1985: A Tornado Goes Through the Neighborhood! Hermitage, Pennsylvania
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ส.ค. 2011
- My Father, Ron Alfredo, filmed this rare video of a huge F5 tornado on Brian Ln, in Hermitage, Pennsylvania on May 31, 1985. This is the full footage with correct sound. My mom (Dale Alfredo) and dad (Ron Alfredo) were visiting from Texas.
This is My Grandparents House on Brian Lane, Hemitage PA. Weather got strange, so my dad whipped out his brand new vhs video camera and recorded the mayhem.
Filmed By: Ron Alfredo
Edited By: Ryan Alfredo
Absolutely incredible. I can't believe that is footage from 1985, the quality is really quite good. That roar is such a chilling noise and, for all of us who have experienced a tornado, is absolutely unmistakable.
Yeah well that was the quality you got with a good videocamera (which is still a thing these days, every real videocamera will still give you better results than the average phone). VHS-camera's weren't small and were thus usually equipped with quite nice microphones as well. I think it's more surprising the quality is still so good after all those years ;) Many VHS-tapes have degraded badly over time due to incorrect storage or just because of a bad batch of tape.
I've heard the roar of tornadoes here in North Carolina on two separate ocçasions .
1985? This footage looks like it could have been from 2005 - crazy good quality for that time! Insane footage - and that sound 🥺
"Ternaydo." "Get dahnstairs." Couldn't get anymore Pittsburghese than this...lol
😂
Carly S. Yes yinz do. I am from Steubenville Ohio and we get our dialect from you. So there!!!
Carly S. A little exaggerated but fairly accurate th-cam.com/video/k4jn1L-riak/w-d-xo.html
Carly S. From a true Pittsburgh native himself,
Joe Manganiello
And why are you in such denial of something you should actually be proud of???? I know I am proud of it. My family loves “dem Stillers”. They “red up da hause.” They “woosh” clothes. They ask what “yinz” are having for dinner.
Now, you don’t have to believe me, if you simply don’t hear it. Maybe you don’t personally talk that way, and not ever Pittsburgher does. That’s fine. But you can’t deny the regional dialect DOES exist! And I assure you it does! Or I wouldn’t have made such a bold statement in the beginning that got 36 likes. Why? Because they know it’s true! Maybe not for you, but for everyone else who hears the accent.
Look, I grew up in Steubenville Ohio. Pittsburgh was literally a half hour to an hour away. We used to go there quite a bit. I’d hear that sound of the Steel Valley, which resonated across the state lines to the West Virginia northern panhandle and on into Eastern Ohio. That’s the pride of a long-standing tradition of Iron City steel workers. My uncle lives right off route 22 in Murrysville. He definitely speaks often with the Pittsburgh tone. He also uses some variants of upstate New York, Connecticut and Vermont, since he lived in all those places too.
But again, you don’t have to believe me if you don’t hear it.
th-cam.com/video/eRyLajcTCrQ/w-d-xo.html
Mechahon Carly S is in denial.
There's something so ominous about a tranquil backyard, but hearing the roar of an approaching tornado.
I've had this experience but at night. It's extremely unnerving. You can only see it when lightning lights up the funnel for a few milliseconds, but you can definitely hear it
This is one of my go-to videos when I need a tornado fix. Something about it is so captivating. (Filmed by innocent people instead of screaming storm chasers is probably why). It looks like the tornado is going to make a direct hit with the house! Glad you and your family survived that spectacle. I know others weren't as lucky.
Thanks for the comment! I can totally relate to what you are saying lol.
@@RyanAlfredo 👍
Ryan, I saw a documentary on tornadoes with your father's video featured. According to the documentary, that is the first tornado captured on a home video VHS recorder. So your dad made some history. I remember this night very well. I lived in Pittsburgh at the time and I remember we had a nasty storm with lots of wind. I currently live in Zelienople and the most southern tornado of the outbreak hit a mile south of town. Some of the neighbors still vividly remember it and talk about it. I remember we'd drive up I-79 to Erie and for years you could see all the trees bent and twisted by the Lutz Farm. On the 30th anniversary an EF0 hit a Sheetz very close to where the '85 tornado hit.
