thought about many, many times.. stay safe guys 🙏 and take care 🙂
@@Raya-ir4tmim not blaming anyone, I just Wonder why People dont do that, if they chase tornadoes- there is a chance of getting hit.. so why not try and be as safe as possible 🤷♂️
You mean kinda like the dominators? Reed had doms 2 & 3 running during this tornado…
@@viggy6758 well, yes and No, just a Cage in the car, no need to make it like a dominator or the TIV .. I Mean the People Who chase every season, in normal cars they use for chasing only, if they put in a roll cage the car can roll around and still maintain structure..
The driver of the Tornado Hunt SUV actually sued TWC after this happened for not giving them better protective equipment. It was settled out of court I believe.
That being said, after this event along with the Twistex deaths, corporate media began to be a little more careful when treating severe weather as entertainment.
Because unless you're going to fit harnesses and wear a helmet at all times, it can be more dangerous to drive a caged car on the street because of the fact that if you get into an accident and you're not wearing a helmet your head can get bounced off the cage
Does anyone knows if there is full length live coverage from the channel (kfor or something) Reed Timmer was working for in that season? I could only find short 1-2 minute long snippets, but not full length coverage like this one
Never mind - I didn't know this channel also included reports from KFOR-4 channel.
Dr Forbes was the best!
So wild. The tornado went south of the El-Reno airport. Reed was on the road between the tornado and the airport. I fully believe God saved Reed's life that day. A power pole was knocked down in front of the dominator and they had to stop. Only a couple of mins after they stopped is when the tornado rapidly expanded to 2.5mi wide and accelerated to a ground speed of over 50mph. The tornado would've also killed him and his team if not for that power pole.
I can remember when i watching this live. It was pretty crazy not knowing about Mike Bettis and really crazy after finding out too... Now days i only watch TH-cam during weather events. Sorry TWC! Really should think about starting something like Ryan Hall or Max Velocity or any live streaming chase for the cord cutters.
They used to do that about 10 or 11 years ago and stopped sometime after this incident happened. It was live tornado streaming from different chasers and the car that was rolled took part in it along with lots of others and then this happened with those chasers getting injured and killed, and a little while later, they quit doing it.
Cool this local broadcast was from my local area, charleston sc (the local weather on the chiron)
45:00 tornado starts up
1:09:53 I remember watching that shot of the El Reno tornado live that day.
Sad thing is i dont remember this happening. I live in sandusky ohio so i remember some bad storms.
I don't know what day of the week this was, but this could've been dangerous if it was graduation season, and it was.
The El Reno, Oklahoma tornado occurred on May 31st, 2013; a Friday. I was attending my high school graduation ceremony that day even though I live in Ohio. While I was having the time of my life the people of central Oklahoma were enduring Hell on Earth.
@@michaellovely6601 That's scary.
Happy anniversary.
There is nothing happy about losing one of the greatest minds in meteorology, stop being an edgy child.
@1:09:35 Mike's last report before he was hit.
1:25:18 “My hands are a lil bloody”
In 2023 on 1-25-23 I saw something unreal a tornado touched down in freezing temperatures Are you kidding me tornadoes don't happen in cold weather. None the less I filmed that. This 2013 outbreak I was in Northeast central Oklahoma north of Tulsa. Largest tornado in the world El Reno. The one I filmed freezing my B off I wasn't looking for a tornado for sure but I filmed that in Bartlesville not far from Osage county.
im afraid of the torndado
🙏🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Little Skippy constantly asking "So what's THAT?!" This is emergency weather coverage, not a learning opportunity. Stop mansplaning everything and let Dr. Forbes tell the viewers where the tornado is.
Samuel l Jackson got paid
Anybody wanna live in moore O.K. ???
🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀😈🌀🌀🌀🌀
sux the last day of the tornado hunt...no reason to quit it..because of one tornado ..
STOP LIVING IN OKLAHOMA!
Stop typing in all caps.
*_*packs up entire existence to magically teleport out of oklahoma*_*
LMAO
Mmmm...no. We like it here!
This level of tornado doesn't typically happen, even in Oklahoma. I've lived here my whole life and only had a couple tornadoes even come close to me, none of them even close to this big. I probably wouldn't live in the OKC area, but the rest of Oklahoma doesn't really get hit this hard.