Iowa Tornado, May 25, 2008

This is the second tornado from the supercell that spawned the deadly EF-5 Parkersburg, Iowa, tornado. We intercepted the storm near Fairbank, where the new wall cloud was organizing as the first tornado occluded to the north. We tracked with the new circulation from a distance of maybe a half-mile to its south as it lowered, turned right, and produced an immense wedge that struck the southern edge of Hazleton a glancing blow.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• tornado
• tornadoes
• parkersburg
• iowa
• supercell
• wedge
• storm
• disaster
• stormchasing
• stormchaser
• environment

[jmeier37]

Its amazing to think that front hit Parkersburg with The Big One, and then pops out a EF-3 right after.

[stormhorn1]

@jmeier37 It's not uncommon for a supercell that powerful to drop a series of tornadoes, which often build in strength. In this case, the worst of the bunch came first at Parkersburg. But the Hazleton wedge was no piker. I was glad that it didn't hit the town directly.

[stormhorn1]

An el-cheapo. It's a Sony TRV260 that I bought used from a buddy of mine for $80. It's a far stretch from one of those $2,000 units, but it's all I could afford, and it does the job for me just fine. In fact, it really came through for me, because at the time I hadn't figured out how to use my brand-new Canon DSLR, and the auto settings were giving me all kinds of grief in low-light conditions. That little, secondhand camcorder saved the day.

[rappduane]

stormhorn, what road were you on when you guys shot this ? County C57 running E/W to Hazelton, or other gravel roads running E/W ?

[stormhorn1]

Good question, and unfortunately 'm not good at mental record keeping. Where we first encountered the circulation, we were heading south on a paved highway. We got south of the developing tornado, then headed east . The storm was turning right, and we stairstepped to stay southeast of the rotation. Looking at my Street Atlas, I'm going to say that from CR 57, we dropped down to 130th St., and wound up at 140th St. and SR 150. I think that most and maybe all of the video was shot on 130th St.

[ziming45]

i remember that i could see that from my house that thing was freakin huge

[skyclaw441]

I remember being at my grandparents' house, and my friend called me and says "dude, Parkersburg is gone". And I'm like "what?" He's like "it got hit by a tornado, it's gone". I'd been through there a few months earlier for a quiz bowl as a member of an opposing team (we were all freshies at the time, we got 4th up against teams of seniors). But, I remember being in that building, and now it's just gone...

[pinky0026]

It a monster

[coolkillincam]

indianola....

[lolmagicproductions]

lol this is the date raywilliamjohnson joined youtube

[HaleighS777]

i just wanna cry

[jmeier37]

The only devastation I saw worse than Parkersburg was Greensburg Kansas. Man they got killed. And at night too.

[emileevm9]

I was on 218 when it crossed over. I saw this tornado and saw Parkersburg a couple hours after it hit. I hope I never see devastation as bad as this ever again.

[FarmerGuy4858]

I live right by Parkersburg, thank god we weren't hit by it.

[mario927265]

thats the last ef5 that ever hapen