Man Mowing Lawn During Tornado Is Turning Into Weather Meme Of 2017

Theunis Wellels mows his lawn while
a large tornado spins in the background
last week in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada.

Have you seen the photo in this post yet?

You probably have, but that's OK.  

Last week, a large tornado passed through some open country near Three Hills, Alberta, Canada. As you can see in the photo, as the tornado raged in the background, a buy named Theunis Wessels calmly mowed his lawn.

His wife, Ceclia, snapped the photo, in between entreaties to get her husband to come into the house already.

Hey, you gotta get the lawn work done, right?

According to CBC, Wessels said the tornado was further away from him than it looks in the photo, and that it was moving away from him. "I was keeping an eye on it," he said.

The photo is funny, but still, in a brief serious note, what the guy did isn't safe, as you'd expect.

First, there's a slight chance the tornado could have changed directions, but Wessel is right, it appears by the slant of the tornado it was heading away from him.

But no doubt the tornado was produced by a supercell thunderstorm, which could have touched off another satellite tornado right near him, or suddenly started dropping large, dangerous hail on his head, or zapped him with lightning.

The lawn really could have waited. (Hell, I'm wimping out on mowing the lawn today because there's a steady light rain out there.)

Some people on social media imagined conversations before the photo was taken. Like this imaginary exchange:

Grandma: "Didn't I tell you to mow the lawn?"
Grandson: "But there's a tornado outside.
Grandma: "So is my switch."

This isn't the first time I've seen somebody do something crazy in extreme weather in the name of making the lawn look nice. In the video below, you'll see some oddball six years ago mowing the lawn amid golf ball sized hail.

Must have been painful.

Watch: