Tornados!

[ottergoose]

10 times better than the original!

PhotoID: Photograph ©

[trainmaster_1]

Roflmfao !!!!!

[troy12n]

It needs a moon, some lightning and a hot chick

[John Ryan]

I thought a flying cow would do the trick.

[Christopher Muller]

Originally Posted by John Ryan

I thought a flying cow would do the trick.

Damn you John, I was just typing that. Then again... there was...

"...another cow."

[Chase55671]

Couldn't help it..

Chase

[Wizzo]

I prefer this one

PhotoID: 303182 Photograph © Stephen Dance

[ottergoose]

Kevin unfriended me on Facebook for some reason

[Ween]

Where'd the original go?

[Chris Kilroy]

Kevin asked that it be removed due to the controversy surrounding it. He explained that the funnel was only down for about 5 seconds, thus the lack of reports of a tornado in the area on that date, and gave me his assurance that the photo is real (including sending along the raw high resolution image).

It's a big shame, to me, that such a unique image was removed because a few folks couldn't give a photographer who has 2300+ images in the database spanning a 30 year period the benefit of the doubt.

[JRMDC]

Is that due to this thread or were things said elsewhere? It seemed innocuous here, maybe I just missed the tone of the comments.

[ottergoose]

Originally Posted by Chris Kilroy

Kevin asked that it be removed due to the controversy surrounding it. He explained that the funnel was only down for about 5 seconds, thus the lack of reports of a tornado in the area on that date, and gave me his assurance that the photo is real (including sending along the raw high resolution image).

It's a big shame, to me, that such a unique image was removed because a few folks couldn't give a photographer who has 2300+ images in the database spanning a 30 year period the benefit of the doubt.

Out of curiosity, why did you opt to remove it rather than posting a follow-up comment saying "I've seen the original image, and it's the real deal." Removing it appears to validate the fact that it was a fabrication.

It sure didn't look like a tornado to me, but if you've got the RAW to prove it, I owe Kevin an apology, and I hope the image is added back to the database.

[Chris Kilroy]

I didn't opt to remove it, Kevin did. I won't get any his specific reasoning (he can chime in here if he wants). After our exchanges he still wished for the photo to be removed, so I complied.

[coborn35]

Dont even try to blame us for having it removed! He could have come on here and defended himself, such as Chase has done, and proved us wrong. Looked sketchy to me as well.

[troy12n]

Maybe it would be fun to have a photoshop contest to see who is the best at taking a pretty standard photo or photos and photoshop the hell out of it. You could have a "weather" category even. Snow in Florida, steam train on the disney monorail, etc.

[Chase55671]

Since the photo appears to be legit since Kevin submitted a version to Chris off list, I feel as so I owe an apology. I've been in the same boat before where a photog (or in some cases, several photographers) have called out my images.

Chase

[bigbassloyd]

There must have been a thread on this photo elsewhere. This one is pretty tame in my book.

Loyd L.

[John Ryan]

Do actions speak louder than words?

[Chris Kilroy]

Originally Posted by coborn35

Dont even try to blame us for having it removed! He could have come on here and defended himself, such as Chase has done, and proved us wrong. Looked sketchy to me as well.

I'm not blaming anyone... just saying that I think it's sad that someone with 2300+ images spanning 40 years doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. I would never publicly call out anyone's work for being fake unless I had concrete proof, which (obviously) nobody had in this case.

FWIW, by the way, the vitriol flying Kevin's way was 100 times worse in photo comments/e-mails than it ever was in this thread.

In any event, the photo is gone, and the issue is closed, so now everyone can be 100% sure that there's no photoshopped tornado photo on RailPictures!

[coborn35]

Until I make one!

[ottergoose]

Originally Posted by Chris Kilroy

FWIW, by the way, the vitriol flying Kevin's way was 100 times worse in photo comments/e-mails than it ever was in this thread.

