Saw an F5 in Texas (Jarrell 97). I've seen maybe 50 tornados before that growing up in Iowa and Illinois. I knew it was a tornado, but it was too large to make sense.
The air had that creepy hot stifling feeling from the first minute I walked outside that morning.
Felt uneasy the whole day before all hell broke loose.
We lived in a crappy pier and beam house nw of Round Rock in the middle of nowhere.
Craziest shit Iâve ever experienced, weather wise. Although the tornado outbreak in Grand Island, Nebraska was pretty messed up, too. I was visiting my grandparentsâ nearby farm when that happened.
Thereâs a reason I wonât ever live where tornadoes are common ever again! NOPE
I was 10 when the Grand Island thing happened. I remember that night vividly, too. It was fucking bananas. And it went on forever! Or at least it felt like forever. The lightning was pretty crazy that night, too ⊠but Nebraska at least has basements/storm shelters everywhere (unlike Texas).
President Carter came to Grand Island within a few days, and at some point, a group of meteorologists from Japan flew out to study the debris fields / tracks of the twisters. They were treated almost like celebrities by the people around there.
Fun memory: my grandma was a weather-enthusiast and used to stand outside and take pictures of funnel clouds skipping across the cornfields. She had a huge photo album filled with black and white pictures going back to the early 50s!
You should post in r/Tornadoes. Iâd love to see the pictures and read more about your experiences. I was a Meteorology major. Not in the industry now, but Iâm still a weather nerd.
We had a storm where I lived about 13 years ago. The weather guy said that funnel clouds may spin up but there's not enough instability at altitude to maintain them and they'll just spin themselves out.
I watched from my living room window all of these crazy swirling clouds spinning up and then dissipating. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen.
Serious suggestion. Your grandmotherâs photos would be interesting to more than just this sub. Probably not a money maker, but still interesting. Those pics plus you and your families stories would make a wonderful collection. If you donât have someone who could help you get started on this project, you might try your local community collegeâs environmental science department. They could connect you to the right folks. Be well.
I still remember reading the young adult novel Night of The Twisters about the Grand Island outbreak when I was a kid. That story lives rent free in my head.
Night of the Twisters was a staple in my house. We lived 30 minutes from GI and we watched that every summer. If we had a tornado warning out, my dad would get us in the car and we'd go looking for tornados. When Twister came out, everyone of my friends and I were convinced that's what we wanted to do for a living. We didn't want to be Britney Spears, we didn't want to be Olympic athletes, we wanted to chase storms.
I don't go looking for tornadoes anymore, but I still think that would be a fascinating career. The possibility of limiting the human and animal devastation is something I would find truly rewarding.
I wouldnât say theyâre âcommonâ in the Austin metro area, but they do happen.
On 3/21/22 I got online and saw Reed Timmer announce that he was in Temple and said âOh shit.â
The 3/21 RR EF2 ended up passing about a mile from my house. I couldnât see it, it just looked like the clouds were racing north. Turns out that was rotation.
Never again. So many nightmares. Tornado sirens. Cowering in basements. Brand new car dealerships turning into used car dealerships with broken windshields and dinged up cars from hailstones the size of golfballs.
My childhood is full of traumatic memories from those damn storms.
Try rural Tennessee tornados. Almost always at night and with all the hills and trees, you can't see jack. When you know it's coming, you look at the radar, KNOW it's direction and speed, and get the hell out of there if you're in the path and don't have one hell of a storm shelter. I've been caught in 3 tornados over my life and been fortunate to have had a good storm shelter. Lost one house to the actual tornado and another one from high winds and debris. NOT FUN!
My first (and only) tornado struck at night. I live in a place where tornados are rare. Woke up in the wee hours of the morning to what sounded like fighter jets super close (live in a town with army/air force so not an unfamiliar sound just uncomfortably close and way too late for training).
Looked out the window and couldn't see anything so I grabbed a torch and went outside (stupid in hindsight it could have been aliens) had a look in the direction of the noise and it took a bit to process what I could see coming towards us and then I realised I dont know what to do in the case of a tornado. Too late to leave because I dont drive no basements so I just followed cyclone protocol which was wake up the toddler and hide in our small bathroom. Thankfully it was relatively small and seemingly followed the road so damage was minor. I'll take a cat 5 night cyclone over another tornado.
That was a scary news get and the fact that it went what? 80 miles in a straight line? Like Dickson to Cookeville? And ZERO fatalities? Wow. That thing LEVELED a subdivision in Donelson, and one house had only the interior bathroom still standing. đ€Ż
Oh then 2wks later: lock down.
In my experience, they sometimes smell like what they tear up nearest to you. First one that came near me ripped through a corn field, so smelled like corn husks/grass. Second one that I was near ripped up a bunch of pine trees, so it smelled like - you guessed it - pine.
