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Have You Ever Seen a Tornado? Would You Like To?

Posted by birthingyourdream • 12/27/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: magnificence, storm chasing, tornadoes

I have chased lightning and tornadoes since 1977. Both have been fascinating to me since I was 5 years old.
It's almost otherworldly when I witness a tornado. The last one I saw was in KS in 2005. We were about 1/2 mile away from it as it developed. The weirdest thing was watching it develop smoke ring-like structures beneath its base, then fill in from above to meet it.
Thus it looked like some grand celestial slinky coming to the ground.

User Comments

12/27/07

freeatlast

yes... have seen a tornados... once, almost too close for comfort. The air shrinks for miles around. The beauty of it being that we have absolutely no control over such a freak of nature. Heartland tornadoes versus coastline earthquakes and hurricanes... we've all had our bad days.

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12/27/07

dpivans1

I have a great video of one that we saw out of our backdoor when we lived in Springfield CO about 10yrs ago...Stupidly I guess, I made my husband get as close as possible so I could film it. The video came out incredible...It was awesome!

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1. 12/28/07
  
  birthingyourdream
  
  Your spectacular tornado video might yeild you some money! News organizations, and other interests.
12/27/07

dpasquella

Seen one near my parents' house in upstate NY. Not a huge tornado, but a twister. I was obsessed with them and obsessed with the weather from that day on.

That must have been fascinating to witness!

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1. 12/28/07
  
  birthingyourdream
  
  How close were you? Did you see it visually as a funnel, or was it hidden by heavy rain?
12/27/07

offendedblogger

Yes, I have seen the movie Twister and I have cable news. This is why I live on the western side of the Rockies!

The idea of Yellowstone erupting on me is far less frightening.

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12/28/07

Kowgirl

Not only have I seen one I lived through one back in 2004 right between the 3 hurricanes that destroyed my home in Florida. What the hurricanes didn't destroy the tornado did. I thought after the first hurricane hit that I was lucky that I only lost part of the roof but I thought too fast because a tornado hit and tore it all off and messed up my car too. It looked like a heap of metal. It wasn't the first I have seen but I sure hope it's the last. Then we got hit again and again by 2 more hurricanes. By them everything was lost. I guess I am lucky because I lived through them all.

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1. 12/30/07
  
  birthingyourdream
  
  Indeed you are lucky to have survived this unscathed. My heart goes out to you regarding the trauma.
  You might look into the possibility of building a monolithic dome. There is one in Florida on the beach that has been through three hurricanes, completely unscathed, except for the snap off stairwell. They are tornado, hurricane, flood, earthquake and fire proof and rated R-55 for energy efficiency. I would like to build one myself once my life and associated finances allows for it.
12/28/07

techfun

I ended up water skiing a long arc around a tornado/waterspout on Kentucky Lake as a child. I was never more careful not to fall then that day.

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1. 12/30/07
  
  birthingyourdream
  
  That must have been stunningly spectacular!
12/28/07

Unfettered

When I lived in upstate NY, there was a tornado that tore through a nearby town. The weather was grim that day! I never saw the funnel, but the sky was green. GREEN! And the wind blew so hard, it knocked out a window in my apartment.

No thanks! I'll stick with Washington, where the only things I have to live through are earthquakes and volcanoes.

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