TORNADOES of 2025 - Return of the EF5

In more recent years, many storm chasers remember  2020 and 2018 as the most lackluster years due to the overall low amount of photogenic burritos. 2016 is remembered as the best in recent years due to the excess of photogenic  burritos and lower than average death toll. Look at that sucker. 2011 is remembered as the most  devastating year due to the excessive killer tornadoes and extremely high death  toll. It's coming. A tornado warning remains in effect... It begs the question, how do  you think storm chasers will remember 2025? [Killer music] Incredible! Unbelievable. Let's admire that! Ready? And here we go. My first shocking chase of the year was in my dining room. Rub rub rub. OWE! lol. Hang on. Oh my god! My first tornado of the year was in the middle of nowhere, Texas. Not hurting anybody. Can you see it, babe? Yes. Get up here. I can see it. The absence of roads made it near impossible to get closer shots. Okay. It's going to be right over here. Look, there it is. Look at it dancing in there. Oh my god. We're safe, right? Yeah. Second tornado! I can feel it sucking. Lol East of Roswell, New Mexico, again, the absence of roads prevented me from getting any closer to the burritos and avoiding the punishing hail. Still see it squirming in there. There it goes. On May 16th, the deadliest tornado  outbreak of the year unfolded. Around 2:40 in the afternoon, a supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that grew to a mile wide  as it tracked through St. Louis, Missouri. Rated an EF3. It damaged numerous  homes and buildings, destroyed several, and claimed four lives. Time is 4:01, and I saw a funnel cloud in there. It's in there. Around an hour later, I was trying to keep up with a tornado racing across southern Missouri at more than 50 mph. This storm produced an EF3  near the Kentucky border, damaging or destroying numerous  homes and taking two lives. The supercell continued racing into Kentucky, dropping sporadic brief tornadoes. But after dark, the storm would unleash the deadliest tornado of the year. Near Jamestown, Kentucky, the long-tacking violent tornado began carving a path 60 mi long toward London,  Kentucky. Numerous homes and a church  were obliterated. Automobiles and several aircraft were thrown and mangled. When it was finally over, at least 108 people were injured and 19 lost their lives, making it by far the deadliest tornado of 2025. The supercell that produced this  horrific EF4 first developed around 12:30 p.m. CDT. It tracked across southern Missouri and then the entire state of Kentucky until around 1:30 a.m. ET, when it was finally overtaken by a squall line near the Virginia border. Astonishingly, this supercell maintained its identity for 12 hours as it traveled roughly 580 miles. Along with the St. Louis tornado, another deadly tornado in Linton, Indiana that killed one person, and the tornado I was covering in southeast Missouri, the total tornado related death toll on May 16th would reach 26. Did a tornado do all this? Or was it rednecks? The following day, a tornado wrapping in rain briefly touched down outside Paul's Valley, Oklahoma. Other than some broken tree  limbs, no serious damage was reported. Did you get the tornado earlier? We did. Did you? Woohoo! Yay! Zoom in. Zoom out. Zoom in. Look at that! The following day, an anti-cyclonic rope tornado and a developing cyclonic tornado were again slipping away into unchasable country. About to be two. Beautiful. Look how snaky it is. All right, we got to go catch that other one now. Downstream, however, the storm was sailing toward a workable road network serving the town of Arnett, Oklahoma. Okay, keep cool and we've got a good tornado. On the open roads, if other storm chasers behind me are anxious to pass, I do my best to safely wave them around. This helps pass along courteous driving vibes and increases my chances of capturing viral video of their vehicles getting flung by the tornado. Coming right over us. Watch those power lines. Oh my god! Oh wow. Oh damn, wipers are going crazy. Incredible. Incredible. Oh man. Don't back up. Let's admire that. Like a giant drill bit, the skinny tornado tilled up farmland, trees, and power line poles as it approached Arnett. Unbelievable. Moments before the EF3 could carve into town, the leaning twister unraveled and vanished. However, the storm still had one more tornado up its sleeve. And with each passing minute, more and more arriving chasers began clogging the scene. Damn. Got nothing. Got nothing. That dude's awesome. As the storm drifted away at roughly 30 mph, the chaser horde was in hot pursuit, moving roughly 2 1/2 mph. