I’ve witnessed two very large and very destructive EF4 tornadoes first hand. I find them to be the to be the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve never experienced a tsunami, but that would rank up there as well. It’s impossible to understand the power of a tornado until you’ve been directly in the path of one with no opportunity to evacuate. The scariest one occurred near Saint Peter, MN in the late 1990s, and it was an absolute grizzly bear of a storm. The first really unsettling event was stepping outside and seeing a yin/yang cloud structure stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions. On one side the sky was sunny and gorgeous, and then it was the coming of Armageddon. There was no transition whatsoever into a single solid wall of dark black storm cloud. It looked like the world would end, and I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen anything so threatening or so energetic. As I drove onward towards my destination, I estimated that I could get home before any really bad weather occurred. The radio suddenly began blaring a message from the NWS that a strong tornado had touched down roughly 25 miles directly in front of me. I realized that my path was going to take me under the black blanket of storm cloud for several miles and that I would be increasingly more in danger of encountering the funnel cloud the deeper under this black cap of clouds I went. The NWS reported that the funnel cloud was actively traveling at approximately 39mph N/NE direction and heavy damage was reported. I was still heading directly into this thing’s path, but I felt I’d be fine. As I drove onward I noticed after roughly ten minutes that the wind was increasing rapidly and that it was definitely changing its trajectory. My car was becoming occasionally difficult to handle, then more and more so as the winds picked up. Five minutes into this wind buffeting me from everywhere I received a panic inducing blast of wind on my car’s left side that was not stopping. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that getting out of the car to seek shelter was not a viable option. I was on pancake flat terrain with not even a storm swale to get low into. I noticed that, as the rain began to pour harder and more intensely, the wind was at a very concerning speed that debris was moving through the field of vision in front and to the right of me. This tornado was right in front of me, maybe a mile and a half away. The debris in the air began to suggest an outline or profile edge of the tornado, but it was very much rain wrapped. Then, at one point, the profile became clear, and I was literally frozen in fear. It was absolutely filling my field of vision to the front and right of me. What never leaves my mind is that I could still see the gorgeous, clear weather I veered away from many miles back, and the stark blackness that I was facing into. It was surreal. This massive, monstrous, unimaginably powerful monster was bearing down too fast and I had driven right into its path because I couldn’t see it. By the grace of God, or dumb luck, the intensity of the storm quelled as it moved off to the north on my right hand side. I was facing roughly due west. I could see things flying through the air, big things, and my car was being pummeled by smaller detritus. I was in an area of essentially open farm acreage for miles, with the occasional barn and farmhouse. I realized that I was seeing someone’s farm flying through the air at 250+ mph., and it was a sobering feeling. My car was threatening to be torn from the ground and suddenly I felt the buffeting ease and the car settling back onto the pavement. This thing had missed me by a football field. One hundred yards, maximum. The radio was still blaring the siren and the voice was calmly speaking information about the violent tornado and damaging winds and shelter now and this town and that town was directly in its path and on and on. I continued toward home when I knew it was safe to go and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Telephone and A/C transmission lines were strewn around like silly string at a birthday party, and the poles were lying flat, all pointed in the same direction. Not one was left standing along the highway and rural off roads. Thankfully, my town was spared. The tornado hadn’t come near it, but for dozens of miles there was a swath of disturbed soil cutting through the vast farmland and fields easily visible from the ground. That storm was extraordinarily powerful and it was absolutely huge. The scale of measly human to EF4 wedge tornado can’t be imagined. It’s like God’s wrath is directly in front of you. It fills the field of vision. It’s literally all you can see. I have the utmost respect and fear for what these things can do. and they can appear without warning from what seems to be a strong thunderstorm that you’ve been through a thousand times, no big deal. Houses were gone. Just gone, without a trace of their existence. That’s a family’s everything. Photographs, legal documents, priceless family heirlooms, favorite teddy bears, the dining room table somebody found for fifty bucks and restored to a beautiful piece to leave for the kids, that thing you hid so well and was so clever of you to think of,,,,all of that just swept who knows where, into another county in some cases. Seeing a massive tidal wave coming at me is probably the only thing that could scare me more than that wedge tornado literally within deer shooting range of me, and I was not going to get away. I was a goner, and it was just as much a fact as the nose on my face. It scared me like a child gets scared when a mean neighborhood dog gets loose and squares up with him for the first time. That’s all natural honest to God terror, for the uninitiated, lol.
I'm glad you're okay and that sounds terrifying! But I do gotta say that was pretty stupid of you to know you were heading towards its path and just think "ehh I'll be fine". Perhaps you underestimated the power of a tornado, and surely never will again.
@@Krondelo yep, you nailed it! I was incredibly naive to think that I should take that risk. I won’t make that decision again. Being on the losing end of that bet was nearly the last mistake I ever made.
Hell I went through a small F2 in 1998 when I was 10 years old and I felt helpless dread and was terrified of every thunderstorm after for 2 years. Yeah being caught up in one is an experience for sure, mine wasn't even that bad just shook our house a little and ripped shingles off.. it did destroy a brick home across the street though and knock some trees down.
