Columbus, GA April 19, 2009 Tornado Intercept

[MrDrums76]

i was working security just 2 miles south of this overpass,i probably had just passed yall on my way to wal mart on the airport thruway. it got ugly that night. my neighborhood was missed by about 100 yards.

[TescoVee]

someone find her phone!!!!

[MrTamara68702]

great video awesome job this may be funny to say but your mom's voice sounds like vicky guerro from the wrestling show wwe friday night smackdown the one that says excuse me on the wrestling show.and she also sounds like roseanne from the roseanne show thats an old time favorite show.

[mbaba88]

you need marriage counseling,

but good job, you saved lives.

[pilot76103]

@mbaba88 well we don't need marriage counseling if you're not married. That's my mom. LOL

[311hooligan]

I live in Fort Benning and I remember that night, we were up on the scanner all night trying to spot it. It's awesome that you guys are out there risking your own safety to try and bring emergency response times quicker, but you gotta calm down lol

[PlAyStAtIoNDoMiNaTe]

i remember this, i live in this area, some scary stuff. Yall are brave people, good job guys.

[thedawg9981]

she really does need to try and control herself. i know that's understating the fact that you are intercepting a tornado but she has to learn to control it.

[mailboxgoogle]

Shit I just remembered that night. I live right beside Macon. Luckily it didn't come to close.

[davemustaine999]

I love how I heard nothing about this...

[theone2225]

if she's going to have a nervous breakdown she probably shouldnt be driving. Im not bashing anyone, just stating for your safety. I understand that this can be nerve racking but she's got to try and remain calm no matter how bad it gets.

[pilot76103]

Thanks for the concern... Weren't expecting to see anything on our 4th chase out. We are better prepared now.

[Kozmo1411]

kas a bad night

[pilot76103]

Yes it was...

[Brunovideos275]

i dont see any interception

[pilot76103]

Pay attention to the power flashes coming straight towards us.

[kornkiller03]

I remember that night

[pilot76103]

Well it's nights like this that you should remember. Helps you be better prepared for next time.

[pilot76103]

Because it was nighttime and the camera is old a lot of the detail is grainy. However, the power flashes moving toward us from the distance was a clear sign something was on the ground doing damage.

[pilot76103]

It might have been the April 19th storm if it was close to 11pm or 12am. The 4th part of the video we were driving along SR-85 near Miller Rd and had a power flash along Gateway Rd pretty close to you.

[pilot76103]

What does this have to do with the tornado in the video?

[deathghost74]

I'm from Columbus, East wynnton to be exact, you take exit 6 and you right there. I remember this. Was the first tornado i the '"C" since like the 20's wasn't it?

[Lugia2DarkLugia]

Me and my brother live in Harris County,we are lucky this didn't hit us. What time did this tornado hit the ground?

[wulawbod]

pretty ballsy to chase at night

[pilot76103]

Yes it is very dangerous. We did have radar in our vehicle and are trained by the National Weather Service (NWS) as Skywarn spotters. As this is a dangerous task/hobby I would advise everyone TO NOT TRY THIS WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING OR AN EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL IN CONTROL!

[aniwack]

Official measurements: Chaser from tornado- 13.1 miles. GPS and NWS radar records show that the people were north of the storm and 8 miles north of the wall cloud. The images captured DO NOT show any tornatic events. Local records show that transformers were destroyed by lightning.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!

[pilot76103]

If you attempt to trash talk or discredit the integrity of the Fujita Intercept Team (F.I.T.) or the individuals of Jordan Jacob and Lyndy Jacob like you have done in the past, I will have a draft lawsuit written directly to you as I have followed every request you have provided to pull or censor photos or videos down that contain you as a individual or your chase team.

[KRU78]

what tornado. hypochondriacs, yall shouldn't involve others with your games. .........Oh me not again who are these jokers

[jenna08lee]

when this happened, i lived over by CSU in the dorms and it touched down in our parking lot!! my RA came running up beating on our doors asking if we were ok. and prior to this, i was over in phenix city at the actual bowling all 10 minutes before the roof caved in

[pilot76103]

Yea, it actually touched down right on the Valley Lanes Bowling Alley off of US-280 and caused the roof to collapse and trapped 5 people I believe.

[shidoski]

I love that road

[pilot76103]

It's ok...

[300cranker]

your not going to believe this but at 4:14 thats my fuckin car going by lmfao. thats me!!!! i know my car when i see it. its a white chevy aveo. ahahahaha wooow. cause i member being out in this shit as well hahaha.

