Dan Robinson's El Reno tornado incident Q & A

The short answer is the combination of a.) strong headwinds, b.) the gravel road and c.) traction control. Traction control is an automatic feature of most newer cars, designed to prevent wheel slip that can lead to a loss of control at higher speeds. It detects when a car's tires are beginning to slip under power, then automatically cuts power to the wheels until the tires regain grip. Wheel slip happens all the time when you drive in snow and ice: you hit the gas a little too hard, and your wheels break traction and spin. This can also happen in the rain or on loose gravel.

If you've ever driven a car with traction control in ice and snow, you know that sometimes you have to manually turn it off so the wheels can spin a little and keep you moving. Otherwise, the traction control will not allow the wheels to spin, and you'll just stop moving altogether. This happened to me in a snowstorm last winter from just going up a slight incline into a parking lot. My wheels needed to spin a little to keep me moving up the slight gradient, but traction control wouldn't allow it, and I came to a stop despite pressing on the gas. I had to back up, turn off traction control (via a manual override button) and make another run at it.

My car's traction control was continuously kicking in during the escape from the El Reno tornado. Due to the combination of strong headwinds and the gravel road, the wheels were slipping, causing traction control to cut power to the wheels. This limited my speed to a maximum of 43mph. My car's manual override button for the traction control does not work over a speed of 30-35mph, so I could not deactivate it despite repeatedly pressing the button.

At the time, the Toyota Yaris was my 'daily driver' car. I bought it because gas prices are high, and the Yaris gets nearly 40mpg on the highway. Ideally, I would prefer to chase in a larger vehicle, but it is just not possible for me. Like most storm chasers, I have to pay for all of my chasing expenses out of pocket, the largest of which is fuel. Contrary to myths, most storm chasers aren't paid to chase aside from video sales and ad revenue from views of our videos on Youtube and social media. Thanks to the rampant theft of my videos, I can't afford to have a second dedicated chase vehicle, nor can I afford to pay for the fuel required to drive a larger vehicle the long distances typical of a chase season. Video reposters and copyright infringers all directly played a role in the position I was in that day.

I was not trying to get close. I knew from how the tornado first appeared that it would be very large, violent and dangerous. My goal was simply to remain in a good position for photography and video, which I felt would be best with the tornado backlit by the bright skies to the southwest. I wanted to be just close enough to have a high-contrast view.

My plan was to roughly parallel the tornado to its north as it moved east, while staying slightly ahead of it (to its northeast). I moved the additional mile south (closer to it) at Choctaw because of the tornado's initial rapid movement southward away from me. I expected the tornado to either continue moving east-southeast or eastward, which is why I kept going east on Reuter Road (NW 10th). I saw no reason to go north at Highway 81 because I didn't yet realize the tornado had turned.

I didn't recognize the dramatic change in its track until it was nearly upon me on Reuter west of Highway 81. This is because while the tornado was making its drastic north turn and widening at Highway 81, it was completely wrapped in heavy rain, masking from my vantage point what it was really doing.

It is common for a large area of precipitation to wrap around a tornado when it becomes "rain wrapped", with the tornado danger deep within this zone. Chasers call this the "bear's cage", with the "bear" lurking somewhere within it - not usually that entire area. So, the proximity of this area of rain itself was not initially a critical concern. As I realized later, this area of rain *was* the tornado itself - IE, the outer boundary of tornadic wind speeds completely encompassed the rain. In other words, the entirety of the "bear's cage" was the bear.

As the area of rain approached Reuter, I could finally begin to see how fast the rain curtains were moving and realized they were embedded in tornadic winds. This area of rain rapidly condensed into the large wedge tornado visible in my rear-facing camera once I cleared Evans Road.

Below is a map I put together that shows my path, the tornado's path, and what I *thought* the tornado was doing and was going to do in the future. As you can see, if the tornado had moved like I expected (more easterly), I would have remained at a safe viewing angle on Reuter Road. (Click on this map to view a larger version):

I stopped when I exited the heavy rain curtains and I could see that I was out of the tornado's path. I'm a storm chaser, so I wanted to see the tornado and get pictures and video of it. Every spring, I drive thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to get to tornadoes, so I won't drive away once I catch one.

Again, I'm a storm chaser, so I wanted to see the tornado and get pictures and video of it. My mistake with El Reno was underestimating the wind fields surrounding the visible condensation funnel of a tornado of such magnitude. According to mobile doppler radars, I was still inside the primary tornado circulation when I got out of my car. I was not aware of this at the time. While tornadic winds often extend out some distance from a tornado's visible funnel, the El Reno tornado was remarkably strong and broad in this regard.

