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Posted by MisterOpus1 on May-05-2003 14:29:

Tornadoes in the Midwest

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansa...ews/5787616.htm

For those of you who don't live in the Midwest, please understand how incredibly scary these bastards are. This storm system started developing over our house, and then moved into north Kansas City where they leveled houses, threw cars hundreds of feet, snapped 3 ft. thick telephone lines like toothpicks, and ended up killing some 37 people nationwide:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WEATHER/05/...does/index.html

It honestly scared the crap out of me yesterday morning, hours before this all started. I had heard on the weather station that conditions were ripe for heavy thunderstorms and tornadoes. It sounded all too eerily familiar to the tornado that ripped through my hometown in Wichita, KS 1991:

http://www.usd.edu/honors/HWB/hwb_t/wichita.html

http://www.ku.edu/heritage/KSshow2/sld022.htm

That one in Wichita produced some of the most devastation I had ever witnessed. It came within 1 mile from my house (I live just north of McConnell Air Force Base), and destroyed 3 friends' houses as they were huddled in their basements. It also killed my first grade teacher. One buddy's house I will never forget as we were cleaning it up. His sister's teddy bear had penetrated through what remained of the stairwell, and there were blades of grass that needled through the only wall standing! Windspeeds had moved so fast that objects like these could kill.

Crack all the jokes you want about Dorothy and Toto. Honestly, I've heard them all from all parts of the U.S., especially from the ignorant U.S. citizens who don't even know where Kansas is (you idiots actually passed 1st grade geography?!?). I take no pride in what these forces of nature can do, because when they're up close and in your face, you will piss your pants with fear. They bring a lot of heartbreak and sorrow to a lot of people who's houses and dreams are gone, as well as their friends, families, and even pets. But I hope this is some interesting info. to those who never knew anything about tornadoes.

Posted by Fundamental on May-05-2003 14:41:

Well, you can take some solace in the fact that I too would be shitting a brick if one of those bad boys came near MY house...

Posted by [mart] on May-05-2003 16:19:

I've dreamt about tornadoes destroying my house a couple of times...I might have been asleep but I was still shit scared!

Posted by klingklang77 on May-05-2003 17:44:

quote:
Originally posted by MaRt
I've dreamt about tornadoes destroying my house a couple of times...I might have been asleep but I was still shit scared!

oh wow it is good to find someone that has dreams about tornadoes. for as long as i can remember i have had nitemares about tornadoes and it scares the hell out of me. i live in NY and even though we do not have them here, i am still terrified of them. tornadoes in a dream is suppossed to symbolise emotional instability in your life.

Posted by Jackson on May-05-2003 17:46:

Me too, i've had dodgy dreams about tornados that scared the shit outa me so much i woke up half way across the room from shaking so much!
Good luck buddy, You'll make it through, just look after yaself! Let us know what happens too!

Posted by MisterOpus1 on May-05-2003 17:53:

There's definitely nothing unusual about having dreams of tornadoes. I've known a lot of people who've never seen them have dreams about them as well. My wife gets them when she's pretty stressed out. I tend to get them randomly, seemingly not tied to any stress-related item in my life (at least I don't think they are). There's gotta be a Freudian link to these dreams of some sort. If anyone knows any psychiatry on this, let me know.

Posted by TranceSeeker on May-05-2003 18:37:

I just saw this on the news.
IMO this is far worser then the whole "war-thing"
War was just a hyped up event imo.
Media and television can suck my ass, they make television just for sensation.

Posted by Pio on May-06-2003 00:52:

quote:
Originally posted by TranceSeeker
I just saw this on the news.
IMO this is far worser then the whole "war-thing"
War was just a hyped up event imo.
Media and television can suck my ass, they make television just for sensation.

WTF. I'm not downplaying the tornado because it indeed is a horrible thing, but come on, this is worse than the war?

Go to Iraq and tell that to the families of the over 1,000 dead civilians, thousands of wounded civilians and soldiers, millions of people that lack basic goods, water, electricity, food, and live under a constant state of uncertainty about their future.

Anyways, I've experienced quite a share of hurricanes and suffered great loss of property because of them, but hurricane winds are child's play compared to tornado winds. That seems quite scary

Posted by Ajay on May-06-2003 17:53:

yea seen this on the news 20 minutes ago, looks nasty :s

Posted by TuanAnh213 on May-06-2003 21:38:

quote:
Originally posted by TranceSeeker
I just saw this on the news.
IMO this is far worser then the whole "war-thing"
War was just a hyped up event imo.
Media and television can suck my ass, they make television just for sensation.

hyped up? when you have hundreds of civilians and soldiers dying and an iraqi dictator getting pushed out of power it deserves to get all attention it gets...how disillusioned are you?

Posted by nrjizer on May-07-2003 06:37:

Heh we had a few good scares here in Georgia today... my friend came over to my house after class at like 11am and we noticed the approaching storms and all the tornado warnings popping up. So around 1.30 or so when it began to get close we were watching TV and I told him "I think were straight, the worst of it is still to the west and its gonna move south of us." Then about 3 seconds later the tornado sirens went off... and were like ooooooh fuck... . So we rode it out in the basement (I have an insane basement with a killer workbench to hide under, thats backed up against 2 walls in front of solid earth, so I felt pretty safe . Anyways had a few scary moments when the wind picked up and the hail came, the lights started to flicker and you could hear things pelting the house and walls, then there was a nice low rumble of thunder later that had us fooled for a few breif (and scary!) moments. In the end nothing touched down, but apparantly one did land right after it had passed us! wild...

