TORNADOES!!!!

Where even to start?

EF-5 Joplin, MO 2011. Seventh worst tornado in history!

I didn't use to mind them so much. Until Sharknado. They are much more dangerous than I realized.

You can go to this website and see where tornadoes are expected to hit.

I live in the real tornado alley - The South.

A “small” tornado went right by our house when I was a kid. We had just moved from California and traded earthquakes for tornadoes. Tornados are much more terrifying. My brother and I heard a sound like a train and went to the front door. Across the road - coming down a hill - was a tornado. We ran to the kitchen to tell my mom - my younger brother was just crying - and I inadvertently did my best Jaws 2 impersonation. I screamed/stuttered “it’s a a a a a to to tornaDO!!!” It took me at least 20 seconds to say it. We hid under the bed in my brother’s room (it was closest) and waited until we couldn’t hear anything. It ended up veering East and hitting three of our neighbors. No one died - just house/tree damage. One lady did break her arm when they were running to their shelter.

The south has deadlier tornadoes because of the hilly/mountainous terrain and because the tornadoes are rain wrapped. Not just out on the plains where like 3 people live and you see them coming from miles away. I won’t even get into April 2011 - that was some PTSD shit.

Did you know the United States has the most tornadoes in the world?

I am so fascinated by tornadoes, since I was a kid in fact. It just makes me want to go to the Midwest and experience rural life in America and soak in the creepy ambiance of the country before a tornado hits!

I love to watch footage of tornadoes in America, especially of the 90's, when I sometimes watch documentaries of tornadoes on television!

El Reno 2013 view from turtle probe.

Yes, during a hurricane that hit Houston. It came at night and really did sound like a freight train. This hit central Houston; we lived right by the Medical Center. A few days later we went to M.D. Anderson to an upper floor to look out the window. We could see the path of snapped trees where the tornado had struck. This was during the 80s and I'm pretty sure it was Alicia.

r5 I had the experience of driving an RV through central North Carolina as we returned from Florida in April 2011. The tornados had just come through and the Interstate was shut down, so we came up a state highway through small towns.

Eerie to be the only vehicle on the road driving past uprooted trees, fields of debris, and country barns with their roofs peeled back as if by an old can opener.

EF4 from Minnesota. At the 5:00 mark you can see just how close storm chasers get. It’s insane! It looks like they’re about to be swept up in the tornado.

A good reminder for you all

A Tornado WATCH means conditions are favorable and the Weather Service is WATCHING for possible tornadoes.

A Tornado WARNING means that a tornado is on the ground or radar has indicated rotation in a thunderstorm strong enough to be producing a tornado. If you are under a warning, then treat it like a tornado is happening and get into shelter, a basement or cellar. If none is available, you go to a center room on the lowest part of your house. Stay away fro all windows and put as many walls between you and the outside as possible. Use pillows and heavy blankets to protect yourself from flying debris. Debris is the number one killer in a tornado so it's important to protect your head and body.

Here's coverage of the Moore 1999 Tornado from Channel 4 in Oklahoma City.

yes, on Long Island of all places...it rolled throw Melville on 110. We drove to an underpass and stayed until it passed. This was in the late 1990s..of course we lived through it

Reminds me of one of my favorite Neko Case songs.