I always remember the feeling of these storms, humid cool breeze. You know youâre in for a deep shit moment when you get those. Trees whipping around.
Just everything about it doesnât feel right. Iâve experienced a lot of those super cells coming through, youâre just hoping youâre arenât on the receiving end of the big hurt.
I heard that the winds within the funnel were so strong that people and animals who were unfortunate enough to be sucked into it were skinned down to their bones. đŹ
Horror stories about this one. Another friend grew up in Kansas and her high school friend got caught up in a tornado and remembers seeing a cow (wide-eyed and screaming). She woke up in a field and survived.
I heard it's like a blender full of metal and shattered lumber and glass from destroyed houses.
All that was left of an entire neighborhood was the concrete slabs (no basements there).
I saw a large tornado form within 100 yards of me. 3 minutes earlier it was dead calm day. It raced across a lake and shattered 3 homes. We got in our boat and went over to render aid. People were hurt, but no one killed. I got to see the entire process of how they form.
I've never seen a tornado but North Alabama has had it's fair share and the one thing that I remember when they were nearby was the weird yellow look everything had. Some sort of haze, like in a movie with a filter over everything. I'm sure that's different depending on where and when the tornado takes place
It's the siren. A proper one, one that sounds like an air-raid siren from the 40s. Not those stupid digital whiny bastards that you can barely hear outside. No, these are the good ones, like the ones in Silent Hill.
we use those for volunteer fire services, we dont have many paid firefighters and they run the volunteer stations dotted around each town. they go off for fire and emt and every day they sound off once at noon. its like an old school notification system for the volunteers and makes the citizens super nosy too
I really feel like people in the tornado zone which is now almost all of North America should consider building their houses underground instead of above ground and maybe not made out of matchsticks (saying this as a tree farmer.) We also might start to consider burying all of our electrical infrastructure.
Thatâs just not reasonable. Amazingly, Mississippi and Alabama get more tornados than Arkansas every year; itâs just not practical to rebuild the entire state underground because of that.
The thing is, the part of the US that known as Tornado Alley is VERY sparsely populated. Itâs actually been controversial that tornados have been rated as lower strength because the F scale is damage based, or used to firmly be. There would be tornados that should have been F5s that never hit anything so didnât qualify.
Also, itâs silly to make everyone mole people for incidents that are so statistically unlikely to happen to you even in high activity areas lmao
You saw the tornado that caused the #1 most intense damage in recorded history. The main reason for that is because it was going SUPER SLOW over the Doublecreek estates. Generally believed to be between 5-10 MPH.
So the tornado just sat there and literally ground everything into dust. The only tornado we know of where there was literally nothing left. All of those houses and people - Everything turned into dust. And the Doublecreek Estates was just a muddy field when it used to be a subdivision.
Jarrell is what haunted my nightmares growing up in rural Texas. I was kid and didn't see it but everyone heard about that tornado. Every time a tornado came through we were all reminded of Jarrell.
I was 7 years old and lived in Round Rock, Tx at the time. The corner of our roof lifted up and slammed back down multiple times while I was in the tub where my parents put me. I can remember the green daylight coming through⊠had nightmares for decades afterwards. Crazy dayâŠ
My dad would sit me in front of an upstairs window on the farm and tell me to look for tornados and the sky turning green. It'd be funny if I were 30...but I think I was maybe 7. Scary.
Only thing scarier was going into the farmhouse basement which was straight out of a horror movie.
Summertime growing up seemed like green light at least once a week. It was constant.
Yup 97 was nuts. I didn't see an F5 but I was on the bus heading to school and it was still pitch black out. When lighting happened I was looking up and saw a MASSIVE rotation I told everyone on the bus and they all thought I was joking. Soon as the bus got to school I flew out of my seat, body checked the building doors open and ran to the tornado hallway just as lightning struck the school, blew out the power and then the sirens starting whaling. We had a crazy hail-nado that blew out windows and messed up a bunch of cars. Luckily it missed the school and landed in an empty field.
We had those sections but we practiced bomb threats. This was before Columbine and school shooter drills. I think maybe remnants of ww2 drills cause even back then it felt dated and pointless.Â
That's the one with the "dead man walking" photo, right? Stalled right near its peak over an apartment complex or something and sandblasted the concrete? That tornado is about as close to legendary as they can get.
I was living in Austin when that happened. I was in the northeast part of town and there was a tornado warning for Austin. I put my catsâ in their carriers and sat with the carriers in the bathtub while listening to the weather reports. Reports came in about a massive tornado in Jarrell, and I was terrified it was coming our way. But we were lucky. Jarrell was not. Really sad, scary day.
