The Most Extreme Tornado Chase Ever

Strong tornado coming down! Strong tornado! It's June 16th, 2025 and a powerful tornado is touching down in Minnesota. Wow it's coming down! Oh look at it come! As this incredible tornado tears through the north woods. But there's just one problem. Waking up in Nebraska, we slept straight through our alarm. By the time we had woken up, it was too late for us to make it to Minnesota. So we had to come up with a plan B. Lucky for us, a two percent tornado chance is setting up in Nebraska. Models show an extremely unstable environment along an outflow boundary left behind for morning storms. This boundary is moving into a perfect bullseye only a few miles wide, kicking off explosive thunderstorm development. We are live here! Believe we are live! Welcome in everybody! Sorry for the wait! I think we could be talking ourselves a really substantial storm here. Where's that bull chat? I do see a little like bull, so I guess we got a tornado on the ground. Yep we got a tornado. I think we got a possible tornado in progress. A monster supercell is taking shape and the boundary is playing another trick. The storm attaches to the boundary, forcing an area of rotation down to the surface. A tornado is touching down right in front of us and we are missing the show again. Dude, gotta find a close range opportunity here. Oh my freaking gosh dude. It's right next to the road. I see debris. Yeah there's debris. Yep, debris. We're almost on it. It's right on the road. It's right on the road. The funnel's right overhead. Jeez. Funnel's right overhead. We're almost in it. Almost inside the tornado there. Oh my gosh dude. Here we are. Here we are. Here we are. Here we are. Slowing down. Slowing down. Slowing down. Jeez. I'm gonna shut these wipers off. It's right here. It's right here. It's right here. Oh we're right in it. We're almost in it. It's coming back at us. Get the back up. It's coming back at us. We're in the tornado right now. Hit by debris. It's coming back at us. Watch it hit that tree. Oh it's getting strong. Yep, might blow a side window here. Yep. Dude, look at that thing. Oh my freaking gosh Eli. You gotta be kidding me dude. Look at this thing. It's just sitting here on the road. It's just sitting here on the road man. There it is coming up. Oh look at that. Look overhead. Go look straight up. Look straight up. Look straight up. Oh yeah. Look at that funnel overhead. Point it up. Oh my gosh. It's coming down. Come on please. It's trying to condense right here. Basically inside the tornado. Dude, that is strong. This thing is huge. It's coming down. It's coming down. It's coming down. It's condensing. I think it's almost all the way. Yeah, it's coming all the way down. It's about to fully condense here. Dude. It's about to fully condense here in a second. I think it's down. It's getting strong. This is nuts. This is actually insane bro. This is actually insane. I think we nailed the forecast Charlie. All of a sudden I don't really care about the Minnesota tornado. This is insane dude. Look at it spin. Dude, there's a land spout behind it. There's a land spout behind it. There is a land spout behind it. There's a freaking land spout behind this thing. There's two tornadoes. Look at the pipe coming in. With the tornado not fully condensed, we have a hard time gauging the true width of the tornadic wind field which expands beyond our vehicle. A curtain of wind known as an inflow jet is rocketing toward us kicking up rocks at speeds over 100 miles per hour. There goes the side window. There goes the side window. That was terrifying. All right, we lost the side window. Side window's gone. We lost the side window Chad. We lost it. Show the window real quick. It's gone. He also lost the side window. He did too? Yep. All right, at least we're not the only ones here. Freaking Nebraska dude. This is freaking Nebraska bro. This is insane. I can't believe there's some showered in glass and debris right now. Look at that overhead. I know. Lost the side window. Side window's cooked. Got big hail coming down though. I'm gonna get back in the car. As the tornado moves off into a field, Connor Croft and Storm Runner Media pull him beside us as we scramble to find our next move. Freaking YouTube video in the making right here. Gotta make sure these cameras are good. Dude, it's strong on the ground again. Oh my gosh, this is insane. Oh my gosh, Chad. This is incredible. You can hear it. It's getting stronger. I love you, Garrett. Holy dude, look at the freaking... It's turning colors. It is turning colors. It's freaking turning like... It's freaking turning bro. Look at that. It just hooked another huge stone, Freddy. Did it really? Yeah. Pick up the hail. Dude, there's got to be a south option somewhere. You look, I'm gonna keep