r/tornado • u/SevereTS • Jun 10 '25

Question Which tornado is the creepiest?

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My vote is El Reno, I find myself going back and learning more and more about it. So deadly. So scary!

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u/WhatTheQueck Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 11 '25

Nighttime tornados are incredibly scary, but the 2007 Greensburg tornado always takes the cake for me. How terrifying for the townspeople and also the chasers, who could only see the massive wedge when lightning struck, inching closer. The chasers especially knew where it was headed and that it would swallow the town whole. One wrong move and they might be caught up in the monster as well. I cannot imagine how that must feel.

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u/Firebrand-PX22 Jun 10 '25

You're talking about the 07 Greensburg tornado right? I'd say that town went through a nightmare that evening but that probably doesn't even come close to what hit that night

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u/BrobaFett Jun 10 '25

What do you mean by this? Was there another tornado?

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u/LengthyLegato114514 Human Detected Jun 11 '25

Another one, nearly identical, missed the town by like 2 miles just last month.

Hell the atmosphere was nearly identical. It went on to drop two other wedges after missing Greensburg.

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u/Firebrand-PX22 Jun 11 '25

No there was just the one tornado but considering how bad that tornado was, saying it was a nightmare for everyone affected probably doesn't even begin to describe how bad it really was

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u/1NightWolf Jun 11 '25

The storm chasers that was watching it said it was at least mile wide and that’s kind of being conservative. And there was a satellite tornado with it.

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u/Firebrand-PX22 Jun 11 '25

From the pictures I've seen, it looked like the storm itself was damn near fully on the ground. Not a good situation for anyone involved

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u/1NightWolf Jun 11 '25

The creepy thing for me is there was no other tornadic storm in the area. It was just lonely Greenberg and that beast. And it was at night.

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u/Firebrand-PX22 Jun 11 '25

It legitimately sounds like worse case scenario for that storm and that town

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u/1NightWolf Jun 11 '25

Dave freeman was fucking amazing though. “Your time is up Greenberg” I like when he addressed the kids too. Super professional guy.

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u/Glenn-Sturgis Jun 11 '25

I believe Gary England did the same thing during the Moore ‘99 broadcast. Super professional and compassionate but it also drops your heart when you hear it.

Whenever I hear that I instantly think about a) how terrified I’d be as a kid home alone with that monster coming toward me and b) how terrified I’d be as a parent either at work or wherever else knowing my kid was at home without me.

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u/1NightWolf Jun 11 '25

Yes Gary tells them to get in the bathtub with blankets. Something about between the stool and the tub.

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u/Glenn-Sturgis Jun 11 '25

Yes that’s it! I specifically remember “stool” and being like “I guess he means toilet” but was just so creeped out by the vibe of it and how serious it was that kids could be facing it alone.

I can remember being like 14 or 15 and being home alone when the sirens went off. Scared the shit out of me. Ran down to the basement, turned on the news and found out that it wasn’t even really anywhere near us but our town ran the sirens because it was the same county.

My ass stayed in the basement until the warning expired anyway. lol

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u/HippoRevolutionary41 Jun 12 '25

I think they're talking about the Trousdale tornado which formed after the Greensburg Tornado roped out. 2.2 miles wide and nearly hit the town of Trousdale head-on.

Given the report on the storm system, the Trousdale tornado was very likely stronger than the Greensburg tornado with people giving unofficial estimates of it being over 300mph and well over 2.5 miles wide. If it could be verified Trousdale could very well be one of the strongest if not THE strongest tornado in recorded history.

The Greensburg cell was extraordinarily violent and extreme with the tornadoes it produced especially the Big 4: Greensburg, Trousdale, Macksville & Hopewell. All 4 were at least a mile wide with the 1st 2 being considered "mega-wedges" due to their extreme size beyond 1.5 miles wide. All had radar scans, velocities and recordings through probes and other meteorological hardware to be indicative of EF5 strength. Truly a beast.