Though Tanner Charles and his crew have been chasing storms for upwards of 14 years, they recently nabbed a once-in-a-lifetime view of a major twister, observing it from the inside after getting trapped in its midst.
On Monday, Charles posted on YouTube a clip depicting a terrifying outing from last April, in which the creator and his team were pinned under a downed powerline during an outing in Lewistown, Illinois, forced to weather a tornado with winds over 136 miles per hour.
“We are frickin’ in the tornado!” one member of the crew said, his voice filled with terror, minutes before getting hit. After several prayers and panicked realizations, the moment they feared had finally arrived.
As the tornado spun around them, the team could be heard screaming and praying that they’d be spared from the natural disaster’s wrath, a plea that was ultimately granted.
Though Charles and his team managed to escape the twister’s grasp relatively unharmed, the storm chaser was evidently shaken by the “quite traumatic” ordeal, so much so that it took him “months” to release the footage.
"I'm just incredibly grateful that we made it out alive,” he explained, naming the incident “the most intense experience of my life.” “This has to be some of the most intense footage I have ever shot in my entire chasing career."
But even after narrowly surviving a tornado, Charles said he isn’t ready to give up storm chasing any time soon.
"The month or so was a bit hard but I did indeed start chasing again,” He told Newsweek, adding that he “took a few weeks to gather myself and process everything.” “I've been doing better than expected, which I'm grateful for."
So take it from Charles — leave storm chasing to the pros or end up in an IRL reboot of The Wizard of Oz.
Comments