Tornadoes. Anyone seen any in person? Got any pix?

[ghostmechanic]

Like it says. Errr, asks. Anyone ever see any in person. I want to read your stories. Better still, have any good pictures. I don't have any pixtures my self.

But when I was a kid I got to see 2 of them up close & personal. Both at different ages in my life. Neither of them were particuliarly huge or anything but the first 1 I saw, I was in 3rd grade & at school. I looked out the window when we were being rushed to the auditorium for our shelter. I found out later when I was walking home from school what they can do. And there is no rhyme or reason for what they do. I saw trees just twisted up like pretzels. I saw that it had hit my neighbors house & torn the crap out of their roof. Then it skipped past our house (my parents always said they wished 1 would take out our roof) & got the one accross the street from us.

The second 1 I saw, I was in 7th grade. I was at home by myself & I heard the sirens. I hit the deck. I went into the hallway & hid. I had a friend show up at the door & he looked like he saw a ghost. Just white as a sheet & scared to death. He had been at baseball practice at the field near my house & was walking home. 1 of them came out of the sky. He said it was behind him & about to touch the ground. I can only assume now that he was just a scared kid & it just seemed to be that close. But, he had told me that he got in the ditch & crawled into a culvert & it went over his head. Anyway, when he showed up, we saw it going back into the clouds a few blocks away to the East.

I just want to read other stories or see pictures. I am fascinated with tornadoes for some reason. Even though they scare the hell out of me.

[Sport Flyer]

You mean like these?

We had a class 4 go through a month ago, and a class 2 a week later.

[Mark Wood]

I've told my wife who is also a dyed in the wool storm chaser that before I die I want to see a tormado up close. She said that might just be how it works out. I told her, "so be it".

mw

[ghostmechanic]

Those are SWEET pictures. I hope no one was hurt? And yes, that is what I want to see. I would love to see some good video. Next time, take a video camera. LOL

[Sport Flyer]

The class 2 was a swing and a miss. The class 4 took out a row of houses, grain bins, flattened one business and tossed some semi trucks and a minivan around, but luckily killed no one. I'll check my emails - I should have some pics of it from someone's yard.

[Chuck]

Living in Texas and Oklahoma, I've seen several. One took half the roof off my parents' house, one totally destroyed my ex sister in law's house, several other kinfolk have had up close and personal encounters with 'em. Saw one in Little Rock in '86. I don't think it ever touched down, but it was close. Saw and helped clean up the aftermath of several when I was a VF. I don't need to ever see another one.


Chuck

[Sport Flyer]

Here's a pic of that class 4 from someone's yard. The row of houses it took out are about a block away. I have pics of those too, but they're imbedded in a slide show so I'm not sure if I'll be able to post them.

[ghostmechanic]

Living in Texas and Oklahoma, I've seen several.
Chuck
Yeah, I know what you mean about the are. I live in the FAR S.E. corner of Kansas. I am less than a mile North of the Oklahoma state line. And, only 18 mile West of the Missouri state line. I forgot I never changed back my location on my avatar thingy.

Thanks guys. Keep it up! I'm very interested.

[Majortomski]

Seen u'm yep, pix, no

NW side of OKC

[JerryHall]

We live in central Nebraska, and it is not uncommon to be sent to the storm shelter at least 4-6 times each Spring..
I survived the tornado outbreak in Grand Island, Nebraska June 3, 1980...7 tornados over a 3 1/2 hour period pretty well messed up a city of 40,000.. Look on Google and search for Grand Island Tornado...Numerous stories regarding that storm...That storm produced a super cell with almost no movement...Average speed to the South East of about 3 knots/hr..A meteroligist friend of mine told me that the cell was in excess of 35 miles in diameter and had tops to 77,000 feet, Unherd of heights for this latitude..
In 1986, I watched a tornado slide by my house about a 1/3 mile to the West...It continued on to eventually run into and tip over 43 unloaded coal cars of about 120 or so traveling west on the BNSF railroad..
I was in a storm with one in it at Ainsworth, Nebr in about 1960.. One victim was a farmstead that was completely destroyed to the point that even the sod lawn was stripped...Only bare dirt was left..Some of is cattle were impaled in trees as far away as 1/2 mile...I remember seeing a couple of chickens with no feathers...Still don't know how they survived..
Back in the 1950s, on a ranch south of Ainsworth, a lady and her son were hiding in the potato celler during a tornado...The roar of the storm subsided and they could hear a young calf bawling...The sound was very close and upon trying to open the lower doors, they found them to be jammed...They were trapped for several hours till a neighbor came along and saw the house and outbuildings gone...He herd the cries for help and went to the celler to find the piano from the house in the stairway trapping the calf at the bottom of the stairs and holding the door closed...He was able to get a chain around the piano and pulled it out with his pickup, freeing the family..
I have seen oat straws driven into telephone poles after a tornado..
Pictures, No...Too busy at the time digging foxholes...

Be sure to check out the Google link...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=grand+island+tornado&btnG=Google+Search

[ghostmechanic]

Yeah, I have seen shingles off of a roof driven into wooden siding on the house next to it like they were throwing stars. Solid brick buildings brought down like they had exploded. Crazy stuff.

[Twizter68]

Was working on the flightline at VFA-125 on NAS Lemoore, CA, in 1998 when a small tornado touched down; we had been under a storm warning, but the Maintenance Cheif was pressing us to get a tire changed before the next shift, so away we went to get it done. Heard "that train noise", looked up and saw the funnel forming. My shipmate and I hotfooted back to the hangar, went into Maint. Control and told the Cheif we were not going back out until the all clear sounded. He asked where our tools were, and my bud replied "Probably in Fresno by now...."

[seanpcola]

We get them here occasionally, also waterspouts which do some interesting damage to boats and property along the waterfront. Had one completely twist a 25 foot pine tree more than 360 degrees in my back yard once.

All this talk reminds me of the movie "Twister" and an interesting observation of it made by comedian Tim Wilson: " Explain to me how a tornado can drive a broom straw through a 4 x 4 but fails to pull the bra and panties off of Helen Hunt". :p :D

[ghostmechanic]

Funny stuff! I LOVE the movie Twister.