@Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive: That is some scary shiz right there...both beautiful, and terrifying at the same time...

Just like The Hulk!

Chromeo

It would appear this is the same tornado that killed four young people. So maybe give the whole PHOTOSHOP thing a fucking rest?

It's an awesome photo-- you don't really ever see them from that close. I never have, any way-- growing up in tornado alley I saw quite a few, but from probably a half-mile out at best. This really makes you appreciate the power of nature.

wild homes 5: no disassemble!

@lpranal: Yep, I agree! It was some of the inconsistencies that made me question whether it was what it claimed to be.

But come on, if that funnel was THAT big in the frame wouldn't you think it would be pretty close? I'm expecting more wind in the vicinity if the funnel is that big or that close, whichever the case is.

AhnyerKeester

I always come across awesome photo-ops but, I don't keep my Canon S5IS in my car because that's how my Canon A80 died. Crappy camera-phone pics FTL :(
That's a great shot, though. Props to Lisa and thank God that nobody was hurt.

Eclectified

@ceez: shouldnt the surrounding trees be 'pulling' towards the tornado along with the stop sign or is the tornado still 'too far' for it to affect those objects. not necessarily. Tornadoes are tremendously low pressure, but in storms like this there's frequent downbursts and other areas of higher and lower pressure, which is why in a storm the wind blows many different ways.

Why is there light between those giang cannisters? it seems like the tornado has enough coverage to prevent any light near them.

lpranal

@Fierock: Check it out!

+ Watch video

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

@Fierock: These cells are massive and that's a good few miles away(notice no damage in the immediate vacinity). The rotation is probably very slow from the perspective of the viewer. When I saw a waterspout on the shore of Carriacou, it didn't look like it was rotating very quickly, but the water churning at the base told a different story.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

@AhnyerKeester: It's not a picture of tornado, but a wall cloud (as already pointed out above) but the flag and/or the lack of camera shake don't prove that.
It's a wall cloud because of the formation and the (relatively) slow rotation.

It would still be entirely possible to get this shot if it WERE a real tornado - it's far enough away that the winds from a tornado wouldn't be affecting the photographer, and it does get calm just before a tornado moves over an area sometimes. She probably used some kind of image stabilization to get this shot.

lpranal

@ceez: what are you looking for cows flying and trucks being hurled through the air? read the article it didn't even touch the ground...

@Fierock: rotation?? seriously??? do you not see the huge striations within the clouds?

graphx

oh and some debris should be flying around that tornado too!

ceez

@nutbastard: Bullshit, you were looking. Send me the picture!

Kramen loves her MBP

@AhnyerKeester: I tend to believe you may be correct, if anything there may have been an actual cloud there but I think it has been embellished in photoshop, plus it doesn't look like there is much rotation - maybe a little but certainly not a twister - certainly no more than just a downburst.

Fierock

[www.mcpress.com]

xint

damn it, i am stuck between real and photoshopped!?!?

shouldnt the surrounding trees be 'pulling' towards the tornado along with the stop sign or is the tornado still 'too far' for it to affect those objects.

Why is there light between those giang cannisters? it seems like the tornado has enough coverage to prevent any light near them.

the shape of the flag is unusual.

there is not a lot of blur and it seems like a long exposure picture to catch the glare of the light posts and other lit areas, you'd need a tripod or a solid surface with a good angle to take the shot of the tornado.... I think that last thing on ones mind is "where's my tripod" or "let me seat the camera on the rail".

either way, shopped or not, nice pictures, it goes to show what nature looks when you're staring at its face!

ceez

@Kramen loves her MBP:

hey i dont pick em - it's an incredible picture, if gore doesnt bother you. not as if i went SEARCHING for fucked up things to photograph.

nutbastard

@Chromeo: @wranglersahara:
From reading other articles about this particular tornado, it was just the formation of a funnel cloud. It touched down and went back up. And from my understanding this ISN'T the tornado that went through. Orchard, IA isn't near Little Sioux at all.

Rabid Penguin

@mythicalcaesar: Thanks! I've messed with this things a bit but never really did much with them.

