Never-Publicly-Shown Video Shows Plainfield Tornado Forming in DeKalb

Anyone who lived through the , which devastated Plainfield and killed 29 people, knows the "supercell" that spawned it began its formation in DeKalb.

Earlier this month, video of that cell coming together -- described as "never-before-seen footage" -- was posted on YouTube along with an account on the storm-chaser Web site, www.stormtrack.org.

It's a small taste and a scary reminder of what Plainfield experienced 21 years ago.

Member Gilbert Sebenste posted this account of how the video was shot and how he learned of its existence.

On a very hot and extremely humid late August day in 1990, a thunderstorm rapidly became a supercell and produced at least two known tornadoes.

One was near an Illinois State Police outpost near Pecatonica, IL captured by a news crew in Rockford at around 1:30 PM. It then went southeast over DeKalb, producing hail the size of golf balls and bigger at DeKalb around 2:45 PM. Then, of course, it produced a devastating
tornado in Crest Hill, Plainfield, and Joliet, IL around 3:15 PM
on that fateful day...August 28, 1990.

Unbeknownst to us all, a young man by the name of Jay Orbik, then a helper at NIU Media Services, grabbed a professional video camera and tripod and ran to the top of the Huskie Stadium with two associates as the storm approached.

Jay never caught the Plainfield tornado, and apparently never
thought the video was of great worth. He did say he saw a brief
spin-up just south of the stadium that my current boss saw lift a
half-full heavy dumpster and throw it across the road. Alas, Jay was moving the camera and didn't catch it except with his eyeballs. I am still left to wonder if we had an EF-0 here on campus with that supercell, but the evidence is mounting.

All that said, I was talking with Jay in a casual Facebook conversation about my chase that day, and he told me of this video. When I saw it, my jaw dropped. With his permission, he has graciously allowed me to make it publicly available to one and all. And with his permission, I have uploaded it to my YouTube account for everyone to see. The first part of the video is the most interesting.

To see the video, click here. Be forewarned the video contains some profanity that might be inappropriate for children and offensive to some.