Either way, I should have taken into consideration the likelihood of at least violent RFD (rear-flank downdraft) winds wrapping around the back side of such an obviously powerful tornado. In retrospect, I should have stayed in the car and moved farther east and south before trying to get more video and pictures.

I am not a risk-taker and have no desire to get hurt or damage my car. Regularly doing so would make storm chasing more expensive than it already is, and unaffordable for me. Not to mention the fact that damage and injuries ends a chase on the spot, and potentially puts me out of commission for additional storm chase days. I paid for the damage to my car and equipment out of my own pocket and did not file an insurance claim.

I did not see their vehicle during the event. I did not learn that I had been on the same road until 3 days later, after I had arrived home. I then discovered that the rear-facing dash camera I installed in my car had captured the images.

Chaser traffic was not a factor in this incident. When the Twistex vehicle and I crossed Highway 81, there were no other cars ahead or behind us for at least a mile in front and 1/2 mile behind. There were no vehicles on Highway 81 in either northbound or southbound lanes. Police had the southbound lanes blocked to our north, and the tornado was crossing the road to the south, blocking the northbound lanes.

This is the most frequent question I have received. Yes, the rear-facing dash camera was recording during the entire event. What it captured is not graphic, but it does show the sequence of events that transpired. I have elected to keep this part of the footage private out of respect to the families affected by the tragedy.

The full video from the rear camera - specifically, the portion on Reuter Road between Highway 81 and Radio Road - has never been posted publicly, not on my Youtube channel or anywhere else. There are some reports that I had posted it initially, then removed it later. This is not true. This rumor is probably confusing the still images I took of the vehicle the day afterward, before I learned about what had happened: The day after the tornado, before I had heard the news about the Twistex crew, I returned to the scene to attempt to locate my Panasonic HMC150 video camera's lens hood that I lost during the tornado impact. During that time, I posted still photographs of several of the tornado-impacted vehicles that I saw along Reuter Road and in the adjacent fields. One of those, unbeknownst to me at the time, was the by-that-time unoccupied Twistex vehicle. As soon as I learned of what had occurred, I removed that photo from my site and social media accounts.

In 2025, some videos purporting to show the Twistex vehicle headlights from my car's rear-facing camera have appeared on social media and online. These are all fakes. There have been rumors that I edited the video to remove the Twistex vehicle headlights, this is also not true. To dispel another rumor: the video on my Youtube channel from my front-facing and rear-facing cameras has not been altered. The only portion where the Twistex vehicle is visible - that is, the rear-camera portion between Highway 81 and Radio Road - is not shown at all. My Youtube video switches from the front camera to the rear camera view after that portion of the incident.

Two screenshots (still frames) from the rear-facing camera that appeared in a major publication are authentic, but they were published against my wishes. I always made it clear to all agents and producers from day one that this portion of the rear camera footage was to have been kept private. It's an unfortunate reality in this business that these types of requests are often not honored. Again, please do not repost those on social media, the families did not want those released. Please do the right thing and respect the families' wishes so I don't have to get involved and send takedowns (or worse). Put yourself in their shoes: what if it was your child, spouse or other loved one?

The families did not ask me to keep the full rear camera video private. I made the decision myself to give them control over what was done with the video.

For media and other interests reading this: due to some disconcerting behavior by those seeking out this footage for commercial or other interests, I set up some ground rules regarding the unreleased footage that have always been in effect since summer of 2013:

1. The families are not to be contacted regarding this footage, I (Dan Robinson) am the copyright holder, I am the sole contact, and I am the only one who can authorize a license for its use or broadcast anywhere.
2. Any individual, group, company or filmmaker who contacts the families in disregard for this stipulation (seeking to persuade the families to allow its release) will be permanently disqualified from receiving a license for its use, even if the time comes that its release is approved. I have already made good on that promise to some very big names in the business (to the detriment of my own career).
3. All of my El Reno footage has been registered with the US Copyright Office. If any of the footage is released/broadcast/used without authorization, I will, to put it lightly, go 'nuclear' with the most aggressive Federal copyright infringement lawsuit possible.

To put it another way, please respect the families and leave them alone about my car's rear camera video. You are free to contact me with any questions about the video at any time.

The rest of the video from my front and rear cameras is publicly viewable on the official release on my Youtube channel here. There are no other sites or social media accounts that are authorized to broadcast this video on the internet. I have been seeing a dramatic rise in theft of this video in the form of reposts to other social media platforms, and unauthorized incorporation of the footage in monetized Youtube documentaries. Both I and my agents are actively sending takedowns and pursuing legal action in cases of these infringements, so such infringers should be on notice.