[stsars13]

wow it looks pretty big

[pilot76103]

It did look big, the rain may have been under the rotation and spinning around the circulation causing it to look bigger. Hence, the comment about it being a wedge tornado or a very broad circulation.

[KJski9050Productions]

wow, I live near the best buy right down that road

[pilot76103]

Yea the hail core on radar moved over the Best Buy off SR-85.

[K4wws]

I was bout mile from this tornado it was crazy

[pilot76103]

Glad you were safe that night.

[mrsashlewis]

it doesnt matter pilot76103, everyone can make out that it was a tornado, good enough!!, most people wouldnt have even went out there...i think that the news said the tornado was going up and down as if it were jumping so lucky it missed u guys

[mrsashlewis]

i live right by the columbus bridge near columbus civic center...wasnt there 2 tornados that night becuase there was damage on 280hwy..it was a scary night for me

[pilot76103]

Same tornado that did the damage to the Valley Lanes bowling alley on Highway 280 moved accross the river into downtown Columbus by the student housing and continued down Macon Rd. towards I-185.

[dmgriffin83]

ok... if i was in the car wit that lady--

[pilot76103]

What about "if you were in the car wit that lady"? What do you have to say about it?

[Goldowolf]

Well done. Thank you for sharing.

[pilot76103]

Thanks and will share anytime we have video...

[CollinsHill09]

Do yall only work in Georgia and Alabama, or do yall travel nationally? I'm thinking about forming a storm chasing group focused in the Deep South for tracking since many do not track in the wooded Piedmont of GA and AL

[pilot76103]

We want to travel all over but currently in GA and AL for now. I know where Piedmont is, I took a training there with my best friend and his girlfriend when they visited.

[CollinsHill09]

If I worked at the NWS, I'd say that wasn't proffesional reporting of this storm, and secondly, the wind I saw in the video wasn't blowing into the storm once ya stopped on I-185

[pilot76103]

I agree with the wind comment, we didn't see much wind at all with that storm. However, according to the NWS map of the damage path the tornado was right in front of us when we were stopped.

[ziggieboi]

Don't be so mean to your mother, have a bit more respect to others, and care more than just about yourself. Just because you "get caught up in the moment" doesn't give you or anyone else the right to be rude. Take it as helpful advice.

[pilot76103]

I will take it as helpful advice, it was just a very intense and insane situation that had both of our nerves on edge.

[KarmaSultry]

OMG!!! I remember this that hail was crazy I had never seen it like that In GA!!!

[pilot76103]

We didn't get any hail out of it ourselves. I assume based on what I remember on radar you would be living north of Macon road since thats where the Doppler indicated hail was.

[loggerdime]

Great video. Well dome with camera angle and commentary. Keep up the great storm chasing work.

[pilot76103]

Thanks for the support and we will definantly keep up the great work. Camera angle is just a regular dash mounted camera and background noise.

[RivasideBoys104]

Serious at first the more it went on the funnier it got. Shawty priceless keep her on da team. O my God! Coincidence it was right where I live n da second was where a shawty of mine stay. Be light keep puttin da city on da screen. ...love the ringtone by the way

[MsWeatherGirl]

Although I appreciate you are trying to be a storm chaser. Perhaps you have watched Twister way too many times. Stay safe!

[pilot76103]

No I haven't watched 'Twister' too many times. We are trained in storm spotting, we just take it one step farther and go to the storm rather than wait for it to come to us.

[yummysmokedham]

Well I would suggest you listen a little closer next time you are in spotter training. That was a horrible report you gave, one second it was a wedge then the next second it was a area of rotation. Big difference there bud!

[pilot76103]

I understand that could be a big difference but either way I did tell them that it was on the ground. It is extremely difficult to tell at night especially only being our 3rd chase. At least someone was out there to inform them of the situation.

[aniwack]

Might I recommend a pair of military 4th gen night vision goggles? It's like daytime during night chases.

[pilot76103]

Can you provide me a set since you recommend them?

[marinaelyse1985]

I just want to know why people INSIST on putting others down all the time?! I just don't understand people anymore, always trying to prove that someone was wrong somehow!

[pilot76103]

I can totally agree with you. It's ok to ask questions to understand and get more information about an event that happened if you weren't there, it's another thing to bash them and state they are lying about it all together.

[1990teg4dr]

So what the hell are ya gonna do, stop the damn thing? FOOLS! Columbus is full of idiots.

[pilot76103]

Columbus is not full of idiots. As a FYI no we can't stop it obviously but we report back to the National Weather Service to let them know what we see so they can issue the warning that saves your ass.

[champal003]

Excellent video Jordan, I can't wait till the next system we can chase.

