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This is a very serious situation.

This is now a confirmed tornado warning.

Seek shelter immediately. This is a real, live tornado.

Today's gonna be extremely windy.

And I wasn't planning on doing this, but I'm just gonna start

videoing everything, I think.

My name is Blake Brown, and I live in Amarillo, Texas.

So, in Amarillo, we have a lot of different versions of

weather, but coming into March, it changed people's mindset in

the way that-- how they need to treat weather.

The house is literally shaking, so I'm trying to get all

my gear loaded. It was already gusting to 70.

I knew it was gonna be probably one of the wildest like,

windy weather days we've ever had in the Texas Panhandle.

We do wanna begin with FOX 35 meteorologist Brooks Garner.

Danielle, good morning.

My name is Brooks Garner.

I'm a meteorologist in Orlando, Florida at FOX 35.

March of 2025, by far, was the most extreme month of

weather I've ever seen in my career.

We are in it through the weekend with over

150 million Americans in that danger zone for strong

to severe storms.

You've probably heard of the phrase El Niño

and maybe La Niña.

Well, in this case, we've been in La Niña, where it's been

unusually cold off of Ecuador.

And what that's done is push the jet stream really far north

for much of the winter.

And now, as we get deeper into this month of March, that jet

stream is being forced southward into all

of that hot air.

That is the match to the gasoline, the powder keg

that is the atmosphere,

producing this widespread severe weather.

It's the beginning of the wind season across much

of the Southern Tier.

They can easily gust over 70 miles per hour.

And when it's been extremely dry as it has here,

it can kick up dust known as haboobs.

That's an Arabic word to describe literally a blast of

sand or dust.

And it can be blinding.

And it can also cause deadly accidents.

I find a spot to pull over, 'cause the wind

is getting worse.

So the winds are picking up

dramatically.

I know that the highway is not a safe spot.

The visibility is almost zero in a lot

of locations around Amarillo.

So if you don't have to drive, do not drive.

Um, it's not a good idea.

At this moment, Amarillo is a no-drive zone.

The dust is making the situation way dangerous.

You already have pileups, wrecks happening everywhere.

Just looking at the devastation, it felt like

there was a lot of fatalities.

At this point in time, our computer models are saying

this is just the beginning.

The La Niña infused jet stream

producing huge storm systems is

minutes away from producing multiple tornadoes across

Missouri and Arkansas.

I'm extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer,

and I'm a storm chaser.

We intercept tornadoes with our armored vehicles,

the Dominators.

I'm chasing with other storm chasers.

Our goal is to live stream these tornadoes to warn people

on the path of these storms as they're happening.

If we get a tornado that touches down, we wanna live

stream it so that people know this dangerous storm is heading

toward their location.

There's Randy going that way.

Yeah.

Got it--

Targeting a tornado in the middle of the night,

it was very hard to predict,

and also very dangerous to chase.

This is a very violent, destructive tornado heading

right toward our direction.

It is heartbreaking to see a town with a damaged path

right through the heart.

A tornado outbreak is in progress

across multiple states.

And that same weather system is coming into Florida.

I'm based in Orlando, Florida. It's where I work at FOX 35.

That morning, I'm thinking, "Uh-oh, this is gonna be

a very busy morning of tracking storms."

This is a very, very significant situation.

The first thing I'm noticing is there's a really

high level of humidity.

I'm also observing an upper-level system in

the South that will be swinging through Florida later

this morning, and in doing so, producing wind shear,

which can produce tornadoes.

At this point, we're on alert.

Stop it right there.

Stop, stop, stop, and pull it out.

Do you see that area where the rain?

See that? That could be it, guys.

We could be looking at a tornado on camera.

And suddenly, I see the tornado...

and it's heading for where people live.

It's gonna be over Longwood Lake Mary Road right now.

And at this point, it's reaching EF2 strength

with winds over 120 mph.

And it is getting even stronger.

And it's just minutes away from hitting the FOX 35 studios

where I'm standing.

That could be it, guys.

We could be looking at a tornado on camera.

OK, there's debris. We've got debris on...

OK, take shelter.

2

The tornado is rapidly making an approach, but it's hidden

behind a sheet of blinding rain.

It's fight or flight.

I was really scared. I was managing my fear.

I'm a family man.

I've got three kids and a wife at home at this moment,

and I'm worrying about their safety.

Get below shelter.

I've been doing this for a very long time.

That's the first time a tornado has hit me while

I'm doing the weather.

This is the real deal.

And I'm hoping at this moment that people are heeding

the warning that they're getting to their safe spot.

My name is Amy Sweezy.

In Seminole County, we've had a lot of storms over the years.