Regarding fair use: Contrary to the many myths about copyright and fair use often repeated on the internet, Federal law (read 17 U.S. Code § 107) specifies that four factors are used to evaluate all uses of copyrighted material. That means that unlicensed uses with commentary, editing, news reporting, educational purposes (including documentaries), etc must still pass those four factors to be judged as fair use. Reposting the entirety of, or the best parts of, a video to Tiktok, Facebook or in a documentary does not pass the four factors test, even if things like commentary and editing are done. Those other copies divert traffic from my original copy. They bring no benefit to me or my storm chasing operation, in fact they do great harm. For more information on this issue, please read my in-depth page explaining the devastating impact copyright infringement is having on my operations.

Although I was not close friends with Tim, Paul or Carl, I have been mutually acquainted with Tim for many years, particularly via internet discussions. I have only met him in person a few times, most frequently at the Denver Storm Chaser Convention. We have been members of several storm chasing discussion groups through the years, and were friends on Facebook. I have always been primarily a lightning photographer, an interest that Tim and I shared. His work with high-speed lightning video was of particular interest and admiration by me.

In some cases, yes. I will no longer attempt intercepts of large or rain-wrapped tornadoes within 2 miles. There is no benefit to being close to a large wedge tornado that can even come close to balancing the risks. My strategy for very volatile-parameter days will also be less agressive and less close-range.

Having said all of that, we have to keep this event, while certainly tragic and a 'wake up call' to storm chasing, in proper perspective. This was the first such incident in the history of storm chasing, an activity that is 50 years old. The El Reno tornado was exceptionally rare in many respects, fooling many experienced and veteran storm chasers. Tragic incidents happen on a regular basis in sports such as whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, skiing and skydiving - all activities that pose much greater risks than storm chasing, yet few would advocate curtailing or ceasing participation in any of those sports as a result. The rational thing to do is learn from the tragedies so as to continue to enjoy the activities with an even greater degree of safety.

So, El Reno will certainly change how I approach large and low-visibility tornadoes. But when such opportunities present themselves, I will continue to make reasonably close approaches to the smaller, slow-moving highly-visible tornadoes - a maneuver which is generally very safe if done with proper attention to road options and storm behavior.

There is a rumor that started some time after this incident that the Twistex crew was heard making a radio transmission (on amateur radio) right before they were overtaken. This is one of many examples of stories just being made up about this incident and spread around. I don't know the origin of this rumor, but it has always bothered me. I find it to be ludicrous and disrespectful. A storm chaser in that situation is not going to make a radio transmission, much less one like that. It would serve no purpose and just isn't something a chaser would do or say in that situation, especially chasers of their experience level.

During my escape on Reuter Road, I was focused completely on getting out of the danger I was in. I do not have an amateur radio unit in my car, but if I did, there is no scenario where I (nor any other chaser I know) would try calling out on the radio with something like "We're going to die". If someone made that transmission or something like it, I can say with confidence that it almost certainly wasn't the Twistex crew.

While being enveloped by the El Reno tornado was certainly the scariest moment in my career, I don't have any trauma or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from it. Again, I did not witness what happened to the Twistex crew and did not find out about that aspect of the incident until the next day (see my answers above). I am of course profoundly saddened by what happened to them.

I'm sorry to say it has not been a positive experience. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad here, I'm just being honest about the facts of the situation and how it's impacted me.

Virtually all of the attention has been to stolen copies of my video on Tiktok. From what I've seen, those may be approaching 70 to possibly 100 million total views on Tiktok alone. That marks just the latest in a series of absolutely crushing financial losses to me that has profound impacts on my life and my future. For example, because of this and many of my other popular videos getting constantly stolen, I've had to quit storm chasing as a profession because I don't have enough money to operate any longer. It means I may not be able to retire in the next decade or two when my health declines - I'll still have to wake up and go to an office job evey day. In other words, this isn't just "no big deal".

My storm chasing operation costs me, on average, $20,000 to $30,000 per year in expenses (some years have approached $40,000 in costs). That's what it takes to capture all of the videos and pictures you see on my site and on my Youtube channel. Those pictures and videos are very valuable financial assets - just like investments and real estate - and like any other professional photographer, I rely on the income from that to pay my bills and keep my storm chasing and weather videography business going.

My videos, as you can clearly see, are more successful than they ever have been in my career - but the fruits of that success are going to others, not to me.

It takes money to operate as a professional and pay my rent and buy my groceries: without it, I can no longer continue doing the vocation I love, am good at, and have dedicated 30 years of my life building.

