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Historic tornado videos missing from youtube/the internet?

Austin Dawg

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Glad to see I'm not the only offline hoarder of historic tornado videos haha

The Eastern Fury DVD by Bill Hark has a pretty decent bit of Gallatin footage, I lost my copy a while back so will order a new one and report back when that comes in
I haven't downloaded them, which is a great idea because I have TBs available from my video days, but I did start a youtube playlist I am still adding to.

Tornado Video Playlist
 

eric11

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Allan Gwyn shot some fantastic, high quality video in early 90s including the 95 Kellerville F5.The high resolution image quality and a stable visual angle left a deep impression on me.Video Below captured the entire lifecycle of the wedge near Fourway TX on 6/27/1992, the same day when the Fritch TX F4 occurred.The tornado was not long-lived, but its shape reminds of the Wolf Creek TX EF2 on 5/23/2019
 

OHWX97

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I was thrilled to see this documentary on Youtube. I remember frequently watching it on VHS when I was a wee lad, but haven't seen it in many years. It certainly helped spark my fascination with tornadoes and severe weather.



Here's another great documentary centered around KWTV's coverage of the May 3rd, 1999 tornado outbreak.
 
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I was thrilled to see this documentary on Youtube. I remember frequently watching it on VHS when I was a wee lad, but haven't seen it in many years. It certainly helped spark my fascination with tornadoes and severe weather.



Here's another great documentary centered around KWTV's coverage of the May 3rd, 1999 tornado outbreak.

Ah man, back when TLC was actually a learning channel. So many incredible clips of Bridge Creek-Moore that I've never been able to find in their unedited form.
 
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Ah man, back when TLC was actually a learning channel. So many incredible clips of Bridge Creek-Moore that I've never been able to find in their unedited form.

Yeah, seems like it's been ages since there was a quality tornado documentary on TV. Anything on TWC these days is sensationalist trash, and the same was largely true for Storm Chasers.
 
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Yeah, seems like it's been ages since there was a quality tornado documentary on TV. Anything on TWC these days is sensationalist trash, and the same was largely true for Storm Chasers.
I remember Tim Samaras (RIP) stated something along the lines that he was relieved when the show was cancelled after its fifth season as it focused more on interpersonal drama than the storms themselves (as is often the case with any 'reality' show; gossip and drama is more important than the main topic the show claims to be about).
 
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This video appears to be shot from someone's driveway. Quality is a bit laggy but the roar of the tornado is audible from several miles away.

 
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Just want to know if anyone has copies of these tornado videos that I can no longer find? The first two were on youtube.

-First one was a pretty high-quality video of the Phil Campbell, AL EF5. It was a backlit view of the huge wedge crossing a road and causing power flashes. It had sort of a dark grey/bluish tint to it. At some point in the video, there's a small plastic roadside sign that gets blown out of its frame by the inflow winds and blows away. It was probably the highest quality video of this tornado hitting Phil Campbell, and now I can't find it.

-The other was a video titled "Joplin Tornado Up Close" or something similar. It was high-quality tripod video of the Joplin, MO EF5 tornado passing very close to the camera man's back yard. You can't really see to much, but it's impressive and had great audio. It just shows an incredibly dark sky and rain curtains rapidly moving around the outer edge of the tornado, with the sky completely filled with debris. There's a large tree getting thrashed by the wind throughout the video. It was probably my favorite clip of the Joplin tornado. Can't find it now.

-The last one wasn't ever on youtube and I doubt many have even ever seen it, none the less have it saved. I found it on a news website in the early 2000s. It was of the May 3, 1999 Moore F5 and was titled "Too Close for Comfort" I believe. It was home video from shot from inside of someone's garage in Moore looking out towards the street, pretty much within the outer edge of the circulation. It showed a parked car in the driveway being pelted by shingles and structural debris, with a nearby small ornamental tree bending over almost to the ground IRRC. You can hear somebody screaming and absolutely freaking out in the background too (understandably). It was a really scary video. It was NOT the Moore tripod window video with the power lines in the foreground, but was quite similar.

Anyway, I think it's a shame these videos have pretty much been lost to time. This is just my desperate attempt to dig them up again. Any help finding them would be greatly appreciated!

That Moore clip you mention I swear I saw on TLC in the early 2000s. Man, it's probably buried in archives somewhere now. I have a seen of the 2013 Moore tornado filmed from someone's driveway in the outer circulation and you can his wife screaming in the background but I guess it's not the one you mention here. Oh well.
 

OHWX97

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One video of the Bridge Creek F5 that I've been missing is the formation of the tornado near Amber. It features someone reporting on it; perhaps David Payne? It features a large funnel rapidly transforming into a massive wedge in a similar fashion to what was seen in Basehunter's video of the Joplin tornado. I'm unsure if anyone can dig it up, which is fine, but has anyone else seen/know what video I'm talking about?

Edit: Welp... found it. Obviously I didn't look hard enough before posting. This is seriously impressive stuff though.
 
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One video of the Bridge Creek F5 that I've been missing is the formation of the tornado near Amber. It features someone reporting on it; perhaps David Payne? It features a large funnel rapidly transforming into a massive wedge in a similar fashion to what was seen in Basehunter's video of the Joplin tornado. I'm unsure if anyone can dig it up, which is fine, but has anyone else seen/know what video I'm talking about?

Edit: Welp... found it. Obviously I didn't look hard enough before posting. This is seriously impressive stuff though.

Yeah I saw this on TLC in the early 2000s, there's a higher-def version of it somewhere.
 

OHWX97

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Yeah I saw this on TLC in the early 2000s, there's a higher-def version of it somewhere.
Cool! I'd love to see it. Hopefully that'll surface sometime soon. The thing about that tornado that really frustrates me is how well documented it was. There's so much fantastic bits of footage you'll see in news segments and documentaries from many different sources, but the full videos, for the most part, are inaccessible. I'm sure there's plenty of reasons for that, but it's really a shame.
 

J-Rab

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This video appears to be shot from someone's driveway. Quality is a bit laggy but the roar of the tornado is audible from several miles away.


Yeah, the sound of that thing was incredible.

Incidentally, where that guy was taking the video (near the corner of SW 144th St. and Harli Ln.) was in the direct path of the 2013 Moore EF5. He was about a block or so North of Briarwood Elementery School. Got lucky in 1999 but decidedly unlucky 14 years later.
 

TVILLE96

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It lifted and came over my house east of B'ham. My Son and I went around our neighborhood and picked up receipts with Tuscaloosa addresses and grade school drawings. The only time I turned off the natural gas at the meter to my house. I thought we were next. I think it lifted in Fultondale.
 
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