I survived the Plainfield tornado on August 28, 1990. I lived on Prieboy Avenue, in Joliet, near the mall. I was taking care of my little brother and sister, when we saw a wall of rolling clouds, pulling the trees from the ground as if the trees were only toothpicks. Seconds later, as we ran for the basement, the house was gone around us. Surreal to see this footage and know it came just minutes before our lives changed forever.

@jzr.c

Ай бұрын

W big bro

Thanks for commenting, Jay. Thanks for being honest---as Jay says, do NOT try this at home...but while Jay won't do this again, it's an inadvertently historical video. And I doubt we'll see any footage of the tornado, as it was completely buried in rain. People who were hit by it and survived said they couldn't see it. And even if they did have a video camera, all I think we would see is a wall of rain. This is as close to the start of the tornado that you'll see of it, methinks.

"I think we're right in the middle of a tornado but we're too stupid to know", LMAO. Had me rolling. incredible storm and awesome video.

@teaganwoolbright8138

3 жыл бұрын

3:50

Just to reiterate - as the OP said, *this* is not video of a tornado but rather of the supercell that did produce the Plainfield tornado a short time after. To this day, there are no known photos or videos of the actual Plainfield tornado. And because the NWS radar in use at the time was old 1960's vintage technology, there isn't even any good radar imagery of the storm. One of the many things that I remember about this day in Joliet was seeing many pieces of pink fiberglass insulation falling out of the sky. Never saw that before or since and hopefully will never see it again.

It was hot & humid Aug 28, 1990. It was the day after my birthday & temps/humidity had been elevated for a few days. I was in the pool in our backyard with my sister. My Dad came out to bring us inside & put the solar cover on the pool. I'll NEVER forget him looking at the black clouds rolling in & saying to me, "this is good, we could use the rain & if we're lucky it'll cool things off." It was around 3:15pm when all hell broke loose. It was SO quiet afterwards....just absolute and complete silence. It was quiet in the "wrong" sort of way. Then came a seemingly never-ending parade of emergency vehicle sirens. One other thing I remember is every surface, everywhere was steaming. Wood, asphalt, concrete...it was all steaming. Truth is, the experience was unreal & indescribable

@janemarie1413

Жыл бұрын

I have never seen so many emergency vehicles in my life as I did that afternoon!!

This is an amazing video. Don't ever take it down. Even though you can't see the tornado that was about to spawn from this and level Plainfield, I think this is one of my favorite tornado videos... You can really feel the power of a roaring supercell. Glad these guys were able to capture this. Good quality, too.

@Tornado1994

5 жыл бұрын

You can ACTUALLY See the Deadly Plainfield Tornado. Its heavily Rain Wrapped.

@johnwickkkkk1

5 жыл бұрын

Tornado1994 Nah the tornado didn’t form until 30 mins later in Oswego. This video was when the storm was about to pass Dekalb, so no tornado yet.

@Hextraordinary13

4 жыл бұрын

@@Tornado1994 YUP. That sucker is IN there. Rain-wrapped to holy hell, but it's there.

@LESPAUL44mag

3 жыл бұрын

APparently there is no known footage or photos of this tornado

@peterjrcoolidge

3 жыл бұрын

@@johnwickkkkk1 yeah agreed

We were well protected until I realized that if we got blown 15 foot laterally, we would have been about 50 feet over the stadium field. That's when we bailed into the press box. Our GA Margaret Nissen ducked under a bleacher seat and we "lost" her for a few scary moments. We had no idea how serious this was until we heard about Plainfield.

Thanks for posting, Gilbert. My first job. I was driving a truck and sitting at the back of the Plainfield Park District maintenance shop with a load of doors waiting to be unloaded. It was about 2:45pm. At 3:15 I called the office (with a HUGE bag phone!) and told them the weather was getting rough. I was scared because the sky was green. They said to come back to the warehouse and I could redeliver another day. I left around a minute before the tornado hit. I had to pull over because I couldn't see. The truck almost blew over. I was on the outskirts of the tornado. Shortly after it was over, the radio issued a tornado warning for Plainfield. I remember yelling at the radio, "Thanks alot" Next time I went there, I had a whole lot more than doors.

