Severe weather stories

[Extremeweatherguy]

I think it would be fun to hear some of the stories of fellow Storm2k members most intense storm experiences. Since it looks like the next few days will be free of severe weather, this will give us a chance to keep this forum active. How about this...we will have a format where you list the following things...largest hail you have ever witnessed...highest wind you have ever witnessed (Or if you do not know, just estimate)...have you ever witnessed/experienced a tornado?...and what individual storm experience do you remember the most. If anyone has any personal videos of their experiences, they would also be great to see. I'll go first..

Largest Hail = The largest hail I have ever seen was on May 4th, 2006 in northern Houston. Hail fell for up to 45 minutes and reached the size of golf balls during the storm. In it's wake, the storm left quite a mess with lots of leaf-stripping from trees, damaged crops/plants, and minor car and roof damages.

Strongest Wind = The strongest winds I have ever seen were in the order of 100-110mph during Hurricane Charley...besides hurricanes, I would have to say that my strongest severe storm wind was probably a 65-75mph gust.

Tornadoes = I have been through numerous warnings, but have never been directly hit. My closest calls included a supercell that dropped a tornado just miles after passing right over me, a waterspout that was just offshore the beach where I was at, a STRONG tornado that missed me by a mile in Mossouri and a small tornado that narrowly missed me in Raleigh, NC (but the storm still managed to knock down a small tree).

Worst Overall storm = My worst overall storm (Besides the hurricanes I have been through) was in Missouri last summer. The storm featured 70mph winds, nickle sized hail, a tornado on the ground a mile away from me, and the most intense lightning I have ever seen. The storm knocked out power in my area the whole night and the next morning featured damage across the area. It was quite a scary experience. I narrowly missed being in the direct path of an F2 or F3 tornado.

**Updated on 5/4/06**

[conestogo_flood]

Largest Hail = Oh Gosh, thats a toughy. Pea sized. Southern Ontario + hail = graupel.

Strongest Wind = November 2003. A wind storm toppled the wood frame of townhomes under construction down a few houses. The winds must have been gusting to 120kmh/75mph.

Tornadoes = June 1995, saw my first tornado in Marysville, Michigan. I was across the border in Corunna, Ontario when the tornado sirens in Michigan blared up. My grandparents took us down to the river to watch the storm, a small tornado came out of the sky over the city. Must have been F1 at the most. Didn't last long.

Worst Overall storm = Southern Ontario tornado outbreak of April 20(26?), 1996. Several large tornadoes occured that day, total of about 5. I remember the sky was green over Kitchener, Ontario and there was a report of a funnel cloud not far from our house. My parents took us to the basement under the work bench. We had The Weather Network turned on when they announced the tornado warnings that were issued. They said a large funnel cloud was spotted over the city of Kitchener, luckily it didn't happen. There was an F1 just north of here, it touched down in Perth County and tracked into Waterloo Region. Also, the sky was pitch black in the afternoon north of here in Wellington County. I mean, as black as night, but it must have been 1pm. We had the TV on when they came on with a tornado warning for northern Waterloo Region, and all of Wellington County. A large tornado was spotted near Ariss, about 10-15 miles northeast of here, and it was headed for the town of Arthur, pop.4,000. Later that week, we went out to Arthur and nothing was left on the west side of the town. The tornado took out half the city, it was rated F4.

[Skywatch_NC]

I was 11 yrs-old when the April 3-4, 1974 Super Outbreak occurred and living in Cincinnati, OH at the time. My father was the night manager of a children's home facility in the area and so that evening and much of the night of April 3rd my parents, younger sister and myself kept company with a children's home cook and a children's cottage employee in the large basement of the building on the grounds that was beneath our apartment, administration, large kitchen and dining room areas. I remember the static crackle of my Dad's transistor radio and hearing for ie. the breaking news about the city of Xenia, OH being devastated. Meanwhile the eerie noise of the tornado siren which was atop an elementary school where my sister and I attended amid the crashing thunder, etc. I recall doing some homework in fact while sitting in my red Radio Flyer wagon there in the basement by flashlight somehow. Reports came in of some tornadoes actually going over the Ohio River and at least 2 suburbs of the Cincinnati area itself hard hit. No actual tornadoes hit near my immediate area...we did have scattered downed tree limbs around the grounds but that was all and no structural damage to any buildings on the grounds thankfully...but our hearts grieved and prayers and thoughts went out to those across the regions where this outbreak swept across for those killed and their families and for those injured. Communities as in many disasters in history grew close and helped each other in the weeks and months that followed.

