Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The evolutionary momentum of this multiple-vortex tornado near Orienta, Oklahoma was mesmerizing to those who viewed it on May 2, 1979. This 16mm silent film was taken by the University of Oklahoma storm intercept crew led by Dr. Howard Bluestein and chronicles various forms of vortex build up and break down. The sequence was unique at the time, captivating and used in hundreds of television programs and documentaries about tornadoes in the decades that followed.
16mm film © 1979 National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA.
A detailed writeup about Project SESAME-79 can be downloaded here: journals.ametsoc.org/downloadpdf/journals/bams/61/6/1520-0477-61_6_560.xml
The evolutionary momentum of this multiple-vortex tornado near Orienta, Oklahoma was mesmerizing to those who viewed it on May 2, 1979. This 16mm silent film was taken by the University of Oklahoma storm intercept crew led by Dr. Howard Bluestein and chronicles various forms of vortex build up and break down. The sequence was unique at the time, captivating and used in hundreds of television programs and documentaries about tornadoes in the decades that followed.
16mm film © 1979 National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA.
A detailed writeup about Project SESAME-79 can be downloaded here: journals.ametsoc.org/downloadpdf/journals/bams/61/6/1520-0477-61_6_560.xml
![Tornado Alley... Wichita Falls, Texas 1964 [KAUZ-TV Documentary]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TOkB0lQlnwo/mqdefault.jpg "Tornado Alley... Wichita Falls, Texas 1964 [KAUZ-TV Documentary]
A destructive tornado was broadcast live on KAUZ television on April 3, 1964 as it moved through the northern portion of Wichita Falls, Texas. Seven lives were lost and over 100 people sustained serious injury. Sheppard Air Force Base, as well as the nearby residential neighborhood of Sunset Terrace sustained significant F5 damage.
Historically this tornado is often cited as the first ever broadcast live on television anywhere in the world. KAUZ-TV was indeed the first TV station to broadcast a tornado, but that event transpired on April 2, 1958 when a deadly F3 tornado struck the city. The news anchor in the 1964 broadcast makes mention of this misquotes the date as 1959. To my knowledge the 1958 live transmission was not preserved or saved. It was common practice in the early age of broadcast video to recycle and re-record over quadraplex videotape to save money. Fortunately six years later, engineers at KAUZ-TV did record and save the 1964 live broadcast, the bulk of it presented in this station documentary made soon after the tornado.
Additional film and news coverage of the April 3, 1964 Wichita Falls, Texas tornado is available via the Texas Archive of the Moving Image: https://texasarchive.org/2012_00678
Video © KAUZ-TV.")
![Wrath of God: 1974 Super Outbreak Tornadoes [Documentary] 1999](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WMnuLOf9mSg/mqdefault.jpg "Wrath of God: 1974 Super Outbreak Tornadoes [Documentary] 1999
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the devastating Super Outbreak of 148 tornadoes in 18-hours across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northeast, Southeastern United States and Southern Ontario, Canada on April 3-4, 1974. It was the most widespread and vastly studied mega tornado outbreaks in the 20th century, elapsed in April 2011 by an even larger outbreak over many of the same geographic areas.
Numerous documentaries, television/cable programs, and many videos found on YouTube discuss the event in assorted detail. In 1999, Towers Productions produced this 45-minute documentary for A&E Home Video and The History Channel. Part of The Wrath of God series, it was one of the more comprehensive ever produced, and complemented a segment on the Roar of 1974 included in the Target Tornado program by The Weather Channel in 1994. While producers of this program took some visual liberties with assorted tornado stock footage; from a combination of meteorological overviews, eyewitnesses and survivor perspectives, this remains an excellent in-depth overview for anyone interested in learning about the event.
Further reading can be found here via the National Weather Service @NWSWilmingtonOH: https://www.weather.gov/iln/19740403
Remastered from videotape and presented in 1080p high definition.
© 1999 Towers Productions, The History Channel. All Rights Reserved")