I feel bad about this; if it was a legit shot, my comment certainly was the harshest of what was published in the comments area, which can still be found in Google's Cache: http://bit.ly/bBu8x5

Specifically, I said:

I don't see a wall cloud or any of the other structure you'd expect to see around a tornado, I don't see any debris on the ground, and the structure of the funnel is more indicative of the clone tool than it is of a rotating column of air (there are several perfectly round spots there if you take a closer look). Furthermore, I can't locate any record of a tornado in or around Aurora, NE on 6/18/2007. It *could* be a tornado, but I think it's very unlikely.

I stand by what I said, and given the resolution/detail of the image, I think that's a fair assessment. While I'm not a professional meteorologist, I have more than a passing interest in weather (studied it in college for a couple of years, worked at a federal weather research lab, drove thousands of miles chasing storms, etc.). I showed the image to another, more experienced weather spotter, and he agreed with my comments.

I did some more sleuthing, hoping that I'd find some information that would validate the fact that it's a genuine tornado; unfortunately I didn't find anything.

The weather radar from the time the photo was captured (see attachment) indicates some garden variety showers moving east of Aurora, not what you'd expect to see around a tornado.

The National Weather Service didn't issue any watches in Nebraska on that day; just a pair of thunderstorm watches in Minnesota and one in Oklahoma. That's not a guarantee that a tornado wasn't possible, obviously, but there wasn't even a thunderstorm watch in effect.

There aren't any records in the SPC database of a tornado, wind, or hail damage in Nebraska on June 18 2007.

Google doesn't turn up anything - no newspaper articles, no storm chaser blog posts, only the link to the image here on RP.

It's technically possible that he has a tornado there, but I wouldn't bet money on it.

That said, if Chris has seen the RAW, vouches for it, and Kevin's willing to have the shot published again, it deserves all of the positive feedback that it was getting. Not only would it be unusual in the sense that it's a railroad related photo, but he would appear to have the only known image of that tornado/landspout/gustando/whatever-it-was.

[stevenmwelch]

Originally Posted by ottergoose

That said, if Chris has seen the RAW, vouches for it, and Kevin's willing to have the shot published again, it deserves all of the positive feedback that it was getting. Not only would it be unusual in the sense that it's a railroad related photo, but he would appear to have the only known image of that tornado/landspout/gustando/whatever-it-was.

I agree 1 million percent with Nick.. He's done some major research on this image, and honestly, nothing against Kevin, but it looked quite fake. I even showed it to a storm spotter here and he said it didn't look real.

I'd really like to view the original RAW, but I doubt that'll happen.

[mwtstormchaser]

After looking at the photo and being a weather enthusiast. I think the image may not be that of a true tornado per-say but a cold air funnel (Definition below from NWS) that happened to make it to the ground which is a rare event in itself. This would explain the lack of structure in the clouds like there being no wall cloud. Also this would be very weak which could also explain no debris cloud at the base, plus the distance at which the shot was taken and the trees it may not have been visible if there was a debris cloud. So with that being said I'm fairly certain the shot is legit. It's prolly a cold air funnel that made it to the ground from a weak shower and since it was short lived prolly nobody noticed it and all the chasers woulda been where the watches were. Also if this is a cold air funnel they don't make news and aren't goin to be found on the SPC storm reports for that day so finding info that it happened is about nil.

Cold Air Funnel
A funnel cloud or (rarely) a small, relatively weak tornado that can develop from a small shower or thunderstorm when the air aloft is unusually cold (hence the name). They are much less violent than other types of tornadoes.

[Ween]

At least Kevin has a sense of humor about being called out:

PhotoID: Photograph ©

[Joe the Photog]

I guess my question to those of you who think it's a faked shot would be: why would someone fake it and then put it on RP? This question could be directed toward anyone who thinks a shot is fake, but doesn't have concrete proof of such.

Also, if I were going to fake a tornado shot, I'd have chosen a shot that has a train or railroad structure in it.

My first reaction when I realized people thought this was a fake was to sarcastically explain that the tornado was actually a Californian blur filter, an extremely rare creature so far never photographed before. The Californian blur filter is known for blurring the background of UP locos as well as the whistles and edges of the moving train. It's been rumored to have existde in West Sacremento.