I get a chill even watching my moving satellite pic avatar...knowing that I was there in that outbreak...and the scenes of destruction in those 2 Cincy 'burbs and Xenia forever etched in my mind. Something I'll never forget!

Eric

Sidenote: That night for supper we all had some cheese-filled pretzels from the kitchen area...now known as: Combos.

[cheezyWXguy]

Largest Hail- Tennis Ball-In 2003, I was in a triple cell supercell(the supercells merged together) and we got nickel and 60 mph winds with the first cell, extremely heavy rain w/ the secong. and 65 mph winds and tennis ball sized hail with the third.

Strongest wind- It would have to be a storm about 2 weeks after the storm mentioned above. A line develped about 10 miles to my west and rapidly strengthened, giving me 70-80 mph gusts that sent my rubber pool rafts into bushes across my backyard and over our fence, shook our fence vigorously, and knocked a bunny into our pool and drowned it. (poor little bunny)

Tornado- Ive never been in a tornado touchdown, but in may, 2000, I got a sotrm that produced a multiple vortex funnel cloud with the parent funnel 1/2 a mile wide...telling by how fast it was spinning, it probably wouldve been an F3, but luckily, a strong low level wind from the south interrupted its rotation, killing the funnel, thus we were safe, and if it did touch down, I probably wouldnt be here today, considering we dont have a basement or a special tornado room, just a stair closet.

Worst Storm Ive ever been in- The first one I mentioned...it destroyed my roof, broke our skyight, broke our pool filter, knocked down several flimsy ttrees in my backyard and the pipes were fillled with roof gravel for days. Very scary. Probably the costliest hailstorm to affect my neighborhood in about 15 years

[Extremeweatherguy]

My closest calls included a supercell that dropped a tornado just miles after passing right over me,

I was able to upload *silent* video of this supercell online and it can be viewed through the link below:

http://www.zippyvideos.com/334266968465 ... vere_clip/

Also, here is a more detailed summary of this storm:

Month - I believe it occured in May.
Year - 2002
Location - Oviedo, FL
Specifics - This storm popped up as an isolated cell around 3:30pm and moved through my area by 4pm. Once reaching me I recieved wind gusts to 60-70mph (And a period of 30 second sustained winds near 50-60mph), pea to marble sized hail, and lots of rain/lightning. This storm also had good rotation and dropped a small F0/F1 tornado about a mile or two to my SE. The tornado ripped apart roofs and car ports and I believe there were a few injuries.

**The quality of this initial video is quite poor. I will try to get a better quality video up soon. If you are having a hard time seeing the beginning, try skipping ahead a bit..the quality seems to get better near the end.**

[HurricaneHunter914]

I believe I was 12 at that time when I got my own severe weather. I was watching the rain pour down on my windows and out of no where 75mph winds start blowing like crazy I got so excited about it I ran outside and almost got blown away. My lawn chairs almost blew over the fence. It lasted for about a minute though. Then another wind gust for about 20 seconds blew through it was around 50 mph winds but still very strong. It was the worst winds ever since Charley. Never have forgotten it(though it was only a year ago).

[tidesong]

Now, I used to be terrified of thunderstorms. As in, I'd hear thunder and take off and hide somewhere. This is due to an F5 tornado flattening a town west of here when I was about 6 years old, and the media covering the hell out of it. It's only been recently that I've been out learning and observing in an attempt to get over my debilitating fear. It's working so far... but I'm getting obsessed!

Largest Hail - Nickel sized hail, a year ago. I've seen a lot of pea-sized hail, including so much it looked like it'd just snowed.

Strongest Wind - 88 mph straight-line winds (no Back to the Future jokes, please ) probably around 1990 or so. I think I saw a cow fly by. Seriously though, that was absolutely terrifying. My dad was in the shower at the time and didn't believe me when I went in screaming. He thought I was overreacting. A tree in our backyard fell over the powerlines, and we lost power for three days. Darn, had to eat that ice cream all up so it didn't melt!

Tornadoes - I've never actually seen a tornado. Not even a wall cloud. I've only seen mammatus clouds and some mild rotation. But like I said, it's only been recently that I've started to go out chasing. I've been through a lot of warnings, and a couple that actually seriously warranted going into the basement, but luckily have never been directly hit. Last year, one hit Madison's west side. We were watching TV coverage at the time, and the meteorologist had their weathercam up, and said, "There's the wall cloud. If a tornado were going to form, it would be th..." Then everyone panicked on air, because a tornado *did* drop. The station was SW of us by about 5 miles, and I decided that would probably be a good time to run like hell into the basement.

