Your First Tornado

[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