Twister Movie

Last night I watched the movie Twister. I couldn"t believe all the tractors and combines falling out of the sky. Has anyone else seen the movie?

Hollywood sure likes special effects don't they! I've seen grain bins, barns, houses and automobiles relocated but never heavy farm equipment. The best one I've seen was a piece of straw stuck through a board like a nail.

Casey in SD

I have seen combines and tractors that have been thrown around and not much left of them.

They had a IH tractor flying in that movie. The very best part was Helen Hunt in a wet T shirt!!!

upgraded from EF3 to EF4

May 4, 2011 By Pat Curtis



Combine damaged in tornado. (National Weather Service photo)

Damage assessment teams now believe 18 tornadoes touched down in western Iowa on April 9.

Originally, it was thought just 8 or 9 twisters hit the area. One of the tornadoes, which swept through a rural area west of Pocahontas, has been upgraded from an EF3 to an EF4.



An EF5 is considered the strongest tornado with winds greater than 200 miles an hour. National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Johnson says EF4 tornadoes are rare – although a twister that hit near Sibley last June, causing 13 injuries, was rated an EF4.

“Prior to that, we hadn’t had an EF4 for years. We did have the EF5 in Parkersburg (in May 2008), but we didn’t have an EF4 for at least a decade,” Johnson said.

One of the tornadoes that hit on April 9 damaged or destroyed 140 homes and businesses in the town of Mapleton. That storm was rated an EF3. Johnson says the EF4 in Pocahontas County covered a path of 3.2 miles. “It was based on a home that was destroyed west of Pocahontas,” Johnson said.

“It was swept cleanly from its foundation and disintegrated. That was the damage indicator that ended up being enough evidence to go with EF4, which is at least 166 miles per hour up to 200 miles per hour.” Two people were in the home, but were uninjured thanks to a basement “safe room” made from 8-inch thick concrete walls. The EF4 also damaged grain bins and farm equipment.

A combine was tossed more than 100 yards. “The combine probably weighed 30,000 pounds,” Johnson said. “Although we can’t rate a tornado specifically on that, it’s kind of more evidence to support the higher rating.” The 18 tornadoes on April 9 caused no deaths and the worst injury was a broken leg.

Iowa averages 48 tornadoes a year. To date this year, Johnson says around 24 tornadoes have been confirmed in the state.

See more tornado damage survey information here: www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=dmx&storyid=66541&source=0#TorE_Section




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That movie makes me laugh, especially the line "we've got cows", when all the stuff is flying through the air.

Seen it several years ago. Looks like the safest place to be is in a Dodge pickup!

They filmed the final scene about 20 or so miles south of me. Five years ago when the F5 hit Parkersburg Iowa, it picked up a John Deere grader and set it upside down.

It is on my lame movie don't waste time watching again list.

Would not ever want to see a real twister... but really fun movie.

Or just Helen Hunt in anything. What a good looking gal.

Ya have seen it many times Helen Hunt is one of the stars in it. I have also seen what a real Twister can/will do in person

Having survived an F3 in Indiana in a side ditch during the April 3 1974 outbreak I would have to say this in one of the most stupid movies I have ever seen. And we had cows too.

I saw a bashed up combine in front of a salvage yard in Saskatchewan and it supposedly is from that movie.

I live 15 miles from the closest damage to me the Mapleton-Pocahontas tornadoes hit. Never went over there to view much of the damage , but I heard the stories. I did go by one of the towns that was hit and the boards and limbs and tin scattered in the fields was phenomenal. Happened before planting time and all of it had to be picked up by hand before the crops went in. Schools let out so the students could walk the fields nearly shoulder-to-shoulder picking up junk. The local scrap buyers were inundated with steel from exploded livestock buildings and grain bins. It's a whole lot worse than fire. Jim

Had one in Clarksville Tn Jan 22 1999 that picked up a school bus and tossed it over a building.

Back in the 60s a tornado went thru Bemond Ia and I had to go there with my National Quard unit.There were motors ripped out of cars and one house would be gone and one next to it minimal damage.Hard to imagine the damage caused and I can still visualize it 50 years later.The movie was a little too real but tanker trucks and combines flying thru the air are usually in the movies.

i remember an article in the farm journal, i think it was about making the movie in iowa. they said all helen hunt did was b!tch the whole time about the bad smell from the hog buildings, but the male star was very friendly with everyone and a very nice fellow.

Just ask some of the "oldtimers" on here BTDT

(quoted from post at 00:34:14 05/06/13) That movie makes me laugh, especially the line "we've got cows", when all the stuff is flying through the air.

Click to expand...

How about this pick....





Just kidding...it's from the 1937 flood.

http://www.impactlab.net/2007/05/14/john-deere-vs-the-tornado/

That link has pictures from the greensburg kansas F5 tornado. I don't think combines would be falling out of the sky like in the movie but they are movable.

Some of the footage for the movie is of the tornado that went through Edmonton, Alberta July 31,1987 (Black Friday). There was a large oil storage tank that was flipped upside down (I think it was shown in the movie), garbage trucks thrown around like toothpicks but the best indication of how much force it had was a Mcdonalds straw that went through a 2x4! It was headed right for our acreage but turned about 1/2 mile before. Our neighbor had some pictures published and just down the road some granaries were flipped over and a dairy barn had 2x4's stuck in the side like a ladder. It went through a mobile home park too and levelled several of them. Should be lots of info on the net.

I should add that although most movies are Hollywood-ized, I was in Edmonton at the time and yes a lot of things got flipped you'd never imagine could be. The clouds were swirling really weird and the sky was pitch black with Purple in it. Earlier in the day it was like 31 deg's C and then the heavy downpour before the tornado.

(quoted from post at 15:19:38 05/05/13) I saw a bashed up combine in front of a salvage yard in Saskatchewan and it supposedly is from that movie.

I live 15 miles from the closest damage to me the Mapleton-Pocahontas tornadoes hit. Never went over there to view much of the damage , but I heard the stories. I did go by one of the towns that was hit and the boards and limbs and tin scattered in the fields was phenomenal. Happened before planting time and all of it had to be picked up by hand before the crops went in. Schools let out so the students could walk the fields nearly shoulder-to-shoulder picking up junk. The local scrap buyers were inundated with steel from exploded livestock buildings and grain bins. It's a whole lot worse than fire. Jim

Click to expand...

That combine is at Watrous Salvage - here's a short write-up of it:
http://watroussalvage.com/twistercombine.htm

Agreed.

It's a stupid movie, if you have cows "flying" they are going to be moving fast and you don't watch them go by - you are going to be "flying" with them.