Storm Chasing Nightmare: Canton Texas Tornadoes 

I know it's not uncommon, but chasing in a rental car is wild to me 😅 reminds me of that Jackass skit where they take the rental car to a demolition derby and try to return it

I remember this tornado seeing video from Pecos Hanks, what struck me was in the video was the Tornado brought down an Electric grid tower which shows this tornado is not to be messed with

Experiencing a tornado in person is a harrowing experience. I was stuck outside camping when an EF1 tornado passed by my camp a mile away. I will always respect Gabe for his work and all other storm chasers! Stay safe, and never stop doing what you love!

My culprit that almost killed me while chasing was a positive Cg stroke 25 feet away that put me in a Sioux City hospital for 10 days. Glad Gabe and Jeff both made it out alive

Great video! I’m glad Gabe opened up about his experience. I think more chasers should feel comfortable sharing their experiences and what they’ve learned through their mistakes.

it's really important to see chasers talk about the dangers and lessons learned from things like this. it's a good reminder that no matter how much you know about weather, no one is immune to putting themselves in danger if they don't make smart choices.

That moment when his car slid into the mud. Hearing him cry out like that. Hearing him blair his horn. Watching that white car race away and realizing it wasn't coming back, that driver couldn't hear jack shit over the storm. The empathetic part of me understanding that man thought he was basically already dead. If it's possible for a soul to bruise, I'm pretty sure that's what just happened to mine. I'm going to be thinking about this for days. Nonetheless I'm glad it's out there. I'm happy that man was able to come back on camera and tell everyone exactly what his mistakes were, why he made them, and why each was a bad idea. I can't imagine dying or losing a beloved friend or family member like that.

This was so well done. The story of a really scary experience was told thoughtfully by both Gabe and yourself. Nightmare fuel.

I remember hearing about the Canton event for the first time on the Tornado Trackers podcast. It still haunts me a bit, and even when I'm marathoning the entire series again, it's hard to listen to. I was on a road trip to visit my sister, and had to pull over to just sit with it for a bit. It's important to know though, what it's like to feel that. To know what it's like when things go wrong and what drives someone to be in that situation in the first place. Gabe got lucky as all hell, and if he were any less so, we might have lost another brilliant man.

I took off for that system around 3pm from the Dallas area. As I approached Canton from the west, a dull charcoal gray overcast hugged the eastern horizon. After driving to within 5 miles of Canton, my intuition told me not to go any further. This was simply too dangerous. In the end, all I saw was debris gently floating down as the tornado passed near. My radar showed me additional tornadoes developing and racing northward. At one point, I strongly advised an out of state couple to stay where we were and drive no further east. My urgency likely saved their lives. I stayed outside, while several times, a store owner opened his walk in freezer to us spectators. My reward: A brief funnel to my nearby southeast. Three hours of powerful thunderstorms, and a really weird electromagnetic vibe to the air when tornadoes passed near. When I returned home, I was shocked to hear of the destruction . Though per my radar plus intuition not to chase further, in a way it didn't surprise me.

Absolutely amazing video!!! The paper graphcis are beautiful and the storytelling is impeccable. Cant wait for more videos like these!

Your editing is outstanding Ethan, and the paper cutouts are a unique touch in the chasing content creation sphere. Thankful that Gabe and Jeff are still here, and appreciative for everyone involved with this production for sharing Gabe's story - we had a similar experience last year in IL, except we didn't get stuck because of soft soil, and the EF3 didn't quite fully occlude northward yet... ...hearing those words from Samaras sent shivers down my spine, and they couldn't be more true.

Nicely done guys. Definitely one of the scarier tornado events for chasers in recent memory.

Great video. I admire Gabe for sharing his story and you presented it really well! What a terrifying experience!

You're really improving your quality here, you even got Gabe in the video. Nice work dude!

Drove through Kansas on I70, in hindsight, you could see the massive storm as we were approaching from Colorado. Friend’s uncle stopped the car, got out, and pointed South West. You could see the circulation on the ground and coming from the sky. Fortunately, it dissipated in the matter of minutes. Still a scary moment to witness.

Great video you put together! That’s absolutely terrifying being stuck in a ditch like that and seeing a tornado coming for you. The interview with Gabe going over details from that event is pretty wild.

A great reminder going into this year. Definitely something everyone should watch

Great content! Your originality, creativity, and respectful handling of Gabe's learning experience makes me want MORE! Happy to subscribe!!❤

Awesome video as always Ethan!!

I remember listening to his story on the tornado trackers podcast and seeing it with video gives a whole new feeling to his experience.

