Your First Tornado

[Maggie Kahman]

Still a tornado Virgin here. Said but true. Closest thing I have seen is a sweet rotating wall cloud and several funnels with a confirmed tornado that touch down outside of Manhattan in 1993 but since I never saw it on the ground I can say I have seen a Tornado. Did not even see the one that rolled through town 2 years ago. Saw the power flashes but I refuse to chase at night as I don't want my first one to be my last one. Hoping to see a tornado this season out in an open grassland doing no damage.

I too am a tornado virgin, but like you have seen several funnels. This one perticular time comes to mind. I was coming home from Hastings going south on HWY 14 just south of Clay Center (I had taken the back way home). As i crested a hill, i saw what appeared to be 2 funnel clouds. I was driving but was able to look at them and saw that they were rotating. The one dissipated before i could get stopped to look at them so only one of them was left when i turned onto a gravel road and stopped. This funnel was roping out, it was very long and pencil thin and very pretty. I could hear the sirens in the town of Faifield going off in the distance. That is a day i will not soon forget.

Something to add: You think its sad that you still are a tornado virgin? I am 23, have lived in Nebraska all my life, and still have not seen a tornado. then again i didnt really get into chasing until 2008. But still, youd think that id have seen a nader by now!

 

[Andy Wehrle]

My first tornado was June 8, 1974 in Tulsa as an F3 passed less than a mile from our house. We lived in a horseshoe shaped valley, so I could only see the wall cloud and top of the tornado, but there was plenty of debris in the air as it was passing through a subdivision.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/document/tor/081805.php

Very similar experience for me (same F scale rating even) but my visibility was limited by trees. I got about 7 seconds of video of flying debris and violently churning clouds over our house, but I could tell it was CLOSE and it was way bigger than your "average" tornado.

Still "0-fer" on chases, but that's to be expected since I only do it about once a year.

 

[Andrew Stevens]

My first tornado was last year, May 13, 2009 in Kirksville, MO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBm0iIz5Qwk

My video of it, as I explained in my new users post, I was a little on edge during that chase for a few reasons. Ended up accidently not recording the best shot that I had of the tornado. It did look very neat on the camera though, I just wish it was recording. lol.

 

[Derek Weston]

April 13, 2006 Iowa City. Actually was in the edges of it in my apartment complex. The pressure dropped and the doors rattled as they were being sucked outward towards the tornado. The raw power and force you felt was just amazing.

Didn't know as much at the time, and was scared... but good grief, what an experience. I'd love to experience that again in a safe way... just one of those things you're lucky to experience while being unharmed.

 

[Jason Young]

Mine first tornado I ever saw ,

I think this is the right day. Aoril 29 , 1985 ( the day ToTo was deployed in Ardmore . We was hideing in the bathroom ( I was 11 at that time ) while my grandfather stood at the front door watching the weather . I went check on him when I saw a funny cloud , next thing I know he has me in the air , running to the bathroom . The Tornado passed 2 miles to are south .
04/29/1985 1854 14 mile path ,880 yards wide F2 Love/ Carter 4 WSW Overbrook- Ardmore- 5 WNW Dickson

 

[Joseph Tyree]

My first tornado was on November 27, 2005. We caught the tornadoes near Erie, Kansas resulting from the cold core setup.

 

[J E Rogers]

First Tornado

First tornado was Dec 5 1975 in Tulsa Ok. Remember funnel dropping over east Tulsa from my back yard in the 21st and Memorial area. First tornado event was June 8 1974 but did not see the tornado. Was covered with mattress in hallway.

 

[Kevin Polston]

My first tornado was April 26, 1991 in Washington County KS.....just outside the town of Washington KS. This was the big central plains outbreak and the same day as the Andover KS tornado. I chased with Jack Hales, Jeff Manion, Andy Kula and Rob Koch....and it was so "easy" it made you think you would see a tornado every time you went chasing. We intercepted the storm as it approached from the southwest, saw the wall cloud develop and then over several minutes saw the tornado form. One of the more impressive moments for me was when the tornado was still to the southwest I looked up at the mesoscylone and saw the whole thing spinning. That was very impressive! After a few minutes we had to retreat about a mile down the road to the east....we watched the tornado cross the road just to the west where we had been....got blasted by the RFD and then lost it in the rain to the north. It was definitely very memorable.

 

[Brendon Lindsey]

....and it was so "easy" it made you think you would see a tornado every time you went chasing.

I had this problem too, when I started out, It seemed after the first chase season, I was like man this is easy and soo fun. But I soon found out there was a frustrating part to storm chasing in the following seasons.

 

[Keith Mullen]

My first was in 1991 or 92, I can't recall the specific date at the moment. (suffer from CRS). Just North of Eriswell, Suffolk - England. Having a smoke with some of my mates and looked just to the east as it touched down within about 1 mile of us. Wasn't even on a chase or actively chasing.

 

[Bob Hartig]

It's interesting to see how many "firsts" here were late-season tornadoes.

 

[Scott Bell]

May 16, 2004. My very first chase. We left Lincoln in the late morning and set up in Kearney to watch data. As storms started firing to the NW, we moved north and saw two brief tornadoes near Rockville. Unfortunately they were very short lived so no photos.

To add to the insanity of my first day chasing, The DOW and TIV were there as well.


Edit: OK, my first EXPERIENCE with a tornado was May 4, 1977. I was 5 years old and can still remember seeing the small tree outside the basement window being bent over the top bar of the chain link fence. All of the windows in our house were blown out, and several homes on all sides of ours in our neighborhood were destroyed. I don't really remember the emotions of it, but I do remember the intensity of the experience and how my family reacted to tornadoes for years after that.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

Kevin:

I have a very brief video of that tornado that is barely visible through the rain. I was really excited about seeing that untill I heard about the Andover tornado, and I was way out of positon to intercept. I was originally planning to go to Wichita that day, but the activity around the low drew me north.

