Escaping the largest EF5 tornado in history - El Reno, OK - full dashcam sequence
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ค. 2013
- Read this frequently asked questions (FAQ) on the El Reno encounter: stormhighway.com/blog2013/sept...
(Read descripton and transcript below) This is video from my front-facing and later rear-facing dash camera while escaping the core of, and hit by the outer circulation of, the EF5 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado in my Toyota Yaris on Reuter Road between 6:16PM and 6:30PM CDT on May 31, 2013. CDT time shown on-screen is based on GPS time, synced with US official time and accurate to the second. Road intersections are shown as the vehicle encounters them.
I am attempting to narrate what is happening for the main video camera. My voice transcription is as follows:
6:17:29 "I want to find an east road here, I'm getting a little to close. I need to start looking for the east (road) option". The tornado was moving east at this point. I didn't want to go farther south and risk not being able to reach the next east road option to the south after Reuter Road.
6:17:45 "Power flashes". The tornado is damaging the power lines up ahead and causing arcing. The streetlight goes out.
6:18:18 "New wall cloud". Another area of circulation was organizing to the north.
6:18:28 "The wedge is rain wrapped". Referring to the main wedge tornado about a mile to the south.
6:18:57 "I don't like getting in front of tornadoes I can't see, especially huge wedges". Referring to why I don't want to go farther south than Reuter Road.
6:19:56 "What is that? I don't like the looks of that." I am surprised to see what looks like the tornado to the south rapidly approaching the road. I had expected it to be well south of me and to the west.
6:20:18 "It looks like the tornado." I now realize what is happening.
6:21:03 "It's just off to the side of the road". Referring to the tornado, which I can see is now right on me.
6:21:53 "Come on, car!" The car is not maintaining speed in the strong headwinds, due to the traction control reducing power to the wheels as they slip on the gravel.
6:22:13 "The car won't go!"
6:23:12 "I've got to get out of whatever this is" I'm still in disbelief the tornado reached Reuter Road that fast. I'm wondering if it may be a second tornado that developed to the north of the wedge.
6:23:24 "The car just isn't going"
6:23:33 "Come on! Traction control OFF!" The entire time, I have been repeatedly hitting the traction control's manual override button to turn it off, but it is not working.
6:24:03 I step out of the car and get my first look back at what I had just escaped.
6:24:22 "I just drove through that"
6:24:44 "There's debris" There are small pieces of debris falling around me.
6:24:50 "Where is it? I can't see it" From the driver's side looking north and northwest, I can't yet make out the north edge of the tornado. I was looking back to see if it was safe to stop again.
See a more detailed account of this event here:
stormhighway.com/may312013.php
Copyright Dan Robinson.
Please visit stormhighway.com/contact-foota... or call 618-920-0811 for licensing inquiries. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
This is the best video that illustrates everything that went wrong that day. Once he escapes you get a clear vision of just what it was him and the other chasers unintentionally went through.
It's frustrating to watch this video at times. He was storm chasing and trying to get clear at the same time. Why risk it at this point? He could have taken 81 North (turn left) @2:27 and still get rear camera footage of this monster. Staying North of the storm is textbook. Continuing east on dirt roads was unfortunately a huge mistake - not to mention his situational awareness was not good either. It even looks like he almost wanted to go South towards the storm on 81. Nonetheless I'm glad he made it.
@@GB_Rad71Unless you're carrying sensors and doing science, I can't see any reason to get that close, seems more like just playing chicken with a tornado.
Driving as fast as you can on a soaked gravel road with 100+ MPH winds and near zero visability - it's a medium-sized miracle that he stayed on the road. Nicely done sir. That was a close call.
The guy driving this car is what they call "a wheel man".... This guy deserves a IRL car or NASCAR cup car to drive... Keeping that car on a muddy road, wind blowing likely 100 mph and not going into a ditch... Extremely impressive.
Did that in a Microburst. Couldn't imagine being in his shoes
He used the Force. I got caught in a car destroyer hail storm and I couldn't see anything and there was no shelter. I literally knew the road in front of me went straight for miles. I couldn't get out of the car to hide anyways because even a single chunk of that hail hit my head..I'd be dead. Car was a total write-off. I found a driveway and hid on the floorboards until it was over. Hail the size of large stones tore into the intercooler and pierced the engine firewall. I got one tiny cut from it.
@@bradleyhudgins1005 he's Ricky Bobby!
@@bradleyhudgins1005 worthy of the 80s group B rally class
For everyone wondering, from about 3:28 - 5:56, this guy is basically in the peripheral wall of the tornado. Had he taken his foot off the gas at all he would have most likely not survived.
Seems almost certain he wouldn't have in that case, or had been blown off road into a ditch, or came across a downed tree (you can see several lining the road taking quite the beating), considering the car not too far back containing the Twistex team didn't. In the more detailed description he has on his website he linked above, he says he was more traumatized by this encounter than anything else, especially knowing what happened right behind him. I certainly can't blame him.
Is he parked somewhere towards the end ? the noise is unreal he’s very
Lucky guy
Almost 2.5 minutes..How enormous this tornado was
Scary watching it again knowing this detail. Imagine if the windscreen wipes failed? You can barely see in front of you with them on.
Car's traction control didn't let him speed up on loose surface
Maybe same happened to Twistex
When the camera switched to rearview, at first I thought I was only seeing the rain, until I realized the whole screen was the tornado behind him.
Yet he stopped.
@@Russophile30 Iirc he stopped because he realized the Twistex car was gone
That’s when he realizes Twistex didn’t survive
@@Russophile30 You might stop too if you realized your friends weren't behind you anymore in a survival situation.
@@catpoke9557 His FAQ states he didn't know they were on the same road until 3 days later.
I didn't realize how close to death this guy really was.
But there were 3 more people behind him.
What happened? Well...
@@allshipper2158 thats what they meant
A little ways behind Dan Robinson was Tim and Paul Samaras and another guy (don't remember his name off the top of my head) and their car never made it out. That's how close Robinson was to meeting his end that day as well. That feeling, seeing a car following you to safety and once your clear (more or less, in this case), looking back and not seeing any sign of those people, that feeling must stick with you forever.
And very lucky. He drove through the outer edge of the tornado while trying to outrun it. An extremely dangerous move.