@2345allthebest

5 жыл бұрын

I used a bag phone while standing in my doorway in my apartment during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in California lol - I was like 10 miles from the epicenter and it shook like hell.... The phne worked great....those were analog cellphones back then.... it weighed like 6 pounds with the battery lololol

@danadoozer9990

3 жыл бұрын

When I was a child, we were driving home from a day at the Milwaukee museum and I can remember that we were on a high bridge over the industrial part of town when suddenly the sky turned a neon pea green! I asked my parents why the sky was green, and they said something to placate me but I could feel the fear just radiating from them. I had bought a ceramic cat figurine from the gift shop and I was clutching it while praying because I knew that sky meant big time trouble! When we were back at home, my parents explained what a green sky could mean. This must have been in 1984 or so and I will NEVER forget how scared I was of that creepy sky.

Awesome video. I've heard from multiple sources that nobody was able to capture footage of the actual tornado because the rain and wind were so severe. It's also very unique being the only F5 tornado to strike in August.

This tornado at its peak, and the Joliet tornado at its peak, both heavily rain wrapped F5s hidden in darkness, are probably the closest modern examples of what people saw with the Tri State Tornado.

@TJ89741

Жыл бұрын

Same with Phil Campbell/Hackleburg 2011 also a heavily rain wrapped F5

@Cellmate412162

5 ай бұрын

And the El Reno Tornado in 2013.

I drove through this storm coming home to west Aurora from a high school job near Fox Valley Mall. I remember heavy rain, high winds, and tree branches falling into the road as I drove down Galena Blvd west of the Fox River. I learned later what happened in Plainfield. We lost a family friend who was also caught in the storm while driving further to the southeast - only pieces of his car were ever recovered.

That's just scary to think that just 30 minutes later, unwarned history would happen.

I was student at NIU when this happened. All I remember is how fast the temps dropped when I was walking back to the dorms.

I was 4 years old in Joliet Illinois eating a late lunch with my family when the tornado hit. It’s actually one of my first memories. We were seated by the window the sky turned this eerie green then all you saw was debris and in the distance what looked like a dark cloud. That’s when the manager yelled for everyone to take shelter in the bathrooms. The power went out I screamed, he turned on a flashlight and all you could hear was the wind. It was howling around us. A few minutes later calm. We survived the building survived with shingles torn off and tons of debris in the parking lot. It had passed within I think a mile or two of where we were, it’s been too many years.

I grew up in Joliet and was there at NIU and actually caught in this outside while I walked to class. My parents' home was in the direct path but the twister petered out a mile or so before their house. They had debris from who knows how far away in their yard. Worst of all, one of my friends lived in the Cresthill apartments and was blown into a cornfield and died. Seeing this video after 33 years is intense. I had no idea until today that it existed.

I survived the Plainfield tornado on August 28, 1990 as well. I was 4 months old and we were in a local Allstate commercial. I was the infant obviously. I would be dead shortly after this video was taken if it wasn't for my father who told us to go into another bathroom. This was an amazing video and thank you for sharing. What was seen in this video almost took my life but I was one of the lucky ones, unlike my father's uncle and aunt who's names are on the memorial at Plainfield Central High School.

@RehanSyed29

10 жыл бұрын

+1

@nikkimarie4526

6 жыл бұрын

Colton Riffel - i was 5 months old! But in Lyons il so farther away. Sorry you lost your aunt and uncle but glad you were lucky. Strange thing is I've always been very fascinated with tornados. The deadliest tornado to ever touch ground anywhere was on my exact birth day. Not year but day. Ya.

This is the only video that exists of this storm, and even then, the tornado itself wasn’t captured. As far as I know, there aren’t any photos either.

