Video of Central Illinois tornado - taken from car on freeway

[FourScore]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. OMIGOD.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Tornados are horrifying

yet oddly mesmerizing

[jtuck004]

23. Go live in Oklahoma for 10 years or so, they become just annoying.

Even entertaining

[awoke_in_2003]

24. I live in Texas...

in DFW area. Tornados tend to skirt around us. When I was a kid I watched one from a ditch in Alabama. It was hard to look away.

[jtuck004]

28. Decades ago we used to follow them, before it became "cool".

A few years ago, before we moved North, I was out in the front yard planting, and the neighbors were coming out every 5 minutes to tell me what block the tornado heading our way was on (really good weather forecasting in the metro areas, eh?), kept telling me to go in.

But I wasn't finished yet.

I finally got the last plant in as it got a block or two away and ran inside to huddle with the rest of the gang. Stupid thing took out our power for a week as it wrapped up the electric lines in my tree.

[2naSalit]

2. ...

[MythosMaster]

3. Why do people video their their phones vertically?

Too bad smart phone don't make their users smart....

[FourScore]

5. Yeah, 'cuz that's what this post is about. n/t

[MythosMaster]

20. That was insensitive. Sorry.

One of my pet peeves.

[Logical]

27. Valid question. Ignore the whiner. n-t

[progressoid]

10. Youtube needs to make a vertical version of their site for these people.

[Auntie Bush]

4. OMG! That's closer than I'd ever want to be! Hope they made it and are safe.

Dah! Guess they did or we wouldn't be watching this video!

[HereSince1628]

6. What about the semi- they passed just moments before?

The camera woman's car was too close, I can't imagine being in that truck...high sides catching that wind, scarey

[rurallib]

9. passing the truck may have been plenty risky too

if it tips as you go by - had a close call a year ago myself.

[seabeyond]

7. the problem there, is while driving i always think, where there is one.... there may be more.

so i would not have been comfortable outrunning just that one.

[HereSince1628]

13. I think I'd have stopped under that viaduct, but mayber there wasn't room

[uppityperson]

15. Stopping under overpasses is a bad idea for tornado protection as it actually increases windspeed

because of the funneling effect. It would help against hail but not wind.

[seabeyond]

16. true what uppity says. they had that video that everyone saw. people thought they

were suppose to stop under. not long ago, i heard that is a very very bad idea. pull over and in a ditch is a good idea. me? i like the idea of the underpass than a ditch. but... that is what experts say

[jtuck004]

25. Never, ever do that. You will die. Get underground, or get away.

Seriously, though, most tornadoes aren't that bad, so you probably won't die. Unless it is one where it was really big, and you really needed the shelter, and then under an underpass is just a death trap.

If there is a structure, get in the best secured room, which, in a house without a basement or shelter is usually the bathroom in the center of the house if there is no other option. Mattresses over you in the bathtub.

The walk-in in a fast food restaurant isn't too bad in a pinch, just make sure you can get out.

[uppityperson]

8. That is scary. Why do people drive near tornadoes? Tornado chasers? Delusions of invicibility?

There may be reasons why people do but for most of them? Take this seriously. It REALLY is not worth getting a video.

That said, scary tornado and

[TheMightyFavog]

19. Some of these chasers are volunteers. She might be part of a Skywarn team.

Weather radar has its limitations. It cannot see very close to the ground. In fact, due to the curvature of the earth, the further away you are from radar site, the higher up radar's low altitude "blind spot". This is why we have spotters. They are able to see what's going on at ground level. These spotters relay their reports to the National Weather Service and to local emergency management agencies. These people undergo special training on how to move around tornadoes, how to keep themselves safe.

This people in this video, however are obviously not a trained spotters.

What I find kind of disturbing is that you can hear their radio going in the background with normal programming. How come that station is not in some sort of emergency broadcast mode?

[Logical]

26. Most Skywarn observers are stationary. n-t

[greytdemocrat]

11. Amazing vid. nt

[philosslayer]

14. The Paul Simon soundtrack in the background is a nice touch

[Lady Freedom Returns]

17. Sorry, can not watch.

[Coyotl]

18. Hint, hint: "Jim is trying to get us the hell out of the way as fast as he can."

Did anyone else detect a sense of suggestion in the emphasis

[HatTrick]

21. Isn't the point of getting away from a tornado to drive the other direction

For 3/4 of the video they are driving with the tornado in front of them on the right, with the tornado moving in the direction of the road they are on.

[haele]

22. Depends on the country roads in that area. You might need to drive towards it to catch a road out.

They might have been trying to get to a crossroad that would get them away from the path of the storm quicker.

Haele

[Son of Gob]

30. They were on an Interstate.

[Ms. Toad]

29. Looked to me as if they were not driving in the wrong direction

Toward it for 3/4 of the video.

Trying to outrun one is not smart. Trying to outrun one by going toward (presumably to get past the point at which its path will intersect the road you are on) it is even less smart. Estimating the speed well enough for this to be a safe option is not easy.