I think there's always the fear that someone can be hurt in

a tornado, because I've seen it.

I'm looking at the trees bend.

I'm hearing the sound, the loud, loud, distinct sound.

I feel scared in that moment.

You know, things are starting to get really loud.

The wind is getting very noisy.

So at that point,

I'm thinking in the back of my brain, "Holy cow,

I am witnessing a tornado."

As I'm hearing the wind and seeing the power,

I'm thinking...

"I can't believe that this is happening to me.

I can't believe this is at my house."

And I'm looking at the stuff in the front yard,

and then I'm thinking,

where is this storm going?

Across this one evening, multiple tornadoes

are breaking out.

This is happening across the United States, from Florida

all the way to Missouri.

And it's all related to the same system, as there's

a battle between winter and spring.

My name is Tad Peters.

My dad and I were driving to Kokomo, Indiana.

That was our destination, to put on

a powerlifting competition.

We knew it was looking pretty bad, and that's why we pulled

off on in to Rolla to kind of let it pass us.

The emotions in that video are absolutely raw.

A little bit of anxiety, I guess, because you don't know

what's gonna happen.

And then that's when you start seeing the lights flicker.

Once it had passed and I had a time for my brain to just

stew it over, that's when I realized, "OK, we could've

very easily not be here right now."

And then that's when it started to digest a little bit.

It'd be bad for both of us to not be here, but I think

it'd be even worse for him not to be here and me survive.

I wouldn't want that.

Let's talk about the business side of this thing.

Now that we here at FOX 35 are safe, we've gotten through

this tornado, we've gotta talk about

folks in the path of this.

In Florida, our FOX 35 Storm Tracker radar is watching

the warnings in real time in utter disbelief,

because similar conditions are unfolding across

the Southern Tier.

All of a sudden, Arkansas is becoming an absolute powder keg

for a tornado outbreak.

My name is Taci Humphries, and I was born

and raised in Ash Flat, Arkansas.

I grew up on a farm.

I got my horse Blondie when I was 14 years old.

That day, it was very windy, like insane wind.

Even my sister decided not to ride that day,

which is very unlike her.

My name is Brian Emfinger.

I am a storm chaser from Arkansas.

So when the storm started to form,

I am keeping an eye on radar.

All of a sudden, my mom tells me to get in the basement.

She's like, "We need to go. This is serious."

The wind started really picking up, and I noticed

my dad coming down into the basement,

and that was just not like him.

And there was a panic in his voice

that sent chills down my body.

I was looking at my sister, and she was

screaming and crying.

I hold my sister's hand, and we take a moment of prayer.

2

So, as this tornado is going over,

I could hear the boards in my floor creak,

and they were, like,

almost pulling up.

And then I could hear stuff hitting the side of my house.

My ears are popping, and I can just hear the loud wind

whipping around us.

I'm Brian Emfinger.

I am a professional storm chaser.

I started going and doing the search and rescue.

So our house was completely totaled.

Is there a home here that's damaged or destroyed

that I need to tell these police to go check on?

And the first one I saw laying there was Blondie.

And she was trapped underneath a concrete trough,

and she was very, very still.

And so I went down to, like, put my hand on her

and see if she was still there.

And I couldn't feel her breathing.

My heart immediately drops.

You could tell the body language on the people in that

area that this was a horrible situation.

I just couldn't believe it.

She has been with me through so many things.

I wasn't anywhere ready to say goodbye to her.

And so I was just absolutely distraught.

A group of men lifted this 1,000-pound concrete

trough off of her.

And then all of a sudden, Blondie was up in perk

and looking around at everything.

I just couldn't believe it. She walked beautifully.

And so I was like, "There's no way, how is she OK?"

I was just happy we were all safe.

In what is now a relentless multi-state tornado outbreak

caused by low pressure systems and cold fronts coming in from

the west as there's a battle between winter and spring.

This is now an extremely dangerous situation.

In the same evening, the same storm system continues

its devastating trek northeast.

My name is Jerome Jose.

I lived in Oakville, Missouri, which is

approximately two and a half miles away from Arnold.

The evening, I started out with a basic weather advisory.

I would say living in Missouri for approximately 13 years at

the point, I really didn't pay the amount of respect

I should have.

After receiving so many warnings and nothing happening,

they're just exaggerating it. It's fine.

We don't have to worry about this.

I didn't know what was coming.

So that night, we're in a bar.

And that tornado warning then turned into

an emergency notification.

As it comes closer, you hear it.

I did not know I was being filmed.

I didn't even hear the lady. I couldn't hear anything.

I felt being pushed and pulled at the same exact time.

This is extraordinarily dangerous and serious.