@brizzle3903

2 жыл бұрын

You’re correct! No other photos or videos were recorded because this beast became so rain wrapped nobody knew what was coming until it was too late, much like the Tri State tornado in 1925

I survived the Plainfield tornado on August 28, 1990. I lived on Prieboy Avenue, in Joliet, near the mall. I was taking care of my little brother and sister, when we saw a wall of rolling clouds, pulling the trees from the ground as if the trees were only toothpicks. Seconds later, as we ran for the basement, the house was gone around us. We landed in the basement, luckily, with only minor injuries. Surreal to see this footage and know it came just minutes before our lives changed forever.

@bearzdlc2172

3 жыл бұрын

Not true

Just insane video. Probably what the Plainfield tornado looked like, as in no one could see it coming. Totally rain wrapped and obstructed.

A sad day. Too many lives lost. Many more would have been lost if it weren't for the quick thinking of the Plainfield High School coaches holding football and volleyball practice that day. If the tornado struck 24 hours later, the school would have had many more students and staff inside as the school year was due to start on August 29, 1990. Rest in peace to all those who were lost that day.....you are not forgotten.

I was starting my last semester at NIU when this storm rolled through. I recall it being very hot and humid, but I have no recollection of the storm and don't remember where I was. I remember seeing news of the situation in Plainfield on the public TVs in the Student Center but I bet that was the next day. Three years prior to that I lived in the apartment complex in Crest Hill that was destroyed by the subsequent tornado.

Wow. Crazy to see footage of the wind this storm was producing prior to it hitting Plainfield all these years later. Thanks for posting Gilbert.

The skies towards the middle of the video reminded of the first 9 minutes before Joplin got hit, how the skycam looked on a historical news report video that was recently added to youtube

I remember this day. I was a freshman at DeKalb High School and toward the end of the school day we were told to take cover. I was lovingly placed next to a large glass panel looking into a stairwell that was enclosed by glass on three sides so I was able to watch the entire storm as it passed over. I remember thinking “If a tornado comes anywhere near here and breaks all this glass, I’m dead.” Along with dozens of my classmates. So grateful that the tornado did not hit our school and that classes had not yet started at Plainfield High, which was hit by the F5 tornado that eventually came out of this storm. Sadly three people who were in Plainfield High School lost their lives that day, but if the school had been full of students the death toll would have been far higher.

@donna2115

Жыл бұрын

What are the odds, I was a sophomore at DHS! Vividly remember this day and will never forget the green sky. My class sheltered in a hallway with NO windows - I'm shocked they would put you so close to big windows, WTH? My grandparents lived in Morris, not far from Plainfield, and took us to see the devastation not long after. My grandpa had survived a couple of tornadoes in Kansas, but said this was the worst he'd ever seen. 😥

This supercell produced the unwarned nightmare that was the Plainfield F5. The biggest blunder by the National Weather Service.

@rosecomer9468

12 күн бұрын

Read Isaac's Storm. That was the biggest blunder but Plainfield 1990 is up there. Let's hope there are never any that are worse!

@LampHatScott

12 күн бұрын

@@rosecomer9468 I looked up Isaac's storm. Isaac Cline fucked up big time. That's how the 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed Galveston TX, momentum as a growing city.

@LampHatScott

12 күн бұрын

@@rosecomer9468Isaac Cline, The meteorologist that tracked the storm said it was going to go towards Louisiana when other meteorologists at the time said that it would hit Texas.

Amazing rare footage of this day.

This Supercell produced the Plainfield F5 Tornado...which had no Tornado Warning at all

@dianefarley37

Ай бұрын

Yeah. From the sound of it, the people responsible for warning the Plainfield citizens decided that it was okay to omit the fact that a storm that already dropped three tornadoes was about to hit Plainfield. The radar technology clearly showed what was happening but...oh well! 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Wow, it brought it all back for me - I was a sophomore, living in Douglass Hall top floor - this was the storm that changed everything. And Gilbert, I used to cross-promote your TV 8 weather on my WKDI broadcasts!(I also was at TV 8 during the 1991-1994 time period)

No problem! And thanks everyone, for your kind comments.