Right? At first, I couldn't tell what was going on, but once he got far enough away is when I really saw it😳
A tornado that doubles its size in less than a minute, makes a hard left turn AND increases speed....What could go wrong?
Nothing much. Just 8 people dead, team Twitex dead, the Weather Channel got hit by a sub-vortex (no one died thought), storm chasers running for their lives.
I don't see something wrong on it. You are right.
@@allshipper2158 Sarcasm... :)
With the high risks of head or eye/ neck/ torso injury they really should wear some protection against the hail and debris. Also utilise the high winds to develop lightweight body protection in storms incl super slippy wind/waterproof gear
Oh, you forgot the 300 mph wind.
Cosmic Charlie
296. But no EF5 or EF4 damage recorded on any structures or trees. So it remains an EF3.
tragic, RIP Tim Samaras, Carl Young, Paul Samaras.
This is as succinct and accurate as anything I’ve read.
Pecos Hank hype
Rip
Weren't they trying to release pods in it's path? Did they ever get picked up and analyzed?
It doubled in size and turned so fast that I'm surprised more of them didn't get caught in it. It was also rain wrapped. A huge rain wrapped tornado came through a couple of years ago and you could not tell, even on the best footage, where the tornado was in all of that.
3:15 is when Carl’s video cuts and Tim realised they are in the direct path. At 4:35 is the location at which the Twistex team were struck by the large barrel shaped sub vortex. At 5:22 is the last time Dan Robinson’s dash cam saw the flashlights on the Twistex car, and is also rather ironically the location at which the mangled remains of the Twistex vehicle was found. 5:30 about 1 minute after Dan passed Twistex are blown off the road into a ditch by the winds, they panic and put the vehicle in reverse 6:10, the sub vortex makes a near 90 degree left turn directly towards twistex. At 6:30 a highway patrol officer captures Tim and Paul screaming in the radio “we are going to die”. Then at 6:41 the sub vortex directly impacts the twistex team, killing all 3 on board. It loops over this area for 20 seconds swinging their vehicle southward before continuing eastward. Then at 7:06 the remains of the twistex vehicle are deposited 800 yards away at the location of 5:22.
Where did you get this information, this makes the most since considering this comment is different from all others and much more detailed. It also makes the most since because according to Tim's brother Jim. He one of, if not the safest chaser out there knowing also he wouldn't put their lives in danger with his son in the car
@@maxwilliams5556it’s not different information wise, just more detailed.
So sad, never knew a patrol officer heard them say that too.
Interesting message. How do you know all this with so much clear detail?
Gps, video tapes and dow, it was josh who did the investigation
Dan didn't escape the tornado ... he survived it. He was in the tornado and Tim, Paul and Carl were maybe a mile behind him on the same road, travelling in the same direction, and fighting the same demon. One minute later and Dan's car would have been 'balled up' instead. How anyone could see through that rain is astonishing. Glad Dan made it, sad others did not!
There was another angle from the road adjecent to this one and that storm chaser brief shows both headlights of robinson and twistex, they looked no further than 1000-2000 feet from eachother.
@@Hyperfoxeye timestamp?
@@Hyperfoxeye Source?
Sauce???
@@Hyperfoxeye Someone asked Skip Talbot to find out with all his data and he said those two cars were on Jensen Rd., which is the road immediately to the north of Reuter. I thought that as well, but Skip is almost certain those two cars were on Jensen.
As you can see, the skies were clear in front of me to the east, so that looked like the better option than going north where large hail was likely. I did not realize that the tornado to the south had started turning north at that time.
Dan, just glad you made it out. I can only imagine what it was like trying to outrun a monster like that. All your instincts telling you the right move when all of a sudden nature throws a curveball and there’s nowhere to go but to outrun it. I’m sorry for your friends, they died doing what they loved if it’s any small consolation.
@@OCDustin rather die doing what i love than get old and miserable though
Well next time drive into the hail
Talk about your narrow escape!
Thank God you made it out alive..
Man, I am so sorry but so glad you made it out. I can only imagine what was going through your mind.
This is the most intense El Reno tornado footage I've ever watched! All of the experienced storm chasers were running from it.
Reed was following it not running
At 7:00 less than a 1/4 mile back was unsurvivable. You can see the vortices dancing around just like the tornado's inception. Also to the left is one of the clearest examples of the "ghost train" as it streams in at speeds that would easily destroy any vehicle or structure.
Sadly, that's exactly where the TwistX was.
What's a ghost train? Is it the vortex you can see on the left?
One vortice was clocked at 300ph and only on the ground 3 seconds. That's insane.
The fact that you can see a clean edge to the left and not the right makes it 10x scarier. The thing is absolutely massive.
Agreed
You can see the intake streaming up to the right from ground level as well with the condensation, and the RFD is in the middle layer, pushing all that warm air coming up even further. Those winds from behind are soooo strong. This was an insanely crazy angle of an insanely powerful storm. Never seen something like it
I didn’t think a tornado can get that big though. Am I the only one?
@@zachsilkwood8674 no one did I’m pretty sure
@@zachsilkwood8674 Nope. A 2 1/2 mile wide EF5 isn't your every day tornado. And it expanded so fast that no one could predict it. And it moved in ways that storm chasers couldn't predict. Everything about this tornado caught chasers off guard. If you watch the birth videos, it goes from almost nothing but a cell to a massive tornado in about 2 minutes if that.
Absolutely amazing how he was able to stay on the road. It’s incredible what some people can do when their lives are on the line. Dan had the throttle to the floor. He couldn’t slow down at all or he was dead. Truly remarkable.
Can't imagine the amount of dread going through him once he realized that behemoth was bearing down on him full throttle.
I noticed that too. Awesome
And the most terrible is think this guy has that big monster in front of his face sorrounded of maybe 6 Subvortexes, i don't know if Dan after a few months of this tornado don't develops postraumátic stress disorder,just admirable,he was recently recording a tornado on december of this year.
@@fatjoe460 I know this is old but this is why storm chasers need torquey/higher hp vehicles, lots of them choose gas sipping cars for the economy, not a good idea. Get a pickup with all terrain tires or suv/car with their most powerful engine option available if you’re someone that has no problem being this close to a tornado.
4:08 was a close call
The part where he says "Come on, car!" & "the car wont go" sounds so sad and helpless 🥺I wish I had a hand to snatch you out of there but you made it
Right, when I saw the glass shatter that terrified me
Worst part is there was a car behind him who he was with a I think, and they never came out of the tornado.