Storm chasers and video creators only benefit with ad revenue and new followers/subscribers, and that only comes when our videos are viewed on our official channels. It's just like how you change the channel when you want to watch your favorite TV show or sports game, then that channel benefits from the advertising and viewer growth.

When a chaser's videos are watched elsewhere, we see absolutely zero benefit. We see nothing at all from "exposure", "credit", "shout-outs" or anything else. At least I can't use those things to fill my gas tank for a storm chase or pay my rent.

A tiny example of the endless stolen copies of my El Reno tornado footage uploaded to Tiktok, with countless copies getting millions of views. Just the tiny sample represented in this screenshot has received more views than my original video has it its lifetime! These do not help my Youtube channel at all. My original video gets 15,000 views per month and only has 3 million lifetime views since I posted in in June of 2013.

Even when a reposting account isn't monetized, the social media platform (Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, etc) earns all of the money on that stolen copy - I get nothing. You can do the math yourself on how much income I've lost from my El Reno tornado video on Tiktok if those viewers would have instead watched it on my Youtube channel. For comparison, my official copy of the video has 3 million views as of April 2026. My Youtube channel itself has 193 million lifetime views since I started it in 2012 - so in just the past few years, stolen copies of my El Reno tornado video on Tiktok alone may have more than half of the views I've received in 14 years on Youtube!

If you watched my El Reno tornado on a Tiktok reupload, you're a view that is forever lost to my original. You've already seen the video now, and have no reason to watch it again. People generally watch viral videos on the internet once. Just like if you watch a movie or an episode of a TV show, you most likely won't watch it again - and if you do, you'll probably rewatch it in the same place you saw it the first time.

You can think of a viral video's audience like a tank of water. Each view drains the pool of viewers:

Furthermore, effectively none of that Tiktok traffic comes to my Youtube channel or my web site. Tiktok has also stopped responding to takedown notices, in the latest series of events that demonstrate how the social media platforms are the literal mafias of the modern age. They're using people (mostly kids as human shields) to take entire livelihoods out of small creators' hands. Then everyone calls us - the victims - evil when we try to do anything to fight back against it (like DMCA takedowns and lawsuits). How's that for the perfect crime: steal millions from small time creators, then have your user base and the public call the victims the bad guys!

Any and all value of this attention has gone to enrich Tiktok, Meta and other social media companies as well as any monetized accounts reuploading the videos. Certainly none of it has helped me in any way. If those views had come to my Youtube channel, I could still be chasing full time right now, buy a house and could even retire in a few years. But that windfall is going to others, not me. And that's just on Tiktok - the same is happening on other platforms too. I wrote about this problem in more detail here.

That's notwithstanding that most of the little bit of attention I have received has just been bizarre. I don't understand a lot of what I see being posted. I don't like how some of it has been really disrespectful of the Twistex team. There are also a lot of things about the incident and about me just made up and being spread around, and many questions being asked constantly that have always been answered here on my site. That is very puzzling. It appears that very few people are visiting my site or Youtube channel to read my firsthand account and this very page. If you have the answer or any insight as to why this is happening and what I could do to help fix it, I'd be grateful if you could fill me in.

Again, this is just another illustration of how "exposure" and "credit" do absolutely nothing to help me. After 100 million stolen views, very few are even coming here to read this FAQ to dispel a lot of the false information going around, despite all of the so-called "exposure". I can't even get a few clicks to my website from that, what makes anyone think anything more is going to come my way from it?

I am sorry for sounding so negative about everything. I am stating nothing but the facts of what has occurred in the hopes that you can see and understand it. I am trying to be positive and thankful for everything I've been able to do. It's just very hard when you watch the fruits of your life's work get taken away and have to suffer the very real consequences of that.

If you're interested, I'd be grateful if you read my full explanation here. On that page, I am very open and matter-of-fact about everything that has happened so far and I hope it will help you understand where I am coming from.

And I know some of you might be thinking, aren't a lot of the Tiktok edits "Fair Use"? I'll respond by asking: without looking it up, can you name one of the factors of fair use in 17 U.S. Code § 107? If you don't know it, that's OK - very few people do. Almost nothing you see on Tiktok using my videos qualifies as Fair Use per the four factors test in 17 U.S. Code § 107. I put together a short video on the Fair Use issue that I'd be grateful if you watched.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the concern - but this is a result of yet another thing being made up and repeated. This one in particular doesn't make any sense, as I've never stopped posting on this site and on my Youtube channel. Can someone clue me in on who is saying this and why so many are asking about it? I'd be appreciative.