Thank you for this rare gift! I understand that the Limited Fine Mesh model had an *84* or *MINUS 16* for the lifted index forecast, but I just cannot find it.

I was 10 years old when this happened. I lived in Georgia at the time, but was up in Illinois visiting relatives. My dad and I were driving around looking at cars in Oak Lawn / Chicago Ridge at the time. We were driving down Harlem Ave just south of 95th street. He looked at the sky (it was black and green, almost like it was painted that way) and said, we need to get off the road. We pulled in to the Walmart on Harlem, and ran in the building. Not long after we got inside the power went out, and we could hear debris hitting the building. Lightning struck the roof. After the storm got past we walked back outside and there was stuff everywhere. I remember a trampoline laying in the parking lot, along with branches and stuff everywhere. I'll never forget that storm. I have been in many in my life (we also experienced the Palm Sunday outbreak in Georgia just a few years later and I have now been chasing for years) but this one stands out in my mind. It was very hot and humid that day(upper 90's if I recall correctly), and after it passed it was cool enough to where you had to have a jacket on. My relatives that lived in Chicago Ridge were out of power for a few days after this one. Always be vigilant when they warn for tornadoes. This storm is why we have such advanced warning (which still isn't enough but much better than they were this day). I never heard a siren, nor did we have any warning other than they said there was a chance for storms that day.

@rockotds4870

4 жыл бұрын

That Walmart is ~30 miles from the Louis Joliet Mall, and the tornado slid south of the mall, so you were a good ~35 miles away from the tornado (give or take). I don't doubt that the power went out & the lightning strikes, but saying there was debris everywhere is a little far fetched. I was in southwest Naperville during this tornado and there was no debris.

@Champwsox05

3 жыл бұрын

I was in Westchester and there were downed trees and power lines, broken windows, roof damage, etc all over the village. Westchester is at least 25 miles away from Plainfield so that means that there was widespread damage from this storm besides the Plainfield tornado itself.

I was running back to the dorms when this storm hit. I remember the temperature dropping like 30 degrees in an instant with the green skies.

Sorry about the F bombs folks. It was a raw and real momoment. I thought we would see a funnel cloud moving clearly across the open fields. Instead we witnessed the amazing wall of clouds that moved from Rockford to DeKalb in what seemed like seconds.

@Cellmate412162

5 жыл бұрын

Jay Orbik That’s alright. When in the face of an incredible event, adrenaline rushes tremendously. And you know what’s interesting? What the video shows is actually the closest description to the Tri State Tornado of 1925. It too was hidden in a heavy wall of precipitation & clouds throughout most of its lifespan.

@Tornado1994

5 жыл бұрын

@@Cellmate412162 The Tri State Storm wasn't just one Tornado. It was a family of several ones. ALL Rain Wrapped.

@giantleprechaun2350

4 жыл бұрын

Jay Orbik I’m surprised you guys didn’t go after the storm and follow it. Still cool footage. It’s a shame camera phones didn’t exist back then.

@P_RO_

3 жыл бұрын

@@Tornado1994 Nope- not officially. It is still considered to have been one tornado and the longest-tracked one ever, because of the lack of any proof that it wasn't. I've seen you make this comment on many YT channels and you need to stop spreading this disinformation. Read what Tom Grazulis has to say about this- he's the world's expert on past tornado research in the US. There is speculation that it was multiple tornadoes from a 'family' embedded in a QLCS because the paths given by different newspaper accounts from different cities don't always align, but are still in the same general direction. In most of those articles what was reported came from witnesses and second-hand reports who often couldn't give accurate distances but would refer to things known locally. In a number of these articles those locations as was written have been proven to not be near the later verified path. The world, how people in rural areas were educated and how they lived, and the way non-direct communications happened was much different from now. Inaccuracy in newspaper reports back then was commonplace. There was no cooperation or collaboration between newspapers in different towns back then, each printed what their own reporters turned in and there was no investigative standards for the Weather Bureau who didn't go out to remote areas but only investigated in and near larger cities with good transportation access. . Either way might be correct, but it's always been considered to be one tornado and until proven otherwise it will officially be counted as one tornado. What we think as individuals doesn't matter when it comes to records- only the official version matters for those.