@@Ryan-ce1oc oh he came out.
@@garden0fstone736 no...they didn't. the car got hit by a sub-vortice and all 3 persons in it died
@@topmansquad9558 RIP Tim Samaras.
for anyone who doesnt know, at 0:50 the headlights you see are of the storm chaser team twistex, the car had the full team of the chasers in it. they all died to the tornado shortly after they are seen here.
I don’t see the headlights at all
@@kurtisgonzalez-gooden 0:54
No, that wasn't Tim, He was never on Choctaw. He was already on router but behind Dan at this point. Here is the route the Twistex team took:
Start
I-40 and Calumet Rd.
South on Calumet Rd to Smith Rd.
East on Smith Rd. to Bradley Rd.
South on Bradley to Jensen Rd.
East on Jensen Rd. to Chiles Rd.
South on Chiles Rd. to Reno Street
East on Reno Street to Reformatory Rd.
North on Reformatory Rd. to Reuter Rd.
East on Reuter Rd. to Radio Rd.
@@kurtisgonzalez-gooden at 0:53 precisely, it's 2 bright lights near the tornado
th-cam.com/video/HcWrJGSIaGc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=WpwQYjwzBDjo8Pbz&t=137
the footage on the link above caught Dan crossing the highway onto Rueter at 2:21 (headlights going left to right)
at 2:24 you can see Tim's white chevy cobalt follow.
(these moments on Dan's video would be 2:34 and 2:37)
I am a weather enthusiast so I have watched many videos on this storm and Skip Talbot's analysis that plotted your routes as well as Tim, Paul, and Carl's and the entire video I was thinking, they were right there, right behind you. So close to safety, but didn't get far enough ahead in time. It honestly almost brought me to tears. You are very lucky Dan, very lucky. As much as I love severe weather, this particular tragedy hits close to home. I was a follower of Tim's and felt a tremendous loss when I heard. I really don't know what to say, but thank God you are alive. That was a close one.
There were storm chasers behind him that died?
@@EaterofWorlds-DN ye
Jooshboi yeah there were several storm chasers that died in this one due to it being so large and changing course several times. Even though you may not be in the part of the tornado you can see there can be invisible tornadic force winds quite a ways out from the main wedge.
@@EaterofWorlds-DN not a chance, you think they dropped off weather chasers like parachuters
@@EaterofWorlds-DN Tim Sahara’s, his son Paul, and Carl Young were in a car right behind him. They died somewhere around the 6:23 mark where Dan is saying his car won’t go. Heartbreaking.
Best storm vid ever. Dan, glad you're alive. RIP Twistex. So sorry for your loss.
Andy Mac rip indeed sad day for every chaser
Andy Mac Agreed. Knowing what this behemoth did and the lives it took makes this hands-down the most harrowing tornado video on TH-cam.
@@gregusmc2868 im glad this monster went on its awkward path instead of its original projected going right through the city and levelling it
How heartbreaking that is to have your friends and family behind you, and when you barely escape the monster trying to plow over you, you look back and your loved ones never made it through. :(
True that would be devastating but he didn't know anyone was behind him until he looked at the footage days after the incident happened.
@@amandalawson6828 when Dan says "where is it, I can't see it" isint he talking about the TwistTex car? Or is he talking about a sub vortex? Because I know he sees the tornado so that leads me to believe he's saying he either can't see the Twistex car or a sub vortex he's watching.
@@Nick-gy1wp Describes what he means in the desc. He's looking north to try and see the northern edge of the tornado, but its so god damn wide he can't
8:21 you can see a massive rear inflow jet on the left strengthening the tornado, thats insane you made it out dude. I’m genuinely happy you didn’t go down the same way as twistex. We lost storm chasers that were the most cautious of them all, but we were all caught by surprise by the sudden direction change of the tornado. I hope they’re in a better place now, I just can’t imagine what went through their heads as they were picked up by the tornado. They were seconds away from escaping it. 🙏🙏
They are dead. In the grave. No longer existing. They await resurrection to stand judgement before God who formed that tornado.
We all will be judged one day.
Either to die a 2nd death and be destroyed for our sin or be granted eternal life in the kingdom of God upon the earth.
@@sbeasley7585 Thanks for setting the record straight in spite of what others may think.
@@sbeasley7585Yeah, sure buddy.😂
@@sbeasley7585 God didn't form that tornado. The forces of nature, which He designed into creation, formed it. Would it have happened if we didn't live in a fallen world? Who knows? But God doesn't directly intercede or cause everything. There are plenty of forces on earth that can do that.
You are lucky to be alive Dan.
@Marcus Mcgarkus That doesn’t describe Dan. He knows what he’s doing; this was just an unprecedented tornado and many experienced storm chasers were caught off guard.
@@poodook Clearly, he doesn't because he was stupid enough to stop in front of that monster just so he could record some video. He sacrificed his vehicle and nearly himself for video that nobody will ever see. The first rule of storm chasing is don't make yourself a victim and he did just about everything he could to become a victim! God, I hate people that have just enough knowledge to be dangerous!
@@poodook there was a point of returning right in the beginning of the vid
@Marcus Mcgarkus wedge not maxi
@@poodook knows what he's doing but goes to a near miss of an ef5 because he got too close. The man's lucky to still have a life. If he's a professional he should know never to get that close nor underestimate a tornado of any size. He should of made a turn back not stay on the path, a tornado can form multiple funnels and escalate.
Tim was behind him and never came out 😟
he saw the healights behind him and when he stopped you can hear him say i dont see it anymore.
You can see through the back window the subvortex that got the Twistex team.
AND it had unusual direction shifts.
Yeah, Tim couldn't keep up. Did you see how they were driving (full speed blowing through stop signs) to get away from the tornado. Driving any slower or more cautiously (like Tim was most likely doing) and they wouldn't have made it out of the circulation.
mcfunworld where?
What makes this video even scarier as how close Dan was to not making it out alive. You see Dan's car is first gen Toyota Yaris, which is very lightweight and not very powerful (around 100 hp). The fact that he was able to make it through at all is a miracle.
Plus, he was on a dirt road. I'm not even sure if a Yaris is 4WD, but I imagine it is, as I can't imagine him making it out without it.
@@applescruff1969the yaris is most likely a fwd, so he danced with death and survived.
