A Time-Lapse and Footage of the Tornado That Struck Oklahoma
Update on 12/16/21: This video has been removed by its creator.
A devastating tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma on Monday, May 20, 2013. It was reportedly over 2 miles wide at one point, and covered 20 miles during the 40 minutes it was on the ground. The National Weather Service has classified it as at least an EF-4 tornado with winds of at least 166 miles per hour.
NBC affiliate station WMC-TV had a helicopter camera in the sky capturing the whole thing, and released the time-lapse video above showing the storm traveling across the land before finally disappearing back into the clouds.
The tornado was also extremely well documented by cameras and gutsy storm chasers (and ordinary folk) on the ground. Here are some of the videos that were uploaded to the web just hours after the storm struck:
One family even had its camera rolling as it emerged from their storm shelter and surveyed the destruction:
Photo galleries of the tornado and its aftermath can be found on The Denver Post’s Plog and The Atlantic’s InFocus. USA Today has published a list of relief organizations you can donate to if you’d like to help the victims of this disaster.
