First exposure to tornadoes in the media (book, video, etc)?

[Andy Wehrle]

This was inspired by the subtopic in the most beautiful tornado thread. What is the first time that you saw a tornado video, or read about tornadoes in a book, and was this what got you interested in severe weather?

I remember reading this children's book about storm chasers when I was in the second grade. I don't remember the title or author of it but it starts off with a chase by Tim Marshall and Roy Britt where they had to escape a tornado that suddenly changed direction.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

I had this old volume set of kid encyclopedias... they had the "first" tornado picture in it (with the three funnels). When I was in preschool I would run and grab the book, look at the picture... (which was pretty freaky), scare myself... close the book real fast and put it away. I'd have nightmares about the picture, although it intrigued more than scared... I'd do this quite often... repeating the whole process :lol:



Aaron

 

[Jeff Miller]

hehe

For me, Young People's Science Encyclopedia. Volume 19, to be exact

As a sidenote, there was a picture of a tornado on the front of this particular encyclopedia. Trying to locate that lol.

Disaster: Tornado was another one that inspired me as I mentioned in the other thread.

Tornado by John Edward Weems was huge in my childhood, wore that book out to say the least! Read that one so many times.

And there was one more book specifically called Killer Tornadoes. Wore that one out too!

 

[Thomas Loades]

For me, it was Dennis Brindell Fradin's Disaster! Tornadoes; it had considerable company, though.

There was one called Tornado Alert — I can't remember the author, but it was factual but only illustrated with paintings, which were all pretty cool.

There was another one called Tornado!, by Jules Archer, and this one had a photo of the 1979 Seymour, TX, tornado, that honestly scared me —
[Broken External Image]:http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nssl/images/nssl0068.jpg
Well, look at it! It's terrifying!

Another treasured volume was Sally Lee's Predicting Violent Storms, which a library I frequent came to sell . . . naturally, I snapped it up.

Seymour Simon's Storms was a beautiful, almost coffee-table book (for kids, though). Lots of great, huge pictures.

Above all was A.B.C. Whipple's Storm. The nice thing was that the library who had it didn't limit how may times you could renew a book. Therefore, I kept it out for about two years, probably.

The only thing was, all these books were in varying degrees of datedness and oversimplification when I borrowed them (1993–5), so it wasn't until about the end of the '90s that I foun out TOTO wasn't a viable device, and neither was opening windows before a tornado. Oh, and that it wasn't any old thunderstorm that would spawn a tornado. (I must say, I conceded that one with some disappointment.)

I can also never forget the first time I saw an ad for the TVC videos, in a 1994 Earth magazine — that was, literally, my pinnacle of existence for a few years, to GET THEM!! Somehow! Maybe . . .

It wasn't all this that sparked my interest in the first place, I should say — I owe a rather beautiful hailstorm when I was four for that — but it certainly vaulted my interest into an epic, furiously rotating obsession.

 

[Karen Politte]

Hi Andy.

Interesting thread. Me?

I lived in a country where this advertisement was played a lot of the time.

I think I took the idea of "follow your dreams" a little too literally..... :wink:

KR

 

[Earl Faubion]

The classic book, "Tornadoes of the United States" by Snowden D. Flora piqued my interest in storms when I was a teen and my goal at that time was to become a meteorologist. Personal and national events intervened so my life went off in another direction but I never lost my fascination with severe weather. Now that the bulk of my career is behind me I can focus more on what I want to do rather than on what others want me to do.

 

[Adam R Davis]

I'm very much the same. Came across a photo of a tornado in a dictionary and became transfixed. Later it was enhanced, not by photos or videos, but a book called Night of the Twisters, which my 2nd grade teacher read to the class when the book was first published (just a youngin' here) in the mid-80s.
I still own a copy of that book

Here's a link to the particular photo. I'm sure everyone has seen it: http://www.kshs.org/publicat/kaleidoscope/...ril_tornado.jpg

 

[Adam R Davis]

Not dictionary... encyclopedia.

 

[George Tincher]

For me, the book was Dennis Brindell Fradin's Disaster: Tornadoes. That started me out in 3rd grade (1985). As far as media, I guess what I enjoyed most was the tornado video (actually I guess it was still on reels then) that the emergency management people brought to our elementary school. We'd gatther in the gym/auditorium for an assembly each March during weather awareness week and they'd go over safety rules and such. Then they'd always show us Day of the Killer Tornadoes. I think they also showed Terrible Tuesday. There was just something about this old footage that made the tornadoes look even more threatening. While the quality was horrible, I suppose it made the scene seem darker or something. Anyway, I greatly enjoyed them.

What's funny, I now have both that book and the two videos I just mentioned. They hold great sentimental value to me for some reason.

 

[Adam R Davis]

Ooh, I've got both of those videos. I love collecting old film footage of tornadoes. Tornadoes look even more surreal and sinister on 8mm film, even when shot by someone competent.
I'm going to make sure I have my Bolex 8mm camera with me once I get out chasing, and several loads of film on hand as well.

 

[Tim Samaras]

For me...it was that fantastic tornado in The Wizard of Oz when I was six years old!

I fell asleep when the munckins (sp) came out...

Tim

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I think I liked storms before I read any books. First thing that really amazed me was the video Tornadoes the Entity. That video got me super hooked. I think I got that video in 91 or 92.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Tim beat me to it - it's the Wizard of Oz - definitely. Though not a real tornado, it still amazes me how authentic that tornado looks! ... I still watch the sequence over and over to try and figure out just how they did it (though I've learned how, it's still a great effect) ... even the structure looks good - with scud/downdraft. The feel of that entire scene ... the dark, dusty fields - the wind and the wild 'feel' of it - was my first strong memory of tornadoes in the media. Made a huge impression when I was a kid.

 

[Chris Hayes]

It was the Wizard of Oz that first introduced me to tornados in the movies. In real life it was the National Geographic episode back in 1985 or 86 about storm chasers. They talked about David Hoadley, doppler radar, and Jim Leonard. I still have that on tape.

 

[Jamie Grunewald]

For me, my interest was set forth by the documentary "Tornado" put out by Nova back in the '80's. It was a combination of the photography and something about Dr. Howard Bluestein awed me. Back then, I was only about seven years old. I continued to read up and educate myself on meteorology ever since then.