AhnyerKeester

@MastaFalse: I'm not joking and you're totally getting pissed off for no reason.

AhnyerKeester

Finger of God.

brother9

This photo is entitled "God Hates You And Everyone You Know And Is Going To Kill Us All"

The Incredible OMG! Ponies!

@MastaFalse: I'm sorry, are you saying I'm the dipshit and troll?

I'm neither and I've clarified what I've said a bit. It isn't a photo of a tornado, there isn't enough wind. I never said it was shopped, but I would guess that is is not what it says it is.

AhnyerKeester

@jige: Well, I have seen a cloud or two in my life. And I'm pretty sure that tornadoes make clouds move, what with the wind and all.

If the flag is blurred and the clouds aren't it looks like a fake to me. And if this is a "timed exposure" as has been suggested, then Lori is either able to stand very still when facing a tornado (I'd be shaking) or she had the presence of mind (and the time) to set up a tripod.

I think in the end this is not a tornado photo, but a photo of an odd cloud formation mislabeled as a tornado. The wind doesn't look to be moving fast enough and that isn't what tornado clouds look like in the movies I've seen.

Fake or at least inaccurate label.

AhnyerKeester

@AhnyerKeester:
Its called spot metering.. focusing on one area while blurring out the rest that is not important to the subject area. Also, the iso speed and long exposure time will create that affect. Try getting a dslr and put it on sports mode or any longer exposure modes.. this will give you the effect of .. main object frozen in time with background blurred showing movement. My terminology might be a little off.. but thats about the jist of it. No harm done.

mythicalcaesar

Come on. The flag should be in tatters? Could it be blurry because the POS^2 (piece of shit point and shoot) can't keep track of a flag whipping about in as many threads as you could hope to count? And the trees aren't moving? It's a STILL PHOTO. The flag has a spotlight centered on it, while the trees are hardly lit by a single sodium vapor lamp. This explains why you're able to SEE the flag whipping around in 70+ mph winds TOWARD the low pressure center (TORNADO) while the trees all do the same. They're still blurry, they just don't have the nice spotlight on them nor do they have the nice, bright red and white dye to make the motion blue so evident. How can you say this is fake? It's definitely not. I hope you're joking, and that I'm getting pissed off for no reason.

MastaFalse

@jige: He's a sick sad man. I live with it.

Kramen loves her MBP

@AhnyerKeester: Dipshit. The troll appears to know about what he/she is saying, but upon further inspection really has no idea. The person should've been more outwardly enraged by this spectacle, thus providing a more believable tantrum.

Not shop'd.

MastaFalse

It's been a mess here in central Iowa. I live in Iowa City and a good portion of the University's Arts and Music campus is underwater.

Fortunately volunteers came out in droves last week and over the weekend and together we were able to minimize flooding at the Union and the main computer center.

Here is a video of the Burlington Street Bridge hours before it crested.

+ Watch video

And here are some pictures I took from around campus. A number of areas are blocked off so it is difficult to grasp the scope of the damage.
[www.facebook.com]

Johnny Chimpo

When people have digital cameras why don' they ever use video to capture these scary moments instead of just stills? Makes me want to think its fake, plus it just looks fake like AhnyerKeester suggested.

Fierock

@nutbastard: I'd buy a couple of those. Hate x-mas...

jige

@Kramen loves her MBP: It *is* a sick world...

jige

Here's a reason why you shouldn't make a lot of effort to 'get the shot' too:

[www.dallasnews.com]

I'm sure Darwin approves

trekkie

@nutbastard: That is the best thing that has happened to you lately?! You got some sick thoughts,man.

Kramen loves her MBP

Wait this article says Tuesday. It's not from the camp. That happened on Wednesday.

Uberdude328i

Best thing i happened upon lately was seriously gruesome. dead deer that was about 15% eaten on the side of the road. im going to photoshop some antlers on it and make x-mas cards.

nutbastard

To those that think a fake, my arguments are this.
1.) You aren't actually judging the distance properly. The funnel cloud/pre-tornado is farther back from the foreground than we realize. Second, it was a failed tornado. Her account seems right.