[champ0925]

wow 2:06 was amazing

[SevereIDAHO]

great video man. Bit of suspense and comedy too. hehe. Those power flashes did look like a tornado and not lightning. Lightning would have been very visible. -gerrit

[ssgoku31]

Dang dude, Very nice, To bad it wasn't day time

[pilot76103]

Yeah I'll agree with you, I wish it was day time. I don't think the audio commentary would have been as histerical though.

[Un0fficial]

wow, the guy was kind of a douche to the chick...

[pilot76103]

Well FYI, That was my mom and I. I wasn't trying to be a douche our nerves were rattled quiet a bit and made the night extreamly stressful. The parts of the video that you don't see like us out until 5am filming damage was not like this at all.

[djbarker79]

2 (cont'd)...could've been lightning, could've been the extra stress on the power grid since the power was already out in downtown/midtown. Either way, there was no tornado here. The power flash was in a heavily populated area where no damage was reported.

3) Sensationalism is the biggest problem with chasers. "Wedge tornado," "the tornado is crossing highway X (without actually seeing the funnel)," etc.

[pilot76103]

1) Due to limitations of the length of the video I had to show the last part of the Core Punch when we went into the rain free base.

2) The "power flash" you are refering to may have been wind. I believe it might be associated with the second funnel at 6:30 in.

3) When my mom and I saw the tornado originally over on Macon Rd we believed it to be a wedge tornado and we lost our bearings when we moved to Miller Rd. I believed the tornado moved in front of us on Miller also.

[djbarker79]

Good job, Jordan. I think I met you at the advanced spotter class out in Opelika. A few things, though...

1) "Punching the core" is going INTO the actual core of precip, not coming out of it. Usually, the "core" is a lot more severe than the one in this supercell was...heavier rainfall and large hail. I don't think any hail came out of this one.

2) Power flashes at night don't always mean a tornado. The "power flash" at the 8:20 mark wasn't from a tornado. Could've been high winds (cont'd)

[jimmartin29]

Excellent video Jordan :)

[camomule]

All I gotta say is thank goodness for volume control! Mute!

[pilot76103]

LOL... Listening to the audio if you turn it down a bit is hilarious though.

[wx4mat]

Very nice video. I'm just glad that my house wasn't hit. Keep up the good work.

[aniwack]

A better name for sure.

[pilot76103]

Better name? What do you mean?

[girlshateschasers]

Breaker Breaker 19, I gotta FNG that thinks he's all that and a bag of potato chips, how copy?

[pilot76103]

I'll my laughing my ass off when there is a tornado going for you house and I choose not to call the NWS... Nice knowing you! ;)

[CollinsHill09]

Dude, I'm 15 and I understand more about tornadic weather. I've been caught in two tornadoes in my life, one in Macon,GA in '97 and another one in LaGrange,GA in '98

[allenconder]

....all that and a bag of chips? My 4 year old said that the other day...you 2 should hang out you both have the same mental mindset...

Good job FIT Team...keep up the good work..wish it was day time..would have been amazing video

Ignore ass hole comments like this...you doing great

[girlshateschasers]

Oh great, another 16 year old with a handy cam.

Mommy, can I borrow the family minivan? I did my homework! Mom, it's so not cool for you to hang out with my cool friends.

[pilot76103]

FYI I'm 22. My mom and I are Basic and Advanced trained Skywarn Spotter from the NWS (National Weather Service). I find it highly rude of people to assume that this was not a professional service to help save lives by being in the field, putting our own lives at risk to let the NWS know that property and life are in danger! Thanks very much for your inconsiderate comment. Visit our website if you dont believe me. Link is in the description.

[yummysmokedham]

If you give reports like that to the NWS they will not take you seriously if you keep it up.

[pilot76103]

What is that supposed to mean? I'm a trained spotter and I gave them the best report possible.

[stevenkimball]

did you know he is a tornado chaser and trying to save your bitch ass from getting killed by a tornado fucking wake up and get a life asshole

[girlshateschasers]

Oh boy! Another 16 year old with a video camera. Why don't you just go home and watch it on TV like the rest of America?

Mommy, can I borrow the family minivan? I did my homework...PLEASE???

[pilot76103]

Read the above comment to your second inconsiderate comment!

[stevenkimball]

same thing get a life asshole

[brandibs21]

That is an awsome view. I was stuck at home on Sandfort Road scared to death!

[BlaineStewartWTKR]

Amazing stuff you guys. I lived there for 6 years, amazing to see. Great job of documenting this, keeping safe, and (trying to) keep your cool.

[stevenkimball]

great video Jordan