Wow thank you for your account. Very interesting to hear from others about this storm in different areas. Love it.
Graphic twister fury on the plains
@@TheNichola6 It's Pennsylvania not the Plains.
Mr. Greenjeans it’s on that documentary look it up
The first VHS recorded tornado was actually May 13th 1980 in Kalamazoo Michigan.. look up Kalamazoo tornado 1980
I love how calm and collected your dad was. I love to see tornado videos but in so many of them the person shooting the video is screaming or someone near them is screaming or shouting. I know it’s a major event and people are full of adrenaline but some of them just won’t stop. Lol. I especially love when he says “that’s fantastic”. I would like to be with someone like him in a dangerous situation. Cool, calm, and collected. I love tornado videos that show the hail falling before the updraft gets overhead. It’s perfectly silent except for the sound of occasional large hail hitting. Then all of a sudden the hail slowly stops falling and it becomes silent, until a distant roar, almost like a airplane in the distance, starts to become audible. There aren’t too many videos out there that capture that pre tornado environment and then the tornado after that. This video captured both perfectly!!! Thank you for posting this!
You are VERY lucky that tornado didn't hit you, when you can see that much detail in the debris...that's not typically a good thing.
Pretty high quality video for 1985. I found the last part of the video (starting @ 2:27) to be the most eerie, seeing the trees billowing furiously, combined with the deafening roar of the tornado.
I remember this outbreak. I lived near Rochester NY and was in 8th grade. We were sent home early because of the storms and we had lost power. Over 43 Tornadoes from Southern Ontario, Western New York, Northeast Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania. Just goes to show you that these outbreaks can happen anywhere if the conditions are right.
Fellow random Rochester NY native
The quality is really good for 1985!
Love a retro tornado video. I could watch them all day. Insane how good the quality was back then too. I was born in 1992 and glad I was alive during the last of the camcorder days.
Me too, although in my case, "retro" means "filmed". I wasn't around for the days of film, but filmed tornadoes have that antique quality that sets them apart. Like finding a coin from over 70 years ago-they're worn down in a way that newer coins just aren't.
According to a 1996 VHS tape, this was one of the first (if not the very first) recordings of a tornado on a home video camera.
_Tornado Video Classics,_ or possibly _Twisters! Nature's Fury,_ which was a mass produced, somewhat expurgated version of the same thing. As far as I know, yes, this remains the first tornado on camcorder.
This is crazy. My mom (I'm 32) tells me stories of this day/outbreak. Absolutely crazy. Amazing footage for '85. This is "Fantastic"
All these years later, still, in my opinion, unparalleled in its combination of sound + debris detail. Oh, and the Dodge Omni in the driveway.
wow! I was sent here from the TH-cam Channel "Weatherbox". Amazing footage. What a way to break in a new video camera! You're so calm. I love the comment below from "Trevortornadoes",
trevortornadoes122
3 years ago (edited)
When a tornado goes through your neighborhood: "Holy shit, that's fantastic!"
My man this footage is incredible and what’s just as incredible is it’s quality despite being 36 years old. I mean, yeah it’s camcorder/vhs but it’s pretty clear compared to some other home movie tapes I’ve seen from the 80s. Hell, looks better than the Police dashcam tape of the Van Wert F4 from 2002. Nice job maintaining it man.
Wow love the old footage. Don't see many old videos that are this gold seeing the tornado, debris and hearing the whipping noise. Thanks for posting this
The fact that this is 1985 makes so nostalgic and bittersweet. I miss the 1980s so much. What a special time to be a kid and teen back then. Wish I could just jump through the screen and live in America again during that time. To feel it one more time. No cell phones no social media. Didn't know everyone's opinion about everything & everyone wasn't so cynical & we could laugh at ourselves & not take every little thing so seriously. Best decade ever!! I thank God everyday that he let me be a kid and teen during the 80s. I will never ever forget it. The movies..tv shows..and the music and MTV BET VH1 The Nashville Network all showing music videos 24/7 and VJs introducing block of videos. Oh and Friday Night Videos, Night Tracks on WTBS on the weekends. Oh I could just go on and on. Sorry I know it was off topic of the video. Just spoke from my heart.