Terry, that was an insane experience! I can’t imagine that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you had seen the tornado barreling right towards you. I’ve never been through a major tornado, only two small, rain-wrapped, EF-1 ones that tore down trees, knocked out power, and lifted roof shingles. I’ve lived in southern New Jersey most of my life, so hurricanes are my biggest terror, of which I lived through two as well. Gloria in 1985 and Sandy in 2012. We lived through Irene as well, but that was high winds and power outages, which were more of a nuisance than a direct threat. Luckily with hurricanes, there are warnings several days in advance. There is time to get out, and save some of your most important things. With tornadoes, there are only minutes of warning and their paths are much more unpredictable than that of hurricanes. I am fascinated by tornadoes, but I don’t really want to see them live beyond the safety of my iPad screen. I mean, maybe a part of me does want to see one firsthand… but after reading your own personal experience with one, and seeing the aftermath of the tornado victims that the storm chasers encounter on screen… I’m glad that I’ve not lived through any part of a live EF-3, EF-4, or EF-5 in all honesty. Like you said, people have things that are woven into their lives and wrapped up within their homes. Things passed down generations. Things that take them to a good memory of a grandparent or other loved one long gone. I know that people say that things are things and can be replaced, but lives cannot. And while that is a truism, most of those people who say such things in retrospect have not lost every-personal-belonging-that-they-own. OR perhaps they have lost everything and have had to convince themselves that their loss is bittersweet by telling themselves such over and over again, because it is the only way to keep their sanity. With Gloria, my grandfather had just inherited his beloved uncle’s home down at Cape May, NJ. The home was at ground level and only one block from the beach. The water and winds decimated everything. He was vomiting behind the remains of his late uncle’s dream home with his childhood memories tied into it and the family heirlooms that had once hung neatly on the walls. I experienced a similar thing with Sandy as an adult. People 10 miles away in Long Beach Island, NJ - they lost everything they had left behind. They returned to empty pilons where their homes once stood next to the bay. It was absolutely surreal and horrifying. Even to this day, over ten years later - there are still abandoned, decimated homes that homeowners just walked away from in despair. Some did not receive enough money from insurance, nor FEMA to rebuild again up to the new codes. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your account merely because it was so well written that I could almost feel your horror and panic as I read it. I’m glad that you are okay and that your house and neighborhood were also spared. Thank you for sharing your story.
Hey everyone! I know I’ve gone for a while been busy collecting footage for my videos, should hopefully be uploading more regularly now. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned. Stay tuned!
Don't get me wrong, Winterset was by far the biggest "surprise" monster of 2022, but I still think the most unexpected EF4 of the current decade belongs to Cookeville IMO. Nocturnal, in a 2% risk, zero warning of it, 19 lives taken. Winterset was another example of "if anything can go wrong, it WILL go wrong" disregarding what the outlooks say.
@@luckynascarcat24 The more reason to give that event a super in-depth study. Event was so random and out-of-nowhere that even specialist had to come in for the damage. It remains to this day the most freak event of the 2020's and MAYBE the 2010's too.
I'm on the east coast and I got my ass handed to me by a nocturnal EF-2 a few years ago. Night tornadoes are awful and should be illegal, nature should go directly to jail for that garbage
@@luckynascarcat24the closest chicago had one was recently and the funnel/rotation went right over the city i think and tornado was flying around the city also
this tornado was awful to live through. radar showed it being directly over my house between norwalk and winterset. i was out of the house and couldn’t get a hold of my family who was at home during the storm. the tornado ended up sweeping a house a mile north from mine. they’ve completely rebuilt now but there’s still trees snapped in half and debris wrapped around the trees by that house. thank you for covering this storm!
This was a terrifying day on the south side of Des Moines. Was not expecting any severe weather that day, so I was caught completely off guard. Thankful for the local NWS Office sending a very strongly worded emergency alert that prompted me to abandon my third floor apartment and flee. Missed my apartment by around 4 miles. Since then I have made sure to pay much closer attention to potential severe weather and have multiple ways to receive alerts. I don’t ever want to be caught off guard by a storm like that again.
@tens9100 Absolutely not. I live in a residential neighborhood on the south side of des moines and this tornado missed us by less than a mile. It was extremely close to hitting multiple neighborhoods near blank park zoo
Awesome documentary Celton! This tornado certainly is unique, especially in terms of the (mostly) non-conducive environment for a tornado of that strength.
I'm a truck driver. I drove through Winterset only 45min before the tornado hit. When I heard the alert come over the weather channels on my CB and checked my phone to see real time updates I couldn't believe a huge tornado hit the town just after I passed through😳
Outstanding production, Celton. If the EF4 had formed just five miles north of Winterset and maintained its 45-degree angle path, the death toll would have been much higher because the path would have taken the tornado through south Des Moines and West Des Moines. Most likely, Valley Junction would have received the worst blow.
I mean, it could be argued that nature keeps trying to tell Valley Junction that it shouldn't exist... The Raccoon River always seems to make a pretty good argument every chance it gets. If I recall correctly, the tornado either hit or came very close to a trailer park in southern Des Moines. That could have been so much worse right there. Trailer homes are death traps in tornadoes. You're literally safer in a car than a trailer home in even a small tornado - and that definitely doesn't mean you're actually _safe_ in a car, just marginally _safer_ than you would be in a trailer home.
@@SadisticSenpai61I don't know if it's appreciated how close.... literally, across the street. Right through the front lawn of the garden store on Indianola Ave and hwy 65/69 south, Earl May's I think? Would have been a massacre had it hit that mobile home park adjacent to Southridge Mall.....
Thank you for this wonderful reporting of this tornado! I remember sheltering in my mother's basement while the tornado passed under the southern part of the Metro area. It was very nice to have an in-depth explanation of this storm. It was definitely unexpected.