This is probably one of the dumbest things

I've ever done.

2 I can't stop a tornado,

I can't hope to control it, I just have to survive it.

And I struggled for about two and a half minutes trying to

get these doors closed again.

These tornadoes are animals. These are beasts.

You really have to...

give them the respect that they deserve.

I am observing, we're observing these conditions using

the National Weather Service.

Our job is to warn where it's going and what

it's likely packing.

Just 16 hours after Arnold, Missouri, was hit,

a powerful low-pressure system is fueling the power for even

more dangerous extreme conditions.

My name is Terry Giles, and I live in Kerrville, Texas.

When we do get rainstorms, sometimes it gets...

pretty... it gets pretty bad.

All of a sudden, uh...

it's coming through the woods,

uh, you could hear it.

It scared me 'cause I thought it was a tornado.

It was a roar.

But it wound up being hail.

It was such a strong wind that was pushing it.

Never seen anything come in that forceful.

It was coming in like missiles. It was just crazy.

It was...

a god-awful sound like I'd never heard before.

I was scared to go outside and see how much damage had

actually been done.

If anyone would've been caught out in something like

that, it would kill 'em.

My mom and I were at a cheer competition in Galveston,

driving back from that. And all of a sudden,

the first hail hit my windshield.

Being in the heart of that storm was terrifying.

The hailstones were probably the size of a baseball.

They were quite large.

My brother came out to rescue us.

No one in Kerrville, I believe, has ever seen hail this size.

This was a freak storm. I mean,

it was so out of the ordinary.

It was just terrible.

I mean, a lot of people were hurt.

A lot of people were injured.

I just, I'm so thankful that I was in my car.

It absolutely was very terrifying.

During the month of March, the U.S.

is particularly susceptible toward large hail events.

But there's still a high chance of

a major tornado outbreak.

There's upper-level energy riding the boundary between

the cold polar air to the north and the warm subtropical air

to the south.

Everything is perfect for rotation in the sky

as air lifts and violent tornadoes to descend.

My name is DeJaun Lane,

and I live in Tylertown, Mississippi.

In Tylertown, we don't get a lot of storms.

I have never experienced a tornado.

All that's falling on Wayne house over there.

Oh!

When the trees went to swinging, I knew it was real.

- Camper's smooth gone. - Man.

It was clothes everywhere. It was debris everywhere.

2 Over the next several days, multiple tornadoes are

breaking out, resulting from the same weather system.

This is a force of nature that can't be controlled,

and it's continuing its damaging trek,

bringing devastation along its way.

2

Oh!

Literally in about five seconds, it looked like

the world was turned upside down.

I never saw anything of that nature, of that caliber.

I was very lucky. I was very fortunate.

If it was to re-happen again,

I'd be ducking instead of recording.

I'll never forget March of 2025.

This is by far the most active March I've ever seen in

my career and most people have ever seen in their lives.

March of 2025 was the number one for tornadoes

in U.S. history.

You've gotta go back to the 1930s, the Dust Bowl,

to find the frequency and intensity of dust storms

that we observed.

A lot of people are surprised to learn that the water

temperature of Ecuador affects our weather here in the U.S.

It can lead to droughts and heat waves, and it can also

impact the hurricane season.

That can cause a weather whiplash, and that's why March

featured so much weather madness.

I don't know when the next time I'm ever gonna see

Amarillo like that. Hopefully I never have to.

It was horrible.

Seeing what I've seen, kind of like the trauma level of that,

of just witnessing everything that I witnessed, I don't think

I'm ever gonna be able to get it out of my brain.

It's gonna be there forever.

Based on my experience, I am very observant of weather,

more observant.

And I pay a lot of respect to any advisories

and any notifications.

You don't really understand and truly respect

these warnings until you're faced with something like this.

Our house, it was a mess,

and so it made me absolutely terrified of tornadoes now.

I used to like storms.

I used to like the thunder and the rain, but my storm

anxiety now is through the roof.

It makes me very nervous.

It also makes my horses very nervous now.

They do not like wind or rain anymore.

So when she stood up, completely fine,

that's when the shock just took over.

I don't know what could've happened medically.

We've been puzzled about it since it happened.

I don't know if she was unconscious.

She was in shock.

It's miraculous,

and so the only thing I can think is that God really did

place a hand of protection over her that night.

Right now, Blondie is fat and happy, and she's enjoying

her days in the field and she just looks beautiful.

She's slicked off into her summer coat,

and she's shiny, and she loves all the attention

she's been getting.

That night, honestly, the only way I can refer to it

is the scariest night of my life.

But it's made me become more grateful for the experience

to get to do what I love,

because it can be over quick.