"That's a tornado...That's fantastic." haha Both you and your father standing out so calmly as 250 MPH plus winds came blowing past made chuckle along with your comments. The hail and that eerie stillness before the tornado approaches really stood out to me and makes this video truly unique compared to other tornado videos I have watched on here.
Unique compared to other tornado vid's, there are so many vid's like this and alot better one's.
Ryan O'Toole Pennsylvania’s only EF-5 Tornado!
Im sure there are alot better vids than this. Do you realize this footage is over 30 years old?
1:40, I don't think that's paper.
It's strange that multiple cameraman said that
losepoundsandinches
No.
Technically it was. I mean trees eventually become paper sooo...lol
Wow somebody got some badass footage of a tornado from May 31, 1985. I was only six years old at that time and I lived only twenty miles away from Hermitage LOL. Man the video quality is awesome thank you for uploading this video.
No problem. Thank YOU for sharing your account of it. I'll let my dad know the kind words.
I lived on chestnut street, about 2 blocks north of saw hill plant. It's strange that exactly 30 years later, an f-0 landed by sheets and flipped over a couple of cars and damaged the awning at sheetz right below where this was filmed.
I lived next door to that sheetz when it happened. I heard a noise I've never heard before and next thing I knew trees were down behind our house.
I love how the start surveying the damage while the tornado is still on the ground not far behind them..
I vividly remember this opening up the second tape of a two part documentary I used to watch all the time. "Twisters: Nature's Fury"
My grandparents were in this tornado. They lived 5 miles east of hermitage PA
It was truly amazing how many long track tornadoes occurred that day and into the late evening hours. I was only about a year old when this happened, but my mother told me before she was watching the Erie TV station and looked out the window to the sky being a greenish-yellowish color. There ended up being a tornado about 10 minutes north of where we lived which ended up killing about 20 or so people. Fortunately, we were very lucky to be in between where the storms hit. It's amazing even after the Newton Falls-Niles-Hermitage F5 tornado occurred, a massive 2 mile tornado ripped through the central part of the state nearly hitting some towns but ripping up a ton of state forest north of State College. Fortunately, it didn't hit any towns or I believe it would have been just as deadly as the ones which hit Wheatland, Albion, Beaver Falls, Pymatuning and up in Ontario. Again, thanks for a truly amazing video and risking your life to film a historic event in Ohio-Pennsylvania weather history. R.I.P. to those who lost their lives on May 31st; a day known infamously for other events including The Johnstown Flood as well.
i was about the same age t tree fell on my house there is a picture of me in a fold up play pen watching people cut the tree up
Thanks for sharing Ryan! I remember seeing this footage as a kid in the 90's!
No problem John! Glad you enjoyed the video.
While the "money shot" was in many tornado videos in the 1990s, I never saw the full version until Roy Britt (vortexva on TH-cam), video consultant for the Tornado Video Classics series posted it to TH-cam about five years ago. In the clip with the hail falling at the beginning you can hear the "roar" of the tornado. According to Tom Grazulis's book "Significant Tornadoes", this was the first F5 recorded on videotape rather than film.
Very cool. Thanks for the information!
Very intense day. No one believed a tornado, let alone an F5, would actually touch down in the Shenango Valley. I watched this from E. State St., which was covered in golf ball size hail, and listened to "the train" as it rolled through.
This is an amazing video. I remember that day vividly. I worry, because many of the tornado warnings in our area are false alarms, and people don't take warnings seriously. If another monster like this came along, no one would take precautions.
