1997-05-27 Jarrell, TX F5 Tornado by Wayne Persky *1080p60*

It's the video seen in practically every Jarrell documentary, now remastered in 1080p60. Thank you Mr. Persky for sending me this copy for transfer. Deinterlaced to 60fps, and upscaled to HD to retain 60fps.

Update: Mr. Persky’s account of the day via email correspondence:

“We had a corn processing plant on our farm (we delivered food corn to chip and tortilla plants in Austin), located on a hill, and the weather was so sultry and threatening that day that we could sense that something was probably going to happen. So we stepped out to check the weather now and then, and we noticed the tornado when it was still a rope, a few miles north of Jarrell. Since I was only about a quarter-mile from home, I drove home, got my video camera, and drove back.

When I got back, I drove out to the public road where I could get a clear view, but the tornado had disappeared. I decided to go back to work, but then it suddenly reappeared, in a much bigger form, south of where we last saw it. So I drove back out to the public road, and parked next to one of our cornfields. I got out and leaned against the pickup so I could get a steadier shot, because the wind was blowing and making it difficult to stay steady. After I started taping, now and then I could hear a big hailstone hitting the pickup, but I kept on taping, hoping that one wouldn't hit me, because they were big enough that one would probably have knocked me out cold, if it hit me in the head. I don't remember how long the session lasted, because the tornado seemed to last forever. At the time, I didn't realize it was at Jarrell, I thought it was farther away. The pickup wound up with about 1/2 dozen big dents in the hood and on top of the cab, but fortunately I didn't get hit by a hailstone.”

[Not_The_FBI_]

Perfect. No stupid music. No annoying commentary. Just pure, raw footage. Perfect.

[hansenfiet]

That tornado defied all meteorological logic. It was moving in a southwesterly direction instead of northeast, and basically sat still a few times, with 300+ mph winds destroying, nay….granulating everything beneath it. All of the worst tornado nightmares wrapped into one hellish funnel.

[SpacemanSpiff]

This is without a doubt the holy grail of tornado footage. I've searched for years to see the actual transition from the small rope like tornado to the large wedge that we see here.

[theoriginalBobbyd]

Eerily beautiful yet ferocious and deadly. Poor victims, may they all rest in peace.

[mikewiley]

In my opinion the most fascinating storm in US history. This tornado was just different because nobody will ever know just how truly strong it was at its peak

[VectraQS]

Always nice to see interlaced footage handled properly. This is a phenomenal transfer of perhaps some of the most important tornado footage ever recorded.

[Scott-duox]

What amazes me is how rapidly it intensified into a monster. Multi vortex tornado. So eerie to see “Dead Man Walking”. It was far from textbook in its development. I am fascinated by tornado’s but they are terrifying as well. A F5 is a blender that chews and destroys everything in its path. I could not imagine the terror of hunkering down when a F5 is barreling toward you and yours loved ones. My heart goes out to the souls and entire family’s that lost their lives.

[marlanaferro]

A natural phenomenon so beastly, the livestock was impaled by shards of wheat from a nearby field. This F5 didn't just reduce Double Creek to mere rubble; it was obliterated to mere dust. I've seen the devastation left behind by some of the more notable funnels of doom, but this beast left nothing behind, except for slabs of concrete where people's homes once stood. I've never seen anything like it and hopefully never will. This went from a single, pencil thin drill bit to a 3/4 mile wide, multi-vortex grim reaper that basically sat on Double Creek.

[johnshields]

Even where he's standing, pretty far away from it, the wind right there next to him is flowing towards the tornado, as if it's pulling all the air around the area into it's vortex, knowing where's it's headed and the catastrophy coming is scary as hell.

[alexlautzenheiser]

This was also the last F5/EF5 tornado ever to occur in Texas. In Jarrell, it left 27 people dead.

[GalaxxE_Gaming]

I’ve always been wanting to see how it became a large tornado from a small rope. This video doesn’t disappoint!