@@applescruff1969the yaris is front drive only
Why are these storm chasers always driving a Prius or Yaris.
I find it so freaking terrifying when you're driving as fast as you can and you can see the tornado quickly overtaking you a bit before the 3:00 mark from the right of the screen. So surreal.
Tim Samaras, an intelligent, and extremely cautious, storm chaser/engineer/inventor lost his life in this storm. Adding to this tragedy, his son Paul Samaras died alongside him. Men and women like Tim and his son risk their lives every tornado season in order to collect scientific datum that may help save countless lives. Not every individual tracking tornadoes is doing it for thrills. Before anyone makes a snap judgment about storm chasers, remember that many of them are doing a job that many of us are not built to undertake. It requires a special individual to continuously risk his or her life for the sake of scientific advancement. Therefore, many of you please think twice before judging these brave men and women.
jimmy perry jr He lost his life at 6:23 PM, so you actually know the exact moment in this video when he died.
jimmy perry jr Don't forget Carl Young R.I.P
*****
Can you please clarify what you are asking me, I'm confused.
Art Faucet
The tornado took an unpredictable turn like we have never seen before in any tornado... Death can happen to anybody, no matter how experienced.
jimmy perry jr From Skip Talbot's excellent analysis of this tragedy (including not only the deaths of the Twistex team, but Dan getting caught & Bettes & company as well) Samaras was not "extremely cautious" as a storm chaser. It sounds like he was actually a VERY aggressive chaser, who often took risks inside the Bear's Cage in service of his science. He WAS, however, a brilliant weather mind, and will certainly be sorely missed.
After watching just about every El Reno Tornado video available, this is the best hands down. The rear cam shot just after he narrowly escapes is the most unbelievable yet terrifying footage of how big the tornado was. It's hard to understand. Never mind the great escape he makes that hollywood couldn't dream up. Glad you made it.
Best video of the danger, yes. Best video of the tornado, no.
@@MrTedMcForehead Source?
@@MrTedMcForehead the footage out of the back of his car really shows the sheer size of this monster. I've seen every video posted of this storm, but that shot captures it best for me
Kinda reminds me of the movie Twister from 1996, where they're in the cornfield towards the end of the movie and the big F5 is chasing them.
@@alanstillings4915 But in the movie the two protagonists are in a little shed that quickly blows away around them. But they survive because they take off their belts, put them around some free standing metal bar and hang onto the end of the belt while the F5 tears up everything around them. Like that would even be possible lol
Dan won't release the footage, but just behind him, in his rear view dash cam, you can see the Twistex team headlights about 200 yards behind him. In the footage, you can see them struggling to keep pace with Dan. Eventually, they start to fall behind. Further and further into the high precipitation they go, falling further and further behind, until at 5:54 they are behind that Grey giant cloud wall, struggling to get out of the tornado, until at 6:42 they are struck and killed by one of the sub vortices. Watching this vid really shows the emotion that storm chasers had when escaping the tornado. There's those bits of helplessness 5:19 and then there's even (what sounds like anger) 6:39
4:38 at 6:21:32 PM is the exact spot where Tim Samara's Chevy Cobalt was taken by a sub-vortex and tossed 0.5 miles to the east. This happened at 6:23:32 exactly 2 minutes after Dan passed this very same spot. Very eerie...
How do you know that though?? It's not like you can see it..
So those headlights at 1:02 were probably Tim and he turned down same road Dan did?.......that would have put him about a mile behind not able to drive nearly as fast being in more severe section of storm
@@Gameboy-Unboxings idk how kyle worked that out and i dont know if hes right bc i havent done the math, but i do know that there’s videos and data about where exactly every single chaser was during this storm. there’s some videos comparing footage and eyewitness accounts, and at least one that includes an overhead map of chasers’ locations being tracked in as close to real time as they could get. considering that we have the timecard on dan’s footage and also the tracking of dan and other chasers to compare, it should be possible to figure out when/where dan crossed the point where others met their fate
@@kirkdunn1379Dan actually turned directly in front of TWISTEX when he turned onto Reuter Rd, as they were already eastbound on it.
At 2:14 of the video, Dan is going through the turns right before the intersection of Reuter Rd and HWY 81. When he started crossing HWY 81, TWISTEX were going through the turns, leaving them five to six seconds behind him. They followed directly behind him through HWY 81, but Tim knew something was up and had Carl slow down a little, but they didn’t stop, so Dan kept gaining ground on them.
It is believed by many chasers that Tim figured out what was happening, but just too late, since they didn’t stop until they were about two miles east of HWY 81 on Reuter Rd. Couple that with the storm’s rapid intensification, 90° directional change, and increase in forward speed from 25-30 MPH to 55-60 MPH- in a matter of a few minutes, no less, and that’s a recipe for disaster.
The TWISTEX Memorial is also about 50 feet down the road from the tree at 5:15
I stopped once I saw I was out of the path of the tornado in order to get my first look at it and take pictures. I made the second movement to maintain a safe distance, because it appeared it was inching a little closer. The second stop was originally to get pictures, but the winds turned out to be more intense than I expected once I was out of the car.
where was twistex, or are you keeping that part private
Jumping into that ditch probably saved your life. Great work keep it safe.
@@TwoToneT he jumped into the ditch too stay safe from RFD straight line winds.
@@olivertan8 He most definitely is.
Its even worse to watch this vid because Tim Paul and Carl were right behind Dan and the never showed up
Sad indeed
yeah but it hink it was gonna be tims time to go cause the tornado came out the gate heading south so i feel like mother nature was saying it was his time
@@joshcourtneyj5656 what? What does the direction the tornado traveled have to do with someone's time?
@@joshcourtneyj5656 that's a very odd thing to say. But Tim and them didn't expect this tornado to do what it did and this thing was massive and unpredictable.. they just got caught and in that line of work when u are saying with the earths energy it's only a matter of time before someone gets got
Their car was an underpowered 4 cylinder. The storm was moving at 55mph, but with the suction, the bad road conditions and the heavy rains/low visibility, they were going about 40mph. They simply got run over by the storm. RIP.
I personally would’ve drove straight home that day, hug my family, and retire. The money ain’t worth it
It's not the money, it's the knowledge. Most storm chasers are collecting data to learn more about tornadoes, how to prevent casualties and warn people faster. I too would have done what you said though. I don't know what I'd do after a storm like this
I promise you they aren't making much if any
It's about their passion, their emotion. They love what they do 🥺
@@veravile1232 most storm chasers are in it for the thrill.