This is the best explanation of how a tornado is created. I've watched many educational videos on tornado creation but I must say this is the best explanation
Very nice video as usual. Despite having never seen a tornado I'm equally wary and enamored with them. So quality content like this is the best middle ground for me
I just watched the brave Story of Kuri, one of the Family Members who lost her Mother, Husband and 2 very young Children in their Home. They are mentioned in this Video when it first struck Winterset. Watching this Video after the incredible Interview with Kuri (Insider Edition), it brought a completely different mind set and perhaps, always will. Living in the North East and watching over the years 100's of Tornado Videos, I don't think I will watch one again without bringing to bear the depth of Feeling Kuri expressed in her Video when viewing. Kuri's Interview also makes it far more challenging to watch the Storm Chaser's (particularly Amateurs & Thrill Seekers) when they Whoop & Holler with excitement. While I'm aware that Professional Storm Chasers serve the Community with Safety being their ultimate Goal, I always found these reactions uncomfortable knowing that somewhere the Tornado they are gleeful about is bringing such harm. Now I know for sure and have a Family of Faces to think of. I hope that many who chase these Monsters hear Kuri's Story & do the same.
I remember being shocked hearing about this tornado so early in the year. My wife and I had just sold our house in Winterset less than 3 weeks before and found out the tornado was only about a mile away from it.
I survived the winterset 2022 tornado and here is the story I was playing upstairs with my sister in my room. It was very sunny so we had the windows open. We heard the tornado sirens. We asked your mom what that sound was. She told us to get blankets and stuffed animal then we had a run downstairs to our basement, and the power went out my dad was upstairs. I had to go out there really really quick to do something. I can’t remember what and there was the tornado was two streets away from us? I saw it. I ran downstairs. My house was damaged at all. The houses around the block were ruined. It was a very tragic time and it hit my aunts house. One of their dogs died, but they all stayed alive. and I am proud to say my whole family survived the category four 2022 Winterset tornado.
The tornado passed just south of my house north of Newton. While it was relatively weak at this stage, I remember being on the phone and all the sudden feeling a draft in my house like all the air was being sucked out of it I’ve never felt that before, and I’ve been through countless, severe thunderstorms
Im a Winterset native. I was in Houston tracking the storm and calling home to tell my family to go to the basement. My husband faced timed me showing me a look southwest and saying nothing was happening. Same guy who made fun of me because i prepared the storm shelter before i left on my business trip. This tornado hit our town less than a mile from my house. I knew the people who had their homes destroyed. Heads up, pay attention to the watches and warnings.
My dad was in Iowa that day he called me in the morning saying there’s a thunder storm then I told him there might be a tornado he said ok I’ll head to Nebraska I thought he wouldn’t do it because parents sometimes lie yk but he did and when he was in Nebraska he called me and said I saved his life he was in right the spot where it hit and the place he was in got destroyed and he would of stayed there for a day. I was relived 😊
I remember this. I was at the Jordan Creek mall in West Des Moines when the sirens went off and everybody was sent to the lower floor. We got in our car because the entire floor was filled and got home right before the hail. We didn’t even know about the devastation going on.
When this tornado hit, the school in my town (which is 15 miles away from where this tornado happened) was putting on a musical. Halfway through the musical, we were put into a tornado warning, and the show was delayed for an hour while everyone was moved to the wrestling room. I can't even imagine the damage our town would've experienced if the tornado was just 15 miles further north.
Have really started to enjoy these videos the last few days. Informative and straight to the point. At the end of your videos when you pay respects to those who lost their lives I think you should add the names with them. So something like “in memory of the 7 lives lost” then have the names scroll across the screen. I know it’s extra work and research on your team but I think it would be an awesome addition.
It was a surprise for sure. The first time I stepped outside that morning I knew something wasn't right. You could feel it. I made it to a basement about a 1/4 from it as it approached extensively quickly. We had to drive 2.5 miles to get to the basement, and it looked like it was right on us in that short drive. My first tornado seen was sadly a deadly monster
Is this the guy that got the sprites on the storm in Tulsa? Or the auroras or some similar picture. I recognize that name from a post with pretty pictures.
This came across my recommend and i live in winterset it was a mile from my house i was coming home from work and my dad was home at the time i saw the tornado near our house and i called my dad of corse he was asleep when he finally woke up it was 300 yards from our house and at the last minute it went left of our house and barley missed us what a day to live
Because the National Weather Service takes the official weather data at the Des Moines International Airport which is on the southern side of Des Moines, the official hourly weather reported a tornado was visible. I can not remember when the last time this was recorded, if ever, before, but it is nonetheless was a very unusual event.
As a resident of Iowa and right around the area that tornado hit...the only thing that bothers me is the guy saying Atlantic is 20 miles away from Winterset...
Holy shit I'm just realizing I was parked at a grocery store in Des Moines on my way to Denver when this rolled through and I had no clue the tornado this spouted was such a monster.
Back on 07 June 1953 (day before the Beecher, MI, F5, and 2 days before the Worcester, MA, F4 tornado), almost the same area/same path experienced another long-tracked tornado. Luckily, it was only F2 rated. It touched down Northeast of Winterset and travelled northeast. It struck south of Cumming, IA; to between Norwalk, IA, and the Des Moines International Airport (Des Moines, south side). The path would be 1-2 miles north of the 2022 tornado track. This tornado or likely a tornado family continued northeast until it dissipated south of Cedar Rapids, IA. Downburst winds were part of this supercell thunderstorm. Sources say the tornado family travelled 100+ miles total. In the late-1800s, an F4 tornado started 2 miles south of Norwalk, IA, and traveled for 30 miles to the northeast. Just a rough calculation and best guess would be that this tornado's track and the 2022 track parallel each other within a 1-2 miles. With the later being further north. Great video! Thanks.
