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how to spot the tornado in the image? i’m confused… is the whole tornado a wall cloud? is it the Nashville high-end EF3 or the cookeville EF4 tornado? Beluga732 (talk) 22:46, 18 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have serious doubts about the authenticity of the tornado image in the article, including whether it was truthfully even taken in Cookeville. The image mentions it was taken from Reddit, and searching the image on Reddit reveals a high level of skepticism even from users there. I propose that this image be discussed and potentially removed unless it can be otherwise proven that the picture was taken in Cookeville on March 3. United States Man (talk) 19:46, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Genuine question, what leads these doubts? I'm trying to understand why an image has garnered so much discussion (see above and ChessEric's talk page). Either way, support removal till this can be resolved. E_F⁵ 19:57, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have doubts because I don’t see any proof that it is the tornado it claims to be. Anyone can put an image on Reddit and call it whatever they want. Doesn’t necessarily make it true. If it is of that tornado, I’d like to see an actual source confirming such. United States Man (talk) 20:03, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• WeatherWriter Investigation:

1. Photo posted on Reddit with the title: "About the only known photo of the Cookeville supercell". In the text of the post, CCuff2003 (the poster), stated, "Is this actually a picture of the tornado? I’ve heard people say yes and no, and I want to know what the actual answer is. I enhanced the photo on slide 2 in my camera app, it highlighted some things I hadn’t seen before". This post was made on October 26, 2024.
2. In the Comments to the Reddit post by CCuff2003, another user, buildermanunofficial commented saying "No footage of Cookeville exists really. There is the dash cam video but that doesn't show it either. Unexpected environment dropped a violent tornado, leading the NWS to have a 8 minute lead time. With most asleep, barely anyone would've been up to record the tornado going through if you were able to see it."
3. On September 15, 2022, another Reddit user, JewishPride07, made a now archived post on r/tornado, with the photo saying "The only known photo of the Cookeville tornado that killed 19. As it hit at 3 AM and rapidly intensified with residents having virtually zero warning. I lived on the eastern side of the county at the time and found out later that around the time we awoke to the tornado warning alerts was the same time Charleston Square neighborhood was being torn apart." The issue is, they also linked the Wikipedia article (at the time, the Tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2020 article).
4. According to Google reverse images search, there is no other usage of this photograph, with the first usage in September 2022.
5. A look at Tineye gives a single result back...from Twitter.
6. On March 4, 2020, a user on Twitter, fatdial1, replied to a post by NWS Nashville with this photo saying, "This was taken in Cookeville during the tornado."
7. Fatdial1 has a lot of retweets of University of Tennessee football information and they do not appear to be a storm chaser.

So, in my opinion, there is no doubt this was a photo of the Cookeville tornado, taken by a local resident of Cookeville, which was actually submitted as a photo of the Cookeville tornado to the National Weather Service the day after the tornado. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 20:15, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If so, then okay. I don’t have a problem with the image. I just want to make sure we’re putting reputable information on here. United States Man (talk) 21:20, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Although I still wouldn’t call scouring Twitter and Reddit reliable. Seems more like WP:OR to me. United States Man (talk) 21:28, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If that's been decided. I tried and failed to find where this photo was taken (Google Maps search "cookeville apartments", satellite / street view) but couldn't find any, and I'll admit my search wasn't that deep. However, upon my inspection of the image, I'm unsure if the image depicts the tornado instead of merely the parent supercell. I'm fairly sure that the foreground cloud is the storm's wall cloud, and that the image is looking north / northwest into the storm's forward-flank downdraft based on the lack of rain, and I see nothing touching the ground upon increasing contrast. Departure– (talk) 21:31, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'll also note the other infobox photo is under a PD-US Gov claim but clearly and conspicuously states it's using Google Earth imagery thus invalidating the file's free status. Departure– (talk) Departure– (talk) 01:51, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to me that the only sources attesting this to being of the Cookeville tornado are randos on Twitter and Reddit. That's not even remotely WP:RS. TornadoLGS (talk) 01:31, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment If there is no better indication than Twitter/forum posts that this is what it claims to be, it should not be presented factually as an image of this specific tornado (and it seems there is even disagreement among the forum/Twitter users). That is not sufficient support to present it as fact that the image is of this particular tornado. I do see some comments above that the image was submitted to the National Weather Service; has NWS made any statements in regards to the image's authenticity? If not, and it's just chatter on forums, this will need to be removed. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 03:59, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• Agreed with Seraphimblade. We're not user generated content, even if we're pretty sure the twitter/reddit users are right. We should wait until a reliable source publishes the picture, or gives indication of its validity. Moishe Rosenbaum (talk) 16:41, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]