Years ago, I was with a friend walking on campus when we saw a funnel cloud. We ran cross campus as it descended. I bought a disposable camera and snapped some fuzzy picts. When we got to where it touched down, we found a tiny whirl of grass and nothing else. It broke apart when it hit the ground. We honestly thought it was closer than it was. This also notes the bravado found in teens, because honestly... I'd still do it.

In this day and age it's near impossible to think every photograph is real. And if I am proven wrong so be it, but at least the image is true to life.

DeadWriter

Anyone else having Ghost Busters flashbacks? I'm expecting Stay Puft to turn up any second.

aelver

Thank god this isn't a Sony, or it would probably have spelled doom for her waiting forever for the smile shutter to go off...

VakeroRokero

@wranglersahara: I believe you are correct. I got this picture from someone in Iowa near where the Scout camp was. He said it is belived to be the one that went through the camp killing the four Scouts.

Uberdude328i

@Froggmann: Yeah my purse is always open so I can just stick my hand in take it outta the case and give it the 3-4 seconds it needs to start up. When I have a clutch bag or no bag with me ( I carry HUGE purses) I feel naked b.c my camera isn't with me. I don't like that feeling.

This photo should be entered in an amateur photographers contest....or at least some cool swag.

Kramen loves her MBP

Awesome pic. And yes I do usually carry a camera with me at all times. It usually is clipped to my backpack so it's handy. It's got a quick startup too, about 1 to 2 senconds. (Cannon PS A590)

Froggmann

Conterfeit - like fake even!

Pappas3278

With all the tornados coming through Iowa lately (I live in central Iowa), I can't say for sure, but I believe this was the tornado that ravaged a Boy Scout Camp, and actually killed 4 Boy Scouts.

[www.cnn.com]

As if our flooding wasn't enough...

wranglersahara

@xint: HAHA. If only we were so lucky!

Kramen loves her MBP

@Kramen loves her MBP: You mean... that's not Jesus and Tupac running down the street??(left hand side??)

xint

LOOK AT THAT SHIT! I was watching some dust-devils on youtube, which are small tornado-like swirlies. They are awesome, too, because they are generally small and non threatening.. but this is some sick shit!

All hail muvah naytcha.

Stacky Botrus

One of the only reason it is not such a bad thing that we now have incredibely small and cheap slrs...

IVPPITER

wow crazy shot there. i can here her husband (that is if she is married) screaming WTF ARE YOU DOING!!! and her saying "JUST HOLD ON I HAVE TO GET THIS PIC FOR GIZ!!!!!" haha crazy.

graphx

There's this ironic calming feeling I get when I look at the picture...

Jimbuck

i just shit myself just from seeing that ... and the fact that spicy food kills me.

lilaliendog

...son-of-a-b ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! t c h...!

xint

@Kramen loves her MBP: NO WAY!

I totally keep my camera in my purse, too! Wait, scratch that. I keep it in my man purse. No, I meant to say gadget satchel. Murse. European carry-all.

Damn it.

JacquesAss

Wow, if that doesn't win AP's amateur photo of the year, I'll be sorely disappointed!

Nickbee

Thats the wonder of digital camera's. Even if you wreck the camera there is a pretty good chance that memory card will be intact :-) do GO yee fools just wrap that camera in foam first so we can find it and memorialize you forever :-) hehehe

Nerys

I would have been dead before my camera booted up.

hatchetman751

@AhnyerKeester: So, the cloud is not blurred, you say? You must've seen a lot of them on this close range.

I really hope Lori does her best to cash in on this photo. What did Giz pay her?

jige

Damn nature, you scary! If that tornado ever come to my house I kill it! :)

farcast

Looks to me like just the wall cloud, but before the actual tornado occurred...

@Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive: This will probably turn into one of these religious email chains. "God licks earth" or something of the sort.

Chromeo

@Ariel_Wollinger: I agree.

I don't get why anyone would make something like this anyways...not like it's Jesus or Tupac in the background...

Kramen loves her MBP

wow that is amazing! i like the flag too..

Wegmans

@Ariel_Wollinger: The second one is probably true. Or at least not as much as an expert like you.