Why am I only finding out now that the winterset tornado was an EF4?- that went over my boyfriends house! He lives in a trailer park so he had to drive around to avoid it! The tornado seems more devastating than what I saw in the past-
0:04 If Iowa is "Upper Midwest" then what is the Lower Midwest??? I usually think of Minnesota and the Dakotas as Upper Midwest, not southwest/south central Iowa. I used to live in Iowa myself, and it wasn't very often that I heard of my area called Upper Midwest. Now I live in North Dakota and I do hear it often referred as such.
I remember during my 10th grade year in Kansas my cousin called me and put me on face time crying and I told him you be alright just take cover and be safe and I still remember the call.
oh i remember this-me and my sister were playing video games when our dad came saying there was severe weather coming, so we got off and hid in the basement with him and my mom and dog. fortunately for us, we live north of des moines meaning the tornado missed us.
Iowa is its own kind of Tornado Alley. I mean we got the cold air from Minnesota and the warmer air of Missouri combining. We have slowly become a more violent tornado area if you include the Keota EF4 and its "twin" from this past year. Of course everyone remembers Parkersburg as well. It also amazes me how much more violent this couldve been. I mean it BARELY missed the town of Winterset itself, it BARELY missed Norwalk to the south, it BARELY missed the south side of Des Moines, then BARELY missed down town Newton... This tornado couldve been even more Deadly and even more Violent.
No joke I’m not kidding I was in Winterset at the time of the tornado and it miss so many people that was in the high school for a volleyball game I’m just so lucky to be alive and I was heart broken when I heard the children under the age of 5 were killed by it
I'm not sure how this storm was unexpected, nor was it a mystery how strong it was. Right after the Des Moines NWS did it's morning sounding, HRRR hodograps were dead on accurate for the potential of strong tornadoes in central Iowa for the time the Winterset tornado happened.
I’ve seen many ef4 footage, this is right up with the worse of them… a long side that funny ef4 that pecos hank recorded that also sucked a roof without any problems
I am always wanted to ask this question. Why you guys do not build houses from concrete instead of the wood structure ? It is much robust material than wood. I know that it takes more time to build a house with it. Not sure about cost per say because I am not in the US.
Some homes are made with concrete instead but that is usually in areas with much stricter building codes up against the coasts where hurricanes are common. It also is considerably more expensive. Good question!
Business which are made from cinder blocks filled with reinforced concrete are leveled in tornados... your standard brick house is not with standing a tornado. Not to mention you will have a brick wall falling on your and bricks flying thru the air.
I’ve witnessed two very large and very destructive EF4 tornadoes first hand. I find them to be the to be the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve never experienced a tsunami, but that would rank up there as well. It’s impossible to understand the power of a tornado until you’ve been directly in the path of one with no opportunity to evacuate. The scariest one occurred near Saint Peter, MN in the late 1990s, and it was an absolute grizzly bear of a storm. The first really unsettling event was stepping outside and seeing a yin/yang cloud structure stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions. On one side the sky was sunny and gorgeous, and then it was the coming of Armageddon. There was no transition whatsoever into a single solid wall of dark black storm cloud. It looked like the world would end, and I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen anything so threatening or so energetic. As I drove onward towards my destination, I estimated that I could get home before any really bad weather occurred. The radio suddenly began blaring a message from the NWS that a strong tornado had touched down roughly 25 miles directly in front of me. I realized that my path was going to take me under the black blanket of storm cloud for several miles and that I would be increasingly more in danger of encountering the funnel cloud the deeper under this black cap of clouds I went. The NWS reported that the funnel cloud was actively traveling at approximately 39mph N/NE direction and heavy damage was reported. I was still heading directly into this thing’s path, but I felt I’d be fine. As I drove onward I noticed after roughly ten minutes that the wind was increasing rapidly and that it was definitely changing its trajectory. My car was becoming occasionally difficult to handle, then more and more so as the winds picked up. Five minutes into this wind buffeting me from everywhere I received a panic inducing blast of wind on my car’s left side that was not stopping. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that getting out of the car to seek shelter was not a viable option. I was on pancake flat terrain with not even a storm swale to get low into. I noticed that, as the rain began to pour harder and more intensely, the wind was at a very concerning speed that debris was moving through the field of vision in front and to the right of me. This tornado was right in front of me, maybe a mile and a half away. The debris in the air began to suggest an outline or profile edge of the tornado, but it was very much rain wrapped. Then, at one point, the profile became clear, and I was literally frozen in fear. It was absolutely filling my field of vision to the front and right of me. What never leaves my mind is that I could still see the gorgeous, clear weather I veered away from many miles back, and the stark blackness that I was facing into. It was surreal. This massive, monstrous, unimaginably powerful monster was bearing down too fast and I had driven right into its path because I couldn’t see it. By the grace of God, or dumb luck, the intensity of the storm quelled as it moved off to the north on my right hand side. I was facing roughly due west. I could see things flying through the air, big things, and my car was being pummeled by smaller detritus. I was in an area of essentially open farm acreage for miles, with the occasional barn and farmhouse. I realized that I was seeing someone’s farm flying through the air at 250+ mph., and it was a sobering feeling. My car was threatening to be torn from the ground and suddenly I felt the buffeting ease and the car settling back onto the pavement. This thing had missed me