The opening shot is of both tornadoes near Wakefield, before cutting to shots of the tornadoes impacting a farm and the resulting damage. It cuts to a broad view of the two tornadoes starting to merge at the 1:20 mark.

Pilger was severely damaged by the storms, with many buildings outright flattened. A tornado warning remains in effect for the region through Tuesday morning.

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Multiple, indpendent strong tornadoes are highly uncommon. In 1965, a pair of tornadoes touched down together in Indiana on Palm Sunday [left, credit: NOAA], and in 1980, so many tornadoes touched down in one night from a single massive storm system in Nebraska that it became the real-life inspiration for a disaster movie. This pair of twisters are unusual for being high-magnitude, independent events, and are scientifically puzzling for both rotating the same direction.

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It's more common to have pairs of related tornadoes. For example, in 2011 night tornado in Iowa spun apart into twins. Even more common is satellite tornadoes, where a small funnel rotates around the larger, primary tornado. Dennis Mersereau on The Vane has more on the mechanics, along with more photographs, as does Andrew Freeman on Mashable.

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