So a timed exposure wouldn't blur that cloud you think? But it would the flag. Slightly.

AhnyerKeester

@Munch: "Way to keep your composure, Lori Mehmen!"

Same thoughts here. But then I have to wonder, how many more incredible photos like this, i.e., people brandishing cameras in highly dangerous situations, are never seen because ten seconds later the camera and the fool holding it were obliterated.

bosskev

I weep for this awesome photo; for it is doomed to an eternity of having leet speak and lolspeak scrawled all over it and plastered in terrible internet forums.

LOL PWND!

Hiphopopotamus

@AhnyerKeester:
this is a long exposure camera.
Two options here:
your are kidding;
or you don't know much photography.

Ariel_Wollinger

@Ariel_Wollinger: You see it one way, I see it another. Don't put down other people for having their own beliefs.

Kramen loves her MBP

yikes.

Is there a Pulitzer for Amateur Digital Photography in a Circumstance that Causes Loosing of the Bowels?

If so, I think we have a winner.

If not, there oughta be.

ps61318

@Kramen loves her MBP:

No, thank her common sense.

Ariel_Wollinger

Wow, don't think I'd have the balls (or ovaries) to whip out a camera, wait for it to power up, and then snap off a decent picture while the world's ending right outside. MAD props to her, and thank god noone was injured.

behavin

That really is a WOW photo. The detail of the tornado cloud is amazing. The striations in the circular area is just too cool.

Alara

Fake. The stop sign and the flag are blurred but the cloud is crystal clear. The flag should be in tatters and the trees don't appear to be moving.

AhnyerKeester

Wow. That picture is both beautiful and terrifying. Way to keep your composure, Lori Mehmen!

Munch

I clearly have been hanging around Giz land for too long. My first reaction was 'photo-shopped'.

So, what sort of digital camera did she have?

Monty

Looks like the cloud is opening wide to give the earth one big dirty sloppy lick on the face.

Pure scaryawesomeholyshitsauce.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

That is AMAZING!
Thank God no one was injured either.
I always keep my Canon on me. I have it padded and in a case to make sure it doesn't clink against anything else in my purse. I am lost without my camera.

Kramen loves her MBP

Dam thats awsome.

mikecoscia

@nutbastard:

My Birthday is on Christmas Day, can you throw in a Birthday Cake too on that card? Even if its rotten and 1/2 eaten/covered in blood?

LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M

"Giant canisters"? All y'all city dwellers need to get out to the country more.

CSX321

Awesome photo. Since I don't believe there's a remake of Twister being virally hawked, I'm pretty sure it's real.

Not that long ago I was posting a breezily humorous comment on Giz when a tornado started to form outside. As I was posting! I was like HOLY CRAP... that's a FU$%ING TORNADO!!!

In the middle of the day, it suddenly got dark, an ominous blue gray cloud had formed, and there was nonstop thunder and nonstop lightening. More dramatically, heavy rain and debris started whipping around sideways instead of falling to the ground in the usual gravity-inspired way. I checked weather.com and there was a tornado warning at the time for my area, flashing red. I was going to interrupt my comment with some expletive-rich mini-blogging but decided to just hit SUBMIT and deal with the apocalypse offline.

It wasn't an actual organized tornado, but a 15 second flicker of one, enough to take down tree parts and scatter things around. A still picture wouldn't have captured much since the rain and objects that were spinning around were not themselves enveloped in a dark funnel, they were spinning below the dark cloud, but a video might have.

After I posted my comment, I raced to unplug my electronics so the lightening wouldn't take them out.

frigg

@Rabid Penguin: LMAO wow thats a good laugh..

graphx

"I don't get why anyone would make something like this anyways...not like it's Jesus or Tupac in the background..."

Carmen, I have not stopped laughing at your reply. So witty. So brutal. So true. And thus one of the many many reasons I love you.

Wow you are making all Seuss-ish now with those rhymes! I guess you bring out the poetic side in me!

LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M

@Chromeo: The tornado is not dumping on your couch because it hates you. It just doesn't have hands to wave hello (until it sucks up a few people)... this is the only way it knows how to communicate. It's saying: Hi friend, I don't mean to kill you, I'm just a clumsy retard <3.