by a football field. One hundred yards, maximum. The radio was still blaring the siren and the voice was calmly speaking information about the violent tornado and damaging winds and shelter now and this town and that town was directly in its path and on and on. I continued toward home when I knew it was safe to go and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Telephone and A/C transmission lines were strewn around like silly string at a birthday party, and the poles were lying flat, all pointed in the same direction. Not one was left standing along the highway and rural off roads. Thankfully, my town was spared. The tornado hadn’t come near it, but for dozens of miles there was a swath of disturbed soil cutting through the vast farmland and fields easily visible from the ground. That storm was extraordinarily powerful and it was absolutely huge. The scale of measly human to EF4 wedge tornado can’t be imagined. It’s like God’s wrath is directly in front of you. It fills the field of vision. It’s literally all you can see. I have the utmost respect and fear for what these things can do. and they can appear without warning from what seems to be a strong thunderstorm that you’ve been through a thousand times, no big deal. Houses were gone. Just gone, without a trace of their existence. That’s a family’s everything. Photographs, legal documents, priceless family heirlooms, favorite teddy bears, the dining room table somebody found for fifty bucks and restored to a beautiful piece to leave for the kids, that thing you hid so well and was so clever of you to think of,,,,all of that just swept who knows where, into another county in some cases. Seeing a massive tidal wave coming at me is probably the only thing that could scare me more than that wedge tornado literally within deer shooting range of me, and I was not going to get away. I was a goner, and it was just as much a fact as the nose on my face. It scared me like a child gets scared when a mean neighborhood dog gets loose and squares up with him for the first time. That’s all natural honest to God terror, for the uninitiated, lol.
I'm glad you're okay and that sounds terrifying! But I do gotta say that was pretty stupid of you to know you were heading towards its path and just think "ehh I'll be fine". Perhaps you underestimated the power of a tornado, and surely never will again.
@@Krondelo yep, you nailed it! I was incredibly naive to think that I should take that risk. I won’t make that decision again. Being on the losing end of that bet was nearly the last mistake I ever made.
Hell I went through a small F2 in 1998 when I was 10 years old and I felt helpless dread and was terrified of every thunderstorm after for 2 years. Yeah being caught up in one is an experience for sure, mine wasn't even that bad just shook our house a little and ripped shingles off.. it did destroy a brick home across the street though and knock some trees down.
If you don't mind me asking, what was the 2nd one that you encountered?
Terry, that was an insane experience!
I can’t imagine that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you had seen the tornado barreling right towards you. I’ve never been through a major tornado, only two small, rain-wrapped, EF-1 ones that tore down trees, knocked out power, and lifted roof shingles. I’ve lived in southern New Jersey most of my life, so hurricanes are my biggest terror, of which I lived through two as well. Gloria in 1985 and Sandy in 2012. We lived through Irene as well, but that was high winds and power outages, which were more of a nuisance than a direct threat. Luckily with hurricanes, there are warnings several days in advance. There is time to get out, and save some of your most important things. With tornadoes, there are only minutes of warning and their paths are much more unpredictable than that of hurricanes.
I am fascinated by tornadoes, but I don’t really want to see them live beyond the safety of my iPad screen. I mean, maybe a part of me does want to see one firsthand… but after reading your own personal experience with one, and seeing the aftermath of the tornado victims that the storm chasers encounter on screen… I’m glad that I’ve not lived through any part of a live EF-3, EF-4, or EF-5 in all honesty.
Like you said, people have things that are woven into their lives and wrapped up within their homes. Things passed down generations. Things that take them to a good memory of a grandparent or other loved one long gone. I know that people say that things are things and can be replaced, but lives cannot. And while that is a truism, most of those people who say such things in retrospect have not lost every-personal-belonging-that-they-own. OR perhaps they have lost everything and have had to convince themselves that their loss is bittersweet by telling themselves such over and over again, because it is the only way to keep their sanity.
With Gloria, my grandfather had just inherited his beloved uncle’s home down at Cape May, NJ. The home was at ground level and only one block from the beach. The water and winds decimated everything. He was vomiting behind the remains of his late uncle’s dream home with his childhood memories tied into it and the family heirlooms that had once hung neatly on the walls. I experienced a similar thing with Sandy as an adult. People 10 miles away in Long Beach Island, NJ - they lost everything they had left behind. They returned to empty pilons where their homes once stood next to the bay. It was absolutely surreal and horrifying. Even to this day, over ten years later - there are still abandoned, decimated homes that homeowners just walked away from in despair. Some did not receive enough money from insurance, nor FEMA to rebuild again up to the new codes.
Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your account merely because it was so well written that I could almost feel your horror and panic as I read it. I’m glad that you are okay and that your house and neighborhood were also spared. Thank you for sharing your story.
Hey everyone! I know I’ve gone for a while been busy collecting footage for my videos, should hopefully be uploading more regularly now. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned. Stay tuned!
Looking forward to that. You make things super easy to understand and easy to follow.
I'm so excited!!
Can't post new videos if you don't get new chase footage. Looking forward to what you produce.
Cool deal.
I’m your 69th like ohhhh DAD 😩🤪🥵
Don't get me wrong, Winterset was by far the biggest "surprise" monster of 2022, but I still think the most unexpected EF4 of the current decade belongs to Cookeville IMO. Nocturnal, in a 2% risk, zero warning of it, 19 lives taken.