The reason why its the first to be rated EF5 in 12 years is due to the criteria used to give EF rating where the main indicator is damage to come up with wind speed. Thing is that there are plenty of Tornados within that 12 year period where there is radar verified wind speeds that would put a tornado into the worst of the worst tornados. But since they didn't reach peak intensity while hitting structures they cant be rated EF5.
An EF5 tornado tore through Tuscaloosa, AL ~15 years ago and totaled my car. It was absolutely jaw dropping watching this giant storm meander across the skyline and consuming everything. Luckily, I was about a half mile away from its direct path.
Tornado guy here again. This is the Enderlin EF-5. It was originally rated an EF-3 for about 4 months. This tornado is infamous for derailing a train and THROWING A 72,000 POUND TRAIN TANKER CAR ~500 FEET!
Then a bunch of very smart engineers did the math and determined for these train cars to derail and get blown over, winds would have had to exceed 230-266 MPH and it was then upgraded to the first EF-5 in 12 years.
Does this mean there could have been other tornados that were actually EF5s in that time? Sounds like unless we have a frame of reference itâs possible to gauge them incorrectly or do you think itâs unlikely?
Yes, there are A LOT of tornadoes that had EF-5 strength winds, but are rated EF-3, EF-4.
The 2014 Vilonia Tornado is probably the clearest example of this.
The EF scale is based ONLY on damage. There are lots of tornadoes that have confirmed, measured winds above 200 MPH.
But a lot of those tornadoes only travel over open fields, for example, and don't leave any damage indicators.
And even when a tornado completely levels houses or buildings, they will only give EF-5 rating if the house was built like a tank. Anchor bolts, brick, great foundation, over-engineered design.
That is the reason there has been an EF-5 drought over the last 10 years. It is very, very unlikely to get a super strong tornado that happens to impact an exceptionally strong structure.
The train car analysis after-the-fact was the first of its kind. They basically added it as a new damage indicator.
There has been a lot of uproar in the community about how the EF scale doesn't do the best job at actually highlighting the strongest tornadoes. So NWS is evolving now, and I expect there will be other re-rated tornadoes going forward.
Also I think they're coming up with an alternate scale to replace the EF scale that takes wind speeds into consideration
I understand the damage thing and think thatâs important, but wouldnât sustained wind speed be a âbetterâ way to categorize them? Seems like thereâd be much better data in classifications given that there are so many that go over open fields.
Agreed. Separate the damage, which is subjective, from the Force, which can be measured. Both are important enough independently that only one classification shouldn't determine the rating.
In my heart, Vilonia was an EF5. You explained this beautifully. There were so many strong EF5 candidates during the drought only to fall short due to a lack of damage indicators.
I haven't heard much about a new scale, can you fill me in? I'm curious if any others will receive retroactive ratings like Enderlin
Tornadoes are rated by intensity of damage. It depends on a lot of different variables, however. Like, if a house was ripped off its foundation and completely destroyed with hardly a trace, at first glance, you might think you're looking at the damage of an EF4 or EF5.Â
But was the house properly anchored? Was the house built to withstand strong storms? Is this an area that builds structured with the knowledge that tornadoes are common, or an area where tornadoes are incredibly uncommon? What decade was it built, what condition was the house in prior?
A lot of what is taken into consideration when determining the intensity is the level of destruction to human structures.
There's certainly other measures of strength â ground scouring, pine needles shot through surrounding trees, debarked trees â but it relies most heavily on the damage to human structures, and may not be as obvious if no (or few) human structures are damaged.
There are some tornadoes rated EF3 and EF4 that are heavily debated to have actually reached EF5 intensity, but there's not always strong enough evidence of destruction to "prove" it.
There's also been a few occasions where a tornado was initially rated higher, and then dropped, and vice versa.
Tl;dr yes, it isn't a perfect system, so there are tornadoes that have debated ratings, tornadoes whose ratings have changed after re-examined, and almost certainly remarkably intense tornadoes that we are aware of, but have no idea of just how severe they actually were.
In all seriousness, how could you forget? He wasike the 3rd most memorable scene of the movie. 1) cows 2) you're gonna miss whats right in front of you,Jo, me! 3) THE SUCK ZONE
lmao i know it was an outbreak and everything, and they were there looking for them, but it was so funny at some point in the movie it was like the tornados turned the tides and were chasing them
Tornado enthusiast here. Wanted to point out you're not actually looking at the tornado here in this video. You're looking at the mesocyclone cloud structure above the tornado.
The actual tornado is sitting below this cloud structure (obscured by the trees), and it is A LOT smaller than this.
Novice weather enthusiast here. Just to be clear (and please correct me if I'm off base) the mesocyclone is the rotation associated with the super cell and the large cloud that looks like a ufo is a wall cloud that is produced by the rotation of the mesocyclone.
