The (U.S.) National Weather Service has released its report on a strong tornado that occured in Iowa the evening of May 25th. On the evening of May 25th, 2008 a tornado rated at EF5 (estimated wind speed was around 205 MPH!!) obliterated half of the town of Parkersburg, Iowa. Eight people have died, and 70 were injured. Here is a PDF containing incredible pictures of the damage (taken by employees of the NWS during their survey). [more inside]
posted by ArgentCorvid on Jun 4, 2008 - 36 comments

Storm chase from your desk. This link will not be interesting after a bit, but the technology is impressive. Storm chasers can now stream video of their chases, LIVE. This could be a good show between now and sundown. [more inside]
posted by spock on Apr 7, 2008 - 19 comments

Greensburg, Kansas was destroyed by an F5 tornado in May, 2007. The city council and Governor Sebelius decided to rebuild as a "green" town while Leonardo DiCaprio produces a 13-part series for Discovery channel affiliated (this flier is showing up around Greensburg now) Planet Green in June. [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete on Mar 3, 2008 - 8 comments

"Men were picked up and hurled against buildings, horses and carriages sent flying here and there, and falling wires full of deadly fluid added to the horror of the scene,"The St. Louis tornado of 1896, one of history's deadliest. Photos. [more inside]
posted by Atreides on Feb 13, 2008 - 10 comments

Larry Schwarm is best known for his photographs of prairie fires and landscapes in the Flint Hills of Kansas. On May 5, 2007, he visited his hometown of Greensburg, Kansas to take photos of what was left after an F-5 tornado leveled the town the day before. [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete on Jan 18, 2008 - 12 comments

Then God dragged his finger across the earth... Greenburg, Kansas, May the Fifth, 2007.
posted by eriko on May 5, 2007 - 141 comments

ExtremeInstability.com discovers YouTube A taste of what you'll find on his awesome (one case where awesome is not a hyperbole) DVDs. Living on the Plains is anything but boring "come spring". Other fun tornado videos: Just about as close as you want to get to a tornado touchdown, DEFINITELY as close as you want to get to a tornado touchdown (wmv), and others: 1, 2 (language warning), 3 (language warning). It is funny to hear the calmer voices of the experienced chaser contrasting with the newbies. Even funnier when the calm chaser gets excited. Season begins in a little over 2 months!
posted by spock on Jan 26, 2007 - 12 comments

Inside a tornado. It's a technological first. A well-placed probe fitted with 7 video cameras—6 with a 60-degree field-of-view designed to achieve a full 360-degree field-of-view and one pointing upward—captures footage inside a tornado, providing visual data on ground wind speeds where the storm does the greatest damage. And Tim Samaras with his team of storm chasers are there to make it happen.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Jun 8, 2005 - 25 comments

Extreme Instability is a site by Mike Hollingshead, a weather buff from Nebraska who likes chasing storms. On his good days, he gets some spectacular photos of tornados and supercells, but, heck, even his 'crap chasing' days aren't too bad. More of Mike's photos at photoSig.
posted by madamjujujive on Aug 8, 2004 - 9 comments

Cool images of tornadoes and other freaky weather at the NOAA Photo Library.
posted by scarabic on Jun 28, 2004 - 16 comments

A tornado picks up a house while a storm chaser tapes it. Later, he finds himself getting a little too close for comfort. (27 meg download - some swearing) Fortunately, no one was in that house at the time.
posted by pyramid termite on May 16, 2004 - 37 comments

"Tornado in a Can" "To test their theory, the Vortex folks have thrown in rocks, diapers, tomatoes, sweet potato rejects from the farm down the road, 400 pounds of Oreo cookies, frozen pizza dough, even a dead bird.....The jellyfish, however, are a first." picture of "Tornado-in-a-Can" that sure is a big can. don't try this at home, folks
posted by troutfishing on Dec 13, 2002 - 17 comments

New NASA Satellite Zooms in on Tornado Swath
...the twister's swath is the bright stripe passing through the town and running eastward 6 miles (10 km) toward the Patuxent River beyond the righthand side of the image. This stripe is the result of the vegetation flattened by the storm. The flattened vegetation reflects more light than untouched vegetation.
posted by quonsar on May 3, 2002 - 9 comments

Three Dead From Southern Maryland Tornado. This is the kind of news story you skip because it doesn't happen in your state. It didn't even register to me until I realized that one of my daily reads - Moire - lives in La Plata. The twister went through her front yard. Her account of the storm and its aftermath is pretty powerful. Were any other bloggers involved? (It's my first post; be gentle.)
posted by web-goddess on Apr 29, 2002 - 16 comments

Tornado Pictures On Tuesday March 28th at 6:11 P.M. a tornado pummeled downtown Ft. Worth leaving glass, office furniture, insulation, paperwork, and various other materials littering a 12 block area of the city. The downtown streets were covered in shattered glass from the many High-Rise building that were struck by the violent winds and flying debris. I took some pictures from a 26th floor office window 1 block away from the epicenter of the storms wrath. At the top of picture 3 you can see the Cash America building that they keep showing on the news - I don't have a Telephoto lens or it would be a better pic, DOH! You can also see clean up crews on the roofs of the buildings picking up debris.One of the windows I took the pictures through was cracked by flying debris, you can see it in picture 2,3, and 6. PICTURES: 1 2 3 4 5 6
posted by Jeremy on Mar 30, 2000 - 0 comments