Ty Newcomb is a commercial photographer who occasionally chases storms. Over the weekend, he captured a stunning video of a tornado in South Dakota. The footage shot from his iPhone appears to show the tornado dissipating into a rope tornado. NOAA describes rope tornadoes as tornadoes in their final minutes.
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“Yesterday I witnessed what was probably the most incredible tornado intercept I’ll ever have in my life,” Newcomb wrote in his Instagram video sharing the footage. “Words can’t describe the awesome power and experience this truly was.”
Newcomb said his video is from Clear Lake, South Dakota. In fact, the National Weather Service said it received “a half-dozen tornado reports” from South Dakota’s Deuel County, which includes Clear Lake.
“Storm chasers were on hand and close to the rural twisters, which destroyed at least one home and left widespread tree damage in their wake,” added the National Weather Service.
After a slew of comments saying there’s no way his footage was real, Newcomb updated his caption to read: “THIS IS NOT AI.”
See the nearly-unbelievable video of a tornado in South Dakota here:
Here’s another video of the same twister from Newcomb:
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