...the money? 😂 these people do it out of a love of nature, scientific study of extreme weather, meteorology. there's no money in it.
The tornado looked so far at first then it was right next to you in a split second
I know you said Twistex was behind you, but every time I watch this, I find myself looking for them.
He cut that footage out
Also it'd be hard to see they were all in a rain-wrapped tornado
When the camera switches to the back view, soon before this you would have seen them. This dude was hundreds of feet away from death
Dan said that they stopped so I doubt that it shows anything other than their lights getting smaller until you couldn’t see them anymore. Maybe.
@@sigsin1 they didn't stop....... a sub vortex got them and threw them....
The tornado was moving away from me and the winds did not seem dangerous when I got out. I was not aware of the larger scale circulation still over me. I do not like to take chances. Damage to my car and equipment is expensive, as is injuries. I have to pay for everything out of pocket.
you have to pay for everything out of pocket yet drive into it's path oh boy
Never saw this footage before. Wow.
Sorry, but I don't believe you. At all.
@Shukun Zhong That was the entire tornado. There never was a main funnel as the rain acted as the condensation funnel itself. The closer you got to the interior, the deeper the rain. Of course there were more noticeable subvortices circling inside the tornado, one that unfortunately took the like of the Twistex crew.
Wendy W what? You don’t believe what?
Even knowing that you made it out, when you say "the car won't go" at the 5:20 mark, it really capitalizes on the gravity of the situation. Makes my hair stand up.
And then he stops.
Watching this never fails to give me anxiety. Not only did this dude barely escape the largest tornado in history, famed stormed chaser Tim Samaras, his crew were RIGHT behind him, only to die to this thing. Insane.
This must’ve been absolutely terrifying! The tornado is so big, it looks like he’s driving towards it, but it literally is just growing/expanding around his vehicle as he’s trying to escape it!
So glad this tornado missed populated area. It would have been terrible a week after the moore Oklahoma tornado.
Ef-0 would not do any damage at all may be move some roof shingles around but that's about it. Glad the big ones missed them.
SoonerMagicJ we had one come thru here and did plenty of damage. Lost trees , roof tops , and down lines.
The one that came thru here was a Ef-0
I believe it would of been like the Greensburg, Kansas tornado. Even more if it hit OKC.
Brendan Richko moore got hit by ef5 2 weeks earlier
That wasn't even a tornado anymore.. It's a whole other thing completely. I didn't know the earth could produce something so terrifying.
Best driving I have ever seen. How you kept it together is beyond me.
thanks to traction control (that slowed him down a lot)
Would be a bad time to run out of gas..
Always keep your fuel tank topped up. always.
Larry Bird and make sure you keep your car in tip top condition
a horrible time
I'm pretty sure storm chasers fill up on gas before heading out but that would be the worst time!
DangerShadow Gamer At least it is a quick death.
Wow, in the beginning, driving toward it, a person that wasn't familiar with tornadoes could've easily thought it was just a low to ground massive cloud.
It is clearly a tornado and I think the average person would have never turned East and go in front of it.
Even people familiar with tornadoes probably wouldn't have guessed that the massive cloud *was* the tornado
@@sbeasley7585the average person has no sense of direction. They see clear skies, which were east of the tornado. They would more than likely go that route instead of turning back north where the skies looked ugly, but was the safest option. We’re talking about the average person here.
I legitimately don't know how he managed to stay on the road during that rain-out. The noise, the fear, Hydroplaning on a dirt road at full speed with 4% visibility. I dont know if I could have done that, but I doubt it. Terrifying.
Kudos, Survivor.
5:11 That was approximately the intersection where the twist x team died, RIP Tim and Paul samaras and Carl young.
Having watched this no less than 50 times, I think the scariest part would have been from 11:42-13:50, where Dan is in the ditch. Imagine how frightening that would be!
I was just thinking that! being in the car is scary dont get me wrong, but it offers some type of "mind protection" rather than being in the ditch where you are most vulnerable out in the open.
Why didn't he just keep on driving?
@@detroitdiezel7856I’ve asked myself that many times, but I think he was in shock. He was lucky to be alive!
The adrenaline rush tends to cloud your thinking and he did what his mind is trained to get as much footage as possible. For some of us we only get that adrenaline rush for a few seconds, like when you avoid car accidents and your heart races. Some people are adrenaline junkies and do crazy stuff for fun. His adrenaline rush was for a long period of time at extreme levels. Yes he could have just kept going but he calmed himself by doing what he knows, gathering as much information and footage as possible. That endorphin release had him feeling pretty brave and relieved at the same time. Just a behavioralist giving his opinion without an actual interview. As for me I would have kept driving until I got to Texas!!! 14:28
RIP Tim, Paul, and Carl! We miss you! D:
we shall do what you did not get to: find out how to prevent tornadoes.
SILVIC THEHEDGEHOG Thats right.
Roblox StormChaserXX WE MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!
FM Games what happen?
@@coldboltz7390 They were storm chasers who were only a few hundred feet behind the people recording this video but they got killed after a sub vortex directly hit them and launched them
Toyota Yaris... last thing I'd wanna be trying to outrun EF5 winds in... literally the lightest tin can on the road not to mention the fact they literally have less than 100hp no get up and go at all... so glad you're alive man great footage and so glad you came out safe back then. RIP to the Twistex team I remember paying attention on the news to everything that was going on.
He was driving the sedan version of the Yaris, which has at least 105-109hp.
Still though, not an ideal car for getting up close and personal with a tornado.
@@EthanJaye yeah... i live in eastern Canada so way far of any kind of massive tornados like this, but our main storm chaser team has a rule for their vehicles: minimum 300 horsepower, all wheel drive and if possible over 3500lbs
@JoTheLegend that sounds similar to my last car, an AWD Taurus SHO which weighed maybe 4,000lbs. I got stuck in a massive downpour on my way driving south of Dallas one day, and hit a large area of the interstate that had maybe a foot of standing water on it while I was doing 65mph (I only saw it a split second before I hit it). The water completely swallowed my windshield and front of my car for maybe 10 seconds and somehow I hardly even swerved despite thinking the whole time I was inevitably going to lose control and smash into the wall.