Yeah that's exactly how i feel! We were out doing work close to this are and they use the fire house to call out different emergencies, first time I heard it I was so freaked out (and no one else was) because I thought it was an ACTUAL warning because they were using the emergency alarms
In the 1990 Plainfield Illinois F-5 tornado the weather service people were debating whether it was a tornado or not; they didn't want to 'cry wolf' and have people ignoring warnings. 5 minutes after it hit and had been killing people they finally issued a warning. Afterwards the NWS issued a policy change, feeling that it's better to warn when unsure than to miss one single tornado for fear of warning too much where there was none. The 'overwarning' fear was given the name "Plainfield Syndrome"- you can look that up.
It's their job to warn us, and if they miss a single tornado they've failed. It's our job to understand their position and make our own decisions about the warnings. They've updated the policies again in gibing the source of information, such as "radar detected" or "observed by" spotters or Law Enforcement etc. Observed tornadoes are real, radar detected ones are "maybes". I prepare to shelter quickly for all warnings, acting further only when it's "observed" or local conditions tell me it's time to run and hide. Everyone is doing the best they can but we're still a long way off from being able to positive identify tornadoes by radar alone. Better to err on the safe side, and that's them and us too.
This clip is featured on the 1995 documentary feature Tornado- Fury on The Plains.
I lost my baseball coach in this storm so every year on May 31st I go to the memorial in Wheatland and touch the stone
First watched this on a tornado documentary. This is a longer version and glad you posted it. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Man, I've watched hundreds of tornado videos. This 1 was great.
I remember this tornado very well. I lived in Mercer, and won't forget how much paper and mail were in the yard.
I've seen countless videos where the audio is ruined by the person filming but your Dad was so calm and collected and even enhanced it with a legendary line.
I actually remember this back from when I was a kid. I was 6yrs old and visiting my grandmother's house in Gibsonia. Wow! Great footage! Unfortunately, those "papers" were actually people's houses being torn up.
Loved seeing the good ol' Dodge Omni 😄 We had a maroon one just like it back then hahaha!
The quality of this video based on the date is excellent.
Tornados were even scarier back then. No cellphones to warn you. If you have the TV/ Radio off you wouldn't have any idea a tornado was about to hit
Tornado sirens?
such a dad thing to say at the end, “i got it on tape” hahaha love it!!
Telling everybody to get downstairs, why aren’t you movin?
I remember first seeing an abbreviated version of this on the TLC documentary Twister: Fury on the Plains as a little kid. The original unembellished VHS cut mentioned it's one of the first important home video recordings of a twister up close. Mad props to your Dad for making his mark on history!
"Look at all the paper flyin through the sky!"
It hit Dunder Mifflin?
As he films pieces of people's houses.
That's fantastic
Yeah, I'm like, Dude, those are probably cars! 😄
Shingles?
The word fantastic is a synonym of the word impressive, incredible etc and doesnt just mean "really good" :)
"Welp, here comes the tornado"
-either a guy who has no idea what an F5 tornado can do or a guy with the biggest balls on earth
Haha you would think, but this was actually a first for my parents. They had experienced Hurricane Andrew though.
@Zachary Thomas People living in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states in the heart of "Tornado Alley" & "Dixie Alley" are quite used to tornado watches & tornado warnings, because they are issued a number of times each year & they cover large areas. However, the majority of tornadoes only last 5, 10, perhaps 20 minutes, they are extremely localized events, and they are often obscured by rain & haze. So, in reality, the majority of residents in Tornado Alley & Dixie Alley have never seen a tornado (note: scary-looking clouds, funnel clouds, damaging winds/high winds from other parts of the storm, etc do not count as being "in" a tornado, or "seeing" a tornado. lol).
It’s not like he knew it was an F5, especially in Pennsylvania of all places.
@@RyanAlfredo If that's primarily your dad's voice in the audio on this footage, he is hilarious.. 😂😂
But I must admit that I was very worried for him and the rest of your family here the 1st time I watched this footage, them not knowing/being made aware just how powerful and dangerous a storm that was headed almost directly at them.. I was yelling at my phone the 1st time, "Get downstairsnamd drop the damn camcorder buddy!! Get some blankets and coach cushion, nevermind the video!!!", lol.
