What It’s Like Inside A Violent Tornado (Video)

Incredible Video: What It’s Like Inside A Violent Tornado -- Washington Post

It might strike you as foolish, but storm chasers Brandon Ivey and Sean Casey literally rode out a raging tornado with winds to 175 mph from inside a motor vehicle on Memorial Day. 

Watch the astonishing, “ear-popping” video below… 

But the vehicle, positioned intentionally to bear the brunt of the raging Kansas vortex, is no ordinary vehicle. 

Called the Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 (TIV2, the second vehicle of its kind), it is designed to withstand a top of the scale EF-5 twister, with winds over 200 mph. 

Wikipedia offers the following details on this 14,000+ pound, armor-reinforced machine:  

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My Comment: What a terrifying experience lasting two minutes.

Tornado Passes By A Man In A Car On His Cell

My Comment: Way to close for comfort.

Too Close For Comfort: The Astonishing Twisters Captured By Storm-Chasing Photographer

Up close: A tornado with large Liberty Bell shaped debris cloud swirls across a dirt road less than 500 feet in front of an unmarked Kansas State Trooper patrol car

From The Daily Mail:

Running towards a raging twister might seem insane to most people but for one artist, such perils are all in a day's work.

Storm chaser Jim Reed has narrowly escaped death twice in his pursuit of the perfect stormy shot.

His experiences have been brought together in the revised and expanded version of his award-winning photo book, 'Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey.'

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This Year's Mild Season In Tornado Alley Frustrates Scientists

From Yahoo News/AP:

DES MOINES, Iowa – This has been an unusually mild year in Tornado Alley, which is good news, of course, for the people who live here, but a little frustrating to scientists who planned to chase twisters as part of a $10 million research project.

"You're out there to do the experiment and you're geared up every day and ready. And when there isn't anything happening, that is frustrating," said Don Burgess, a scientist at the University of Oklahoma. But he was quick to add that he is pleased the relative quiet has meant fewer injuries and less damage.

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