Storm chaser watches tractor trailer drive directly into Kansas tornado

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Storm chaser watches tractor trailer drive directly into Kansas tornado

Severe weather blitzed the central United States over the weekend, and AccuWeather Storm Chaser and Meteorologist Tony Laubach witnessed a near-catastrophe in northwestern Kansas on Sunday afternoon as a massive tornado touched down.

“As we came up, we didn’t see the tornado right away, and then as we got closer, we could see just this monster tornado on the highway,” Laubach said. Just after stopping a few hundred yards from the towering twister, he watched two tractor trailers pass him, driving directly into the tornado.

An arrow pointing at a tractor trailer just seconds before a tornado swept it off the highway in Grinnell, Kansas, on May 19, 2025. (AccuWeather/Tony Laubach)

The two trucks were tossed off the highway by the powerful winds, and Laubach was worried the worst had happened. “I’m thinking, oh my God, everybody’s dead,” he recalled. “We checked on the driver of the semi, and he was hurt, but he was responsive and I’m like looking around at the other cars and kind of took a deep breath.”

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A tractor trailer and several other vehicles that were tossed into a field in Grinnell, Kansas, during a tornado on May 19, 2025. (AccuWeather/Tony Laubach)

The field near the highway was littered with destroyed cars, but fortunately, they were all empty as they were being transported on the back of one of the tractor trailers.

“A harrowing experience, just absolutely terrifying,” Laubach said. “Thank God they were OK.”

This was one of 30 preliminary tornado reports received by the Storm Prediction Center on Sunday, with twisters touching down in five states.

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