The Crystal Lake Historical Society identifies it as the work of local photographer Jim Seymour (d.1988[1]) It is one of a batch of 21 photographic prints that was donated to the society in 2000. The Society is unaware of any prior publication.

The Society has featured Seymour's photos of the tornado aftermath in a slideshow on its website since at least 2010, although due to a technology change, it's not possible to verify with complete certainty that this photo was among them. Nevertheless, the physical print in the Society's collection is the only original source known and documented for this image.

The tornado took place in the United States in 1965

The rationale for hosting it on the Commons has been:

• a belief when the NWS general website disclaimer states that information on the site is "in the public domain, unless specifically noted otherwise" it necessarily means noted with a formal copyright notice, and that the absence of a formal notice accompanying an image equates to an assertion by the NWS that the image is in the public domain.
• a set of terms and conditions used for a time by the NWS Sioux City office for public contributions

However:

1. There is nothing to connect this image with the Sioux City office (it was published by the Chicago office)
2. A recent analysis of over 200 third-party images has found that whatever the NWS intends by "specifically noted otherwise" in their disclaimer, images that are known to be protected by copyright are routinely published on NWS websites without formal copyright notices, or sometimes without any attribution at all. Very many examples exist, spanning major media outlets, photographers who claim that they never relinquished their rights to their photos, and permissions granted to the NWS in public that did not include release into the public domain. Not a single one of these examples was published by the NWS with a formal copyright notice.

The most likely conclusion is that the NWS does not intend "specifically noted otherwise" to mean "specifically noted with a formal copyright notice". Alternatively, if that really is the intention of those words, the NWS has deviated from this intention so thoroughly as to render the disclaimer unreliable as an assertion of public domain status.

Copyright of images taken in the United States prior to March 1, 1989 depends on the circumstances of their first publication, rather than when they were actually taken. (see COM:HIRTLE).

This image might already have entered the public domain if it were first published before 1989 without meeting all the requirements for protection, but this cannot simply be assumed. Alternatively, for example, if it was first published in a book somewhere between 1965 and 1977 (and the formalities were correctly carried out), it will enter the public domain somewhere between 2061 and 2073. Or if the photo was never published before 1989, then it will pass into the public domain in 2059, 70 years after Seymour's death.

Without details of its first publication, we cannot assess the copyright status of this pre-1989 US image and therefore must delete it unless someone can provide this information.

Closing admins should familiarise themselves with the evidence and discussions at this RfC when closing this request.