Winterset was another example of "if anything can go wrong, it WILL go wrong" disregarding what the outlooks say.
Cookville wasn’t even in a tornado risk that night that’s very scary. If that happened in Dallas or Chicago it would be catastrophic
@@luckynascarcat24 The more reason to give that event a super in-depth study. Event was so random and out-of-nowhere that even specialist had to come in for the damage. It remains to this day the most freak event of the 2020's and MAYBE the 2010's too.
@@rRevokkI wanna kiss your little forehead ohhhhh Dad 😩😩😩
I'm on the east coast and I got my ass handed to me by a nocturnal EF-2 a few years ago. Night tornadoes are awful and should be illegal, nature should go directly to jail for that garbage
@@luckynascarcat24the closest chicago had one was recently and the funnel/rotation went right over the city i think and tornado was flying around the city also
this tornado was awful to live through. radar showed it being directly over my house between norwalk and winterset. i was out of the house and couldn’t get a hold of my family who was at home during the storm. the tornado ended up sweeping a house a mile north from mine. they’ve completely rebuilt now but there’s still trees snapped in half and debris wrapped around the trees by that house. thank you for covering this storm!
I'm shock it didn't take the entire trees
This was a terrifying day on the south side of Des Moines. Was not expecting any severe weather that day, so I was caught completely off guard. Thankful for the local NWS Office sending a very strongly worded emergency alert that prompted me to abandon my third floor apartment and flee. Missed my apartment by around 4 miles.
Since then I have made sure to pay much closer attention to potential severe weather and have multiple ways to receive alerts. I don’t ever want to be caught off guard by a storm like that again.
I lived in Urbandale at the time. Isn’t the air pressure too high for tornados to come into Des Moines?
@tens9100 Absolutely not. I live in a residential neighborhood on the south side of des moines and this tornado missed us by less than a mile. It was extremely close to hitting multiple neighborhoods near blank park zoo
Awesome documentary Celton! This tornado certainly is unique, especially in terms of the (mostly) non-conducive environment for a tornado of that strength.
This should have way more views! Your videos are very gripping.
Thank you!
*Ohhh grip my big pork sword, Dad* 😩😩😩🥵
@@voiceofreason7567*Child, you're not funny.*
He's doing pretty good... his videos are good so he'll likely grow just a matter of time
@@voiceofreason7567bro what
I'm a truck driver. I drove through Winterset only 45min before the tornado hit. When I heard the alert come over the weather channels on my CB and checked my phone to see real time updates I couldn't believe a huge tornado hit the town just after I passed through😳
Excellent video, excellent presentation!
Outstanding production, Celton. If the EF4 had formed just five miles north of Winterset and maintained its 45-degree angle path, the death toll would have been much higher because the path would have taken the tornado through south Des Moines and West Des Moines. Most likely, Valley Junction would have received the worst blow.
This thing was basically trying to thread a needle. It barely missed every single town in the area. Scary how close it came.
I mean, it could be argued that nature keeps trying to tell Valley Junction that it shouldn't exist... The Raccoon River always seems to make a pretty good argument every chance it gets.
If I recall correctly, the tornado either hit or came very close to a trailer park in southern Des Moines. That could have been so much worse right there. Trailer homes are death traps in tornadoes. You're literally safer in a car than a trailer home in even a small tornado - and that definitely doesn't mean you're actually _safe_ in a car, just marginally _safer_ than you would be in a trailer home.
@@SadisticSenpai61I don't know if it's appreciated how close.... literally, across the street. Right through the front lawn of the garden store on Indianola Ave and hwy 65/69 south, Earl May's I think? Would have been a massacre had it hit that mobile home park adjacent to Southridge Mall.....
Fantastic Doc my man! Keep up that good work.
Thank you for this wonderful reporting of this tornado! I remember sheltering in my mother's basement while the tornado passed under the southern part of the Metro area. It was very nice to have an in-depth explanation of this storm. It was definitely unexpected.
This is the best explanation of how a tornado is created. I've watched many educational videos on tornado creation but I must say this is the best explanation
I just watched Kuri’s story of what this tornado took from her and her son… it’s so devastating and my heart is broken for everyone who was affected.
This is what you call underrated. Holy this video is amazing.
Very nice video as usual. Despite having never seen a tornado I'm equally wary and enamored with them. So quality content like this is the best middle ground for me
I really like you're video ,it's really well done and always informative.
I just watched the brave Story of Kuri, one of the Family Members who lost her Mother, Husband and 2 very young Children in their Home. They are mentioned in this Video when it first struck Winterset. Watching this Video after the incredible Interview with Kuri (Insider Edition), it brought a completely different mind set and perhaps, always will. Living in the North East and watching over the years 100's of Tornado Videos, I don't think I will watch one again without bringing to bear the depth of Feeling Kuri expressed in her Video when viewing.
Kuri's Interview also makes it far more challenging to watch the Storm Chaser's (particularly Amateurs & Thrill Seekers) when they Whoop & Holler with excitement. While I'm aware that Professional Storm Chasers serve the Community with Safety being their ultimate Goal, I always found these reactions uncomfortable knowing that somewhere the Tornado they are gleeful about is bringing such harm. Now I know for sure and have a Family of Faces to think of. I hope that many who chase these Monsters hear Kuri's Story & do the same.
I remember being shocked hearing about this tornado so early in the year. My wife and I had just sold our house in Winterset less than 3 weeks before and found out the tornado was only about a mile away from it.