I've commented this before but I'll say it again here: I know your family are good people for certain, as they were protected here by an unseen force that has protected me and mine a time or 2.. I'm really glad everyone was Ok and this footage is amazing, especially for 1985. Thank you for sharing!
John Fuller wrote a book “Tornado Watch #211” about this event. There is a condensed version put in Readers Digest. I have the book itself, just don’t know where it is now. Makes for good reading. I’m sure it is out of print now.
I have that book...I read it every spring. .I'm from Western NY and I was 18 at the time but was away for the weekend in Kingston NY...I saw this video on CNN Monday evening and couldn't believe what went on that day not far from my house...Thank you for posting the full video
Why is it some of these older videos are better than anything we see in 2020-2022????? This was amazing!!!
Hey Ryan! My name is Ed Russo. I’m a meteorologist at the CBS 21 affiliate in Harrisburg. Can we use this video in a story we’re doing on the 35th anniversary of this outbreak? We will credit your father and you.
Hi Ed! No problem at all. Thanks for asking.
Ryan Alfredo this is great. Thank you so much!
@@RyanAlfredo This is one of the most epic documentations in meteorological history. The one question I have always had is, was the family aware that a tornado was baring down when they went out to start filming the hail? There was a tornado watch issued I believe. I was in NE Ohio at the time and saw the supercell that had formed the tornado just before it went into Niles. It looked very mean!
wow, that is crazy! not many up close videos like this.
This looks really good for 1985.
This tornado swept over the highway just south of Zelienople, PA, where my dad grew up. My dad was driving back into town for some reason I can’t remember, but he just barely missed it. He said there was wreckage everywhere, wood and splinters, mailboxes turned over. He turned 20 3 days after the tornado came through.
2:40 Holy dang, you can see how violent this thing was just from that rotation. Amazing footage!
Got to love those saying they were unaware people could record in this quality during the 80's, rofl. VHS is not as bad as people are led to believe. Most are simply spoiled with 720p+ nowadays, but there is nothing wrong with whipping out a VCR once in awhile and enjoying original VHS movies from the 90's! Best experience, I promise! Why? Because the best films were made in the 90's, especially when comparing the quality of films today. Better picture quality does not guarantee better acting and most def. not better directing :)
Thanks for the upload broski! Still wowing people 11 years later! Surprised this does not have a hundred million views! Probably because it is hard to find!
This was part of the same tornado outbreak where an F-4 went through Barrie, Ontario.
Also Grand Valley and just north of Orangeville.
Ontario got it first. Ohio got it next. Pennsylvania got it worst. New York took a glancing blow.
My mom lived in Linesville and she was 15 at the time. Her side of the family lost loved ones in Atlantic.
Wow!!!!!! the roar omg
LoL that is so me. The news says tornado on the ground take cover what do I do? Go outside and video tape haha
The top of my dad's property was hit by the f4 that started in Beaver falls and ended in Buffalo township, even today in 2019 there is still a clear path where the trees aren't as tall as the rest
If you can see individual items of debris, it's probably time to seek shelter...
I lived in Newton Falls, just outside the city limits, when that tornado came through. I had just turned eight years old. We happened to be out of town, at a doctor's appointment. I will always remember that day, and the days that followed.
Ben, thanks for the account of that day! I think comments like this are very important to get a feel of what that day was like.
Amazing for 1985!
That was fantastic, all right! You’d thought that guy knew what a tornado 🌪️ looked like in this part of Pennsylvania where he lived and not seen on that day! 😊😊😊😊
I miss the 80’s…Tornadoes where friendlier, we had PAC MAN, and the Pepsi Challenge!🇺🇸
Amazing footage. I remember driving through Newton Falls, Ohio and seeing the damage. I believe this was the same tornado and it was on the ground for almost 50 miles.