Here in Wisconsin, we just had a tornado 🌪️ in the southern part of the state and this is the part that this has ever happened.

Damn, this is good stuff. Like Storm Stories on an independent level. I like the variety in content! Keep up the good work

This video is unbelievable! I love these documentary videos!

Remember this outbreak pretty well, one wedge after another. Truly a favorite of mine!

What an awesome video, and brilliant piece to camera interview by Gabe. Great work.

I'm glad Gabe and Jeff are okay and are recovering! And I'm glad Gabe learned from his mistakes.

Im glad there is people to get this video and research. I could never! Tornadoes are my ultimate fear.

Beautifully done video. Great content, excellent interview and the editing and graphics are top tier.

Why do I love these kind of tornado videos

Haha I love the content. You’re looking into my eyes spitting straight facts like 👁️👄👁️ definitely one of my fav weather/tornado channels. Keep up the great work

What a good friend to just drive off and not even make sure you get on the move

Such a well done video. Loved it

I have family in Canton Texas. Luckily they were all safe that day. Thank you for sharing your video.

Huddled down in the car. I would of got out of the car found a low lying area and then laid down hoping not to get struck by lightning 🌪️ ⚡️ ⛈️

BABE WAKE UP NOW NEW JUNE FIRST VID DROPPED

Being a storm spotter myself... there are a lot of red flags that i wont ignore - 1) you have to have a working phone or some reliable means of communication and 2) you always have to have a plan B. Even though a lot of chasing will happen on oaved roads, i think you always have to be prepared for non paved roads. I have other thoughts but will keep that to myself.

Great work!

Great video, id love to hear more stories from the perspective of storm chasers talking about close calls or interesting storm setups.

Chasing tornadoes in a rental is hilarious to me

good vid dood!!!

Great video keep up the good work

When I was five years old, I had to chase it with my dad because he was a firefighter in Canton, Texas and I still live there It was a horrible night and sometimes I still have nightmares about it.

I know you are a engineer and go over tornado damage but your story telling is fantastic

Wow! Gabe prepared himself to meet the Reaper but, the Reaper said, "Nope. Not this time, Gabe. Not this time." What a story!

The “well anchored home” was my grandparents home that I was in. We all survived thankfully, but are still left with the scars of that day.

Make sure you have the best equipment when chasing storms that supporting when we out there in the field have several portable chargers so that way you always alert

good job!

Amazing Story!

I was chasing the May 6th high risk a few weeks back and I was at most a mile away from the EF0 that touched down north of Hennessey, OK. I tried to get way too close because of the rain wrapped nature of the storms at the time. I was riding out the inflow notch to get some visibility but eventually the storm caught up to me. Me and buddy got caught in probably the strongest winds I have ever been in (likely the RFD) combined with the the HEAVY rain. I ended up losing my wiper. We thought we were goners. It was hard to pinpoint where the tornado was on radar. If the tornado turned into an El Reno situation (size and especially path motion) we would've take a direct hit. The spot we were originally posted up at took a direct hit. I'm glad we recognized we F-ed up and head south ASAP. Definitely the scariest moment I've experienced and we got way to close especially considering how potent that day was.

I hope I never put myself in a situation like that.

Best of luck.........thanks for telling the story

I live only about 30 mins from canton, I remember how scary that day was wondering if they would spawn more tornados east of there, I have co workers now that watched debris fall around their home the tornados were so close, worst part about ETX is you don’t know a tornado is there until it’s right on top of you because of the dense forest and hills…

These tornados that day touched down on the very same road I grew up on in Eustace, TX

I bet he never pulled into another ditch to turn around again 😂.

But much respect for what you do to keep us weather warned I live in southern Oklahoma many nators been threw here

Man i had a near death experience during sxsw when a drunk driver drove thru the crowd. The dude in front of me got ragdolled and i didnt, and similar to his mass. Car experience, if i’m waiting in a line near a curb, subconscious kicks in and makes me worry. Glad he made it out!

Turning out great content like people breathe air. Great job buddy!

Just because Pecos Hank drives a 4-cylinder front wheel drive Toyota car to chase tornadoes, doesn't mean we all can. And Tim Samaras was in a Chevy Cobalt in El Reno and that didn't go well either.

Richfield, Edina, Eden Prairie and Bloomington Minnesota! We're WAY past overdue for a tornado event of THAT magnitude!

My daddy was the police cheif in canton tx , he had retired around 2016 and passed away july 1 of 2017 from cancer I miss him so much .

I have family from Canton and Kaufman and they still know many families in the area. Even today it’s a small town of under 5K. Waiting to hear from those still there was nerve wrecking. A good lesson for everyone. Tornados are the scariest natural disaster in my opinion. They are so erratic compared to the others.