Posted by DarkTrance on May-07-2003 06:49:

yea, I saw that on the news when all the warnings were going off, the storm passed though my area, but it wasn't as bad as it was down south more. Even tonight though another storm passed, it was worse than yesterday for us, there was some tornaods that went down today, not as large scale as the other storm though.

Posted by MisterOpus1 on May-07-2003 14:59:

Weather forecasters are predicting ripe conditions for supercells (tornado precursers)in Kansas/Nebraska/Missouri tomorrow afternoon (thurs.). Hope they don't move too far out west for you folks out there. Actually, I hope they don't form at all!

Posted by tubularbills on May-08-2003 00:37:

OMG !! Those storms were awesome! We just got a little bit of the major major stuff here in central Iowa. i got some really neat lightning pictures and some small video clips as well. Some people i know here in the meteorology dep't @ Iowa State went chasing after those storms, and got close enough to punch the core on a few supercells that produced tornados.
I absolutely love severe weather. I can't wait for the day when i can do that type of stuff for a living.

Posted by _Nut_ on May-08-2003 02:44:

I know just how destructive they are. I actually watched (on the radar) as hook echoes formed and as new warnings were issued. But i am one of the few freaks who finds beauty in that. Granted Tornado Alley will be future home for 6 yrs and possible backyard.... I looking foreward to seeing so tasty storms. If you hadnt figured out yet, Im a (starting next semester) a senior meteorology major. Im already accepted to OU for graduate studies and i will most likely do my doctoral work there too.

Mmm synoptic and mesoscale weather owns me.....

Posted by nrjizer on May-08-2003 09:02:

Yes I too am facinated by severe weather. I just dont like tornadoes when they choose to potentially hit me at home when I cant do anything about it (drive away)... not that Id be in any real danger with my awesome basement, tho Im too lazy to clean up tree tops . Id love to storm chase, but you cant see shit around here in GA with all the trees.

Posted by tubularbills on May-08-2003 14:13:

quote:
[i][b]

Mmm synoptic and mesoscale weather owns me.....

mmmm....synoptic....+drools+

Posted by MisterOpus1 on May-09-2003 14:50:

quote:
Originally posted by Trance_Nut
I know just how destructive they are. I actually watched (on the radar) as hook echoes formed and as new warnings were issued. But i am one of the few freaks who finds beauty in that. Granted Tornado Alley will be future home for 6 yrs and possible backyard.... I looking foreward to seeing so tasty storms. If you hadnt figured out yet, Im a (starting next semester) a senior meteorology major. Im already accepted to OU for graduate studies and i will most likely do my doctoral work there too.

Mmm synoptic and mesoscale weather owns me.....

http://www.pocopico.com/projects/tornado.asp

Well, just when I thought I was out of the clear on tornados, this one drops in my own backyard! The major damage area occurred on the south side of the golfcourse. We were at my in-laws (they have a basement - we don't), who live on the north side of the golfcourse, about 1.25 miles away! Likely an F1-F2 at most, but still caused some pretty good damage. If that image above didn't go through, here's some links to the stories if interested. I can't believe there's so much activity up here!:

Tornado pics near my house

Tornado story in my Hometown

Tornado Touchdown Outside of Town

Need Quicktime for the last link above to view.

Trance_Nut - do you live in Oklahoma right now? How 'bout those tornados in Moore and Ok City last night? Pretty reminescent of the ones back in '99 I hear. Lots more damage down there than up here. Strangely, the tornado that hit here in Lawrence, KS took an eerily similar path (within a few hundred yards) to an F3 tornado that hit Lawrence back in 1981. Strange time of year. From what I gather, more possible supercells this Saturday. Will keep you posted.

Tuberbills - is Iowa St. a good program for meteorology? Kinda on the northern side of Tornado Alley, right?

Posted by mospeedracer on May-09-2003 18:08:

down the road from me was the worst damage. we had about 5 tornados on sunday and it took out two towns which sucks ass because pierce city was turning 130 years old like a week before the tornados happened. we had softball size hail and some other shit like that. Carl junction which is to the west of where i live got thrashed and will not have anymore school till the head quarters for the disaster relief center are changed to a different location.

Posted by TuanAnh213 on May-09-2003 21:29:

i heard a mile-wide tornado touched down in lolita, kansas or something...holy shit a mile wide how much ground does that cover? im shitting in my pants even thinking about it

Posted by DJ_NRG on May-10-2003 01:36:

quote:
Originally posted by TuanAnh213
i heard a mile-wide tornado touched down in lolita, kansas or something...holy shit a mile wide how much ground does that cover? im shitting in my pants even thinking about it

If my math skills are still serving me correctly, it would be approximately 68,717,468.16 Square Feet.

That's getting right up there....

Posted by mospeedracer on May-10-2003 04:12:

yeah the one that ran through CJ was about a half mile wide and was like an F3 or F4. not sure on what it was. but the destruction is pretty bad. nothing looks the same anymore.

Posted by TuanAnh213 on May-10-2003 06:06:

quote:
Originally posted by DJ_NRG
If my math skills are still serving me correctly, it would be approximately 68,717,468.16 Square Feet.

That's getting right up there....

alright math genious...there have been documented evidence and cases where mile wide tornadoes have occured...i've even seen pictures of them so they do exist...although they're rare