 

[Michael Towers]

May 29, 2004, a bittersweet day. I left my position near Wellington Ks. for what promised to be more isolated activity in Oklahoma. I ultimately saw two small tornadoes near Geary on a long lived supercell while my initial target area produced the Harper/Sumner County outbreak. At the time I was happy I scored, I realized a lifetime dream and witnessed my first tornadoes. With the passage of time I look back and think of lost opportunity; I was positioned for what could have presently been the best chase day of my life and abandoned it to pursue a different option. There’s no guarantee I would have had success at all had I stayed, on the contrary I was green (4th chase) and instead of seeing some of the magnificent tornadoes from the outbreak I could have gotten myself into serious trouble. Nonetheless when I remember that special day the fondness of that memory is tempered by thoughts of how much better it could have been.

 

[Joshua Nall]

The tornadoes near Roll, OK last year were my first. The first one crossed the road a ways behind me just a bit after I pulled over. It then lifted and an even thinner rope tornado touched down very briefly a minute or so later. As this second tornado played out, the big one was getting it's act together, and heading for the Canadian River. This was my first multi-day trip and I feel really blessed to have seen them. There weren't many tornadoes this day and these were well defined, photogenic tornadoes all forming within a few minutes and miles of each other.

 

[Brendon Lindsey]

My first was the last few seconds of the 6-13-07 Orienta, OK tornado . It was wrapped up in rain the last few seconds I saw it. It had a wicked wall cloud. I think I have a

I was a noob and was watching the wrong side of the storm, then my dad called me and told me to go back to where I was, and when I did I saw the last few seconds... I do have faint memories before I started chasing of a tornado west of Wellington,Ks a few years ago.

 

[Earl Faubion]

April 30, 1961, at age 14, I watched from a few miles away as a tornado, later rated an F2, dropped near Minco, Oklahoma and began moving northeast toward my location on on a hill west of Mustang. The tornado soon disappeared behind a curtain of rain and my family was relieved when a radio report said it had dissipated in the South Canadian riverbed. It was a classic shaped tornado similar to the one in Brendon's post above. I was so pumped I don't think I slept at all that night.

 

[Kevin Rolfs]

My first tornado was also on June 12, 2004 near Rock, KS. I was 14 and my parents had just gotten a digital camera so my dad, my brother, and I decided to take it for a spin. Man did it pay off!

 

[Ian Miller]

My first was near Henryetta texas 2002, got some really grainy vid and poor contrast pictures, but it was still so exciting to see the funnel extending down for the first time.

 

[Paul Sherman]

1st for me was on Friday 13th May 2005 along Highway 6 near Benjamin (Tx) The day after just missing the 12th May South Plains Monster Hail and Dirty Brown Wedge Tornado
Everyone and their dog were hanging out at Childress and 1 lone Storm went up at 330pm and touched 65,000ft within 45 mins, massive traffic jams along the 1 road heading south in the Texas Panhandle but it was great all the same even if it only lasted 1 Min.

1st in the Uk was Saturday November 14th 2009 about 2 miles from my house when an EF2 Hit SE Essex at 9am in the morning, track length was 1 Mile from SW To NE

Paul Sherman

 

[Matt Gingery]

Now if we are talking the first tornado that we witnessed, or the first tornado that we photographed. My first tornado was May 29, 1983 in Springfield, Missouri at the age of 8. I witnessed several other tornadoes from the late 80's into the late 90's. Then technology grabbed hold of me and I filmed my first tornado May 4, 2003 in Battlefield, Missouri. Since then I have filmed other notable tornadoes. Those represent firsts for me. 1983-2003.

 

[Stephen Levine]

Saturday November 14th 2009 [/B]about 2 miles from my house when an EF2 Hit SE Essex at 9am in the morning, track length was 1 Mile from SW To NE

Paul Sherman

Did you actually see the twister? What was it like to witness?

 

[Josh Murfield]

My first tornado was April 6th, 2006 in Hanover, Kansas. This was the first season my wife and I got serious about storm chasing (as in, real chasing instead of just driving out to the edge of town to watch something rolling in). We lived in Lincoln, NE and had hooked up with a pair of experienced chasers who were willing to let us caravan with them for the day. We pulled through the town of Washington as the tornado siren was going off- we got kicked out of the mini-mart we were in for bathroom breaks because they had to evacuate to a location across the street for shelter! We headed east on HWY 36 and came to the top of a hill where we had a perfectly backlit view of the tornado which we were able to watch for a good ten minutes before it dissipated. I remember every second of that chase as if it were yesterday.

 

[Paul Sherman]

Did you actually see the twister? What was it like to witness?

Stephen

Strangely it was a lot like the US Tornadoes which is a rarity for the Uk, usually all our Tor's are wrapped up in the middle of rain and you only hear the bang of bins and masonry flying off roofs but this one was clearly along the rain free area to the SW Of a Low Topped Supercell, good SE Winds but with temps of 14c and Dewpoints of 10c

I witnessed it about 2 Miles in front of me to my west and when it lifted it snaked across the sky as it roped out and left about a 1 Mile long Funnel Cloud.

I also conducted the damage survey for Torro (Uk Tornado Research Org) and found the damage path from start to finish and interviewed Residents that had lost their roofs and cars etc

Most of our Tornadoes occur in November in the Uk (The record being 105 Touchdowns in 1 day in Nov 1981)

Paul S

 

[Thomas Spence]

I saw mine on April 23 just outside of Buffalo, OK. It was one of my first real storm chases. I was chasing solo with no internet or anything, I was listening to reports coming over the radio and somehow found my way to the perfect place to see the brief touchdown. Will always remember that chase