Rabid Penguin

@wranglersahara:

You are wrong. The photo was taken 1 mile away from my house. It was in Orchard, IA (NorthEast Iowa) not Little Sioux (Southwestern Iowa).

The photo was taken by a kind woman who definitely doesn't know anything about photoshop. She took it on here Point-and-shoot, and started sending it to the local papers right away. It took off like a wild-fire and has been going all around the U.S. ever since.

People need to stop spreading rumors, making up false information about this photo. It was taken by Lori Mehemen of Orchard, IA. It was a one-in-a-million shot. I have about 10 shots of the same photo both from Lori and my parents both, and all of them aren't anywhere near this beautiful. They are all way dark.

For whatever reason this one turne out perfectly. Perfect lighting from the sun shinging through or a bolt of lightning, I'm not sure.

FYI, the tornado never touched down.. it was a 'funnel cloud' that did NO DAMAGE whatsoever.

fivepoint

It's an impressive photo showing the power of nature. Does anyone know if there is a full res version floating around the web?

thedancingrogue

@Rabid Penguin:

I have to disagree with you on that one...tornadoes are NOT our friends; Or at least not MY friend. You can treat it with all the respect in the world, but if it decides to take a dump on your couch, then by God your couch will be poop stained by the end of the day.

Chromeo

@Rabid Penguin: Yup, it is all about pretty pictures.

AhnyerKeester

@AhnyerKeester: It's the picture of the formation of a tornado. It touched ground and went back up. And this is NOT the tornado that killed the Boy Scouts in Little Sioux, IA. At least according to other articles. Or do people not read the articles and just look at the pretty pictures.

Rabid Penguin

@med: Aint that for real. I got a tornado in my backyard as we speak. That's everyday life for us. Tornadoes are our friends. You treat them with respect and they'll treat you with respect. Here in Nebraska the weather changes so fast that tornado could turn into a snow storm and then a heat wave and then back into a tornado within the next five minutes... I'll keep you posted.

Rabid Penguin

@brother9:

you just made me drop my cutlery

cracksbacks

Not that the NY Times is always right, but the fact that they would give this photo airplay suggests that perhaps some real experts at their place and the AP (which also distributed it) have looked at it and decided to go with a judgment of "real." Don't think Jayson Blair has been quietly removed to their photo dept.

I woulda been screaming for Auntie Em; to hell with the dog.

eaglei20200

@wild homes 5: no disassemble!: Just because 4 people died doesn't mean that this is a picture of a tornado.

AhnyerKeester

STFU with your photoshop claims.

Welcome to the midwest.

med

@MastaFalse: I completely agree that it's not a fake. For one reason: how many people would know that the wind would be going directly toward the center of the swirling clouds: thus the flag as well?

I have actually observed the same behavior: while living in Baton Rouge in the late '90s a hurricane passed to the East of us. The weather was weird but we received no 'bad' weather from it - I don't even remember it raining where we were. But what I saw at one point was that while the clouds were moving from North to South the wind was to the East - at 90 degrees to one another.

Concerning the flag, this is exactly what is seen here in this photo.

Also, the trees ARE blurry; they just don't weigh as little as a flag so they don't move as much.

Besides, what if the wind is stronger at ground level than at tree tops in weather like this?

unspellable

That photo is awesome! However, I missed the part that explained why the camera had to be digital??? ;p

JEmlay

+ Watch video

graphx

check out this vid.

graphx

@fivepoint: if indeed what you say is first hand then I take all I said about photoshopping tornadoes back. I don't know Lori Mehemen of Orchard, IA, and therefore don't presume to understand if she is one of the ignorant bunch of jerks with decent photoshop skills whom make these kind of images and spread false rumours that they are real.

All I know is I've only seen a couple tornadoes in my life but I've seen many formations that look just like the one in the pic. They are indeed scary and intimidating even if twisters don't come shooting out of them. It seems they make for good tall tales.

Fierock

@Chromeo:"My shih-tzu must also be a clumsy retard..."

