On 9 April 2015, Sam Smith was driving across northern Illinois on a business trip when a huge, dark tornado crossed the highway ahead of him. He pulled in under a bridge and kept filming. The phone video, later posted by his friend and colleague Aaron Rooney, became one of the most watched tornado clips of that spring. It was filmed on the day an EF4 tornado struck the Rochelle and Fairdale area.
The video: a tornado from a highway
Rooney uploaded the clip to YouTube, explaining that Smith, his boss and friend, had sent it to him after the storm. The footage is short and raw: a wide, dark funnel close to the road, filmed from a vehicle that had stopped beneath an overpass.
The 9 April 2015 tornadoes in northern Illinois
Severe thunderstorms crossed north-central Illinois that day. The National Weather Service’s event review from its Chicago office confirmed seven tornadoes in its area that day.
The strongest was the Rochelle–Fairdale tornado, rated EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, a category that covers estimated winds of 166 to 200 mph. The NWS survey traced its path for 30.2 miles and estimated peak winds of 200 mph, at the very top of the EF4 range. It passed near Rochelle and then tore through the small village of Fairdale, killing two people and injuring 22.
A survey like this is built from damage on the ground: surveyors look at which buildings failed and how, then match that damage to wind speeds. A phone video shows only what crossed the camera’s view in a few seconds, so the survey gives the true scale of the storm.
Why an overpass is not a tornado shelter
Smith came through safely, but forecasters warn that a highway overpass is a dangerous place in a tornado: wind and debris can be funnelled through the narrow space beneath it, and stopped cars block the road for emergency vehicles. The NWS guidance for a tornado is clear about the better options:
- Get to a sturdy building if one is close, and go to an interior room on the lowest floor.
- If you are caught on the road with debris flying, pull over and stay buckled in with your head below the windows and covered, or, if you can get noticeably lower than the roadway, leave the car, lie flat and protect your head. Never shelter under a bridge.
- Watch the warnings before you leave. On a severe-weather day, check the forecast and plan your route around possible shelter stops.
More storms on video
For a photographer who chases storms on purpose and from a safe distance, see Jeff Boyce’s Edge of Stability project. Another dramatic escape from nature’s power is James Mort’s avalanche rescue.
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