As a matter of fact, this is another great illustration of how the stolen copies/reposts of my videos don't direct any traffic to my site or benefit me at all. Even news of my own death won't result in people visiting my site or Youtube channel!

All indications are that the 2013 El Reno tornado's EF-5 rating will be restored at some point in the near future. The official EF-3 rating of the tornado by the National Weather Service is a result of a temporary, internal bureaucratic constraint to exclude the radar data and limit the rating criteria to observed damage only.

Consider these quotes from two of the most prominent and respected figures in severe storms meteorology and tornado science:

"There's no question from our radar data - and Josh Wurman was nearby, we both saw windspeeds of well over 100 meters per second (223mph) - there's no question this was an EF-5 tornado" - Dr. Howie Bluestein (source)

"I don't agree with the (National) Weather Service, it was not an EF3 tornado, I don't care what they think, they're flat wrong! - Dr. Chuck Doswell (source)

Two independent mobile doppler radar units measured - not estimated - EF5 windspeeds in the tornado. The Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service office that assigned the initial rating has more experience and qualifications than anyone in the world when it comes to forecasting, warning and rating violent tornadoes. They are not amateurs! They know what they are doing. Furthermore, the top tornado scientists in the world (like Dr. Howie Bluestien and the late Dr. Chuck Doswell) strongly disagreed with the downgrade directive from NWS leadership.

One of the biggest myths being repeated everywhere about the Fujita scale (and its successor, the EF Scale) is that "it's just a damage scale". This is not true. The F & EF scales are tornado intensity (windspeed) scales that use damage to infer/estimate tornado windspeeds (intensity). The end goal is to rate tornadoes by how strong they are, much in the same way hurricanes are rated.

The original, official EF scale recommendation itself advocated the eventual adoption of other types of data/evidence (such as mobile radar) in rating tornadoes:

Not only that, the upcoming revisions to the EF scale are expected to include mobile radar measurements in ratings. The idea that the F/EF scale is meant to strictly limit itself to damage and dogmatically exclude all other evidence or data is simply false. That may be the position of NWS leadership (at this time), but not the scientific community nor even the person (Dr. Ted Fujita) who conceived of the scale itself.

Since the scientific community is in strong agreement that mobile radar measurements should be included in tornado ratings (when available), it is highly likely that the El Reno tornado's EF-5 rating will be restored when the NWS policy is ultimately revised to reflect the scientific consensus. Therefore, I will consider this tornado an EF-5 with regards to its intensity, and will continue to refer to it as such on this web site. In the event that the scientific consensus on mobile radar ratings of tornadoes changes, I will revise my web pages and Youtube videos accordingly, but I have not yet received any indication that this has occurred.

The original intent of the F and EF scales was to estimate tornado intensity by surveying the damage one produces. Tornadoes in rural areas are typically under-rated by a damage-only application of the EF scale, as a rural tornado usually does not strike the necessary objects needed to satisfy damage rating requirements. This problem is offset when a tornado is sampled by mobile radar, in which case the damage survey is not needed to determine the tornado's true intensity. Currently, the NWS must exclude mobile radar observations as rating criteria, but only due to outdated policy. When this policy is ultimately revised, the official ratings of tornadoes sampled by mobile radar (including the May 31 El Reno tornado) will be updated.

For further reading on this issue:

1. An Update to the Enhanced Fujita Scale - March 2022 - by Tim Marshall, HAAG Engineering
2. Chuck Doswell: The EF-Scale Ratings Brouhaha
3. StormTrack thread on the El Reno rating: with relevant information by RaxPol radar operator Jeff Snyder.
4. Recommendation for an ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE (EF-Scale) Submitted to The National Weather Service by Texas Tech University.

I have attempted to publicly post every detail I can regarding this tornado and my encounter, including GPS logs, videos and images. The following are links to everything I have available currently:

HD EXPEDITION VIDEO 1: EF5 tornado at close range, El Reno, OK: Watch Video
HD DASHCAM VIDEO: Escaping the El Reno EF5 tornado - dashcam/transcript: Watch Video
DASHCAM VIDEO: Tornado strike - side camera: Watch Video

El Reno Tornado Documents & Links:
CHASE ACCOUNT: El Reno, OK tornado chase log, images and links to other chaser accounts
TORNADO RATING: Statement on the rating of the May 31, 2103 El Reno, OK tornado
GPS TRACK: GPS log with tornado track overlay (by my brother Matt Robinson)
SPREADSHEET: Event time analysis from cameras - download in Excel, OpenOffice or CSV.