May 4 2007 Greensburg, KS / Macksville, Ks tornado

[avaiae]

Hey, what is the thing that says "You are approaching a twisting storm, please exercise caution."

I would like that for my future chases...

[EpicAlarm]

He Would Be Dead If His Car Did Not Start Up 0_o

[tumusica80]

there was alot of lightning

[thexfunnyz]

I'm wondering if multiple mesocyclones caused this monster to form. Just look at the size of it.

[TCN131]

I feels sorry for your city i had a dream of that last night being there in greensburg

wen that Torando hit i made it out the next day a life thankfull of that the storm

came right past us that in 2007 this is a dream um but seeing that torando rip

a part that town i am Tru Lee sorry

[stickmedia1]

I live in wichita ks and thats about 1-2 hrs away from greensburg. THAT WAS A SCARY STORM

[TitanLover8011]

XO HOLY CRAP. THAT IS A HUGE TORNADO!!!

[zakzakzak91]

a tornado at night...

i have no idea what i would do

[StormChaseLiveDOTcom]

monster storm, I was on 3 isolated cells in northern ks, ne border that night, and I remember seeing the radar image of greensburg on XM,and it seemed to take up the whole county with those rotation markers on XM, i knew there had to be a tornado, i started in salina that day, and couldnt make the south target before dark, so i decided on the northern target, and kinda glad i did. very sad for the people of greensburg, nobody wants that, great vid thanks for sharing!

[SpaceDJ3]

BIG

[KirstyCotton2]

Omg that was on the weather channel. They were talking about who the last people were to speak to Tim. I couldn't believe the storm got him omg very creepy tornado :s

[graves420fire]

This was the first Large tornado of that weekend. A total of over 70 spotter confirmed tornados occured in Kiowa, Pratt, Edwards, Stafford, and Barton Counties that weekend. This was the first of the large ones, it was 1.7 miles wide, the second was 2 miles wide, and the third was 1.3 miles wide. The third one is the one that caused all the damage in Stafford County and also killed Officer Tim Buckman

[tusiacroft]

Ptak? That's Your last name, right? In my language it means "bird".

Cool vid BTW.

[Arensx]

look at min 2:35 thats a huge fucking tornado

[jromig19]

i was in dodge heading for another storm north when i heard about the one that dropped the tornado down by protection..as soon as i heard that, i flipped a u turn and was heading for greensburg..i never thought id see what i did after it went threw..im a fire figther back home in Manhttan Ks and of all my trainning, none of it prepairded me for what me and my guys encountered that night in Greensburg..well nvr forget

[ainmelover321]

wow thats really scary Somtimes i want to chase tornadoes and sometimes i dont

[babab22]

this looks like the end of the world

[AICMasta]

The lightning also looked very intense.

[rattmausch]

Looking at the radar image in the video I noticed that it already past Greensburg and I heard that there was an even wider tornado that formed to the northeast of Greensburg. Where exactly were you in correspondence with the tornado? and was this that tornado I mentioned above?

[mickeyptak]

The tornado was the third tornado that the storm produced / the 1.75 mile wide tornado.

We where in Byers looking west.

Thanks.

[graves420fire]

I worked for Stafford County Fire/Ems at the time. We got hit bad that night, and lost a cop to the tornados. I had the opportunity to work closely with many people evaluating the storms and I can tell you for sure that yes there was a larger tornado NE of Greensburg. The Greensburg tornado (pictured in the film above) was 1.7 miles wide, it went through town started to make a loop then fell apart. The second larger tornado then formed and was 2 miles wide at the base.

[mickeyptak]

graves420fire. Thanks for the comment.

Yes, that night was very tough on my chase partner and I as well because we were probably one of the last people to see Tim alive as he was in Macksville fire station when we saw and talked with him. After we told him where the tornado was he headed north and into the path.

Have a good one.

[mickeyptak]

Sorry we were in Byers when we saw Tim.

[Jemalacane]

@mickeyptak Woah, that sucks!

[hootergirlsrhot]

i have been intrested in storms since 3

[AandLInc]

i wanna be a metoerlolgist/ storm chaser, but i would never do it in the dark, one second ur driving the next theres a fucking huge tornado rite in front of you. then your dead.

i admire your job u need a lotta balls to do what you do

[snakeshit783]

I still remember when I hid in my basent in Bridgecreek May 3 1999 when the 316 mph f5 rolled through. Nowhere near the girth of this monster I think windspeeds were faster by quite a bit. I still remember the way it sounded you never forget. Mickey thanks for chasin and stay safe its people like you that call NWS and give us that 20 min that saved my ass it took em 8 1/2 hours to dig me outta my house, but Im alive 46 others that day were not, but thats just how it is.

[mickeyptak]

Cool another Bridge Creek res. Not sure if we have met before but keep safe.

Mick

[Heyde1979]

what a crazy storm this was

[Spartman918]

i remember that day all too well!!!! i was chasing that exact same tornado and it took at least 6-min for it to cross the road that i was on!!!!

[hamilton59840]

Looking through this raw footage, I've managed to see the large wedge-like twister.

OMG....That thing was a monster!

And then the aftermath....What a mess!

My prayers go out to those whom were affected by this devistating storm.

[Martek100]

Mickey, what are your thoughts on GRW radar systems? I like them, but which is best?

[mickeyptak]

Martek100, I think you are refering to the GRLevelX software. If that is the case those applications are the best that one can find on the cunsumer market right now. Hope things are well..

[Pyrotech56]

What gave you the "You're approaching a twisting storm--please exercise caution" statement?

[mickeyptak]

The WxWorx software.

[lonestar65]

Thx for sharing that info

[mickeyptak]

Weathermand224, I was trying out the Stormlab radar program. I also had WxWorx.

[jamesmdyer]

Thank you for giving us the names of these programs, I used Google to find them and am now using them myself.

[weatherman224]

What program did you use while you were chasing storms to look at radar...or is it a special webpage?