Fascinating Video of Forney, Texas Tornado 04-03-12

Here is an excellent video of the tornado that did a great deal of damage in the DFW area yesterday. WARNING: Some foul language. It was taken by a close friend's teenage son, so there is cursing in it. You can mute the volume if you don't want to hear any cussin', dude!

It shows the tornado at its peak, and then you can clearly see it dissipate into nothingness again. Good job Cody, for being level-headed and holding the camera fairly steady so we can watch the twister's behavior.



Here is some reporting on this same tornado from WFAA, Dallas / Ft. Worth:

www.wfaa.com...

Also, note that you don't hear any sirens in the video. According to the videographer, this is the second tornado that has hit that area in two years, and the one from last year didn't trigger the sirens, either. I know that part of town is new, but there is no excuse not to have working sirens in any neighborhood in Tornado Alley.

Forney is lucky nobody was killed, they could have a lawsuit on their hands. Every little podunk town in Texas has sirens, unless you live way out in the country. I know they spent a fortune on their new high school football stadium...So where are the sirens???

reply to post by FissionSurplus

Knowing absolutely nothing about tornadoes what strikes me as most odd is the way it just stops and dissipates back into thin air. It surely must be one of the weirdest natural phenomenon on the planet.

It seems almost to occur and then stop without rhyme or reason. When it's "running", it seems huge, then a huge part falls away revealing an inner coil but the coil is all twisty, not a fairly taught, straight line like I would have imagined it to be. Scary as hell though, regardless of my inaccurate and or unscientific observations.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


No, your observations are right on the money. There is no rhyme or reason to them (at least for most of us). They start as pointy little "funnels" coming out of a dark wall cloud, then twist to the ground, get larger and wreck whatever they touch, and then evaporate into nothingness from whence they came.

That's what makes them so fascinating, but so frustrating to predict and chase.

reply to post by FissionSurplus

That really is amazing footage. Thanks for posting it.
When we have had tornados close it has been dark out or we were taking shelter, so I had never seen a funnel dissipate. Half of me thinks those kids were crazy to stay out there. The other half says, "Cool footage!"
I can't wait to show this to my son when he gets home, with the sound muted!

reply to post by anniquity


Thanks! The older boy who took the video has diabetes, he has almost died numerous times, so he's not afraid of much of anything anymore. His younger brother was the one freaking out.

I would have been shaking like a leaf and hiding in the bathtub, personally. I've seen tornadoes forming overhead when I lived in the Dallas area, and I always grabbed my cats and hid in the closet under the stairs, but I give this young man kudos for taking this footage, because I have never seen one so strong and then disappear like a puff of smoke before. It's hypnotizing to watch....as long as you're not actually there!!

Thanks for posting.
It was one heck of a day. I was injured in a F5 many years back, and my grandmother was killed so I don't take these things lightly. I was watching the cell develop on radar. It formed ahead of the main line of storms. These are the storms you have to watch out for. They have unimpeded air flow and moisture access, so they develop very fast and become super cells. I thought for sure it would develop into a F4, but by the grace of God, it weakened as it approached I-20. It lost it's main air flow as it approached the city. Now if that cell would have developed any further south and had more time to gather strength, we would be looking at mass carnage. Same with the Ellis county/Dallas county tornado. This tornado came sooooooooo close to our house. We are about 2 minutes E of the worst hit area. If it had stayed on it's NE track, it would have hit us for sure. Again, miraculously, it went N at just the most critical moment, which was caused by the weakening. Strong tornados usually become " right turners ". In other words, the will follow the storm track as they gain strength, then take a right turn and either move E or even slight SE. I was worried for a bit until it crossed I-20.
All you could hear was a constant roar to the W. It was creepy.
Yesterday did not help my PTSD from my first tornado at all, made it worse I think.
We are very blessed people weren't killed. I sure as heck prayed...a lot.

reply to post by sickofitall2012


Thanks for sharing that. I'm sure that anybody who has lived through a horrific tornado that has lost family members would have been freaked out by yesterday's violent weather. The speed at which these formed surprised me, as I watched it on the weather channel and was amazed at how fast everything turned ugly.

Glad that you and your family are OK this time!

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Thank you, you're very kind.
My brother does IT overseas. He was really freakin out trying to reach us. He was only 3 when we went through that F5. Funny though, when he's home, he is a storm spotter for sky warn. He loves it. Go figure.

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
Also, note that you don't hear any sirens in the video. According to the videographer, this is the second tornado that has hit that area in two years, and the one from last year didn't trigger the sirens, either. I know that part of town is new, but there is no excuse not to have working sirens in any neighborhood in Tornado Alley.

Forney is lucky nobody was killed, they could have a lawsuit on their hands. Every little podunk town in Texas has sirens, unless you live way out in the country. I know they spent a fortune on their new high school football stadium...So where are the sirens???

yeahh i live in a town 20 miles from there 2000 pop, and our sirens went off.

They must be throwing all the money to the cops who sit on the hwy 80 "speed trap" in front of the walmart.

No offense OP, but the kids taking the video are a bunch of douchebags. How can someone laugh while filming such destruction. I about lost it when I heard his "freaked out brother" say I need a beer.

Wow, I must be getting old.

Eta, it was great footage however.

reply to post by braydenf


LOL! I haven't been out that way in a few years, but the speed traps in that area are legendary (and a real pain in the rear!).

Oddly enough, while I was watching the local news out of Lubbock this evening, they brought up the subject of Lubbock no longer having working tornado sirens. They interviewed the chief of police, who said that it would cost millions to bring the whole system up to speed, and he claimed that, since we have TV and internet service, that is all the forewarning that people need. He said that sirens were "outdated technology" and they had no plans of ever using sirens again.

I guess that answers my question. So if you don't have cable or internet, or aren't watching either one, you're screwed if a tornado is coming your way.

reply to post by amongus


Yeah, you're getting old. :-) So are the rest of us!

I don't believe they knew of the destruction occurring as they were filming. There are some empty fields by that area and they may have thought that's where the tornado was hitting. They only learned of the devastation after the tornado had gone through and they saw it on the news, and started getting calls from friends.

They are basically good kids, and were absorbed and fascinated by the tornado coming so close to their street, and like all kids, don't think about what damage is being done, they're just caught up in the moment.