First tornado

[Sam Soud]

I'd say my first real tornado was pretty good. I saw one when I was young, at the age of 15, but it was so rain wrapped I only saw the evidence of flying rain bands and damage in it's wake, so I can't really count that. This year was my first time chasing the plains. Despite the poor pattern, myself and @Glen Heinz managed to get on the Morton tornado at the perfect time.

 

[Pierre Ducray]

May 14, 2021 (around 5:10 pm), Eastern France... I was a lucky guy: that day I watched my first tornado by chance... It was miles away from me but easy to spot... First a funnel cloud which slowly became a tornado...

 

[J Sims]

Have yet to see one in person, think I had one go over my house in Jacksonville, FL Christmas Eve of 2020 but don't know for sure, path of broken limbs and trees down was a narrow path, could have been straight line winds but it was after dark so idk.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

May 30, 2004 in West Central Illinois was my first official tornado. It was the ending of a very very active late May 2004 which featured many major days including May 22nd (Hallam/Daykin, NE 2.5 mile wide F4), May 23 (Chenoa, IL Wedge), May 24 Nebraska/Kansas tornadofest, then the big day on May 29th in KS/OK and another outbreak the next day in IL/IN/OH. Wish we could get more years like 2004. Some wild stuff that year.

I started chasing in early 2003 though barely missing a tornado near Viola, IL on April 30, 2003 with my dad. Although we got into some golf ball size hail that covered the ground like snow due to training supercells that evening. I remember using old video tapes to record chases and storms at home we would get. Nowadays I enjoy the photography aspect of storm chasing and taking in all the sights that the atmosphere has to offer. Crazy how 20 years goes by just like that lol.

 

[Pierre Ducray]

Have yet to see one in person, think I had one go over my house in Jacksonville, FL Christmas Eve of 2020 but don't know for sure, path of broken limbs and trees down was a narrow path, could have been straight line winds but it was after dark so idk.

I think every storm is worthwhile... With or without a tornado...

 

[Tom Dulong]

My first tornado was June 3rd, 1985. It was a land-spout near Parker, Colorado.

 

[Pierre Ducray]

My first tornado was June 3rd, 1985. It was a land-spout near Parker, Colorado.

According to the Glossary of Meteorology of the American Meteorological Society "the landspout is an example of the nonsupercell tornado" "with it's vorticity originating in the boundary layer" [= "in contact with the surface of the earth"].
My question: are landspouts the only tornadoes to form from the ground up? I'm asking because of a 2018 small article in Science ( Surprise! Tornadoes form from the ground up)... Thank you very much!

 

[Tom Dulong]

are landspouts the only tornadoes to form from the ground up?

Gustnadoes are the only other that I am aware of.

 

[rdale]

Gustnadoes are the only other that I am aware of.

And tornadoes...

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

 

[Jordan A.]

My first tornado was the Mangum, OK. EF2 on May 20, 2019. I was coming from the north on Highway 283, listening to a live report on FM radio, which gave an exact play by play of the events. Just north of Mangum, I poked out of the rain, and saw a mass of junk under the southwest portion of the supercell, and realized a tornado was hiding in there. I needed only to stop and wait, ready to launch in retreat if necessary. But the tornado rumbled on across the highway and into a field where it dissipated minutes later. Only a handful of chasers or spotters were on site, as most of the others were stuck in a horrific traffic jam to our south. Minutes later, I saw some of the blackest skies I've seen as the storm moved over Granite, OK., while sirens blared.

 

[Todd Lemery]

My first tornado was the Mangum, OK. EF2 on May 20, 2019. I was coming from the north on Highway 283, listening to a live report on FM radio, which gave an exact play by play of the events. Just north of Mangum, I poked out of the rain, and saw a mass of junk under the southwest portion of the supercell, and realized a tornado was hiding in there. I needed only to stop and wait, ready to launch in retreat if necessary. But the tornado rumbled on across the highway and into a field where it dissipated minutes later. Only a handful of chasers or spotters were on site, as most of the others were stuck in a horrific traffic jam to our south. Minutes later, I saw some of the blackest skies I've seen as the storm moved over Granite, OK., while sirens blared.

View attachment 23394
View attachment 23395

I was one of the ones stuck in traffic after following it from the South. I did get a horribly contrasted view of that tornado, but it ended up being just another one of many high risk days that left me disappointed

 

[Pierre Ducray]

My first tornado was the Mangum, OK. EF2 on May 20, 2019.

Jordan and Todd's tornado:

Location: 8 mi SW Mangum ---> 3.5 mi N Mangum
Length of path: 11 miles
Width of path: 1200 yards
Time: 2212-2229 UTC
Killed: 0
Injured: 0

25 tornadoes that day in Oklahoma...

[NWS/SPC]