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't hit it.  Don't hit it, little baby turtle. Don't hit it. Little map turtle. Oh, man. I got to take him to a pond or something. You can continue on. I'll be right behind ya. On May 25th, the entire chaser horde was invading Matador, Texas. Roadside parking spaces quickly evaporated as chasers watched the expected supercell struggle to organize strong low-level rotation. need a south road. As the storm interacted with other cells, it devolved into a messy high precipitation mode. And it seemed every chaser in the world was there to watch it sputter. Everyone except atmospheric  scientist Dr. Anton Simon's chase team. Woof! [thunder] Arf! Over a field of flowers, a well-lit,  highbased, low precipitation supercell was producing a strong, slow moving burrito not hurting anybody. What a beauty. This is amazing. Rowrer. Oh my gosh. My favorite tornado. Incredible ground circulation. Hank texted us and I wrote back, "OMFG" Good call today." You made the call.  This is yours. This is all yours, Tracy. Wooo! Ruff! roar-ruh. How many tornadoes you see this year? Two so far. Greg! Hank! how many tornadoes you seen this year? I saw so many tornadoes. I've seen at least like four. I'm so excited. This is like two years combined. Amazing. All right, we got a funnel cloud reaching for the ground. Pulled over by the radar truck. Okay, funnel is lifted. Copy that. We have another possible tornado spinning up on the right end. We see a ground circulation on the right and on the left as well. You seeing the big long tunnel right now? Yeah. Filming the old oluded one. Hoping for a rope out here. Alright it's rotating to the east now. Near Morton, Texas, a monster red tornado churned beneath a ghostly white cyclone. Come on. This is dangerous. Like a scene straight out of a Mad  Max film. A handful of chasers tore down the dirt road in pursuit of the madness. Or perhaps it wasn't Texas and was Jupiter. Okay, big hail's coming. Got a southern  route maybe. Oh, power lines down. Got to go. Got to go. Here it comes. And we have another tornado. After several large tornadoes threatened small towns across the region, two simultaneous tornadoes threatened the much larger city of Lubbock. This storm is moving very slow into Lubbock. Hopefully, it'll die before it gets into town. Wow. How many tornadoes did you see this year? Four. How many tornadoes did you see this year? fifty se... No I'm kidding. Eleven. I saw eight. Eight tornadoes. How do you like that power line going through my shot? Ain't that pretty? It's called laziness. I could move forward. But [radio chatter] shut up. That's pretty cool. I fink you freaky. (Zef!) Lost satellite reception. After a good chase day, chasers often bump into each other at a random town's only open restaurant. How many tornadoes did you see  this year? I did not keep track of them. I got six. Two. Zero. Four. I technically walked in one. So, one. There they show off their greatest photos and tell amazing storm stories. What was your favorite tornado this year? (?) How many tornadoes have you seen? Oh my gosh. Seven. Have you really? Yeah. Seriously? Wow. What was your favorite? Uh the huge wedge out near Morton. That was my favorite. I was there. Were you? Yeah. Yeah. It was amazing. I just... It's been my dream my whole entire life since I was 7 years old to see a tornado. So, this has been a dream come  true. As if seeing seven tornadoes wasn't already dreamy enough, Jamila was about to be treated to a rare mother ship supercell at sunset. Unbelievable! As May faded into June, the rhythm of chasing became a familiar loop. Dusty old towns, fuel pumps, hotels, and breathtaking storms drifting by like old postcards. A one, two, a one, two, three, four. Head northwest on County Road 31... Nasty, scary. What is that? Just need to get past the power lines. That is so creepy. How many tornadoes you got? 22! Woah! Yay. My first year. Just out of frame. I think I missed  it. Boom! Got that one. Got another one. Boom. Two right there. Here it comes. Don't hit me. pretty storm today. I got some lightning hit some turbines and there was a a baby deer in the road and there was a tiny tiny little horse. I threw it an apple but it didn't see the apple. But after a long chase day, it's nice to get some food and come back to the hotel and get some rest... or not. After another long active chase season on June 18th, I was content to head back home to the Gulf of Mexico and watch the lightning storms that  tend to light