@markmiller489

Жыл бұрын

Jay was the tornado somewhere wrapped in rain???

I know you said this is the straight line wind before the tornado itself formed but even still this is remarkable footage Makes me wonder if this is what those who survived the Tristate tornado saw nothing but a wall of mist hiding a sinister monster just on the other side of it

I will never forget this day! Thanks for posting!

Me and my daughter were scooting down our basement as the house was flying apart When we got to the bottom it was over She turned 16 the next day.....

That was one scary-looking sky. Holy crap.

Crazy to think that in just 8 days, it'll be 30 years since this EF-5 hit Plainfield and it's only been a few weeks since that tornado-spawning derecho hit the Chicagoland area. Has anyone else noticed that as of recently Chicago and the surrounding suburbs tend to get tornadic action around August?

@robertrohde4579

Жыл бұрын

Northern Illinois has more severe storms that move from northwest to southeast than anywhere else. August is a prime month for storms that move from northwest to southeast.

I was sitting on a school bus just to the south-east of DeKalb at Kaneland high school. I remember seeing corn cobs fly past the bus and part of the school's roof being torn off. Something did break the windshield on the bus as well. Then, all of the sudden, it was gone. Cool video! It is almost l like a time machine back to a single day in 1990.

I was born a week before this storm hit so Tom Skilling has probably mentioned it in the forecast. Aug 21, 1990 in Aurora, IL. I believe that this single storm was the spark for my interest in weather and if I was supposed to die then, I would like to die because of a tornado.

Thanks. I have not been to NIU in a few years, however, this s how I remember it. I was in Moline Illinois the day this happended. I drove thru Plainfield the next day and saw the damage. Unreal!

Incredible piece of history here!

This is probably the same tornado that that ripped through Plainfield! I am graduating from Plainfield central this year! Amazing video please don’t take this down! I wish teachers would show students this video every august!

@giantleprechaun2350

4 жыл бұрын

Coin Collector100 It was the same supercell thunderstorm that hit Plainfield about half an hour later yes. It had already produced a small short lived tornado in a cornfield in the Rockford area.

Damn, great video! I was up there at NIU at this time. We had to stay in the Motel 6 on Lincoln Hwy while our new Stadium View 2 apartment was still being built. It was nuts! Thanks for sharing the footage.

Thanks, BM! A crazy day for sure...

This is great footage of what was to become a historic tornado to hit Plainfield. At one of the tom skilling weather seminars he talked about research that was done to see if this same storm system was to happen today would have it been detected so early warning could have went out. The answer was no. Might have something to do with it being rain wrapped. Pretty scary to think an f5 can hit the Chicago area and no warnings going out ahead of time.

@Darkwizzrobe

5 жыл бұрын

If it happen today there probably would have been storm spotters around. Especially around a major metropolitan area.

@Tornado1994

5 жыл бұрын

@@Darkwizzrobe They had Storm Spotters in 1990. The issue with the Plainfield F5 Tornado and the reason why it was so deadly and caused so many fatalities is because it was misread and improperly issued by local Weather Bureau and Meteorologists as a basic "Severe Thunderstorm Warning" The Doppler Radar showed a Clear Hook Echo Supercell. Back then, Tornado Warnings were only issued if a funnel cloud was visible and sighted until 1999 when it was/Now is required whenever ANY Thunderstorm has Rotation detected, even more pedantic was that prior to 1975, Tornado Warnings were only issued if a Tornado was on the ground. The Negligence of the NWS Office in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont,IL for FAILING to issue a simple Tornado Watch is just disgraceful. They knew DAMN well one was necessary especially since the conditions were favorable for Supercells. Supercells were only discovered in the early 1980s. Prior to 1982, it was little known what caused Tornadoes and which Thunderstorms produced them. The Plainfield Tornado was completely Rain Wrapped. And an F3 sized Wedge Funnel.

