not to panic anybody after the fact, but...

[kuroshii]

...I saw a tornado today. For real. Relax we're OK it missed us completely.

I've been out in the suburbs at my sweetie's place all weekend. Late this afternoon, my sweetie was upstairs in the computer room, and I was in the living room watching Daleks In Manhattan on DVR to catch up with him. Then (at almost exactly 6p) he came downstairs, looking

Comments

[ladyeuthanasia]

Holy crap! How exciting and yet totally terrifying. I'm so glad you were just a spectator. ::hugs::

[kuroshii]

i made the statement a few hours later that i had no idea why i wasn't more scared, because the fact is that tornadoes do frighten me. my sweetie explained it was because not only me but everyone around me could tell it was going to miss us. also, when you're in that situation panic and fear are counter-productive. i remember driving through a midwest rainstorm once, when i couldn't even see to pull over, realising how scared i wasn't and that if i had been scared i would have probably lost control of the car.

i don't even know that "exciting" was the right word, at least not at the time. i was curiously and completely intellectual. which might have helped shut out the fear too. just like with that rainstorm.

"fascinating" is probably closer.

i made the statement a few hours later that i had no idea why i wasn't more scared,

[conanlibrarian]

Because you are an engenier! And I can't spell.

Re: i made the statement a few hours later that i had no idea why i wasn't more scared,

[kuroshii]

and a weather geek.

i remember my "first" wall cloud, seen a year after i moved to chicago: "oh cool, a wall cloud that isn't on TV! and cooler still, i know enough to have just recognized it!"

[mcd000]

Very cool... but do remember, they do make complete u-turns sometimes, so... yeah, let's hope you're not that close again. ;)

[kuroshii]

while they have been known to u-turn, it is in fact rather rare that they do. and u-turns are even more rare when the cloud they're in (and the entire system surrounding the cloud) is moving in the same direction. times like that, the "best" movement you should get is a sort of wobble. even if it took a sudden 90degree jog, we would have had a good ten minutes or so to get under the staircase.

no-one else standing out in the cul-de-sac appeared concerned once they saw it, and they've all (well, the ones we chatted with) grown up here too.

[conanlibrarian]

Did you hear the "freight train" that Tom Skilling says you are supposed to hear?

[kuroshii]

i listened for it, but it was too far away. or a combination of too distant plus too small. it was eerily quiet outside except for the siren.

[mabfan]

Wow. I remember a tornado warning when I was at Clarion in Michigan. The entire population of the dorm was required to move to the basement for safety for about half an hour.

A scientist friend of mine who used to live and work in Colorado told me that one time, the basement of her building, where their lab was located, started to become awfully crowded. When the scientists were told that it was due to a tornado warning, they all left the lab and went upstairs in hopes of spotting a tornado.

[kuroshii]

early this spring we had a tornado siren go off in the city. and of course first thing i did was not take cover: it was check the radar to see where it was! i could see the "hook" in the wind speed returns, and knew it was south of me heading east (i.e., missing me unless it veered north) so i then went to my living room window. but by the time where it was had cleared the buildings for me to see them (yes, them) they'd gone over the lake and dissipated. a friend told me they never touched down, just stayed as bloopy short funnels like soft-serve ice cream held upside down.

early this spring we had a tornado siren go off in the city.

[conanlibrarian]

I don't know if it was the same one or not but I was sleeping and the siren went off. I couldn't get myself up and I sleep by a window. I mumbled to myself if I die I die. I went back to sleep.

Re: early this spring we had a tornado siren go off in the city.

[kuroshii]

you live even further north than me, if i remember correctly. so you were in even less danger than i was. they went right over downtown.

[andelku]

What? Was I totally on planet me? Or were you out at the Honey's place?

[kuroshii]

this was out at sweetie's. i'll edit to make more clear (and to fix a typo i just noticed).