Amazing video, I don't think there's enough videos like this, keep it up!
Informative video I subscribed Good luck with your TH-cam future
Nice job with this video - images are great, as are the stats and narration 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
This video is fantastic! Well done.
You should think about doing a video on the 2021 Mullica Hill NJ EF3 tornado
I have lived in Iowa my entire life and I appricate when people make videos about this state we aren't just corn pickers
Superb high level production.
The footage was excellent 👍
i live 7 miles nw of winterset, we love tornadoes and WE WERE CRYING SO LOUD! i hated it
I was stuck in my car on the highway during this tornado. One of the scariest days of my life. My car was picked up a few inches off the ground
Terrifying
I survived the winterset 2022 tornado and here is the story I was playing upstairs with my sister in my room. It was very sunny so we had the windows open. We heard the tornado sirens. We asked your mom what that sound was. She told us to get blankets and stuffed animal then we had a run downstairs to our basement, and the power went out my dad was upstairs. I had to go out there really really quick to do something. I can’t remember what and there was the tornado was two streets away from us? I saw it. I ran downstairs. My house was damaged at all. The houses around the block were ruined. It was a very tragic time and it hit my aunts house. One of their dogs died, but they all stayed alive. and I am proud to say my whole family survived the category four 2022 Winterset tornado.
What an incredible video!
+1 subscriber! Look forward to more in the future!
The tornado passed just south of my house north of Newton. While it was relatively weak at this stage, I remember being on the phone and all the sudden feeling a draft in my house like all the air was being sucked out of it
I’ve never felt that before, and I’ve been through countless, severe thunderstorms
PLEASE cover greensburg ks, tornado outbreak 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Im a Winterset native. I was in Houston tracking the storm and calling home to tell my family to go to the basement. My husband faced timed me showing me a look southwest and saying nothing was happening. Same guy who made fun of me because i prepared the storm shelter before i left on my business trip. This tornado hit our town less than a mile from my house. I knew the people who had their homes destroyed. Heads up, pay attention to the watches and warnings.
My dad was in Iowa that day he called me in the morning saying there’s a thunder storm then I told him there might be a tornado he said ok I’ll head to Nebraska I thought he wouldn’t do it because parents sometimes lie yk but he did and when he was in Nebraska he called me and said I saved his life he was in right the spot where it hit and the place he was in got destroyed and he would of stayed there for a day. I was relived 😊
Great video, I hope you do the El reno tornado from 2013 someday.
I remember this. I was at the Jordan Creek mall in West Des Moines when the sirens went off and everybody was sent to the lower floor. We got in our car because the entire floor was filled and got home right before the hail. We didn’t even know about the devastation going on.
When this tornado hit, the school in my town (which is 15 miles away from where this tornado happened) was putting on a musical. Halfway through the musical, we were put into a tornado warning, and the show was delayed for an hour while everyone was moved to the wrestling room. I can't even imagine the damage our town would've experienced if the tornado was just 15 miles further north.
Have really started to enjoy these videos the last few days. Informative and straight to the point.
At the end of your videos when you pay respects to those who lost their lives I think you should add the names with them.
So something like “in memory of the 7 lives lost” then have the names scroll across the screen. I know it’s extra work and research on your team but I think it would be an awesome addition.
There are some events I could do this for but a lot of the times that information is not widely available online to public for privacy reason.
@@CeltonHenderson that makes sense. Thanks for the response.
The return!
It was a surprise for sure. The first time I stepped outside that morning I knew something wasn't right. You could feel it. I made it to a basement about a 1/4 from it as it approached extensively quickly. We had to drive 2.5 miles to get to the basement, and it looked like it was right on us in that short drive. My first tornado seen was sadly a deadly monster
Is this the guy that got the sprites on the storm in Tulsa? Or the auroras or some similar picture. I recognize that name from a post with pretty pictures.
Yeah that was me
@@CeltonHenderson Those were some awesome pictures. I didn't see anything more than a messy shelf cloud.
Love your docs, keep it up!
This came across my recommend and i live in winterset it was a mile from my house i was coming home from work and my dad was home at the time i saw the tornado near our house and i called my dad of corse he was asleep when he finally woke up it was 300 yards from our house and at the last minute it went left of our house and barley missed us what a day to live
Quality work!
Thanks man, looking forward to your new video.
Very nice presentation!!
Should definitely do a vid on the 2023 tornado outbreak of March/April especially the one in Iowa and Little Rock Arkansas
Can’t wait for this !
Because the National Weather Service takes the official weather data at the Des Moines International Airport which is on the southern side of Des Moines, the official hourly weather reported a tornado was visible. I can not remember when the last time this was recorded, if ever, before, but it is nonetheless was a very unusual event.
Glad I found your channel man. I dig your presentation style. Said fuck it and subscribed 💯
As a resident of Iowa and right around the area that tornado hit...the only thing that bothers me is the guy saying Atlantic is 20 miles away from Winterset...
Holy shit I'm just realizing I was parked at a grocery store in Des Moines on my way to Denver when this rolled through and I had no clue the tornado this spouted was such a monster.
Literally a linebacker in tornado aspects.
Can you make a video about the April 26th 2024 outbreak?
Back on 07 June 1953 (day before the Beecher, MI, F5, and 2 days before the Worcester, MA, F4 tornado), almost the same area/same path experienced another long-tracked tornado.
