First Surviving Tornado Photograph Captured in 1884

Adams, a Kansas fruit grower with prior photography experience, captured the first surviving photograph of a tornado on April 26, 1884. The image, taken near Garnett, Kansas, depicts a faint rope funnel against a washed-out sky, a result of the era's photographic technology limitations. This honest depiction is now widely credited by historians and meteorologists over more dramatic, but often retouched, images. The slow-moving nature of the tornado allowed Adams the necessary time to set up his heavy, tripod-bound plate camera and expose the image.