Survivor Science: The Dead Man Walking

Joplin native Chip Gubera's documentary JOPLIN MISSOURI: A TORNADO STORY is a comprehensive, informative account of the devastation wrought on his hometown by a natural disaster and its subsequent recovery. On May 21, 2011 the deadliest tornado ever recorded struck Joplin, an F5 in which wind gusts exceeded 200 mph. In fact, it was not a single tornado, but a multi-vortex tornado created by two converging storms. As local meteorologist Jeremiah Cook explained, this meant that the half mile wide tornado had several "fingers," each an individual tornado, and the rains were so heavy one could not see them before they struck. Narrator George Noory's jovial voice and the monotone recollections of survivors belie the overwhelming scope of the devastation.

An innovative documentary that illustrates how weather works by performing brave, ambitious (even unlikely) experiments that show how nature transforms simple ingredients like wind, water and temperature into something spectacular and powerful.

In Thorold, Ontario in the summer of 1996, a movie legend was made when a real-life tornado hit a drive-in theatre during a screening of Twister. But how much truth really lies inside this tale of life (or weather) imitating art?

Track monsoons, hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes. Take a journey around the planet to experience our most extreme storms and to witness the dramatic-and often perilous-efforts of scientists in the pursuit of understanding weather.Join meteorologists in the cockpit of a P-3 weather plane as they penetrate the eye of a hurricane; and in the tense, decisive moments on the road as they focus their radar on an approaching tornado, traveling to the heart of severe storms to learn what makes weather systems tick. Experience the bumpy ride into the sudden and spectacular calm of a hurricane’s eye, or the commando-like raid to the very brink of a killer tornado, and experience one of the elemental joys of doing science: that of confronting nature head-on to divine its awesome secrets.

May 20, 2013––an EF5 tornado ripped through Moore, OK. The magnitude of devastation measured over eight times greater than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima. As the world watched, one question continued to surface—Where Was God? This story follows several families and individuals who recount the timeline of destruction and share their experiences of the devastating and miraculous events that changed their lives forever.

Scientists strive to understand what caused the devasting tornado outbreak of April 2011. Could their research improve future tornado prediction?

This video presents a look at the forces of nature in their most devastating mode: lightning storms, tornadoes, flash floods, tidal waves, and hurricanes. The film, made for The Discovery Channel, accompanies professional storm chasers as they ride into the eye of a category five hurricane to gather data and get a close-up view. There is footage of a tornado with 300-mile-per-hour winds, as well as 100-foot tidal waves hurtling towards shore at 500 miles per hour. The viewer witnesses a flash flood and hears an interview with a lightning strike survivor.

A documentary detailing a collection of amateur footage of tornadoes in the United States for over 50 years.

In 1996, Universal Pictures released 'Twister', a film about tornado researchers. This documentary revisits the topic, exploring the motivations of those risking their lives to study dangerous weather. With never-before-seen footage and interviews, it delves into the lives of Storm Chasers.

Weaving together dozens of professional and amateur archival sources, along with dramatic interviews with the people behind the cameras, Witness: Joplin Tornado reconstructs the deadliest tornado in modern times, through the eyes of those who lived through it. A group of strangers huddle together in a convenience store cooler, shrieking in terror as the tornado tears apart everything around them. A husband-and-wife stormchasing team find themselves caught in the teeth of the storm, then pressed into service when it finally passes. A young mother sobs as she surveys her daughter’s destroyed bedroom. Yet all the while they film, using their cameras to record both the harrowing experience of the storm itself and the shock of what confronted them after — homes destroyed, neighborhoods flattened, a city devastated. Witness: Joplin Tornado tells the story of that day and its aftermath entirely through the videos and voices of the survivors.