Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
April 29, 1985 found the NSSL TOTO crew near Ardmore, Oklahoma and was the only time the TOtable Tornado Observatory, affectionately nicknamed after Dorthy's Cairn Terrier from the 'Wizard of Oz' was placed in the direct path of a oncoming tornado. Unfortunately for TOTO, the winds proved too strong and the instrumented package toppled over. The main NSSL TOTO crew was Lou Wicker, Steve Smith, with Lance Rotfuze recording most of the event on videotape from the lead truck with TOTO. This is the raw videotape from start to finish, with a few minor tape hits trimmed out.
By good fortune that day, the NSSL crew was being followed and documented by KARE 11 photojournalist/producer Bob Durland and then chief meteorologist Paul Douglas for a five-part local TV news special called 'Tornado Tamers' that would later broadcast locally in the Twin Cities market of Minnesota in May 1985. Durland chronicled in great detail the deployment and was the only videographer to do so as Lance Rotfuze had to turn his camera off to help unload the TOTO. This is why the tape abruptly stops just before the deployment.
That five-part KARE 11 TV special can be viewed via the TCNMedia news archive: tcmedianow.com/paul-douglas-tornado-chasers-aired-in-five-parts-in-may-1985-wtcn-tv
The full TOTO deployment recorded by KARE 11 was also featured on the 1992 Tornado Video Classics, Volume 1 VHS video series, available elsewhere on YouTube.
While TOTO had a close encounter on May 22, 1981 near Cordell, Oklahoma and again here near Ardmore in 1985, no additional successful deployments transpired. TOTO was officially retired in 1987, but if interested in seeing one of the TOTO devices, it is on display on the main level of the National Weather Center and OU School of Meteorology in Norman, Oklahoma alongside it's Hollywood doppelgängers.
Video by Lance Rotfuze, NSSL, © 1985.
April 29, 1985 found the NSSL TOTO crew near Ardmore, Oklahoma and was the only time the TOtable Tornado Observatory, affectionately nicknamed after Dorthy's Cairn Terrier from the 'Wizard of Oz' was placed in the direct path of a oncoming tornado. Unfortunately for TOTO, the winds proved too strong and the instrumented package toppled over. The main NSSL TOTO crew was Lou Wicker, Steve Smith, with Lance Rotfuze recording most of the event on videotape from the lead truck with TOTO. This is the raw videotape from start to finish, with a few minor tape hits trimmed out.
By good fortune that day, the NSSL crew was being followed and documented by KARE 11 photojournalist/producer Bob Durland and then chief meteorologist Paul Douglas for a five-part local TV news special called 'Tornado Tamers' that would later broadcast locally in the Twin Cities market of Minnesota in May 1985. Durland chronicled in great detail the deployment and was the only videographer to do so as Lance Rotfuze had to turn his camera off to help unload the TOTO. This is why the tape abruptly stops just before the deployment.
That five-part KARE 11 TV special can be viewed via the TCNMedia news archive: tcmedianow.com/paul-douglas-tornado-chasers-aired-in-five-parts-in-may-1985-wtcn-tv
The full TOTO deployment recorded by KARE 11 was also featured on the 1992 Tornado Video Classics, Volume 1 VHS video series, available elsewhere on YouTube.
While TOTO had a close encounter on May 22, 1981 near Cordell, Oklahoma and again here near Ardmore in 1985, no additional successful deployments transpired. TOTO was officially retired in 1987, but if interested in seeing one of the TOTO devices, it is on display on the main level of the National Weather Center and OU School of Meteorology in Norman, Oklahoma alongside it's Hollywood doppelgängers.
Video by Lance Rotfuze, NSSL, © 1985.