It’s almost super terrifying that even the most experienced chasers, for example Tim Samaras could get caught, and killed in something that Tim’s been chasing for 20 years. RIP, Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young. You will be missed.
Tim was behind you going east on Reuter. God bless you Tim and RIP. Your contribution to meteorology was indispensable. Thank you.
7:11 he knows they're gone...
:(
The change from heavy rain to eerie calmness to the storm literally tapping your bumper is crazy
This is hands down the scariest chase I have ever seen.
Biggest tornado in recorded history.
Crazy lucky. I no longer wonder how Tim, Paul and Carl died, but how anyone caught in that survived. TH-cam is full of these "survivor" videos and I'm more flabbergasted each time.
Some believe if they had just booked it like Dan did, they would’ve made it. I’m not sure though...a Cobalt with three grown men and a trunkful of probes? And they would’ve had the same traction control problem because the Cobalt probably had the feature automatically with no button to switch it off (but a lot of good that did Dan...he had the button but it wouldn’t turn off!).
@@dreemsnake1 It didn't turn off because it has a speed limit sensor set at 45km/h, where you can't disengage it. Vehicles shouldn't even be equipped with them. But I honestly think that Tim wanted the best footage, and took a risk which unfortunately took his and 2 other lives. Not being disrespectful, but I think that's what happened.
I’m not saying you are wrong but I disagree about Tim stopping to get the “best footage”. I didn’t personally know Tim and have never met him but I have heard countless times that he was more careful then most. He was actually known to cut chases off when there was a good likelihood they could get a probe in the path but he felt like things could/were getting dangerous. I stated above that I have never met him but during my times chasing I have run into many people who have and the conversation has come up from time to time and it’s always the same. Everyone always says he was more focused on safety then anything else. No data/video is worth risking your life. I’m not going to lie there has been a handful of times I’ve stayed in a spot longer then I should have because I was getting good video or I ended up driving into a situation that could of gone badly. You just never known when you are out chasing. I always tell new people the smartest thing to do is stay around a pack. There is typically a pack of chasers in one place and then others scattered in all different places. When I first started I just stayed near a pack because I felt like that was safe until I gradually felt like I was confident enough to make decisions for myself. My decisions have kept me alive so I guess I’m doing alright but there certainly has been a few times I didn’t make a good decision. El Reno to me is one of the scariest things I can imagine. You get so used to how typical tornadoes act that something like this can easily catch you off guard. I’m not saying all tornadoes act the same but for the most part you can usually figure it out. In my couple years of chasing I have never encountered anything remotely close to el Reno and hope I never do.
@@johnsmithson8020 no, it's that they got caught in a subvortex. It was just luck that Dan didn't.
@@mesohunt704 the twistex team got fooled by the tornado just like dan did. at 2:14 on Dan's video above, the twistex car crossed paths with dan and was behind him (you dont see them in the footage). the footage that was recovered from the Twistex car revealed there was some indecision on their part on what the best route to take was. they took the same route dan did. when the tornado started to over take them and Dan hit the gas the twistex car fell behind and was overtaken... perhaps they were simply weighed down by the weight of extra probes and 2 additional men, as dreesnake noted above.
I worked for National Instruments and had the opportunity Tim at our annual conference in August of 2012. He was incredibly kind to me and a level of enthusiasm for his work that was magnetic. I couldn't believe it when I learned of his passing less than a year later. It was a delight and a privilege to have met him.
The rfd was spooky intense. Really shows you the power that was in that storm.
That storm was an absolute behemoth. 😳
This guy was lucky to outrun it given how far the peripheral circulation extended from the main core.
This tornado still gives me goosebumps even thinking about it.
That rear view of the storm where it looks like it fills the horizon is the stuff of nightmares 🤯
I was running four different cameras. The video switches to the front dash camera at a time before the rear window blowout, so there is some time overlap there. I did that so the entire wind event that blew out the rear window could be seen from the front view.
Dan Robinson I was just like to see Dan you're a brave man for what you do but I am curious and I would like to see if I can get an answer since you had 4 cameras did you at any time have a rear camera that was showing the rear view from the behind your car and at anytime did it record footage of Tim Samaras his car?
Lea Herbert I thought I could see their taillights down on the right side of the street next to a tree, but I could be seeing things.
not cool,they were his friends man. Would you show a video of your buddies getting killed? i sure wouldnt.
Dan my fellow storm chasing brother in so glad you are ok r.i.p the twistex team but your video and alot of storm spotter and storm chaser videos show just how dangerous our job is every time I head out in the field when my wife and parents or any one ask me I never lie to them I tell them the truth I do have fear and any storm spotter and storm chaser that says they don't have fear are either to stupid or to foolish to know any better and if you don't have fear going out there under storms you just need to give this career up
Since you were running 4 cameras, you also had the rear cam footage when you were inside the tornado, right? The Nat Geo article had an image of your rear with team twistex's headlights visibly behind you and a funnel cloud to your 5:00 direction. Is that part of the video confidential?
That was freakin' intense just watching this. I can't imagine actually experiencing it.
Bro same!
Truly phenomenal Dan. It took me over an hour to watch this while tracking on the path map that was created for the tornado. If you haven't, you should look at the intersection near where he stopped and the path it took. So fortunate to still be here. It was 1 "block" behind or beside him the entire time.
As a resident of Tornado Alley, and an avid student of disaster response, thank you (and others like you) for your work. Tim, Paul, and Carl joined the honorable ranks of heroes who were killed working to save the lives of others, yet you are just as heroic. I don't know how this has impacted you in the long run, but as someone who suffers from PTSD, I can testify that the strength to carry on in the face of tragedy is no less impressive than the willingness to risk everything for the safety of others. I hope that the past eight years have been kinder to you. The 10-year mark will probably be tough, but I pray that you will have the strength to continue to carry on.
I lived through a tornado in 1970. Two of my friends were killed.
Because of that I understand the importance of Storm chasers and their work.
stephanie gaudreau to go and get killed by tornadoes?
This shows that you know nothing about how this works. Storm chasers go after severe weather like this to warn people and do research on how to detect when a tornado will happen so they can save lives.
Sorry for your loss 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Everyone watching should also watch Skip Talbot's video about the safety lessons learned in El Reno. Most of the questions about why chasers made they choices they did are explained very well there, as well as the new paradigms on how to avoid/escape the tornado. There's also an extensive use of computer overlay to show all of the various teams positions. A lot of valuable data was gained - unfortunately, at great cost.
