King Arthur

This dramatic video frame capture of an "elephant trunk" tornado under an amazing wall cloud just northwest of Arthur, Iowa was made possible by a timely flash of lightning around 8:30 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. The chase group of Ryan Alliss, Ethan Milius, Bryce Link, Gregg Alliss, Tyler Roney, Nick Carletta, Tristan Morath and Sam Schreier were at this moment parked alongside County Highway M31 (seen in the foreground), about a mile south of of Arthur (city lights in background). The twister here was northwest of Arthur, between town and the neighboring town of Ida Grove. The tornado had showed a wedge shape about 10 minutes earlier and 7.4 miles farther south on M31. This storm was part of a powerful tornado outbreak in western Iowa on this night. All along M31, it was a kind of surreal visual experience. With each flash of lightning every few seconds, the shape of the tornado would change. It kind of reminded me of a seeing one of those old Kinematoscope movies from the 19th century or a  super slow motion strobe effect.