Let's call it a mistake, not a hoax: The story of the pickup truck reportedly carried 27 miles by a tornado last week in Arkansas is false.
A pickup truck reportedly was picked up by a tornado April 27 in Mayflower, Ark., and carried to near Vilonia, Ark., according to meteorologist Darby Bybee of KHBS-TV in Fort Smith. But it didn't happen:
The story was the result of confusion on the part of the truck owner, said National Weather Service meteorologist James LaDue. I don't know how, but he apparently was confused about the starting location of his truck. Therefore the story has been debunked.
There was healthy skepticism when the story first came out: That's so far beyond reasonable that I don't know anyone in the tornado community that thinks it's believable, said tornado researcher Harold Brooks, a meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.
Randy Cerveny, a geography professor at Arizona State University, said, I haven't heard of trucks being thrown that far. He did know of other large objects tossed a short distance, though, such as trains and cars.
An 1877 tornado in Illinois reportedly carried the spire, vane and guilded ball of a Methodist church 15 miles, according to Cerveny's book Freaks of the Storm.
The world record for an object thrown farthest by a tornado: A personal check was carried 223 miles on April 11, 1991, from Stockton, Kan., to Winnetoon, Neb.
The Arkansas tornado carried winds of at least 180 mph, traveled 41 miles on a path that included Mayflower and Vilonia, Ark., and killed 16 people.