Yep a great video of what not to do
Probably the only video that actually shows the actual El Reno tornado and not just satellite funnels.
6:30 When you realize the entire sky is chasing you. I can't even tell the tornado is behind you until the moment when the background sky becomes visible on the left.
El Reno was something straight out of a nightmare. Glad you survived.
You are very lucky to be alive, my friend. We are coming up on the third anniversary of this storm. I was watching live coverage from the OKC media online and it was unreal.
Escaping? You drove right into it. Yehaw.
I was about to make the exact same statement. Into the tornado, then parking right next to it, then somehow managing to get into the tornado all over again lol.
in the documentary you can clearly see (and its mentioned) them driving towards it
madkem1 No , he was driving parallel to the tornado when the tornado expanded 500% and changed directions in less than a minute.
@@observer7555 Actually, he was driving parallel to the tornado for most of the video. Unfortunately for Dan, he turned south to get closer just at the same time the tornado expanded and turned north. The video starts off with him having just turned south from Jensen on to Choctaw to head towards a storm that had been moving moving south and east - and shifted at the same time to north and east. At 6:17:59 he turns on to Reuter road to parallel/outrun the storm which is where most of the action happened. He got lucky. Reuter road ended about a mile or so ahead which means he would have been forced to go north or south and most certainly would have been swallowed by the tornado.
As others have pointed out. This tornado was erratic in size, forward speed and direction. He didnt drive into it, it jutted out in his direction.
I admire you for your hard work and bravery for doing what you do, Dan. I am sorry for your loss of your friends and family with this storm and I'm glad you're safe. Take care, man. 🖤
6:30 Right about the time Twistex got hit
It’s amazing that you survived this and lived to tell about it. God bless you
Just watching this video jumped my blood pressure up. So sorry for your loss. Have no idea what this felt like. Thank you for your dedication. Am glad you made it. Man it will take a little while to calm down. So proud there are people like you who put themselves themselves in harm's way so others will be safer on the future.
He barely, BARELY, gets away then decides to stop and get out of the car wtf lol! This is one of the most intense tornado videos I've ever seen and I have seen hundreds, of not thousands. Wow!
nice pic
Because he thought staying in the car he would end up dead. It’s safer to lay face down in a little gulley as it goes over top of you… rather than being inside a tin can that would get folded up like tin foil.
Thank you for sharing your experience in such detail. I admire your honesty and integrity.
This is, by far, the best storm chase video I have ever seen.. errr.. storm escape.
+boop shanaa This is no doubt an awesome video. This tornado had several video captures of intense escapes. If you haven't seen it yet, search youtube for Brandon Sullivan's escape from this tornado earlier in its formation. Its an incredible drama packed video.
Yes the noise was almosts deafening felt like I was right there in the car
When the camera switches at 5:54 my heart sinks to know that TWISTEX were right there earlier and now they are gone
Still one of the most amazing, heart pounding tornado chase videos ever recorded. And the only video to _clearly_ show the El Reno tornado as a recognizable wedge during its widest phase.
I firmly believe this would be considered an EF5+ tornado if it had hit any sort of major population. Similar strength to the 1999 bridge Creek tornado but more than two times as large, just insane.
I'm not so sure about that, EF5s usually scour the ground and roads, el reno did neither. EF5s usually debark trees, el Reno did not. Bridge creek was EF5 damage across pretty much the whole funnel width, El Reno was EF1 winds across pretty much the entire funnel width.
@@joshdoeseverything4575 Haha El Reno was NOT EF-1 winds across the entire funnel width. The tornado had winds of 295 mph which is WELL BEYOND EF-5 strength. Also, the tornado was mostly in open fields with no trees, so it probably didn't debark trees because it didn't hit any.
I would still be driving.....
Stopping at 6:55? With that thing beating down on you? I would have kept driving straight to the nearest Oceanic coastline. Dang.
Then 10:58 you could have easily been killed by debris my man.
There were other storm chasers behind him... i think he was trying to see if they made it or not.. unfortunately they didn't.
At 6:45 you can see the twistex car headlights on the road way in back. As soon as they disappeared he stops his car. Because he knew, he even says "oh no.. " at 7:11. Sad..
@@alanenah7809 watch cloosely between 6.20 to 6.30 you see som ewhite objects being swept away
I watch this every now and again and the feeling of sheer terror always hits hard. amazing footage Dan
Just came from Nexpo's Darkest Lost Media video. Your video makes it in what he believes shows the final moments of the Twistex Team.
You can see the headlights close to the beginning when you turn. I think they were maybe 30 seconds behind you. Those seconds were the difference between life and death. Its crazy to think about...I'm glad you made it. You have some insane but captivating footage of the raw power and awe of a tornado.
RIP Twistex Team.
If you watch Randy Walton's video you can see both Dan followed by Tim enter Router from 81. Tim is only 5-6 seconds behind Dan at this point. Randy's team turns behind Twistex, but wisely turns around and nopes it out of there. When they turn around you can see the monster bearing down on them, neither Dan nor Twistex realized that was the tornado, it just hulked out on them.
Thank you entirely for posting this, Dan. Twistex will be extremely missed. Paul was a friend of mine. I'm glad you're okay.
You have to respect the bravery and tenacity of the storm chasers who took on the most extreme EF5 tornado in history. That said, some tornados are unsafe to observe, let alone chase, at any distance and this was one of those. The chaser's goal is to get in close range, going by what similar storms have done in the past but El Reno changed both speed and direction in a very erratic and atypical manner. The best lesson to learn is never assume you know what a mega storm is going to do, or that there is any such thing as a "safe" close range observation that can be done on a 2.6 mile wide monster.
Ef3
@@Le_epic_eclipsebut the winds were F5
I’m so happy you’re alive, my heart is so broken for Tim and his son and the rest of the poor innocent angels who have lost their lives.
10 seconds slower and he was toast.
I've seen some chasers wearing helmets. It wouldn't hurt to be extra cautious and you only get one head so keep it safe.
I'd agree with that 100%. Most tornadoes are not El Reno. Problem is that in this particular instance, it wouldn't have saved Tim, Paul & Carl. Their car got fully engulfed by an EF5 and repeatedly kicked down & around the prairie like a soda can. The helmets wouldn't have helped.