Luckily, it was only F2 rated. It touched down Northeast of Winterset and travelled northeast. It struck south of Cumming, IA; to between Norwalk, IA, and the Des Moines International Airport (Des Moines, south side). The path would be 1-2 miles north of the 2022 tornado track.
This tornado or likely a tornado family continued northeast until it dissipated south of Cedar Rapids, IA. Downburst winds were part of this supercell thunderstorm. Sources say the tornado family travelled 100+ miles total.
In the late-1800s, an F4 tornado started 2 miles south of Norwalk, IA, and traveled for 30 miles to the northeast.
Just a rough calculation and best guess would be that this tornado's track and the 2022 track parallel each other within a 1-2 miles. With the later being further north.
Great video! Thanks.
Great video 👍👍
great video!
Why am I only finding out now that the winterset tornado was an EF4?- that went over my boyfriends house! He lives in a trailer park so he had to drive around to avoid it! The tornado seems more devastating than what I saw in the past-
Great video wish I went down there that day
I love when he posts new tornado documentaries but i hate what tornadoes do they kill and destroy :(
Yup I remember this tornado. One of my friends lost their home/farm. It almost destroyed my aunts house and wasnt to far from ours. 👍🏻
I am excited for this
Nice vid.
0:04 If Iowa is "Upper Midwest" then what is the Lower Midwest??? I usually think of Minnesota and the Dakotas as Upper Midwest, not southwest/south central Iowa. I used to live in Iowa myself, and it wasn't very often that I heard of my area called Upper Midwest. Now I live in North Dakota and I do hear it often referred as such.
Its more like mid-midwest lol
I remember during my 10th grade year in Kansas my cousin called me and put me on face time crying and I told him you be alright just take cover and be safe and I still remember the call.
Atlantic is an hour 15 minutes west of winterset
I live in Winterset it was crazy and ginormous
Hey Celton, How Do You View The Map On Google Earth?, Or Do You Use A Different Way? Cause I Kinda Want To Try This For My Next Documentary.
My dad's family is all from Winterset. I'm familiar with many of these locations
Please do more of these
What’s the background music called
Can you give me a timestamp in the video? There are multiple different tracks throughout the video
oh i remember this-me and my sister were playing video games when our dad came saying there was severe weather coming, so we got off and hid in the basement with him and my mom and dog. fortunately for us, we live north of des moines meaning the tornado missed us.
Fun facts winds we’re much higher than 170mph but it mostly stayed in rural areas after winterset
People that live in or around winterset,ia will never forget
Funny thing about this is that less than a week after that storm came through, we had snow falling
Iowa is its own kind of Tornado Alley. I mean we got the cold air from Minnesota and the warmer air of Missouri combining. We have slowly become a more violent tornado area if you include the Keota EF4 and its "twin" from this past year. Of course everyone remembers Parkersburg as well. It also amazes me how much more violent this couldve been. I mean it BARELY missed the town of Winterset itself, it BARELY missed Norwalk to the south, it BARELY missed the south side of Des Moines, then BARELY missed down town Newton... This tornado couldve been even more Deadly and even more Violent.
Can you explain about a EF5 next?
Yup its what the next tornado doc video is about.
I literally saw that storm when me and my family were heading to Red oak ia after going to shanadowa and I didn't even know that until now
Try covering the Red Springs EF5
I live in Waterloo this is the 2nd worst recent tornado in Iowa next to Parkersburg EF5
Whatever you do DO NOT open up the live chat
Why
Got it open the live chat
The Roblox kids are wild 😂😂
jojvion 😭
No joke I’m not kidding I was in Winterset at the time of the tornado and it miss so many people that was in the high school for a volleyball game I’m just so lucky to be alive and I was heart broken when I heard the children under the age of 5 were killed by it
I'm not sure how this storm was unexpected, nor was it a mystery how strong it was. Right after the Des Moines NWS did it's morning sounding, HRRR hodograps were dead on accurate for the potential of strong tornadoes in central Iowa for the time the Winterset tornado happened.
im a supercell...
Seems that tornadoes age like a fine wine.
rest in peace, my aunt, laura..
I just saw Kuri's story on TikTok not long ago. Her family was the one killed in that house. Horrible event, very strong woman.
Wow traveled over an hour!!
Damn, if that thing had been a couple miles north, Des Moines would have gotten nailed. Ouch.
And still no one talks about Cookville Ef4
I’ve seen many ef4 footage, this is right up with the worse of them… a long side that funny ef4 that pecos hank recorded that also sucked a roof without any problems
good job! +1like +1sub! shared!
the norwalk part of this tornado leveled the barn i ride at
I am always wanted to ask this question. Why you guys do not build houses from concrete instead of the wood structure ? It is much robust material than wood. I know that it takes more time to build a house with it. Not sure about cost per say because I am not in the US.
Some homes are made with concrete instead but that is usually in areas with much stricter building codes up against the coasts where hurricanes are common. It also is considerably more expensive. Good question!
Business which are made from cinder blocks filled with reinforced concrete are leveled in tornados... your standard brick house is not with standing a tornado. Not to mention you will have a brick wall falling on your and bricks flying thru the air.
Aaaa im exited!
So sad..the animal's and the people 😢
I wouldn't expect to see tornado's either if it was freezing the night before.
Cover North Carolinas deadliest outbreak
There’s a lady who lost her mother, husband and 2 of her 3 kids in this tornado
Well it’s about Damn time 👀😂
so the formula is to inject "sadly" before casualty count? like, you're not really sad?