You may want to be extra careful when you walk it then. Apparently, street cleaners have the same effect on small dogs that tornados do:

[www.nydailynews.com]

frigg

@burnsds: Wow. Thanks. I just did a google image search on "wall cloud" and they are pretty impressive!

Just tried Snopes but the forum search came back empty. I must have done something wrong.

AhnyerKeester

@Chromeo: Dogs also lack the ability to great us like we greet our other friends, so they resort to the "Three Bs" to show their affection - Bark, Bite, and Bowel Movement. Also, with a name like shih-tzu, what did you expect.

Rabid Penguin

Here is a video of it... although like I said, all of the other photos (including this video) make it look so DARK...

Lori's photo was the only one that caught the perfect lighting.

+ Watch video

fivepoint

@fivepoint: This is NOT a tornado, but rather a wall cloud or "megacyclone". There are many photos of megacyclones that have shown up as a result of this picture. This is also NOT the tornado that struck the Boy Scout camp in Little Sioux, Iowa. Impressive picture, though. Do an Internet search and you'll see what wall clouds looks like, they are circular clouds and rain with strong winds. The snopes talk group has more on these. Just type Lori Mehemen Tornado picture and the links will pop up.

burnsds

@Rabid Penguin:

My shih-tzu must also be a clumsy retard...

Chromeo

Sick sick sick. Good job Lori.

The people saying this is fake just don't know enough about photography.

- Flags flap faster than leaves (a lot of the time, anyway) so it's blurrier than the leaves.

- Less light on the trees, so even if they were moving as fast, you might not see it.

- The cloud is not blurry because it's (relatively) far away. For example, the ground next to a moving car moves by faster than objects farther away, even though you are passing both at the same speed.

photophile

@LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M: Remind him to make it Lego brick-shaped.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

@wranglersahara: was thinking the same thing.

baldingnerd

"stupid tornado...hold still or you won't be in focus!"

discounteggroll

@AhnyerKeester: do you watch the news?

alex14

@fivepoint:

Thanks for the condescending, yet supposedly informative reply. I was hoping to beat the flamers by saying "I can't say for sure" but it looks like I was wrong.

That's the problem with the things you read on the internet these days, you never know what's accurate, and unfortunately that goes for your post as well...

wranglersahara

this is just begging for an 'om nom nom nom' picture..

omnomnomnom.com

VENAT0R

Wow... It's so beautiful and scary at the same time...

DJTripleRRR

@AhnyerKeester: "Fake. The stop sign and the flag are blurred but the cloud is crystal clear. The flag should be in tatters and the trees don't appear to be moving."

Now I'm not saying this photo isn't fake, it could be although I doubt it. Your reasons for it being fake are completely off-base, you clearly don't know much about photography or photoshop!

"The stop sign and flag are blurred but the cloud is crystal clear" - You don't really understand how focus works do you?

"The flag should be in tatters and the trees don't appear to be moving." - You have clearly never been near a tornado producing storm. Have you ever heard the expression "the calm before the storm". Just cause there is a tornado nearby even if it it only 500ft. away there may be little or no wind.

But either way, congrats on making an ass of yourself.

bpapa9013

@photophile:
Time lapse anyone?

JEmlay

@CCM333:
That's not true at all. In fact, most digital cameras take LONGER to focus. As for taking the actual picture, again, digital is slower.

JEmlay

@Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive: Woah it really does look like it's being licked!
@JEmlay: because digital can usually take a faster picture instead of getting it in focus by hand and all that jazz... and with a tornado near by you don't want to be up there to long...