This tornado hit my house directly. We left 30 seconds before it hit. We saw it while leaving, but didn't understand what we were looking at. Our car lifted up a little and the trees began slapping the ground. By the time we got back there was dirt where our house used to be. We definitely have PTSD from that day

I had a few brief thoughts of going out to find and see my first tornado but this is one of the reasons I decided to chase from my recliner. Getting stuck in the path of a tornado is the second worse vision lI had. Getting stuck blocking the only egress route for other people / chasers is the worse. If someone had gotten stuck or crashed blocking the way during El Reno , well as bad as it was that would have been catastrophic. I do just fine thanks to those that know what they are doing and burn the memory on film. Thank you all. Please be safe going into another storm year. God bless.

I was in the 3 may 1999 tornado, that was the scariest… I don’t live in OK anymore

Chasing in a rental car in a low visibility/high tree area, phone not charged, no 2-way radio to communicate with chasing partner...it's mind blowing there haven't been more Darwin awards handed out to these "experienced" storm chasers here in the last few years. Seen a lot of near misses and hits, especially these last two seasons. Only a matter of time before we have something worse than El Reno happen. Everyone out here trying to be the next Reed Timmer not realizing he's been doing this for 30+ years.

I remember this day exactly. I Iive 20 miles east of canton.

Imagine the enterprise agent hearing that the car he's renting out is going to be used to chase tornadoes...

is the sounding at 2:15 the actual setup for that day that eml is insane

Texas and Oklahoma always chase in a 4x4

❤God Bless everyone and everything ❤

Live close to Canton remember that day well

Tim thought he knew what a storm can do also but he was very careful not to get to close. If we learned anything from EL Reno is that mother nature plays by her rules not ours what we expect is not always what happens. He was very lucky that day just be careful your luck could always run out.

Is it not normal to check your rear view mirror at least once a minute or at least once every 3 minutes?

I remember this day, I was in the path of the caddo mounds tornado

my brother and his family plus our mother came thru there on Interstate just after or the tail end of the happening there in Canton

I remember the next day, there was a lot of damage that the televisions didn't cover it was so bad. There was a Chinese restaurant that was imploded, with the structure at a tilted position, one giant tree taken down as if King Kong struck it to the ground, just pure devastation.

chasing in a RENTAL, let alone in a fiesta that weighs barely 2500lbs? What even

i remember watching this on pechos hank and i was scared just from watching it lol 😭

These are preventable issues. Better driving skills and better vehicles is a start.

Totally straight up honest question from someone from that part of the country. Why in the world would any chaser not go with a 4WD knowing how bad those dirt roads can get? Absolutely no criticism, just wondering based on my experience from that kind of place.

Those rental car tires tho

Please put a stop to this kind of tomfoolery because unfortunately, these actions reminds me of the tragic passing of the twistex team .

Lord that was a hellatious trade days.

tornado

Wow!

Wow, a rental car on muddy roads, no phone back up, no laptop or any other device? Poor dude made 1 terrible decision after another. a Car is not worth your life. Gabe, I feel really sorry this happened to you, but damn...that did not sound professional at all. I saw this tornado in Pecos Hanks video's, a scary electrifying monster.

Why do people chase in these 4 cylinder death traps?

Thanks for being so honest. But I was waitimg fpr ypu to to add "redundancy" to the list, i/e/. extra phon \e, camera, batteries, etc. insofar as it is feasible. "For want of nail, the shoe was lost..."

bro took a rental car on a tornado chase and drove it into the wet grass, lmao i wonder what he told the rental company

My daughter live just a wee bit north of here…

If you're going to do this, please have some HAM of GMRS radios. Phones shouldn't be your only contact. Stay safe!

Great story telling but awkwardly staring at facing as they tell it is odd for storm chasing lol

I’m a canton native. I remember that day

Well you don’t have to quit doing what you love. Just learn from your mistakes. Don’t be in such a hurry. Be cool, use common sense and you will have success at this.

Aren’t you pretty safe in the car as long as the windows don’t break?

Reed Temmer doesn't have scary encounters with tornadoes, the guy built an armored car to drive into the path of a tornado and get hit.

1:13, Hi Plankton

Wait... did Jeff leave him for dead? Like, he didn't look in the rearview? I look in the rearview constantly - especially when someone's supposed to be following me. Is this some kinda unspoken chaser's code? Like someone freezing to death on Mt. Everest, it's understood that stopping to help will just doom you both?

Too much excitement and not common sense planning. Tell your driver to wait for you to get free onto the roadway before leaving. 🌪️ 🏠