(July 18th, 1986. With audio)

Rarely-seen footage of the famous "forest" tornado as a young funnel.

On the ground for around 16 minutes, and had an F1-F2 rating. The KARE11 TV station made weather history when helicopter pilot Max Messmer was flying out to cover an unrelated story and noticed a funnel cloud forming over the Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley. Photojournalist Tom Empey was on board the chopper and shot amazing and unprecedented video of the twister. They circled it as it whipped up tree branches until it dissipated; the entire film was shown live on TV (some of you might even remember seeing it!) and was the first aerial shot of a tornado's entire lifecycle. Some say the tornado was merely showing off for the camera, as it remained almost completely stationary during the entire recording.

Credit: Tom Empey, KARE11 TV, Max Messmer (chopper pilot) (less)