TORNADOES of 2014: Best, Worst, Most Beautiful & Ugliest

Short documentary of tornadoes touching down during the 2014 storm season. A chronological tour from the Louisville Mississippi tornado to the Pilger Nebraska twin tornadoes. With up close footage of the Coleridge Nebraska tornadoes, the angelic Alpena South Dakota tornado and much more. For licensing contact [email protected]

Storm descriptions and Music credits below...

2014 CHRONOLOGICAL STORM EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
On average the United States reports roughly 1260 tornado touchdowns per year. 2011 reported 1691 tornadoes resulting in 553 fatalities... The deadliest year we've had since 1925 which saw 794. Then, 2012 broke records lows with only 939 tornadoes and 70 fatalities nationwide. 2013 broke that record low with 908 reports and only 55 fatalities. And then there's 2014...

Less than 900 tornadoes were reported in 2014 and only 47 fatalities. Over the roughly 50,000 miles traveled I was able to intercept 21 tornadoes (possibly 22), destroy only 4 windshields, ZERO speeding tickets and no food poisoning (knock on wood). The extremely photogenic storms and the low death toll makes this the greatest storm season I've ever documented.

APRIL 1: Lone supercell south of Throckmorton Texas tracking towards Woodson Texas producing a funnel cloud and outstanding cloud-to-cloud lightning.
APRIL 23: An elevated severe storm struggles to become surface based east of Wellington TX.
APRIL 28: An army of HP supercells marching 45+ mph through Mississippi... The strongest and deadliest tornado of the day struck Louisville Mississippi killing 10 people and causing substantial EF4 damage. While trying to assist victims in the destruction, another brief thin tornado dropped from a training supercell about 45 minutes later. I was away from my camera and didnt record it.
MAY 7: Time lapse of a supercell skirting the Red River and heading toward Waurika Oklahoma.
MAY 10: Time lapse of a brief weak tornado and a beautiful supercell near Latham Kansas.
MAY 11: The difficult to see EF3 that grazed Cordova Nebraska and hit Beaver Crossing Nebraska damaging virtually ever building in town.
MAY 26: A gustnado near Ackerly Texas.
JUNE 7: A brief cone tornado south of Tucumcari New Mexico.
JUNE 16: Twin tornadoes in Pilger Nebraska. The first tornado or Western twin struck Pilger dead on killing 1 person. The Eastern twin would later kill another. Both tornadoes reached EF4 strength. After vanishing into the rain for a minute or 2, a long snaky rope emerged. Some chasers argue that this is a different tornado, however I feel it is most likely the rope phase of the Western Twin. Damage path survey analysis also suggest this is 1 continuous tornado. The rope behaved like a satellite and was sling-shotted around a new developing tornado that would eventually skirt Wakefield Nebraska with EF4 strength before dissipating into the rain. Two weak tornadoes were intercepted East of Wakefield before the storm died in Iowa.
JUNE 17: Cedar County Nebraska tornado outbreak. The first tornado of the evening was a brilliant cone with a bending snaky rope-out. The second tornado was a weak brief rope and the third tornado was the main event in this tornado family near Coleridge Nebraska. Reaching EF3 status but most likely packing strong EF4 winds, this tornado tracked mostly through open terrain. It did however destroy several farmhouses killing livestock, debarked trees and scoured crops to the bare soil. The storms slow cell motion caused torrential flooding, but no fatalities. At dusk the first satellite tornado dropped Northwest of the parent tornado (Not seen here) and eventually the main tornado died, but another large multi-vortex wedge would form at nightfall. To the parents Southwest, a brief satellite would threaten Laurel Nebraska and then another long-lived satellite-ish tornado would form to the east and track to the north-northeast (I think). This is the long funnel silhouetted in the lightning flashes. A final large tornado (#8) would develop later that night before I bailed on the blackness under the base to shoot lightning. The lightning from this storm is hands-down the most frequent and amazing display I've ever seen.
JUNE 18: The third straight tornado outbreak in a row... 25 reports mostly occurring in South Dakota. Again, 2 tornadoes would touch down simultaneously but the main event was the white shape-shifting EF4 seen here near Alpena South Dakota. Two tornadoes were intercepted this day.

Music credits:
1. "Something She Said" by Two Star Symphony
2. " Starlight" by Dan Workman and Christine Wu
3. "Darkest Night" by Dan Workman and Christine Wu
4. "Glamorous Adagio" by Southern Backtones
5. "Feast" by Two Star Symphony
6. "Lanugo" by Southern Backtones
7. "Won't Pray Adagio" by Southern Backtones