Jeremy Kappell on his 1974 tornado outbreak documentary

Former local meteorologist Jeremy Kappell talked about his documentary on the 1974 tornadoes called "The Super Outbreak"...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We're going to bring in longtime meteorologicalfriend Jeremy Cappel, who's back in the
area today. Jeremy, welcome back. Hey Terry, good to be back
as always. Brother. Are youstill living in New York State? No,
I'm back home again in Indiana.Oh excellent, Hey, Gomer Pile,
that sounded right back home again,right in the fields I used to

(00:23):
roam or something like that. Iknow that you've put together a documentary about
the super outbreak. Tell me aboutit. Yeah, yeah, thanks,
Terry. So you know, mywhole my old career has been personally connected
with the April third, nineteen seventyfour super outbreak. On that day in
f five took out my parents' grandparents'homes one year before I was born.

(00:47):
It destroyed my father's place of business, the global storm did, and anyway,
just growing up with the stories ofthat day, I got involved with
WHETHER very early. During my timewith TV. I was able to contribute
to two different pieces concerning April third, seventy four projects, including the thirtieth
anniversary edition that I did when Iwas with WHAS in Louisville, and then

(01:10):
more recently ten years ago during mytime at WDRB. But since getting out
of TV, this was my firstopportunity to really try to put a work
together. So this is completely independentand I knew ten years ago that this
was going to be this was goingto be the biggest opportunity for people to
remember the most historical tornado outbreak inthe history of the world. And so

(01:34):
the fiftieth anniversary is upon us.I wanted to make sure that I did
something. I did something that Icould be proud of, and I'm happy
to say that we've achieved that.I was watching in a little while ago
on YouTube the super outbreak, theday weather changed forever. Your video clips
or film clips or astounding I guessit's film. You must have transferred over

(01:55):
some of those clips. I mean, wow that people took of storms that
have just come at them. Yeah, well, you know, in fifty
years, the storms themselves haven't changedthat much, but the way that we
record them, the way that wecapture them do But the importance of this
film, I thought, was tomake sure that I preserved the oral history

(02:17):
of what occurred on that day,because while we've seen our share of tornadoes,
just look at yesterday, we stillhave not seen anything that compares to
what occurred on that day fifty yearsago, especially when it comes to this
area, you could think about someof the let's go ahead. I was
just going to say, Jeremy,a couple of you. You notice you
make note of in this that justa couple of years ago, the one

(02:38):
that went through Mayfield, Kentucky wasan E four, so didn't quite reach
that level, but we saw thatstunning devastation and thought that had to be
the worst of the worst in termsof what nature can produce. Yeah,
and you think about that that storm, and that storm was incredible, incredibly
powerful storm referred to occur that partof the year December and I made it

(03:00):
very, very dangerous. But youthink of that storm, and then you
think a few years ago the Hendryvillestorm of March second, twenty twelve,
that was a powerful EF four aswell. We know about the headlines that
that thing made for weeks afterwards.Well, in April third, nineteen seventy
four, there wasn't just a coupleEF fours, there were twenty three of
them, So twenty three storms asstrong as Mayfield or as strong as Hendryville

(03:23):
on the same day. In addition, there were seven F fives that day,
and we have never seen a daylike that, you know, even
prior to seventy four, there hasnever been more than two EF fives in
a single day. That day therewere seven, and two of them right
here in the local area the Louisvillemarket. Actually three of them, not

(03:44):
far if you include the one upin Sailor Park, but right here within
a short drive of Louisville, youhad an F FI that just a blilderated
the town of Brandenburg, as manypeople know. In fact, I'm about
to attend a memorial service in Brandenburgcommemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the events.
But there was also the storm acrosssouthern Indiana that leveled parts at the Paul
Palmara Daisy Hill, and that stormalso reaching F five status, which you

(04:10):
know, which is amazing considering thefact that an entire year will go by
oftentimes without seeing a single F five. Sometimes you go decades without seeing one.
In the United States, as isthe case right now. You have
to go back to twenty thirteen,the last time the US has seen an
EF five tornado. That was inMore, Oklahoma, So you have to
go back eleven years since we've hadthe last EF five, but on that

(04:32):
day there were seven incredible and thenagain back to your documentary, The Super
Outbreak, the day Weather Changed Forever, that Oklahoma tornado from what was what
did you say, twenty thirteen?Twenty thirteen? Yeh, incredible, incredible
footage of that. So you reallydid great work on this just to put

(04:53):
it together and show people right upclose what happens and obviously the aftermath of
this. So great work on this. Where do people We'll find The Super
Outbreak your documentary, okay, Terry, Yeah, thank you for asking.
So its home is on the website, the Super Outbreak dot com, the
Super Outbreak dot com, and youcan also find it on YouTube that's at

(05:16):
Jeremy Cappell j E R E My K A P P E l L.
And you know, Terry, duringmy time in TV, I was
very privileged to be able to reporton a lot of what occurred in seventy
four, but I was kind oftethered. You know, when you're in
TV, you got to keep itfast, you got to keep it snippy,
and so you're kind of limited tothree four minute pieces. So I

(05:36):
wanted to make sure that I gave, you know, I gave enough for
this one for the survivors to reallytell their full story. Same thing with
the experts I was able to interviewfor this. I wanted them to tell
the story behind the story, andI believe that we accomplished that in this
full length, fifty two minute documentary. Again, the title the Super Outbreak

(05:58):
the Day whether changed Forever. Yeah, those stories from those folks are compelling.
But you did a nice job puttingall this together. So Jeremy,
it's great talking to you again.And people can find you again online.
That is just Jeremy Caapple dot com. Is that what you said. You
can find me on my website's capelweatherdot com. But the you can also
find me through the where we wantpeople to go with the Super Outbreak dot

(06:21):
comments, Fine break dot comments,Well they'll find that documentary. You can
find me there as well. Allright, great to hear your voice again.
Likewise, Terry, thank you somuch for having me talk to you
down the road. Hibody. Hi. Jeremy Capple, former meteorologists for WHASE
eleven. He was also on WDRBand then spent time in Rochester, New

(06:42):
York. When he's back, Ithink he's a Southern Indian, a native,
and is back in this general areaagain, and he's put together a
really incredible documentary these Super Outbreaks.You want to read about what happened here
fifty years ago, that's one thing, but boy, to see the video
and film pieces that he's strung togethera pretty astounding The Super Outbreak dot Com

(07:05):
all right, Van Vance was goingto join us after four o'clock. He
was at work that day fifty yearsago. He's the sportscaster guy and he
was set to call a game thatdidn't happen in Freedom Hall that night,
but he was the afternoon sports guyon WHS radio. We wound up doing
that for a long long time,and we had a funny chat last night.

(07:25):
He'll join us a little after fouron NewsRadio eight forty whas