How many here have seen tornadoes?

[ksacres]

I'm from Indiana, spent my whole life going through tornado drills...

Never saw a tornado until last year, living in WYOMING! It touched down about 150' from my house, two neighbors lost barns. Crazy. Scared the bejeezies out of me.

 

[sred98]

Seen a lot and been through a lot.

If you want to experience one safely, go to Universal Studios in Orlando, there is a "Twister" ride/show there that is really close to the real thing. Doesn't quite have the smell or the right shade of green, but when the sirens get really loud and the rumble starts, your heart does pound. Made me kind of nervous, standing there watching it coming towards me, when my whole life I've been taught to cover when it gets that close. It is as close a feeling as you will get without being in the real thing. I don't know if it will affect someone who has never been in one the same way as it does those of us that deal with it a lot. A lot of people were screaming, so maybe it does, or maybe they are the type to scream at everything, who knows? It was really neat, though.

I was raised in Arkansas, and saw plenty. We lived in Tornado Alley, and they always followed the same path through Central Arkansas. When we moved to Oklahoma, it seems like we don't get as many, but the ones that do hit, might be stronger. I haven't looked up statistics, but that is just how it seems to me.

Chickabator, I am really sorry about your friend, Becky. When my DS was 3 weeks old, the big F-5 hit here in Oklahoma. A baby the same age as he was got sucked out of his mother's arms and was never seen again.

I cannot imagine having to deal with that. I had nightmares for a long time about that, and I always think of that baby when there is a storm, or when DS hits a milestone. It just really affected me. In that same storm a little 18 month old girl was found covered in mud sitting under a tree. She was ok. It's odd how things like that happen.

I still love the storms, and I wait until the last minute to go inside. We have never had a direct hit, but they have gone over and dropped debris (rocks, hail, other people's stuff) or done the sucking the walls and windows in and out while vibrating the whole house. That is scary, especially in the middle of the night, and we have satellite, so when you turn on the TV, there's nothing to tell you what is going on. When we move, we've got to get a storm radio. There's no sirens out there.

My mom wants to go on a storm chaser tour. I might send us on one, sometime. It would be exciting, and definitely an adrenaline rush. I doubt dad and DH would let us, though.

We hide when they get close, but we don't go crazy. Either you live through it, or you don't. You can't outrun them and we don't have basements here. We go in the bathroom and hope for the best. There's not a whole lot else to do.

Hope everybody stays safe this storm season.

Looks like it's come early.

Shelly

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

been thru one when I was visiting family in LeClaire IA years ago. Not fun.
Went through a smaller one, that the MA weather people never have admitted happened. But one could see the trees and KNOW it. PLus the sky did that awful "green" thing right before. I was in the barn with my little Arab gelding through that. And I saw some clouds doing the rotation about two years ago right after we got back from a horse show. It got very dark very fast. We had had the storm behind us the entire trip home. Got the horses off the trailer and then it began hailing. I ran for the barn and was standing in the door way with everyone when I looked up to the north and saw it. It actually touched down less than an hour later near the seacoast in NH

 

[Momma_Cluck]

been thru 3---

1 when I was 5.. Dad and I were out getting rock polishing supplies and bumming around out-of-town when it hit... he pulled over at an old service station, and the guy put me in an old cast-iron tub in the back with a couple mattresses on top... I was terrified.

the 2nd I was 17... om and her Boyfriend had taken me out to the orchard for a day of Cider pressing, fresh donuts and picking apples-- when it suddenly got icey cold and dark-- then the wind picked up... so we hurried to the car and got on the highway home... The car cept getting faster and faster-- I saw the Gage top out around 95, and I was scared of crashing- until I looked behind us... there was fencing and picnic tables flying across the road behind us.. the sku was green and there was a HUGE hole in the clouds revolving real fast!!! We outran it-- and luckily it never touched down...

The last one was about 11 years ago when my kids were little. We live too far from town to hear the sirens when they go off... but there was a bad thunder storm that night... we were woke around 1am by things hitting the house, howling winds and hail... I grabbed the kids, blankets and flashlights while hubby grabbed some other stuff and the cat & dog... we had a playroom in the basement that had a bed in it -- so we all piled on and rode it out... the tornado had touched down in a field just outside of town, jumped into a nearby fairgrounds and out to the campgrounds ...
there was tons of damage here- and unfortunately, the Boy Scouts jamboree was that weekend and 2 kids were killed when their tent was sucked up.
We were so lucky--- we had only minimal tree damage and some missing gutters & shingles.

 

[Bec]

Quote:
Wow...

I can't find the words to say...

I have only seen water spouts and a small one, but never real ones or anything.

 

[English Chick]

Can't comment never seen one other than on the TV.....and that was bad enough.. I would not like to be caught up in one!

 

[Teach97]

Up seen some. Seen the devestation of many more. Lots of power there...although the coolest was when I saw 3 way off in the distance dancing around...sorry Colorado folks it was on ya'll

 

[Catalina]

One went through my town last year.
It sucked up a couple of houses and damaged some stores.
No one was hurt.

But..... the tornado chased my parents!
They were driving to a friend's house for dinner and the tornado touched down a few miles ahead of them, on the road.
My dad turned around and tried to drive back into town, but the tornado chased them right into town!

Luckily (or unluckily for the people who lost their homes) it turned east, once it hit town, and they were able to get away.

I was at work that evening and everyone from the hospital was standing out in the street watching the storm.
I saw the funnel drop down, and said, "Uh, guys? Is that a tornado?"
We all ran inside to the basement then

I was really suprised by how fast the storm clouds turned into a funnel.

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

ok. I have always wondered this so I figure to ask you all

Why, if you live in a area/state where there are always tornado's, do they not build houses with basements?
Not even my aunts house had one, but they had a "cellar" type of thing about 100 feet from the back door.

 

[Katy]

A good portion of houses in my area have basements.