showing them off. There is if we go a little bit. Wait, I got an idea. With the tornado moving south and our window blown out, we find a dirt road to our west, allowing us to follow from a safe distance as the twister morphs into a snaky elephant trunk. There's a road just west. There's a road? Yep. I'll roll your window up. Thanks. Just get hit? Uh-huh. Here we go. Right in the back of the ribs. Oh, that was right there. Here comes the lightning rod. All right, here we go. This road will take us down. All right. Oh my gosh. This is going to be an insane video. This is actually... Especially from my GoPro angle. Dude, this is freaking... This is actually a top... This is a top five tornado intercept of my life. I'm glad I could be a part of it. I am not even kidding, bro. This is unfreaking believable. All right, I'm going to pull in here, Eli. Okay. Freaking just pull in here. Right here, right here, right here. Just a little... Oh, it's scary to get out. I'm getting out. I don't even like that. I don't care. It's a tornado of a lifetime, bro. If I get struck, it's God's plan. As the tornado grinds to a halt, we have a rare opportunity to enjoy the tornado of a lifetime with our best friends at our sides. Hey, what's up? Connor! All right, you're good, bro. You're good. Dude, what is this thing? This is one of the best tornadoes of my life right here. This is absolutely incredible. This is incredible. This is insane, dude. Look how violent it is. Yeah, just a little driller. A little freaking driller, bro. Violent tornado. Look at the motion in there. Oh, it's drifting back. This is the best tornado I've ever seen. It's not even close. Yeah, Connor, this ranks up pretty high. This ranks up pretty damn high. It's about to start hucking hail, Freddy. Be careful. It is hucking hail. Big hail coming in. There's hail coming. I'm getting in. I'm getting in before I die. Is it roping? Okay, it's back. No, it's still going, bro. Big hail coming in. Ow, I got hit in the butt. The hail's so sporadic, though. I just want to get back out. I just don't want to die. It's like risk. Dude, look how wide it is at the top. Dude, it's getting bigger. It's getting stronger. It's actually getting stronger. At this moment, the tornado is a staggering 1,800 meters tall. That's approximately two Burj Khalifas. Dude, oh, look on the ground. Look how violent. It's violent on the ground. Unbelievably violent vorticity in the middle there. Violent on the ground. Listen to it. You hear it? I hear it. It's so loud. Look at it pulling the rest of the clouds in. Trees holding on for dear life. It's coming right at us, which is okay with me. I want it to blast out. Not the hat. Get it, Freddie. Storm society hat, bro. You can barely get in the car. Dude, are you kidding me, bro? You're kidding me. Let's do this. That was, and still is. This is insane looking. Dude, look at the pipe. It's piping down. Look at it come down. You are watching a tornado of historic proportions right now. I mean, this is easily tornado of the year. This is insane. I just can't believe this. I can't believe what I'm looking at. After two days in Montana. I might just go home after this, bro. Absolutely nothing. I want to get out, but there's random softballs coming in. I don't know if you should. I don't even know what to say. I just don't even know what to say at this point. From an amazing tornado with giant CGs behind it to now a tornado with a rainbow through it. Honestly, I don't even care about that window right now. By now, the tornado is so strong. It's starting to detach from the parent supercell, racing westward toward the road we thought was safe. Realizing we're in the path. Stormrunner media escapes to the north while Connor Croft moves south. Not wanting to miss a once in a lifetime tornado intercept, we decide to stay in our ground as it's heading directly toward us. Yeah, this is freaking, I don't even know what this is. This is insane. That hail still coming in. I'm going to get out for a second. Please don't. I'd rather you not. Dude, look at this. Listen to it. Listen to it. It's so loud. It's so freaking loud, Eli. Big hail's coming in. Be careful, Freddie. Gotta get him before the hail kills me. It's getting bigger and more violent. This thing is insanely huge. Insanely huge. We're making up new words now. Oh, nice CG off to the side of it. Yeah, so guys, this is what it's like to be a couple hundred yards away from a violent tornado. This is absolutely insane. All right, I might have to back up. Yeah, we might need to move here, Freddie. Give me a second. It's coming at us. It's coming at us. It's coming at us. All right, I'm ready to rock. I'm gonna back up. Gonna back up. It's coming at us. Coming right at us. We're about to be in the inflow jet. It's about to get insane. I'm gonna back up a little more. Here comes the inflow jet. Here comes the inflow jet. It's getting a little dangerous. Violent, this kind of tornado will kill you, bro. Freaking kill you. You get hit. It's the best tornado of my life. All right, pointing it, pointing it, pointing it. It's coming to the road. It's trying to come to the road. Be careful. We got debris. We got debris in here. Back up a little more. Here comes the rear inflow jet. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. It's freaking coming. Backing up. Full rainbow. It's shucking stuff right next to us. I'm gonna keep backing up. This inflow jet's insane. Keep your glasses on, bro. It's really dangerous. It's really freaking dangerous. I don't know what I'm covered in, but it stinks. Backing up a little bit more. I'm gonna keep backing up. I can't see a damn thing, bro. It's right in front of us. I need a shirt, bro. I need something. Take my shirt off. I'll wipe this off. Thank you. Wipe my shirt off here. All right, gotta make sure it doesn't come at us. It's crossing right in front of us. I don't really like that power line right on top of us. We're fine. We're fine. We're good. Oh my gosh. It's insane. Pylons are coming down. Come back up. Back up. Pylons are coming down. They're about to come down on top of us. About to come down on top of us. I don't look like fluid at us. Here come the lines. Here come the lines. Here they come. Here come the lines. We got them. They're coming down. Uh-oh. We're gonna back up. Uh-oh. We're gonna back up. Our DG guys just... I think our DG guys are going out, dude. It's okay. We don't know where Connor is. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. I see him. I see him. I see the lines. I see the lines. I see the lines. I don't know where Connor is. Brody? Yeah, I've got a hole snapped. It's doing a truncated cone here. Copy that. Jack, can you hear us? Nope. And still spazzing out. Unplug the mics then. Jack, look it. It rolled the irrigation bin. It's new. This is cold. Gotta be careful. It's starting to occlude. Might have to back up. It's starting to occlude. Look at the rope out. It's roping out. It's roping out. I'm not having that big rope out. I wish I could see it. You see the rope out, Eli? Kind of, yeah. Brody, I think if we gotta be careful on the rope out, it could be wapping up against this here. Yeah, you got that right. Gotta be really careful. It might occlude really fast. We're at an intercept of a lifetime, bro. I don't know how you top that. I don't either. I actually don't know how you top this. It's roping out. It's about to disappear. It's about to still on the ground. It's about to disappear. There's water everywhere. Irrigation pivots are so Look at the little snake in there. Little snake in there. And it's going. It's still. Yep. Oh, yeah. This is a violent tornado. Look at this. Look at the damage it did here. See this? Yep. We got debarked trees. Debarked trees. It's a violent tornado. Just came through here. And it's just clear skies in front of us. Right next to it. What is this? RV? Yeah. It's still up there. What is in front of us? Is that power lines? That's a mixture of power lines and tree branches. Yeah, because there's the power coil right there. Yeah. It's still up there, but I don't like how wet we are going over these. I think it's gone. I think it's gone, dude. I think it's gone. I might as well retire. That is officially the greatest tornado I ever have seen and ever will see. Oh, my gosh. This is so incredible still, guys. Look at it. It's all the way up there. It's coming back down. What? It's coming back down. Frank. Frank. We're not done. I don't want to go over this. It's barbed wire. That was one of the most insane things. Oh, hey, Freddie. What? You have a dry shirt. Do I have a dry shirt? Yeah. Oh, dude. Here we go. Storm society shirt here. Shameless plug. We know that's not shameless, dude. Shameless plug here. I think we deserve this plug for what we just went through. Is there still big hail coming in? Yeah. Anybody have an estimate on how long that thing was on the ground? One to take me in the freaking at least 20 minutes. As the tornado finally dissipates over an open field, it leaves behind a wild looping track through the open prairie of rural Nebraska, not hitting a single structure over its hour long life. In all my years of chasing, it's safe for me to say this is the greatest tornado I have ever chased. If you want the full uninterrupted experience of this chase, be sure to join the storm society link in the description down below. Yeah, I was, I was mainly worried about the power lines falling on us. So I was just, I was a little bit. That was absolutely insane. There's nothing out here, right? Did it hit anything? Do we know? That was a nice tornado, right?