Claim: Photograph shows a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts in Iowa in June 2008.
REAL PHOTOGRAPH; INACCURATE DESCRIPTION
Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2008]
I received this image via email June 10, 2008. The location of this tornado was stated to be Charles City, Iowa. Yesterday,
Variations: An April 2010 variant claimed this photograph was snapped in Yazoo City, Mississippi, that month:
You may have already seen this picture in the news. The deputy sheriff in
Yazoo City took this yesterday. It was a mile wide and ripped across from
Tallulah, LA to Eagle Lake, then Yazoo City, Durant MS, Starkville and
then to TN. It as an F4.
In April 2011, this picture was circulated as a photo of a tornado that hit Georgia, Tennessee, and/or Mississippi on
In March 2012, this picture was circulated as a photo of a tornado that hit Harrisburg, Illinois, on 29 February 2012.
In April 2012, this picture was circulated as a photo of a tornado that hit Dallas, Texas, on 3 April 2012.
In May 2014, this picture was circulated as a photo of a tornado that hit Mayflower and Vilonia, Arkansas, on 27 April 2014.
Origins: On the evening of 11 June 2008, a tornado that touched down in the border area
between Nebraska and Iowa (about
Scout Ranch in the remote hills of western Iowa near the town of Blencoe, killing four teenaged Boy Scouts. The above-displayed image has since been circulated with text identifying it as a photograph of that tornado.
However, this picture was already circulating before the deadly tornado struck the Boy Scout ranch, snapped during one of a series of storms, heavy rains, and tornadoes that hit the Midwest that week. It was taken in the northeastern Iowa town of Orchard (near Charles City) the evening before the Blencoe tornado and published in the Mitchell County Press News the following morning:
This time, a tornado was sighted and captured on camera in Orchard. Starting about
After a weekend of heavy rain, wind and flooding across Mitchell County, residents received another round of severe weather Tuesday night.
Meteorologists who have viewed this image (as well as other photos and video taken of the same storm) generally agree that it pictures a mesocyclone with a wall cloud, not a true tornado.
Last updated: 7 May 2014
Sources: |
Lyons, Patrick J. "A Remarkable Photo from Tornado Country." The New York Times. 13 June 2008. Pieper, Mary. "Twisters and Hail Rumble Through Mitchell County." [Mason City] Globe Gazette. 12 June 2008. Stickney, Dane. "Scout Recalls Loss on 'Awful Night.'" Omaha World-Herald. 15 June 2008. Mitchell County Press-News. "Tornado Sighted in Orchard; Captured on Camera." 11 June 2008. KTIV-TV [Sioux City]. "Record Set Straight on Tornado Picture." 13 June 2008.