GARNETT — The first photograph of a tornado was taken in Anderson County in April 1884. An article written by Rebecca Martin for the Kansas Historical Society says farmer and amateur photographer A.A. Adams of Garnett took the photo of a tornado that was about 14 miles away from Garnett, the Anderson County Review reported. Garnett residents saw a funnel cloud in the western sky near Westphalia, and Adams assembled his box camera and captured the long, rope-like funnel, she wrote. He later sold souvenir cabinet cards and stereographs of the image. A photographer in South Dakota upstaged Adams with a more dramatic photograph of three tornadoes just four months later, the Review reported. That more dramatic photo was advertised as the first photographed tornadoes. However, experts now believe the South Dakota photo may have been doctored, and modern meteorologists says Adam’s photo is actually the first known photograph of a tornado.
Tuesday, June 25, 7 a.m.