@Darkwizzrobe

5 жыл бұрын

@@Tornado1994 Yes I believe before the 1980s quasi linear convective systems were considered the primary source of tornadoes.

@pkranz937

5 жыл бұрын

@@Tornado1994 Fujita coined the term "supercell", along with several other terms, after the 1957 Fargo tornado. Doppler radar was first used in Oklahoma in 1973, but not in Illinois, which is the primary reason the weather office didn't issue a warning. Further, much like the Barneveld storm 6 years prior, certain radars were offline that day, precluding accurate observations. In the general scheme of things, a warning *could've* been issued, but wasn't. Forecasters were, and are, leery of crying wolf. Erring on the side of caution is more typical today, but not then.

@giantleprechaun2350

4 жыл бұрын

Tornado1994 There also wasn’t the technology back then that there is today.

That be a crazy feeling kinda cool but scary seeing that happen outside window

that's really great quality video for 1990!

@sebenste

4 жыл бұрын

It was shot with a $40,000 camera at the time. He grabbed it from their media department and headed out to record it! Did a good job.

“Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s kinda fun!!”😂

@dianefarley37

3 жыл бұрын

Something I would do if this happened today!

Almost sounds like Reed Timmer. I've been around the area since just before this and thus is the first time seeing this footage. Golden!

I live there now i cant believe that hit

Thanks for posting this.There was a video shot by some woman from her backyard of the actual tornado, Tom Skilling showed it once right after the tornado happened and I've never been able to find the vidoe again anywhere. This one you shot was interesting to see, it looked pretty bad from where you were. Thanks again.

If this tornado was actually seen by anyone it would probably looked like the 1925 Tri-State tornado. You know what they say about history repeating itself.

@bearzdlc2172

3 жыл бұрын

It basically looked like what you see in the video, just the obscured rain/fog

@Tornado1994

2 жыл бұрын

@@bearzdlc2172 Exactly.

The Plainfield Tornado looks like a huge cloud or fog on the ground rolling in. Now why does that sound so familiar? THAT'S IT!!! The Tri State Tornado in 1925! Rain curtains can look like thick fog or the bottom of a cloud, which means that the Tri State Tornado was also a heavily rain wrapped tornado. Funny & strange how meteorologists today say that they still don't know why the Tri State Tornado looked like a huge cloud. Well take a good look at this video, because THIS IS THE ANSWER YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!!!

@rhymekingforever

6 жыл бұрын

Gargoyle Man great logic. You've managed to solve the mystery of what they were saying based on personal accounts of the 1925 tornado alone. Round of applause. 👏👏👏

@Tornado1994

5 жыл бұрын

The Tri State Tornado of 1925 was SEVERAL Rain Wrapped Tornadoes, not just one.

@Darkwizzrobe

5 жыл бұрын

@@Tornado1994 People have proposed that but the damage path and evidence found suggest it was one tornado instead of a series like what you would expect.

@pkranz937

5 жыл бұрын

@@Darkwizzrobe that would be false. Damage reports are consistent with a family of tornadoes, which is what happens in real life.

@giantleprechaun2350

4 жыл бұрын

Tornado1994 Was that ever proven or is that just a theory?

Amazing!

Well today it will be 30 years since this violent rainwrapped tornado tore through Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet killing 29 people with no warning may they rest in peace. 😔 🌪

That is NUTS! Was in Grant South that day. They evacuated us and then sent us back in. Needless to say, we went straight to the corner community room to get a good view. Duh!? We were only on the 4th floor. I always wondered what it looked like higher up. It shook everything, I'll never forget it.