up my backyard this time of year. It's on the ground behind us. Daniel Shaw headed to North Dakota and on June 20th documented numerous tornadoes, including later that night, the return of the EF5. The RFD is deadly. Give it a bit of space. [weather radio] Potentially deadly tornado is on the ground. Silhouetted in a spectacular lightning show, a large tornado rapidly intensified. I think I see it on the left. Meteorologist Max Mueller was also on the scene. Oh my god, that's monstrous. As the tornado swooped around the  town of Enderlin, it grew to over a wide. Numerous hardwood trees were  debarked, many scoured down to stubs, and transmission towers were toppled. Several homes were destroyed, including one that was obliterated and swept clean off the foundation. Three people were killed. The tornado struck a stopped train, tipping and derailing multiple cars, including 19 fully loaded with grain. One empty tanker was tossed 600 to  1,000 ft. With assistance from several engineering experts, including the legendary stormchaser  Tim Marshall, the National Weather Service estimated wind speeds over 210 mph, earning this tornado the first EF5 rating in over 12 years. By June 28th, the incredible tornado season was still far from finished. Near Gary, South Dakota, the chaser horde was dazzled by this wild twister. It's just standing there. It's not even moving. In 2025, over 1,500 tornadoes have been  tallied in the United States. Of those, I managed to catch 20. As usual, the late season tornadoes way up north slipped past me. But in Indonesia, I scored Komodo dragons. In the Caribbean, I got to swim  in bioluminescent algae. So cool! Wow. And I finally completed my first book. It's called Storm: Chasing Nature's Wildest Weather. How many tornadoes you see this year? Uh, I think I've lost count. Nice. Wow! In regards to photogenic tornadoes, many chasers agree, 2025 will be remembered as the best year since 2016. Thanks for watching friends.  Till next time, happy trails.

How will storm chasers remember 2025? This documentary film follows my entire 2025 storm chase season—from early struggles and missed opportunities to violent, deadly tornadoes and unforgettable intercepts across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Missouri, and beyond. SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL https://www.patreon.com/c/pecoshank In recent years, many chasers remember 2018 and 2020 as lackluster seasons—years with fewer photogenic tornadoes. 2016 is still widely regarded as the best in recent years, thanks to an abundance of stunning tornadoes and a lower-than-average death toll. 2011 is remembered as the most devastating year in the US due to the excessive killer tornadoes and extremely high death toll. My story begins with Middle-of-nowhere Texas tornadoes in April , followed by more fun and frustration in roadless parts of New Mexico—where distance, terrain, and punishing hail kept tornadoes just out of reach. On May 16, 2025, everything changed. That day produced the deadliest tornado outbreak of the year, including: A mile-wide EF3 tornado in St. Louis, Missouri An EF3 I intercepted racing across southern Missouri and a violent, long-tracking EF4 tornado in Kentucky, the deadliest tornado of 2025. That single supercell thunderstorm lasted an astonishing 12 hours, traveled roughly 580 miles, and produced two deadly tornadoes. In all, 4 deadly tornadoes killed 26 people across several states on this tragic day. From anticyclonic rope tornadoes near Arnett, Oklahoma, to chaotic chaser crowds and the surreal beauty of a mothership supercell at sunset, this season delivered extremes at every turn. You’ll also see: Monster red tornadoes near Morton and Lubbock, Texas A dramatic return of the EF5 tornado in North Dakota. And jaw-dropping lightning storms across the Plains By the end of the season, over 1,500 tornadoes were reported in the United States. I managed to intercept 20 of them. STORM CHASERS: A super-duper special thanks to all the chasers that picked up my slack by licensing me their footage. Brandon Clement at WXChasing, Dr. Tracie and Dr Anton Seimon, Daniel Shaw, Shaun Piegdon, Brett Wright and Max Mueller. MUSIC: Angle's Serenade by Southern Backtones Glamorous Adagio by Southern Backtones All other music scored by Pecos Hank Schyma COPYRIGHT PECOS HANK 2025 NOT FOR REBROADCAST To license video contact hankschyma@gmail.com #Tornado #StormChasing #Tornadoes #ExtremeWeather #Supercell #EF4 #EF5 #TornadoOutbreak #WeatherDocumentary #StormChaser #2025Tornadoes #SevereWeather #MothershipSupercell #Lightning #Nature