Tornado Chaser FAIL: Amateur Tornado Chaser Has Close Encounter In Novinger, Missouri

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It takes a lot of guts to be a Tornado Chaser. But it also takes a lot of smarts. Most “Tornado Chasers” are scientists or meteorologists who are chasing Tornadoes to gather scientific data and are pretty good about keeping a safe distance from their subjects… this guy, not so much.

As you can see in this video clip on LiveLeak, the guy is probably a thrill-seeker inspired by the movie Twister and looking for fame on YouTube. On May 13th he decided to chase a tornado in Novinger, Missouri (USA) by himself. But instead of “chasing” the tornado, he ends up intercepting it and driving his Camaro right into the center. Once he realizes his mistake, he can be heard repeatedly calling on God to save him.

“At first I got within a hundred yards and that was enough, but it was hard to judge its movement and later it caught up to me and passed over the car! This was in Novinger Missouri around 5:50pm 13 MAY 2009. I shouldn’t have followed that cop to pull over…I didn’t see behind me how close it was and it was too late.”

The camera work is a little shaky, but he was driving 100 MPH in the rain with a camera in his hand and a tornado on his ass. Who knows, maybe this amateur Tornado Chaser has a death wish. As you might imagine, the clip is spreading like wildfire on the Internets.

Here’s another video of the tornado from someone who kept a safe distance between themselves and the deadly tornado.

WARNING: Kids, don’t try this at home.