I Visited the Albion, IL Tornado Farm from June 2, 1990!
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- If you're a connoisseur of 90s tornado videos, you remember the video from Albion, Illinois and the June 2nd, 1990 tornado outbreak. On that date, an outbreak of violent tornadoes struck Illinois and Indiana, many of them photogenic and highly visible from a long distance. That led to a lot of great tornado videos shot by residents! One such video became famous world wide. It showed a tornado approaching in the distance on an Illinois farm, as the residents chatted about the approaching tornado in colorful fashion. The F4 tornado passes within a mile of the farm before disappearing into the distance.
This video was huge in shaping my early childhood fascination in tornadoes and Midwest severe weather. While giving a talk on disruptive weather in Fairfield, IL just down the road from Albion, I got the surprise of a lifetime!
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Video by Andrew Pritchard, Skydrama.Net
Original June 2nd, 1990 tornado video filmed by Davida Lesner
Andrew Davida is my mother the one that shot the video at my grandmother’s house of this Tornado.
Your mother shot one of the most important videos in this meteorologists life!
This was the last storm system that I chased. It dumped 4" of pea sized HAIL on Wapella IL. So much that I got stuck in the slush. Once I escaped that I chased the tornado up through Leroy towards Saybrook. The massive tornado that I was chasing turned 180 and came right over my truck. I jumped into a ditch and hid in a culvert. Ruined my Fruit of the Looms. Like a dog that chases cars, you only stop when you catch one.
What a harrowing tale! Glad you were okay.
Davida had the heart of a storm chaser!! If she felt any fear it was overcome by her drive to catch the tornado on video. Very impressive. I'm so happy for you Andrew that you met that guy and had that experience. And thanks so much for sharing it with us. 😊
I wish I could shake Davida's hand!!
Well I wish I could shake your hand, Andrew!!😁
A few minutes after this 1990 video was taken I was in the basement of my fathers house in Mt Carmel. Luckily. The twister had weakened by then and caused minimal damage. But then it strengthened again and wrecked Petersburg Indiana.
Wow, yep, lots of folks impacted by this one.
The first tornado I watched was in Lemont Illinois on March 27th 1991. It hit Lemont after striking the Lewis University campus in Romeoville. It moved northeast and dissipated in the Argonne laboratory area
What a cool video! Great way to start the day for me. You video was the 1st one that popped up on my feed! I loved that you had the time to go to site with the gentleman who's cousin filmed that classic video (& I'm sure I have it packed away in some box with the rest of my tornado compilation video tapes). What an awesome experience. "Ain't that funny lookin'"
Super happy for you and your experience. It really seems like it was important to you and that you were so excited to meet someone who knew the family. 😊
beautiful piece of work- clever snappy patter. The grand high drama that can happen in that way that spiritual connection- passion and circumstance- the treasure of another story from folks living in that very precious part of the world. Illinois.
With those horizontal vortices, it looked a lot like a 2011 Cullman tornado.
Yep, that’s a really good comparison.
Excellent video Andrew. Albion could be a name synonymous in F-4 tornado history in the US east of the Mississippi. In early June 1985 I was going into my 5th year as the Head Coach with the UIUC Wheelchair Track and Field Team. On May 31, 1985 the Albion, PA was hit by a one of two F-4 that killed 12 people. At that time I was taking a large contingent of UIUC athletes out to Edinboro State University for the National Wheelchair Games. When we drove out the traffic on I-70 and I-71 in NE Ohio was slow with so many temporary housing units being brought into the area following this massive outbreak. When we drove through Albion on 6N everyone in our 15 passenger van was silent seeing loaded rail cars that had been tossed about, rail beds torn up, as well as cars still sitting in trees following a Ford Dealership taking a direct hit. Being an underfunded Team myself and of our staff went shopping at a local market. They still lacked power so our pickings were slim with nothing but canned goods we found strewn about on the floor of the market. Seeing this carnage and then again seeing what happened in Urbana and in Homer, IL in the 1990's myself and our staff members saw enough excitement for a lifetime as it related to tornado damage up close and personal.
Thanks for keeping us safe Andrew and know that I enjoy your work, sense of humor and intense drive to bring Central Illinois weather to us all.
Thank you for sharing that story with me. That May 1985 tornado outbreak was really something else. If you remember my mentor Ed Kieser from WILL in the 90s/2000s he was in college in PA during that 1985 outbreak and it had a big impact on him.
With my work at the UIUC I was able to travel the world. You would be surprised at the role weather played in my work either at the Olympics or Paralympics. LA 1984 Olympics were oppressively hot and the build up for Seoul in 1988 with the worst heat I had experienced in my 40+ years in CU. We got to Seoul and it was cold and wet with near monsoon rain the day of the Paralympic Marathon. Thanks for listening. @@AndrewPritchard
Is the new owner going to rebuild the house
I too have a deep connection to this video. I grew up watching twister: fury on the plains as a child. The video is abbreviated so when I saw the full thing I felt like I was freed. However the famous line "Ain't that funny lookin'?" was retained in the video and my dad and I still chuckle about it. Part of this is so interesting cause in a way you are stepping into a piece of a family's life. I don't want to say it is scary, or creepy. But there is a sense of "loneliness" traveling off the path and into the realm of persons unknown. I get this feeling with all classic home tornado videos. Who are these people? Where are they now? Not only are we seeing meteorological history but also history in general. Listen to how people talk, what they are wearing, the things they are saying. Even hearing the distinct accents that people had depending on where they were. I feel like for the grandkids and kids of these home videographers, it must be quite emotional to once again hear their mother or grandmother's voice. Because this isn't a photo where everyone posed. This is them as family once saw them in the way they engaged and their mannerisms.
Cool video. I lived this tornado, we were almost killed. It destroyed a factory before it got to that farm in Browns, IL….luberfiner factory was open 3 weeks and completely destroyed, we were in my grandmas basement a mere 300 yards from the factory on 5th street…it was one wild evening
Sounds wild!! Thank you for sharing your story!
@@AndrewPritchardalong rout 130 theres a fence with wood still stuck in it from this tornado. A reminder to its destructive power.
Sad how there was so much life in the video and so much green now it looks like a waste land 😢
To be fair the 1990 video was filmed in early June and the 2024 video was filmed in February - so really everything was green vs brown because you're looking at winter vs summer. It would be awesome if the farmhouse was still being maintained, I agree!
Hopefully the house will be rebuilt
How cool is this????
How cool is this? Very cool!!!!! I have also ventured out to see where tornadoes have traveled and it can be an eye opener. I traveled the whole length of the Rochelle/Fairdale 2015 tornado because it wasn't too far from where I used to work. But this video Andrew is just awesome. Great job!!!!!
Thanks! Yeah it can be wild to follow the scar of a big tornado, I bet the Rochelle path was really something else. Probably still lots of evidence.
Very cool video! Nicely done.
good job friend
Awesome ! ❤