@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III
I read tonight that Paul and Carl we're sucked out of the car and one of them was found a half mile away in one paper and another said it took them a quarter of a mile in opposite directions . Either the outcome was the same . Tim was seat belted in the car . So sad .
When you encounter near 300mph winds, no amount of head gear or body armor is going to save you. If flimsy playing cards can be deeply embedded into solid trees at much lower wind speeds, the human body just can't be sufficiently protected against monsters like the El Reno tornado.
This is still the greatest storm chasing footage of all time.... Ill never understand what made him even consider stopping after barely getting out of that, stopping twice, and getting out of the car to film more. JUST GO!!!!
I know this was 3 years ago but that just shows you how this video is still talked about and researched, but he didn’t step out for the sole purpose of footage and photography. Twistex was behind him and he said in an interview he could see their headlights behind him, he stopped when he realized they weren’t there anymore. He got back in when he knew he’ll join them if he didn’t get back to driving, but give the man a break he just realized his friends had been killed
Also, this footage is edited, he edited out the part where we could see twistex get overtaken out of respect for the family. The rear cam had their last moments alive.
@@slingshot7792 That’s simply not true. Dan had no idea anyone was behind him until he reviewed the rear camera footage, nor were they friends. He’s stated he had met Tim and Carl and they’d exchanged pleasantries before, but he didn’t know TWISTEX.
And his back camera footage just shows TWISTEX’s headlights fading out, according to Dan and the three or four other people who have seen it. His footage didn’t capture the subvortice overtaking their Cobalt; they were already out of view when that happened.
And yes, he did get out to take video and pictures and it almost cost him his life. He had to have been in a state of shock, having made it through what he probably shouldn’t have. Thankfully, it didn’t kill him, though, and he was still chasing as of last year.
@@slingshot7792 Not true.
@@slingshot7792 He did not know about them being behind him until roughly 3 days later. He stated this himself.
This is unreal footage, Dan. Hope you dont take that the wrong way but you must have been terrified. I was in the nashville tornado in 2020 and being inside a building is one thing but to be out there driving in it to keep other people safe. You are one hell of a person.
I ALWAYS come back to this video. One of the scariest ever. I can't believe you did that!
You are crazy man, but please take it as a compliment! It is because of people like you that we can each year understand a little more about these storms. Keep up the good job if that is what your passion lies with!
If the *inflow* into the tornado blew out his rear window, just imagine what the actual tornado would have done!
Given the size of that hail, you're lucky to have made it out of that without severe injuries.
He was in fact inside the tornado. A large part of it was invisible.
highest winds were near or at 300mph
@@GGbreizh he might have crossed the bearcage but not the tornado itself
@@eggrollsoup *Edit, turns out I was mistaken and it WAS the inflow jet. Check out this video from Skip Talbolt th-cam.com/video/bJOjjzHUwsk/w-d-xo.html
I thought people were exaggerating when they said the tornado was bigger than the funnel itself. Then I see this where even the rain wrapping winds threatened to topple vehicle over. That's terrifying.
Note, that at 4:22 you pass over the little bridge where the Twistex team got hit (according to NWSNorman) and you pass the memorial just past Radio Road much later at 5:15. It's hard to grasp for me they flew through the air that whole distance.
You meant reuter road?
@@Russ1133 He meant that Radio Rd was the intersection road that runs north to south.
I'm thinking the exact same thing 😢
Seeing that Wall of Death behind him, I can try to imagine but my brain cannot fathom it 😢
Dude your a legend for documenting this your in the history books for sure I know people lost there life but you documented a amazing one in a kind disaster and you did it like a real
Man. Props
So many people complaining in the comments about the fact he hopped out of his car near the end of the vid and started to film. When I saw that all I could say was "That is what true dedication to your job looks like". He realized he couldn't escape any further and staying in your car is much more dangerous in this situation since the car can get picked up and flung, but when you lay in a ditch the wind can't easily get underneat you to grab you, but even while nearly getting killed by this insane tornado the man was so dedicated to his job as a storm chaser and researcher he actually thought of grabbbing his camera to try and get some close up footage instead of jumping in a ditch right away.
I've watched this vid more times than I can count on my hands since it was uploaded and still everytime it amazes me how lucky he was and how terrifying this tornado truly was.
That's not my take. At the point he thought he was safe he got out to take pictures. He would have been better off to have kept driving. The conditions where the car was stopped may not have been experienced 1/4 or a half mile ahead. The time it took to stop and the time stopped killed the extra time needed to get further away from the storm.
Yeah that footage is a great service to science... NOT
It is not dedication to work, it is being stupid and not carring about your own life. A dedicated person to work things firstly about SAFETY!
@@maciejnowacki8232 Storm Chasers like Robinson are very different from thrill seekers. They are not here to snap photos of storms and joke around. They are here to document and research storms which is invaluable to data which meteorologists & scientists need.
Stormchasers are not the thrill-seeking, stupid people that idiots think they are. Without them, warnings likely wouldn't reach cities sooner, and we wouldn't know much about how these things work.
Tell the dead Tim Samaras and his family that their work was "useless" and "stupid". This is absolutely insensitive.
WHAT HE WAS DOING IS NOT A JOB AND HE WAS NOT GETTING PAID NOR DID HE HAVE INSURANCE AGAINST BEING KILLED BY A TWISTER AND, HE WAS DOING IT FOR STARDOM AND FOR ADVENTURE. NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND????
This video is absolute nightmare fuel. It's one of the most intense and compelling videos of how deadly these storms are. Glad you survived Dan.. sorry you went through that horror.
One of the most stressful videos I've watched. The turn toward the " light " seemed the safe bet but it just kept getting worse even while hauling ass. Letting up would have been fatal. Did not know the twisted team was behind you. Paul was not a risk taker, always seem to prefer safety and science over that cool video. That was one horrifying tornado, what an escape
This is absolutely terrifying. Thanks for uploading! Love it.
look at that spinning black cloud. that's the whole tornado
and there's a 100x bigger cloud above
6:20 :( it's not rain! It's all huge tornado...
holy crap at 5:40 that looks like a vortex to the right of the screen traveling to the left.. wow..
It's a visible wall of rain 😮
You're gonna have nerves of steel after this! Oh my god how frightening! So glad you made it out!