Who here has witnessed a tornado?

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GAStorm
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Who here has witnessed a tornado?

#1 Postby GAStorm » Fri May 07, 2004 5:04 pm

Just curios to see if anybody here has been in a tornado? I had a close encounter last Thursday night, and actually saw a funnel in the intense lightning. I was driving on I-10 in FL, and a tornado touched down probably less than a mile of the highway. Hail, heavy rain, intense lightning, and very strong winds were a part of my drive to the beach! :eek: This was the first time I have ever been that close to coming head on with one, and it was definitely an experience! :wink:
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Rainband

#2 Postby Rainband » Fri May 07, 2004 5:15 pm

Wow!! sound like that was excting and scary at the same time!! :eek:
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#3 Postby GAStorm » Fri May 07, 2004 6:24 pm

Rainband wrote:Wow!! sound like that was excting and scary at the same time!!


It sure was Johnathan! I was listening to the radio, and they quickly went from announcing a severe thunderstorm warning, to a tornado warning. Definitely not much time to figure out where it was!
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Opal storm

Hey

#4 Postby Opal storm » Fri May 07, 2004 6:25 pm

Hey,DeFuniak Springs,Fl got hit by a tornado last thursday night!It did some damage too.

I have seen several waterspouts before but never a tornado.
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Rainband

#5 Postby Rainband » Fri May 07, 2004 6:35 pm

GAStorm wrote:
It sure was Johnathan! I was listening to the radio, and they quickly went from announcing a severe thunderstorm warning, to a tornado warning. Definitely not much time to figure out where it was!
Glad your safe!! :)
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#6 Postby GAStorm » Fri May 07, 2004 6:44 pm

Opal storm wrote:Hey,DeFuniak Springs,Fl got hit by a tornado last thursday night!It did some damage too. I have seen several waterspouts before but never a tornado.


That is the area I was driving! Actually, Westville was where the official report was, and where the tornado did some damage. Here is a link to a map that shows that area, and how close it is to the interstate. Pretty scary for sure! :eek:

http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapsurf ... mapnew.con
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#7 Postby GAStorm » Fri May 07, 2004 6:53 pm

Rainband wrote:Glad your safe!! :)


Me too Johnathan! If I ever get to see one again, I hope it is during the day. I was unable to see anything for a period of time once I got close to it. The lightning was not even visible which made it even worse! :eek:
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#8 Postby wx247 » Fri May 07, 2004 7:07 pm

Wow!!! A little close, eh?

I have witnessed three tornadoes (not at the same time).
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Suzi Q

#9 Postby Suzi Q » Fri May 07, 2004 7:11 pm

Me, Me, Me-HEY OVER HERE!!!!!!!!! I've seen around 7 or 8 I guess lifetime.

Of course, I've only been chasing a years so that total is bound to go WAY up before I'm through.

:clap: :slime:
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#10 Postby Stephanie » Fri May 07, 2004 8:14 pm

That must've been one heck of an experience! I'm glad that you're okay!
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#11 Postby Guest » Fri May 07, 2004 8:38 pm

See my link below for my one time expierence with a tornado. One of these days i am gonna work on those stories again.

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4729&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20
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#12 Postby mountain gal » Fri May 07, 2004 10:57 pm

Hello everyone! I am new here so i thought this would be a good way to introduce myself and share my experiences with a couple tornadoes.

I grew up in Montgomery Alabama very skiddish of storms why don't know but, that fear has turned into quite the obsession. In 1984 i was in 6th grade. On May 3rd i got up to get ready for school and after being only up 5 minutes the sirens went off. Between 6am-8:30am we were under 3 seperate tornado warnings. Nothing near me but, delayed me going to school until 9:30. The next few hours seemed quite tranquil skies cleared and it was beautiful outside (little did i know what was coming).

I went to lunch and had just returned to my desk and picked up my pencil and the sirens went off again. Thinking it was a false alarm but, nonetheless the first one out the door. I swear to my dying day we went from a picture perfect sky to absolute pitch black skies (looked like night outside) in less than 10 minutes. My school was T shaped and we had our coach at the back watching and the principal up by me watching and another teacher at the other door. It was really windy raining and large hail outside then all a sudden it went dead quiet and all you could hear was what sound like a train getting louder and louder. Our coach motion to our principal to look out the front doors. Which i did too since i was at that corner of the hall diagonally from the doors and there it was getting closer and louder. I had a cool principal never got upset but this one time i saw her freak out. She screamed teachers hit the floor and I KNEW we were in deep trouble. It came across the lawn of the school and then bounced over us. As it did this all the doors in the building were slamming open and shut at the same time and with the roar over us it was impossible to hear anything much less think. I was scared beyond belief. I had debris flying all around us. It touched back down in the back of the school and destroyed the playground. Whew it is gone we can get up and go home. WRONG. Two more additional warnings were issued after this and i was at school until 4pm. Needless to say it put a fear in me but, an obsession to know all i could to know when they were coming.