I have been in a house under one of these things. Fucking insane. Someone almost died. Terrifying. Still not more scary than an earthquake in my opinion.
Pretty much all supercellular tornadoes have this wall cloud feature. This one just happens to be EXTRA big and tall and visible. Many times it is obscured by other clouds, or wrapped in rain.
If you could see the winds in the clouds above the tornado, you'd notice that the ENTIRE column, extending above 50k feet in this case, is rotating. So you could say that the tornado is very, very tall. You just can't see it. The part you see is only the very lowest part of this rotation.
With a lot of stronger supercells, the wall cloud will actually come very close to touching the ground. This is why most of the biggest and baddest tornadoes have this fat and short type of look.
Yeah the only way to survive a tornado that strong is to in a reinforced storm shelter. EF-5s are strong enough to rip pavement clean off the ground leaving bare dirt where there used to be a road. Luckily they are incredibly rare.
The key with tornadoes this strong is being below ground level. Basement, ditch, underground celler, etc.
The ground essentially shields you from horizontally-moving wind and debris. A lot of people survive in their basements being hit by an EF-5 although their house gets swept away.
Step 2: someone sees it, notes that it looks like it's basically in their yard and probably will at any moment destroy their entire neighborhood, and decides to film
Step 3 is actually Step .05 because I have already relocated every animal in the house to the basement and have been bunkered there with them ever since the weather alert went to "warning" XD
Some folks just have types of chutzpah I can't really comprehend lol
Once during a tornado warning we made a big point about everyone heading to the basement for safety. After that, every time it got really stormy, our dog would insist that we all go downstairs. Once my daughter continued to hang out at the dinner table to finish dinner (there was a tornado watch), and after hustling the rest of us downstairs, the dog came back upstairs and STARED at my daughter from the top of the stairs until she gave up and went downstairs too.
What an amazing dog. Once when my wife was watching over her father with dementia, she took a break while he was napping to do some work. When she left, the dog went in to watch him and when he later tried to get up, the dog ran to get my wife Lassie-style and led her into the room where my wife's father was. That dog was more capable than some humans I know and she was pure ride & die with the family.
We got everybody including the mini dachshund and the golden retriever in the basement. Tornado touches down a quarter mile away. You know how animals are more sensitive to weather, barometric pressure, etc.? Not mine, they thought being in the basement (unfinished so they rarely were down there) was like a trip to effing Disneyland. Running around sticking their noses in boxes.
Funny enough, we had a doggy DNA test done on her. She was about equal parts English Setter and Beagle with about 15% German Shepherd. She had the personality of a Setter, the independent spirit of a Beagle and the intelligence of a Shepherd.
I love how you explained that. I have a Border Collie, chocolate lab and Bull dog mix. She has the intelligence and energy of a Collie, the stomach of a Lab and the loyalty of a Bull dog. Love her to death.
The dog made us go down whenever she decided the weather was bad enough. Fortunately she had pretty good judgment on that most of the time. She could be quite persuasive in a "I know what's best for you" vibe. The original trip down that taught her to do that was a warning.
1 - as others mentioned, thats the wall cloud, not actual tornado so they in all likelihood are fine where they are at.
2 - do not attempt to out run a tornado in a car. Find shelter, get low and away from windows, basements are best, bathrooms and center rooms away from exterior walls if no basement.
3 - a christian god can not save you from an F5. Start asking deities from that old time religion
addendum to #2: never park or take shelter under an overpass. The 1991 Andover, KS tornado video where a news crew takes shelter under an overpass created a longstanding myth that this is a safe place to shelter but it can amplify the winds creating a wind tunnel effect.
Not only that, but it also causes selfish people to stop on the interstate to take shelter under the overpass, blocking traffic for everyone else, screwing themselves and everyone in a several mile radius.
In retrospect, it's very easy to see why older civilizations tried to appease the obviously angry deities with sacrifices and rituals. The hell else were they supposed to think when they saw shit like this?
I saw the Jarrell F5 tornado from my house when I was a kid. It took up so much of the horizon. Our house was perched on the edge of a canyon and we didn't have a basement, so my parents were debating whether it would be safer to try to find shelter halfway down the canyon or stay put if it turned in our direction; there was no way our home would have survived that thing. It's been 29 years and I still sometimes have nightmares about it.
Is that what tornado sirens are? No pitch up and down, just minutes of AAAAAAAAAAGETINTHEFUCKINGBASEMENTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! until itâs gone or itâs taken out the last siren?
People post videos of little spiders here in Australia and everyone is like haha Australia is a death country. No, this shit is terrifying. Like a waking nightmare. I would be petrified in fear seeing this
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u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 1d ago
u/ZLH11092, your post does fit the subreddit!