[Bushido_Shay]

YYYEEESSSS!!!! It's about damn time some more Jarrell TX Footage has been leaked

[Cool.Hand.Luke-U.S.M.C.--]

Hello, I am retired senior citizen and my grandson is a new meteorologist (congrats). We had family gathering last month and of course my first question to him, "which tornado was most powerful, " without hesitation he said, "Jarrell." Then he pulled out his laptop and proceeded to show me some Jarrell ground/aerial photos, and those vacant concrete slabs were visually shocking. He also said, "twisting speed was 300 mph but what made this tornado so extraordinary was it's slow movement intensifying it's destruction substantially." So here i am and what i researched myself in 30 days was mesmerizing yet eerie. First and foremost R.I.P. to those that perished and my condolences to all family members/friends.

27 deaths caused by the tornado occurred within one subdivision of Jarrell, a neighborhood of 38 well built houses called Double Creek Estates. Each residence was completely swept away and reduced to a concrete slab. The twister produced some of the most extreme ground scouring ever documented as the earth at and around Double Creek was scoured out to depths of 18 inches reducing lush fields of grass to vast expanses of mud. The tornado left an unbroken swath of barren earth vacant of fences, telephone poles, trees, pavement and homes that once dotted the landscape. Cars and heavy wreckers were granulated into small pieces and scattered across the earth never to be identified, think about that for a ..moment.

The cause of death for most of the victims was tactfully listed by the county coroner as "multiple trauma", although the truth was obviously far more grisly and difficult to explain to next of kin. Human and animal body parts reportedly littered the area for miles, creating an unbearable stench of decay. Police were forced to close off the entire area as a biohazard zone for weeks as cadaver dogs worked to find human body parts buried throughout the wreckage. Pieces were spread out on the floor of a local volunteer fire department - recovery teams tried to distinguish human remains from animal remains. Most had to be identified through dental records. Many were never recovered at all. What a nightmare.

Timothy P. Marshall is a structural and forensic engineer as well as meteorologist. He has conducted more than 10, 000 damage surveys of tornadoes, hurricanes and hailstorms. Tim is best of the best and after surveying Jarrell he said, "Houses were obliterated. The destruction was so intense, it serves as a baseline for which all other tornadoes are rated against."

Regardless if tornado is moving forward at 8 mph or 80 mph, fact remains that so many surveyors consider Double Creek storm to be the most catastrophic tornado in terms of intensity still today 2022. I've seen photographs of Bridge Creek, Hackleburg-Phil Cambell, Bakersfield Valley, Smithville, Pomeroy, Udall, Brandenburg, Pampa, Parkersburg, Loyal Valley, Philadelphia-MS, Plainfield, Greensburg, Xenia, El Reno, Joplin and they do not compare to Double Creek Estates duration intensity, Nothing Does.

I've learned and seen enough

What did i learn ?

That "Dead Man Walking" is an understatement

And my advice ?

If you see one,













RUN !!!!

D, Anderson USMC
2/9/3 68-69

[jjbryan]

Wow! That is amazing! That thunder sounds like the 1999 Moore tornado as it came through!

[Baldevi]

Did you notice that starting about 3:30 in, the funnel would scoot forward inside the circulation, then the cyclone would move to catch up? It literally looks as if it is walking into Double Creek Estates, very slowly, One step at a time. Creepy from the Dead Man Walking Tornado

[mepmep]

Thank you Wayne Persky and Angel for this video- I've been hunting for ages for more videos of this behemoth of a tornado so seeing this come up in my feed I was like a kid on Christmas. I reckon it arrives at Double Creek about 6:10, debris cloud gets bigger from then on and you can see a roof or something fly up into the bottom left of it at 6:34. Then this beastly blender just sits there for 5 minutes and mukbangs everything

[itsmewhatshisface]

As far away this camera appears to be, the tornado looks huge, can't imagine what it must be like in front of the F5,

[markmiller]

The PTSD the survivors most deal with, especially in the first year’s following. 6:34 people are def dying and going through unspeakable hell on Earth. An experience that maybe no one else on the face of the Earth has ever suffered through.

[scgaliop]

I’m always amazed by the size of the wind field.

[raymondskinner]

Amazing how that storm began so tiny! Very tall, elegant but tiny-just a few yards wide then as it approached Jarrell became a monster multiple vortex beast