Your Biggest 'OH MY GOD' experience

[cdcollura]

I had my share!

Good day,

I do have several "Oh my God" experiences. I tried just a few below...

Tornado flips truck in front of me at 6 AM (yes, AM) on March 9, 1998 in Pembroke Pines in South FL on I-95. El Nino really kicked stuff up there back then! This was video, and I did get the truck flipping over as I yell "Oh my God - Tornado just passed right over my head!"

On June 12, 2005 near Girard, TX (Spur / Jayton) and witnessing a monster cyclic supercell with a 3/4 mile-wide multivortex tornado spawn these 2 sub-tornadoes and watching them "sance" around each other - one tornado went left, the other went right! Oh my God.

A brush fire comes dangerously close to homes during a drought in south FL in March 2004. This was just a block or two from my home, so yes, I did say "Oh my God" as I was concerned - as I was taking THIS picture from my window!

Witnessing the storm surge coming in like a tsunami in Katrina between Gulfport and Biloxi on August 29, 2005. The surge came in and destroyed the first floor of the building we were in - "Oh my God - Look at the storm surge!"

Things you do when you are "scared".

Chris C - KG4PJN

 

[Cstok]

Hallam, May 22nd 2004.

I now understand what the phrase hell on earth means...

 

[Chris Lott]

2004 in my hometown of West,Tx. I was at my son's t-ball game (who was four years old at the time) and I wasn't expecting this. The forecast for that day was for thunderstorms in the area but I wasn't reading too much into it. My sister was at home babysitting my other son, and I told her to call me if anything came across the t.v. While my son's game is going on, major convection starts to take place just north of us and builds back towards the southwest. I've got one eye on the clouds, one eye on my son and waiting for my phone to ring but the whole time I'm still saying to myself, "it's nothing. We don't get anything like this around here." About 5 minutes later my sister calls and says we're under a tornado warning! Stupid me, I say to her,"who's under a tornado warning?!" DUH! Possible tornado was approaching from our west! I start making frantic pleas to parents in the stands and the coaches and the umpires that we have to clear the field now! I turned and looked to the west just across I-35 and there it was! A nice wall cloud with a protruding tail starting to snake down. Holy!@#$ was all I could say. Hail started to fall, everyone left the ballpark quicker than I've ever seen. When the wall formed it was no more than a quarter mile from the ballpark. Definitely an OH MY GOD! moment for me.

 

[Rob Satkus]

I've had a few OMG moments over the years...

The "OMG, I can't believe I'm seeing this" moments:
April 22, 1985, first chase, W Ok...nice supercell near Calumet Ok...as storms go it wasn't the most spectacular, but just being out there experiencing what we did (funnel, 1.75" hail, 70mph winds, structure...)for the first time was incredible.
March 28, 1988..C Ok...first chase tornado
May 18, 1989...near TUL, solo chase nets a nice cone, not a soul around for miles..
May 18, 1990...incredible LP near Wheeler Tx
April 12, 1991...tornadofest in NC Ok
May 11, 1992...up close and personal with a violent tornado in SE Ok.
July 23, 1995..a rare, nightime, summer tornado in SW Ok
May 24, 1998...numerous tornadoes across NC Ok, including a very close encounter with an anticyclonic tornado.
June 13, 1998...OKC tornadoes
Oct 4th 1998, Beautiful tornado near Watonga Ok
May 3rd 1999
May 29, 2001 Tx Panhandle tornadoes
May 3, 2003..Lake Stamford tornadoes, but mainly the structure
May 24, 2004 Sw Ok storm structure and tornadoes...monster hail and 50-60mph inflow

And a few "OMG, I wish I had a change of underwear with me!" moments

May 26, 1991...Woodward Ok...stopped by a train with baseball hail, 60mph inflow pounding us and a massive meso nearly overhead. Missed the tornado because of the train!
June 13, 1998...blasted by 100+mph rfd in OKC as a tornado moves across I-35, flipping trucks a half mile to my north, tree uprooted next to me, power poles snapping...debris banging off vehicle all this with the hysterical screams of people hiding under a bridge nearby.
May 20, 2001...eastern OK...approaching a rotating wall cloud from the southwest...inflow picks up dramatically to 50-60mph, tree limbs snapping like gunshots, small tornado spins up not more than 50yds to our north, crosses the road behind us and just in front of another chaser.
May 8th 2003...coming across the damage path of the Moore/OKC tornado just after is passed...total chaos..and the utter amazement when we saw this had hit places that were hit on May 3, 1999
May 9th, 2003...OKC night tornado...we were at the same spot Gene Rhoden & Tim Marshall had stopped...didn't realize new tornado was spinning up just to our southwest until my chase partner yelled out " Holy S*** there it is...then watching the tv tower lights disappear...power went out and we became disoriented...almost followed Gene & Tim but ended up going east...a medium sized tree fell right in front of us

And a few "OMG, WTF????" moments:

May 1993...NW Ok...farmer pulls a gun on us, thinking we had been vandalizing his property.
May, 1996...SW Ok...while watching a storm, farmer pulls up to ask about it...we walk over to his truck, only to find he had no pants on. "Storm scared me so bad I guess I forgot my britches" said he.
May 2000...Sw Ok...waiting for something to go, noticed farm house nearby had their entire front fence draped with the skeletal remains of catfish. Then saw an Emu in the field next to us...then found$5 on the road.
My 2005 chase season.

Rob

 

[Scott Olson]

July 31st, 2004. The most extreme rate of development I have ever seen a storm achieve. Extreme Instability 5,000j/kg + SBCAPE was present.