I was in Indian Guides with my father and older brother in 1985, and May 31-June 2 was the weekend of our spring campout that year. The two campgrounds owned by the Greater Pittsburgh YMCA were Deer Valley near Meyersdale in Somerset County, and Kon-O-Kwee near Zelienople in Beaver County. Since we'd just been to Kon-O-Kwee for our winter campout from January 25-27 that year, we chose Deer Valley instead, and that decision might have saved our lives, since the Beaver Falls/Evans City F3 tornado passed within a mile of Kon-O-Kwee at about the time we would have arrived if we chose to go there. Deer Valley still got severe weather late that night, with heavy rain, strong winds, and frequent, vivid lightning that kept all the fathers and sons awake until almost midnight. The rest of the weekend had perfect weather, with plenty of sunshine and low humidity, though it was a bit windy at times the day after the storm.
I've been a fan of tornados and videos of such events for most of my life and found this video to be one of the coolest ones I've seen. Just the time when it was recorded, I was four years old when this strong storm struck Pennsylvania. Everything looks so fresh and recent on this... wow
Legendary video right here. I have watched this hundreds of times n never knew it was the first vhs recording of an f5.
crazy, My dads workplace got messed up by that tornado
This is a great video. I have watched alot of tornado videos and this gem is a great find.
I remember this storm very well. I lived just across the line in Ohio, and we drove to Albion to see the devastation a few days later. It was surreal.
I never drive past the Albion exit without thinking about what happened there
I lived through that, it's awesome you got some good footage. I'll never forget the day I saw Green Clouds from the south on Friday, on Wednesday the thunderstorm that went through it felt like it last all night, the whole week was HOTT couldn't really sleep at all. I lived in the Belvedere area. That tornado was about 1.5 km from where I lived.
Sorry wrong Tornado I thought this was the one from Edmonton, Alberta Canada July 31st 1987. th-cam.com/video/s78-9TsDpOI/w-d-xo.html if you're interested.
my mother was pregnant with me in this tornado, she was at her parents house. the tornado just missed their house....glad everyone was okay
Took you a hot minute to determine it was a tornado, despite the fact that you could HEAR the damn thing!
Great footage. Can't believe it has been 34 years ago today! I was 12 at the time and watched it come towards our neighborhood in Niles. We were eating dinner at our kitchen table and I saw it coming through our backyard window overlooking our lake. Hit about 1/2 mile down the road. Will never forget. Took our our Roller Rink in Niles where kids from our schools would go for our school skate night, glad it wasn't that night!
This is a great video thank you so much I'm glad everyone is OK
I lived in hermitage when this happened. I was only 8 months old but I've heard many crazy stories about this f5 tornado.
I think debris clouds save many many more lives than they end because most tornados can be so hard to see. I'm glad you and your family made it through unscathed and thank you for sharing this!
still is one good tornado video after all this time!!!
Deadly mesmerizing! 😱😨😭
“Look at the paper!”😂. No, honey. Those were trees. Awesome footage!
How he confuses “papers” with roof tops 😳😂
Probably one of the earliest Tornado videos on home video. I am from Pittsburgh (about an hour south) and was too young to remember this, but awesome video.
i love these old vids! they have something extra to them
This video is one of the best at capturing the roar of an approaching violent tornado.
I remember this day...I was in 6th grade living in Wexford, PA...sky was green as hell and our power got knocked out for 24 hours...a microburst blew out a car dealership on route 19 as well, if I remember correctly.
Thanks for sharing your story! I really love hearing what others have to say about this fascinating but sadly, also deadly storm.
Though I wasn't born yet, this same outbreak dropped an F4 on my hometown. Amazing to see video of what was likely a very similar event
Some of the best tornado footage I’ve ever seen.
Just happened to see that Dodge Omni at the 1st part of the video. My first car. :) Good video, awful tornado.
One, big hail means BIG storm.
Two, that ain't paper.
Three. When you can hear it three or four miles away, it's a VERY powerful tornado.
Glad they were ok.
Incredible footage. My family lived in Cranberry twp, Butler county when this happened. There was one that went through Evans City/Zelie area too. We haven't had anything like this again and hope we don't again. Sadly people lost their lives during this outbreak. I'm glad your family were safe!
it's 2022 and this still holds up! HISTORY!!