CCM333

@AhnyerKeester:"Fake. The stop sign and the flag are blurred but the cloud is crystal clear. The flag should be in tatters and the trees don't appear to be moving"
It's kind of hard to "fake" embedded Metadata on a photo without some serious know how_

I dug around a little and found a copy of this image here:

[globe1.fotki.com]

which contains the original camera metadata_

Sony DSC-H9

1.0 second exposure at ƒ 2.7

ISO 200

focal length 5.2mm
- 15 power optical zoom max

uberfu

What you see is *NOT* a tornado. It is also not a wall cloud. It is the visible portion of what is called a gust front, which was correctly identified as belonging to a high-precipitation (HP) supercell. If you were to see this in real-time, you would notice that this cloud is not rotating, which is required for all tornadoes and wall clouds. The formation of that cloud is called a Shelf Cloud. Look it up on Wikipedia. It is the result of outflow from the storm. Tornadoes, on the other hand, only occur on the inflow part of the storm, which is to the rear of the storm itself. Given the looks of that storm, I wouldn't be surprised if there was indeed a tornado, but it would have arrived later. Therefore, this is a beautiful photo of a shelf cloud.
For those of you who say it is touching the ground, it most likely is not. It is an illusion of perspective. Yes, the cloud is VERY low to the ground, but I have never ever seen a shelf cloud touching the ground. It is not a clear view, so it's difficult to judge how low it infact is. Nice photo. For those more interested, I encourage you to take a freely available spotter training course - you will learn much more about these formations, and also help others to prevent misdiagnosing it as a tornado.

APOLAUF

I'd also like to say that the commenters in this thread are absolutely terrible. Please, please at least learn a little something about photography before trying to play CSI on a 533 pixel wide image.

MikeGrenade

There is no tornado in this photo.

MikeGrenade

I dreamt once of that picture. Or something almost like that... I was inside a building.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

notice the flag blowing towards the funnel cloud....tres cool...this never turned into a tornado either....this storm went by my house too :p

doobiebros22

@AhnyerKeester:

damn man u should work for fbi u are so pro

lawl

x0mrgrinch0x

@xint: ... you got me... i had to take a second look... curiosity got the best of me

rebelj12a

@wranglersahara:

The only difference is... I'm right, and your wrong. You think it's a fake, and I live where the damn photo was taken. You're a fool who always assumes worst, and I'm the guy telling you how wrong you are.

fivepoint

My cousin was at the boy scout camp in Iowa where the four boys died. Luckily he escaped safely. There has been so much bad weather in the midwest already and the summer is just beginning.

Singlespeed

@JEmlay: If by "time lapse" you mean "long exposure", then yes. What uberfu found explains the motion blur. (and the camera shake evident in the rest of the photo)

@uberfu: "1.0 second exposure"

photophile

too bad she didnt get killed

king-ILL

that's actually not a tornado - it's a supercell with a rear flank downdraft (RFD).

spiritflare

Now this, this was entertaining. My favorite part was when everyone started to argue about the picture being fake using photography terminology when they clearly don't know photography terminology and then thought no one would notice.

@Ariel_Wollinger: A "long exposure camera", eh? I'd like to see one of those...that must be a camera that specifically takes long exposures - do they cost more than normal cameras?

@AhnyerKeester: Ah, a "timed exposure". Yes, to get a good shot, you have to time your exposures just right...

@mythicalcaesar: No, it's not. Spot metering is, as the name would imply, -metering- on one spot - taking light measurements at that spot. It doesn't blur out the rest of the image; it makes that spot properly exposed at the possible expense of the rest of the image's exposure.

Google is your friend. I didn't need Google to know these things, but if you do, use it before you talk.

Yossarian

Impressive Photoshop skills. She just forgot to put in the major debris that would be flying around. Trees. Bushes. Animals. Shingles. Cars. Wood. Limbs. Etc.

Was she wearing a hard hat, and goggles?
The Tornado Intercept Vehicle used on Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers ([dsc.discovery.com]) is built with 1/2 inch steel and bullet proof glass to protect it from debris.

So this lady's out there standing in here front yard, no debris flying around, with a point and shoot camera.

Obviously not a serious photographer. I doubt she would be willing to risk her life as an amateur photographer with a crappy point and shoot.

e314

THIS IS NOT A TORNADO: IT IS THE WALL CLOUD THAT GENERATES TORNADOES. THE PERSON WHO TOOK THIS PHOTO WAS NOT IN ANY DANGER.

IT IS NOT PHOTOSHOPPED. IT IS REAL. GOOGLE "WALL COULD".

