Tornado at Fridley-Brooklyn Park, MN, July 18, 1986

July 18, 1986 was a hot, sultry afternoon in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. A supercell thunderstorm and eventual tornado developed rapidly in the northern suburbs between Fridley and Brooklyn Park, Minnesota that afternoon. NBC affiliate KARE-TV "Sky 11" helicopter pilot Max Messmer and on-board photojournalist Tom Empey were in route to a different assignment when they caught view of the developing tornado and recorded a rare viewpoint of nearly the entire tornado lifecycle. The slow moving F2 tornado caused minor structural damage and remained over mostly rural areas near the Springbrook Nature Center, ripping large trees from the ground and tossing them like matchsticks.
KARE-TV broadcast the images live during it's late afternoon newscast as it happened and forever cemented this event in broadcast weather history. From a mesoscale meteorology standpoint, it remains the most detailed aerial viewpoint of vortex evolution chronicled to date. Contrast this video to laboratory models of the late 20th century and the similarities are eerily identical.
For comparison, Neil Ward's early laboratory vortex models can be viewed here: • Neil Ward, Interview a...
This raw unedited videotape begins with a ground perspective from a separate KARE-TV news crew in the vicinity of Fridley, featuring dozens of curious observers watching the tornado from a local Target store. Note how low contrast this view was relative to the more fluid news helicopter perspective.
The second half is the aerial view recorded by Tom Empey from the helicopter. This was the era of ENG news broadcasting where an actual photographer accompanied a pilot and operated a full-size video camera pointed out a side window or door. The video was stabilized by the incorporated Gyrocam™ lens adaptor that attached to a bayonet-style lens mount on a Sony BVP-style broadcast video camera, allowing for stable telephoto viewpoints. Occasional live dialogue between helicopter pilot Max Messmer, then KARE 11 chief meteorologist Paul Douglas, station anchors and production personnel can be heard occasionally during the live transmissions. Another television helicopter from WCCO-TV also captured video of this tornado as it occurred, but from a greater distance than the KARE 11 traffic crew. Lack of audio in spots reflects how the original videotape was recorded.
This was not the first time a tornado was broadcast live from a TV news helicopter. That feat goes to KWTV 9, the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City, near Clinton, Oklahoma on May 22, 1981.
A KARE 11 broadcast special, "Unheard Sirens" with many of the stories from this day can be viewed here: • Unheard Sirens: Minnea...
A full article on the event via the Minnesota Post here: www.minnpost.com/politics-pol...
All video courtesy and © KARE 11, All Rights Reserved.

[@JetEye-Knight]

I was 4 years old with my family at a graduation party in Fridley. My dad threw us in the basement. Other houses in the neighborhood were destroyed. One house fine the next destroyed the next fine the next destroyed. Fuels my fascination of tornadoes to this day.

[@SnowBall323]

Look at the multi vortex action on the helicopter footage! It's insane... Comparable to the 2011 Tuscolusa tornado.
The difference between the ground view appearance and the helicopter view is unbelievable. From the ground it's a much more conventional condensation funnel, but the helicopter footage is so much more unique and unconventional in appearance.

[@troysundt8406]

This is likely due to the fact that the upper portion of the condensation was rarely visible to the camera’s vantage point. At about 13:13 you can see the funnel briefly. It was a very wild tornado, exhibiting vortex breakdown during the majority of its life. Luckily, the way the parent storm formed, the minimal forward velocity and vortex breakdown never actually making it all the way to the ground all contributed to the ease of filming and the spectacular quality. Had vortex breakdown lowered anymore and spread out, this thing could easily have been an extremely violent multi-vortex tornado. While I get that the 80’s were a time of heavy competition in the news industry, the reckless behavior of the late Mr. Messmer could easily have resulted in the deaths of both himself and Mr. Empey. However, because luck was very much on their side that day, they provided incredible footage for not only the public but also invaluable footage for meteorologists which likely helped graduate that field from the infancy stage of learning about tornado development. So thank you to them both!

[@randytracy1742]

I can see there are two videos of the same tornado-but this is the one taken from a helicopter-I noticed the pilot had some difficulty focusing on it due to the wind from it. One concern was some people looking at it instead of taking cover from it that what the reporter from the station said-it was a good video,anyway!!😮😮😮