Along with Jerrell one of the scariest ones I think. A nightmare.

damn finding this today, after we just had a nasty storm kinda like this. holy jesus

I was in Sycamore watching from my buddies front porch...insanely brutal!!

That’s gotta be a tornado already passing through. That was INSANE!

Irishman, no, he didn't see it. Mymieke: that was the first one that touched down near Pecatonica. WREX-TV photographer in Rockford took that, I believe.

Fact: this might be the *only* existing footage of the storm that formed the Plainfield tornado.

I was at NIU in temporary housing at Holmes Student Center when this happened - amazing storm

I have heard stories about this tornado. I was born on August 21, 1990 in Aurora at the old Rush Copley Hospital.

Conditions were actually perfect for this violent tornado. There should've been a tornado watch and it a PDS, not a severe thunderstorm watch.

Awesome footage. Just be careful storm chasers, keep it up!

@dacoach1122 : Huskie Stadium. You probably don't recognize it because of the new buildings built around it since 1990.

It was about 1/3 to a half mile wide or so, in its mature stage.

@briansivley2001

8 жыл бұрын

Wow! That seems big. How would it compare to the one that hit Fairdale This year? Being that Tornado was borderline EF5 Tornado Damage and this one was a F5 Tornado how do they compare to each other?

@sebenste

8 жыл бұрын

+briansivley2001 Both were large...but the Fairdale tornado was slightly larger.

@lolamontez7712

6 жыл бұрын

Gilbert Sebenste's Trains and Storms, The fairdale tornado was not larger than Plainfield. Plainfield was an EF5 and the Fairdale was an EF4

@briansivley2001

6 жыл бұрын

Lola Montez I think he meant the width of the tornado.

It was mentioned somewhere(can't remember where I read it) that the video was shot using professional video and audio equipment. I agree, if it had been from a consumer camcorder the quality would be much lower.

I have a dumb question about the tornado that came from this storm cell how big was it not in the f scale but how wide was it and compare it to another tornado that was about the same size as the one that hit Plainfield like was it a mile wide or what?

That was the dumbest thing I ever saw anyone do, wish I could have been there... I walk in storms!

It can get scary out there. We were based in Mundelein, IL, but we packed candy in Halloween & Christmas Point of Purchase displays for Nestle. We had our own production line in the big white Nestle building in DeKalb. One afternoon as I was driving home, I spotted a funnel cloud (tornado.) I got close enough that I could see debris spinning around inside it. It kept slowing down and rising in the sky before speeding and tightening up before contacting the ground & kicking up more debris. I remember that it looked like the finger of the Devil poking at the earth. When it changed direction & started heading toward me, I skedaddled!

I was on the campus at Lewis University, almost exactly where the NEXRAD radar is now.

I was in Stevenson South at the time.

Yikes... This storm is so dense and dark, with a low cloudbase. And it even spawned a monster F5 🌪. The worst twister to ever hit the USA back in 1925 was hidden in a supercell just like this one!

Since I saw this, the Tornado I was thinking, somewhere touched down in Sandwich, Illinois.

@giantleprechaun2350

5 жыл бұрын

CommodoreCrusher9000TM Pictures That same tornado? I heard it touched down in southern Oswego just north of Plainfield and route 126.

There is footage of the Plainfield Tornado alas it shows the storm as a funnel cloud developing over Normantown, IL. The Plainfield Tornado was only 100-200 yards wide which is extremely rare for an EF5 as most EF5's are 1/3 of a mile wide or greater. Perhaps footage of the tornado exists somewhere tucked away waiting to be discovered........

@lolamontez7712

6 жыл бұрын

castleromeo , I don't know where you got your information but you are wrong. The EF5 Plainfield tornado was much bigger than what you say. I was in the tornado, and I could see it coming towards the house it was absolutely massive

@briansivley2001

6 жыл бұрын

Lola Montez What you saw the actual tornado!?! From what I have heard about it that it was a rainwaped tornado. Can you compare the width of the tornado to a more recent tornado? I'm just curious about it because I'm hugely into tornadoes so I want to learn everything about them I can.