I have seen another tornado form less than two miles from me in IL while in the hospital. Very cool to see. I have experienced some wicked wall clouds too. So needless to say i am a weather nut. Sorry so long but, could find a way to tell the story better.

mountaingal (sandy)
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#13 Postby Wnghs2007 » Fri May 07, 2004 11:07 pm

WOW Sandy I cant believe that. Poor you must of thought everything was alright and then bam. IT HIT. Thanks for the story.
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#14 Postby Guest » Fri May 07, 2004 11:36 pm

I have had several nstances of near viewing of a tornado or of being in a tornado that was on the ground.

July 15, 1988 This was the day that the Iowa portion of the Omaha metro area was hit by a tornado. Council Bluffs, Iowa sustained substantial damage in some areas with just over three dozen injuries.

Back then, I was 7 years old; my brother was about 2 and 1/2 years. It was a cloudy, showery morning when both my mom, my brother and I went out with my grandma to yard sales.

We came home for the afternoon. My brother was napping, while my mom was in the bathroom. I was setting up a board game in the living room, where I could see the west-southwest very well, for my mom and I to play.

I pointed out to my mom that it looked like midnight (at 330pm) to the west with a couple cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. We went ahead and started our game. We did not get very far as the sirens begin to wail for a tornado warning.

My mom went upstairs to get my brother up from his nap and we all went downstairs to our laundry room (my dad was at work). Listening to the radio, they indicated a possible funnel over the Missouri River near downtown Omaha. The announcers were quite concerned as Council Bluffs was warned for a tornado with a tornado on the ground.

After the event, it looked like something came through west Omaha, we went sightseeing to look at some of the damage around our suburb. Trees were down in areas, but nothing major. However, the news showed Council Bluffs and the minor to moderate structural damage that resulted.

May 14, 2003 This more recent day is quite interesting because my area was just on the fringe of a GENERAL thunderstorm outlook. The forrecast called for only some isolated instability showers in the afternoon. About 12:15pm, that forecast went out the window!

Weather alert goes off for severe hail near Norfolk, NE, moving southeast at a moderate speed. Of course, I am like "this is interesting." I am home alone with my then 2 1/2 old femal golden retriever. As the storm warnings approached the Omaha metro area from the northwest, it was a huge contrast: blue sky to the southeast, even west, with dakening skies to the north and northwest.

About 1:15pm, the Omaha metro comes under a severe thunderstorm warning. The sky sure looked wicked, something that I have not seen for awhile.

This is where I begin to "play storm spotter". I noticed more of a wall cloud to the system just "outside my door". "That looks like a funnel. I would not be surprised if this goes tornado warning." About 1 minute later, I hear the faint sound of the sirens, followed by the weather radio just a floor below, and my dog and I scoot downstairs.

The warning indicated that a funnel cloud was sighted in northwest Omaha, close to me. I was a tad nervous, but no incident other then some wind and hail.

I have also had numerous mammatus cluds extend 20 miles from the main storm updraft with crawler lightning. Wall clouds greeting me TWO mornings in a row right overe the house, the nastiest looking greenish tint just giving me the willies. :eek:
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#15 Postby mountain gal » Sat May 08, 2004 12:02 am

have also had numerous mammatus cluds extend 20 miles from the main storm updraft with crawler lightning. Wall clouds greeting me TWO mornings in a row right overe the house, the nastiest looking greenish tint just giving me the willies.
_________________

yep my first tornado warning in IL produced the nastiest green Pea Soup tint to the sky i have ever seen to date. definately will give you the willies. :)
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#16 Postby michaelwmoss » Sat May 08, 2004 9:36 am

I saw a Gustnado near Effingham Illinois last summer. That's it :(
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Opal storm

#17 Postby Opal storm » Sat May 08, 2004 9:55 am

GAStorm wrote:
Opal storm wrote:Hey,DeFuniak Springs,Fl got hit by a tornado last thursday night!It did some damage too. I have seen several waterspouts before but never a tornado.


That is the area I was driving! Actually, Westville was where the official report was, and where the tornado did some damage. Here is a link to a map that shows that area, and how close it is to the interstate. Pretty scary for sure! :eek:

http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapsurf ... mapnew.con


Yes,There also was a tornado in Westville(east of DeFuniak Springs),I heard about that.Not a good night to be out driving,huh? :lol:
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#18 Postby michaelwmoss » Sat May 08, 2004 10:01 am

I have heard that Tornadoes in Florida can be especially dangerous because they are usually so short lived and can happen so quickly in the extremely warm/humid environment down there.

Not to mention the ones that happen in Hurricanes
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Tornado

#19 Postby simplykristi » Sun May 09, 2004 7:57 am

This was never confirmed but it had to be due to the damage pattern. A funnel cloud passed directly to the west of my house about three years ago. It damaged some trees and roofs. It just went along the roofs and trees from SW to NE.
I stood at the kitchen window as the wind swirled outside.

Kristi
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#20 Postby stormraiser » Sun May 09, 2004 1:35 pm

I was about 3-4 miles from a tornado that went through my area last spring, when I was living in Greene County, NY. I think it was an F2. It was nighttime, so I wasn't able to see the storm, but just knowing I was driving in the area and couldn't see what may have been coming for me was scary, indeed.
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