Tornado Crossing I-55 North of Litchfield, Illinois April 19th 2011

[Torn80cj]

Oh the dreaded auto-focus, a stormchaser's worst enemy. I know how you feel Adam, I have had that happen to me when recording some storms. I wished they would have an auto-focus button on the camcorder instead of being a setting on the touch screen. That way when it's focused, we can just punch manual focus really quick then aim it at the tornado. I usually use the horizon to get my focus, then I touch the manual focus on the screen. It really helped when I recorded the Garr Corner OK tornado.

[icecubedynasty]

thats nuts

[vestel777]

I live in Girard which is next to Litchfield and when it hit Girard it was an EF4.

[DeadlyTy51]

i would be a 10000 miles away going like 100 mph

[shadowingyou]

"Don't worry, it's just gonna go in front of us guys." *Tornado redirects from in front of you and heads toward you* "Okay guys, I didn't see that coming, in the car, let's go!!" That didn't happen but would be amusing for a cartoon style or something XD Also, were there cars just driving "through" it? In the beginning? =/

[mlssoccer56]

in chicago there iz only 1.5 percent for a tornado

[dickie3227]

great video man! i live in west suburbs in dupage county. im dying to see a live tornado like that up close. i think anyway. i might crap my pants if it was in my neighborhood. but in the field like that might be cool to see. thanks for posting it.

[AeroStorm911]

@dickie3227 - thanks! Dupage county just had a tornado near Downers Grove last week! Though it was wrapped in rain and noone saw it anyways.

[dickie3227]

@AeroStorm911 yea i work in downers grove and i saw some of the damage from it. i live in lombard and we were in the basement at the time of the storm.my kids are freaked out by the sirens and i had to try to keep them relaxed. lots of trees down and downers grove south high school had damage to the tennis courts. but to see it in an open field like that is cool.

[AeroStorm911]

@dickie3227 - I agree, its always better to see them away from structures. I have a good buddy who lives in Lombard, I am in that area quite often! Stay safe out there!

[seekingelite]

You guys seem pretty cool, sadly most storm chasers squeal and cackle like a troop of girlscouts when a tornado drops.

[KamilszlapXD]

I live in Illinois, and I swear I saw a tornado creating above my house but it went away to Michigan or i think Missouri, Yeah Michigan. =P

[VisionXray23]

Imagine if a tornado like that was comeing at you and you accidently locked yourself out of your car.

[murriganes]

You lucky bastards in U.S. You have tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and other nice stuff. In Finland we don´t... thank God for that

[JooD43d]

"were good , were good " as the power line 30 ft from you falls lol. nice vid

[Wild66Cat]

Great video, but was rain man running the camera??? Holy shit!

[boik02]

@JohnnyEatsNoobs

hahahha. This comment cracked me up. Let me tell you. My first big tornado(not my first tornado) I wanted to run away. haha. Once I broke that barrier I have grown comfortable to the distance of a tornado from me. No matter what there is always that level of fear. This tornado has been by far one(of two) of my best catches this year. What's really interesting 4 of us filmed this. same standing point, but audio is interesting to listen and visual is neat to watch too!

[StormChaseChicago]

Great video, nice close range too

[dmfortsmith]

Woo-hoo! That was one monster of a tornado! Cannot believe it didn't take those cars with it. Congrats on the great capture. =]

[themntornado]

Aside for the problems that you are already aware of, that one one great video and you managed to catch it's very early development. Great job!!!

[mgray1092]

Nice Video, that is actually my barn that was in the middle of the video. Just wondering do you know what size the tornado was?

[AeroStorm911]

@mgray1092 - the tornado was rated EF-2. I tried posting a link to the NWS survey but apparently youtube doesn't allow comments with links in them =(

[monsterman27]

nice vid

[23wardchicago]

Would be great if you didn't constantly move the camera.

[AsianTwinkies]

I think this footage is great, whether or not your auto focus was working properly or not. You guys have some serious balls to have done that.

[dawns31]

Wow awesome footage.

[AhabTheOtaku]

It would be great if the stupid thing would stop "buffering". :(

[AeroStorm911]

@AhabTheOtaku - *sigh* its true, I set the camera to manual/infinity earlier in the day but the camera shut off and reset itself and by the time I noticed it was too late. I am not happy about that either.

[AhabTheOtaku]

@AeroStorm911 Great video though.

[Tcostello105]

Great video, about how fast was the wind blowing at the time?

[AeroStorm911]

@Tcostello105 - where we were standing I would say about 65mph - the power poles started to lean so I had to keep an eye on them too!

[doggiemom144]

I WAS WONDERING WHY THE VIDEO TAPE WAS SO BAD, BUT I'M GLAD YOU EXPLAINED WHY. I DO FEEL NON THE LESS THAT YOU ARE INCREDIBLE TO VIDEO TAPE TORNADO'S FOR VIEWERS TO WATCH, BUT I'LL BE DARN IF I'D DO IT. THANK GUYS THAT ONE WAS "HUGE!"