And.. That would be the Plainfield tornado that you have archived here. Thankfully it wasn't any closer to you guys here.. You would not have survived. 😬

29th anniversary coming up this Wednesday! Anyone having a supercell party?

Eerie

Scary

I live in plainfield il

Tornadoes love Plainfield for some odd reason because I sure as hell don't....

THUMBS UP IF YOU LIVE IN DEKALB

Ahh perfect time to GET INSIDE YA THINK?!

Is the Tornado wrapped in Rain at this point or is this the straight line winds before the F5 dropped ?

@sebenste

9 ай бұрын

those are the straight line winds that immediately proceeded the tornado.

Some people say that super cells are the mother of all storms

@pkranz937

5 жыл бұрын

Instability in the atmosphere is what causes weather.

@dianefarley37

3 жыл бұрын

Some people are right.

@GtrMatt

2 ай бұрын

While they are extraordinary, the mother of all storms is undeniably the Hurricane.

In what building was this video shot? I see either grant or Stevenson towers.

@GraceFreeLutheranChurchDekalb

2 жыл бұрын

Huskie Stadium.

I was in it

Omg my brother was home alone at this time and the tornado went right over my house

You guys should have chased the storm by car. One of the most memorable tornadoes in the state of Illinois.

@danadoozer9990

3 жыл бұрын

With all that wind and rain obscuring everything, it would have been incredibly dangerous and potentially deadly to chase this storm!

@giantleprechaun2350

3 жыл бұрын

@@danadoozer9990 I would of had I been old enough. The footage would probably be worth huge money.

@giantleprechaun2350

3 жыл бұрын

@@danadoozer9990 There’s always danger in chasing a tornado. That’s what storm chasers too. They get off on the risk.

Camera 2011

Was the tornado rain wrapped

@gilbertsebenste3180

7 ай бұрын

Yes, it was, unfortunately.

And still there's no footage or pictures of the tornado.

@giantleprechaun2350

5 жыл бұрын

inkyatari There was a teacher from the college of Dupage that followed the storm with some students. He got footage of the wall cloud right before Plainfield got hit. But it started to look really bad so they pulled out.

@Hextraordinary13

4 жыл бұрын

The Plainfield tornado is one of those notoriously tricky rain-wrapped tornadoes and is extremely difficult to "see." What you'd actually see is what looks like a giant cloud touching the ground at the horizon. I can pretty much assure you that at the end of this video -- the tornado that hit Plainfield was already developed in that storm and was GROWING by the time it reached Plainfield.

@jennifercrompton7577

3 жыл бұрын

@@Hextraordinary13 you're right. I saw this tornado coming. Houses were leveled 2 blocks from where I was and it just looked like a black wall of a cloud on the ground with debris flying everywhere. I've seen a few classic funnel cloud and the Plainfield tornado looked nothing like that. If it weren't for the debris flying everywhere, you may not even have guessed it was a tornado at all.

@gilbert sebenste's trains and storms is it true you were, let's say, irate, with these students the day they did this? That's the rumor I heard at NIU regarding behavior during tornado warnings from my ex who was an RHOP...

@sebenste

3 жыл бұрын

I wasn't even a student back then! But I wasn't irate. I was just glad they were safe, and that they got good documentation of this event in the process. But I definitely wouldn't tell people to do this, that's for sure!

What time of day was that video taken?

@sebenste

4 жыл бұрын

Scott C Around 2:30 PM local time.

@APOCALYPSE_X-MEN

4 жыл бұрын

@@sebenste So that was maybe 30 minutes before that particular supercell spawned the F-5 twister?

@sebenste

4 жыл бұрын

2 RAW 4 TV Yep!

The audio and video is to clear to be from the 1990