NOW EVERYONE SHUT UP ABOUT THIS BEING A TORNADO OR FAKE.

ophello

can we have a higher res pic for wallpapers?

lotta221211

i think the flash was off. and thats why it looks the way it does. its probably a cannon SD500 or similar.

nkalevas

The looks like something taken at about 1/15th sec. exposure and hand held. The bright objects that are moving are going to be more apparent. The reflective signs and the lighted flag. They are returning more light to the camera and get captured a bit more. The flag is pointed in the right direction, and this appears to be a pretty strong indication of inflow into the storm. Not inflow being sucked into the tornado, but the storm itself. So those parts line up correctly for this to be genuine.

The only thing that bothers me is some weird pixelation above the barn on the left side. It could simply be noise, or someone could have darkened up the left side of the formation to make it more funnel like. This could also simply be compression noise from the JPG.

There is no way to determine if this is or isn't a photoshopped picture. The image isn't high enough resolution, and there is no EXIF data to know the parameters the picture was taken with.

Besides that, it is a beautiful image!

kcdale99

@AhnyerKeester:
Its called spot metering.. focusing on one area while blurring out the rest that is not important from the subject area. Also, the iso speed and exposure time will create that affect. Try getting a dslr and put it on sports mode or any longer exposure modes.. this will give you the effect of .. main object frozen in time with background blurred showing moving.

MelodyKorn

@E314

clearly you posted before reading Ophella's post above you. This is not a huge tornado that is being chased by the fucking discovery channel, it is a fucking wall cloud and the bitch saw the shit and took the picture. You fucking nerds think everything is photoshopped! its a cool picture, shut the fuck up and enjoy it

Rizzuh

anyone who says this picture is fake is an idiot. this picture was all over the news, they even interviewed the woman who took it.

Rizzuh

looks too good to be true...

AngelofMotrin

@Rizzuh:
Hmmm...why do you seem so defensive?

Are you angry because your vocabulary is so small that you have to use the same adjective over and over again? Did you just learn those words and are experimenting with them?

And who exactly is Ophella? Where did this person get their degree in meteorology? If this person had some credentials that gave some validity to their expertise, clearly I'd have to defer to them. But of course you probably know Ophella personally. Ya'll probably get together for coffee and talk about the difference between funnel clouds and tornadoes. That's neat. It's good to have friends.

Wait...wait. I'm being so foolish. You don't have any friends. What was I thinking? You see, to have real friends you need to be able to communicate coherently. Unless you're in jr. high. Are you a 7th grader? 7th grade is the worst. Your body starts changing, you start growing hair in your private area and you get all confused about your feelings. People pick on you and you start getting zits. Hang in there little guy. Life will get better. I promise. Now go get yourself a Fruit Rollup you little knuckle head.

Or maybe you're Ophella. That's why you're so defensive. Why didn't I see it sooner? It was right there in front of me. You posted the comment about the funnel cloud stuff. Didn't you? you little rascal you! You really had me going for a minute. You're good. You're really good.

In closing, I think you should limit comments to only one obscenity - if you feel like you need to use one. It totally invalidates what you said, and makes everyone else really mad at you. I know, you're new to this whole "internet fad", but you need to learn commenting etiquette. Here's a neat little site to learn from: [www.lostartofblogging.com]
Now in order to get to that page, just click on the colored text that starts with "http" and it will magically take you to a "web page" that has helpful tips for commenting on blogs.

I leave you with these parting words:

1. Continue to experiment with new words
2. Communicate coherently
3. Keep your grades up in jr. high and dad will take you to chuck e. cheese
4. Embrace your body. Everyone is beautiful in their own way.
5. The internet is your friend. You can learn all kinds of neat stuff. It's not just for porn anymore.

Your friend...Bobby

e314

@trekkie: But did anyone get a picture of -her-?

FiveLiters

Damn I just shyt myself.

How close do you reckon that wibrlwind might've been? Is it really that deadly to be swept away by an incoming tornedo? I mean if you don't hit things swirling inside the actual cyclone would you still face ultimate death ?

I know I sound retarded.

Atunu

Too bad no one was injured. It would have made this post interesting. But no luck.

angelo999