I was 3 when this happened. I lived in edinboro pa at the time and my dad was a used car salesman in Albion on that very day. It was my cousins birthday and we were supposed to go to her party but my dad was late coming home to eat before we were to leave. He finally made it home according to my mom, and I guess he told her how crazy the sky looked. Then it hit and I know mom and we drove there the next day and she says it looked like a bomb went off. Crazy stuff.
Thank you so much for the first hand account!
Amazing video for 1985
That was a huge day in my life. I was with my parents at there place in gibsonia pa. We had crazy hail. The tornado crossed route 8. We were about 6 miles south of it. It was a very eerie feeling. Evans city was bad. I remember riding with my parents around that area the next day and they wouldnt let us down certain roads because there were dead still out. it was all so surreal. I was 9 at the time. 10 years later my parents bought land and built a house about 2 football fields away from where that tornado crossed route 8. I remember finding stuff throughout the woods. Like a bike tire in a tree. It dawned on me later that it was probably from the tornado. There was a piece of scrap metal stuck on a tree at the top of this hill where the tornado crossed route 8. driving past it on route 8 it was like a constant reminder of that day. 10 years later 1995. where we had our new house we were hit with what they said was a micro burst. It was an ugly storm. the lightning from the storm coming was all kinds of colors. when it hit, my reaction was "go to the basment!!" i was kind of traumatized from the 1985 tornado. I was so scared of tornados. My dad stood looking out at the deck while lawn furniture was blowing away and the trees were just falling like cards. I was yelling, get in the basement!!!! they were so dumb. We were all finally in the basment. It was loud for a couple minutes. when we came up. it looked like it snowed from all the hail and mist was rising. the sky was green.....i could see the sky. wait....where are all the trees? leveled. I wish i could find more info specifically on that tornado in butler pa..
I'm actually from Butler, and even I don't know much about that particular tornado, but my mother is from hermitage, so I know all about that one
But hey, if I find anything I'll tell you.
Andrew Devlin - your description is awesome. Felt like I could see what you saw. Totally should become a writer/author! 😱👏👏👍
I know the one in butler my dad was in it and my mom was all the way up in near Atlantic pa they hadn't even met yet obviously I still hear stories of it
just seeing this after all these years..family members died in this..& yeah..thats NOT paper flying around! I lived in Titusville at this time..15 yrs old. NEVER forget this day!
Sorry about your losses. #Never forget
@trevortornadoes122
"It's not *THAT* the wind is blowin'. It's *WHAT* the wind is blowin'."
-Ron White
I remember this day vividly. These people are very lucky to be alive as they have no idea what is coming
@Ryan O'Toole In the description, it states that the gentleman videotaping the tornado (and I presume, also doing the person talking) was visiting from Texas. So I'm sure he knew about tornadoes, however it's quite possible that he had never seen one before. Also, the quality of the framing & tracking with the videocamera suggests that he was focused on watching it through the viewfinder, and that may explain why he greatly underestimated the size of the debris & how violent/dangerous the tornado was. ☺
Actually as tornadoes go it wasn't huge at all. I heard it was 150 yards wide or so, which is small. But it was incredibly powerful at F5.
That was one of the most violent tornadoes I've ever watched in my life. Holy shii, those folks are so lucky. They must have been very good people bcuz something or someone was looking out for them this day.. That tree damage literally ended at the edge of their property line. Talk about a close call with a killer. 😳😬
I lived just outside of Pittsburgh back then. Was scheduled to perform maintenance on an Digital PDP computer system the following day in Sharon Pa. The whole place was in shambles. I drove past what used to be a small raised footbridge with steel I beams supporting it. I had to stop and look, wish I had a camera. The I beams were easily wide enough for me to comfortably fit completely within 1 side of the I beam (somewhere that I would have thought would have made great shelter if caught outside there during a tornado). However, starting about 10 feet up from the ground the top of the remaining I beam was twisted like one could twist a bread tie and then there was nothing, no more I beam, no bridge, no nothing. The power of nature is just crazy!
Looking at the tornado's path on Google maps, it seems like the golf course must have been absolutely flattened
And sure enough, most of Tam O'Shanter's trees look rather young