Dying Twister In NW Iowa

This single image is a combination of four separate video frame captures of the tail end of the life of a tornado northwest of Arthur, Iowa around 8:30 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. The tornado, probably on the ground at least since 8:20 PM, started out as a wedge shape. While driving northbound on County Highway M31 our chase vehicle watched as it quickly morphed into an elephant trunk, changing shape with each flash of lightning. Around 8:30 the four occupants of our vehicle piled out after stopping at this location--about one mile south of Arthur on M31--to capture video of the spectacle. The time span from photo one to photo four in this image is only about 25 seconds. The funnel begins to really thin out in photo 3 and by photo four it is gone, although one can still see debris on the ground beneath the wall cloud.