Worst overall storm - Probably the storm above that had the 88 mph winds. There was the ferocious wind, very heavy rain, small hail, and vivid lightning. I'm really wanting to go on a storm chasing vacation or something -- we get quite mild storms here compared to what they get a few states south.

[jasons2k]

Largest Hail: Golfball-size hail, numerous times in Lubbock and the DFW area. I've been in storms that had baseball & softball-sized hail just a few miles away but never directly over me.

Strongest Wind: That's a tough one. Here are a few examples - Tropical Storm Kate, in Savannah, in 1985. A tree was blown down in our back yard. Several events in Plano/DFW where fences were blown over.

Tornadoes: I've never had a direct hit. I've been been in several warnings though. The closest events were a wall cloud right over me in Lubbock 4/10/97 - that storm dropped a tornado about 10 minutes later. Also, I outran a waterspout once on a boat near Clearwater Beach, FL. Finally, when I was about 4 years old a small tornado went through our neighborhood and destroyed some sheds, etc., in Lithia/Valrico Florida, but we weren't home at the time. We had a lot of debris in the yard, that's about all I can rememeber about it.

Worst Overall: That's an easy one - I was in Lubbock during the outbreak of April 10, 1997. It hailed at my house on 4 separate occasions that day. One time the hail completely covered the ground. We had a tornado warning issued and the "street level" radar was a brand-new thing. They zoomed-in right over my neighborhood and called out the cross-streets to my immediate SW on the air as the location. I ran outside and saw a huge wall cloud & mesocyclone rotating right over me (DON'T try this at home!). About 10 minutes later the storm dropped a tornado near the Lubbock Airport. It was an amazing event with several supercells reforming over the same area. By 2AM it was snowing outside!! In all, believe there were 14 confirmed touchdowns over a relatively small area. Here are some links about the event:

http://tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/Sto ... ril10.html
http://www.chaseday.com/10APR97.htm
http://gra.midco.net/nittany95/chase/su ... apr97.html

[Tamora Mennenga]

Largest Hail: Golfball-size hail, numerous times in Lubbock and the DFW area.

I grew up in Lubbock area, Slaton to be exact. I remember golfball and softball hail growing up. I remember we had a metal swingset with plastic seats for swings. The swings had chunks beat out of them, my brother's double pane windows were broked in his room. We were all in the basement and my dad was in there taking pictures and watching it. He was a fireman and storm spotter, but was home with us at the time. I remember my mom screaming at him to get down stairs. We always had people at my house when the weather got bad, b/c we were one of the only ones with a basement. Maybe that is why I was always so scared. My mom and I had a deal. I think it was she wanted to keep my mind off of things. If we didn't have time to do the dishes, we would end up with a house full of people b/c of bad weather. If we did the dishes, it would ward off the bad weather LOL so we always were doing dishes it seemed :*)

[TexasStooge]

Largest Hail - 3 years ago in April, I've seen hail to the size of Golf Balls fall during a Tornado warning for my area. I actually ran outside with a baseball helmet and grabbed a sample and placed it in a ziploc bag. It's still in my freezer this very day.

Strongest Wind - The strongest winds I've seen were 70 MPH back in Mid-1997 (See worst overall storm).

Tornado - I had a close call in 2002 when a wall cloud was hovering overhead my neighborhood. Luckily no tornadoes formed.

Worst Overall Storm(s) - In Mid-1997, a severe thunderstorm was sweeping through my neighborhood with winds packing up to 70 MPH, heavy rain, and deadly lightning. Within 15 minutes of the severe weather action, we were experiencing a brown-out (Power 1/2 way out). On May 1995, 2 days before my birthday, my area was put under a Tornado Warning. This storm contained strong winds, heavy rain, marble-size hail, and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning. Only suffered a minor power outage.

[bob rulz]

Largest Hail - Probably only dime-sized for me, or so. Hail is rare here, and it never lasts more than about 2 minutes.

Strongest Wind - I don't know, exactly. Probably gusting on the order of 60-70mph. We're right in the path of severe canyon winds, it might have even been higher than that. I remember one violent windstorm a few years ago that brought down a couple of trees in the neighborhood with tree branches scattered everywhere, so it must have been bad.

Tornadoes - Never seen a tornado, but an F2 tornado did rip through downtown Salt Lake City, about 2-3 miles northwest of here, on August 11, 1999. I remember that day well and I also know several people who did see it.

Worst Overall Storm - We don't really get much in the way of severe weather here. I can remember some storms that caused minor wind damage with severe lightning, but no severe thunderstorm really sticks out in my memory. There haven't really been any.