Your First Tornado

[Bernard Hulshof]

My first tornado encounter was during my first chasecation in the US, on May 29th 2001. The so-called White Deer TX tornado.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Although at the time I was pretty sure I saw my first tornado on May 29th, 2001, near Turkey, TX, I'm pretty sure nowadays that it was probably a gustnado, Thus, my first definite tornado was in Harper County, KS, on May 12th, 2004 - having missed the events in the afternoon and early evening we finally got on the southern side of the storm complex around dark, and caught a nice cone tornado:

 

[Marcus Diaz]

My first official tornado while chasing was this little guy on May 15, 2009 near Pampa, TX. @Wesley Luginbyhl has a much better angle of it with ground circulation.

It was only my second year of chasing, but I committed to going all out that year. I caught one more that day buried in the rain, one near Umbarger, TX on June 4, and 2 in SW Missouri on June 10.

 

[Bob Schafer]

June 10, 1999. This is the first FRAME of storm video I ever shot. It was not a tornado, but FFD scud, and was not rotating. I am just off Colorado Blvd in Denver CO here, looking NNW, and the scud is right about over I-70.



Exactly 2 hours and 11 minutes later I shot this out by Last Chance. This vid was on YT for several years, but I yanked it because I got tired of people telling me this was NOT a tornado. Fact is, I'm not sure myself whether it was or wasn't! There was only slow rotation evident (in the vid). These are all vidcaps.



One minute later it looked like this:



Tornado or not, the day, the chase, bisected my life. There is only before/after June 10, 1999. BTW, even if this wasn't a tornado I still saw my first tornadoes prior to these last two pics when I witnessed some brief spinups with debris back by Watkins, Bennett, and Strasburg.

► P.S. As if the day needed something else to make it "my special day": I was the only chaser there. Some others had been on the scene but had disappeared for no known reason just minutes before I got the images here.

 

[JamesCaruso]

My first tornado was on May 25, 1997 near Harper, KS (image below) while participating on Cloud 9 Tours. It was the first of several during an outbreak with ended with the Perth 'Dillo-Cam wedge. My first tornado on my own was a brief spinup near Throckmorton, Tx on May 26, 2000.

Hey Bill,

My first was the same day as yours, and also on a tour! I was with Marty Feeley's Whirlwind Tours (no longer operating), but driving in my own car with one other customer behind Marty's single minivan. I remember the gorgeous supercell that sprang up, and as we were driving ahead of the storm with the storm back over my left shoulder, I spotted my first touchdown! But I had to get my eyes back on the road, and we both shouted, "Why isn't he stopping?!?!?" Ultimately, in that year of 1997 before all the technology, another storm dominated (which became the Perth tornado) but we were behind the action. I know Marty felt bad about not stopping for the first tornado but he was trying to stay in a good position and figured it would be more than just a quick touchdown and/or that there would be additional touchdowns. But it all got squashed by the other storm. It was a quick touchdown so we didn't miss much from that particular storm at least. Still, it was thrilling to experience all that was going on that day, hearing sirens wailing in Wellington, seeing the huge backsheared anvils near dark as the monsters moved off to the east... I was hooked!!!

My first tornado "on my own" was Basset, Nebraska in 1999 - sorry I can't recall the date, I have it in my records somewhere back home

I was also on the 2000 Throckmorton storm - I remember seeing the funnel extend about halfway down, but I did not have a view of the ground to confirm touchdown... I don't think I ever followed up on that to see if a tornado was confirmed!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jeremy Perez]

I was kind of spoiled by my first tornado, May 22, 2010, Bowdle, SD—the second day of my first chase on the plains. My daughter was with me. Earlier that morning I asked her how she was feeling and if she was ready for another day seeing what we could see. Her reply was, “I want to see a tornado!” That thought was resonating with me as we watched the first touchdown happen before our eyes that afternoon. Unbelievable.

With power lines down over the road, we got pretty far behind the storm and did not see the wedge phase, but caught a glimpse of a later elephant trunk through rain curtains. Despite that, I don’t think I could ask for a better first tornado experience.

Chase account: Storm Chase Day 2: Bowdle, South Dakota - May 22, 2010

Chase tours advancing on the Bowdle tornado


My daughter films the storm and stovepipe tornado as it moves off to begin its wedge phase

Thanks @Megan Kotulak for inadvertently rekindling this thread

 

[kmreid]

My first tornado? TBA at this point, but I am working on it...have been for nearly 5 years now.

 

[Isaac Pato]

Mine was this fine mesoscale accident on March 8, 2010.

 

[Dan Robinson]

My "official" first is west of Sharon, Kansas on May 12, 2004:

Unofficially, I likely saw my first on May 29, 2001, one of the very weak F0s reported with the photogenic LP near Conway, Texas. I don't "officially" count it as all I could see was periodic dust/dirt clouds, which from our vantage point I couldn't tell which was RFD and which was a tornado. Even if I had seen it, I didn't recognize it as a tornado at the time. I have never seen video/photos from anyone this day who was closer, so it's always remained a mystery. It seemed that very few chasers saw this storm - most were on the White Deer or Childress storms.

 

[Ian Livingston]

Looks like a good place for my first post here.

First tor was March 1998 in TX, near Plano. Sort of by accident but we knew storms were around. Wasn't chasing though... just fulfilling an interest. Got really hooked after moving near Dallas from CA in 1995.

Have been an armchair chaser since the 90s and into weather big time overall, but didn't do first chasecation until 2011. We went during the worst stretch possible that year (Apr 30-May 11) so didn't see a lot--almost ran into a tornado at night in SD on May 8. It was next to us we just never saw it.

La Crosse KS 2012 was first chase tornado -- first time seeing a tornadic storm from early formation through producing too. Had hail roar, excellent sunset, few chasers initially (Mark Ellinwood, Jason Foster and I were alone on it for about an hour with most folks north) and all. Good times. Still probably my favorite storm.

https://www.flickr.com/search/?tag_mode=all&sort=relevance&user_id=78993964@N00&tags=052512chase&view_all=1

 

[John Vandehei]

My first, and unfortunately, only tornado was during a local chase in 2003. Severe parameters were pretty weak and I was actually at home on the computer. I heard a rumble of thunder (which I wasn't expecting) and reflexively checked the local radar. A cell to my NW had developed and was showing signs of a hook (didn't have good access to velocity scans at the time), so I watched the reflectivity for a scan or two. I then decided to go after it, as the hook got more pronounced. Shortly after getting out of town, and finding a clear area with good visibility, I was greeted be nice wall cloud. I was too close and needed to reposition south and somewhat east, as the cell was moving SSE. Unfortunately, my escape path was right through Battle Creek, MI, which got me hung up in traffic. I finally made it south to I-94 and tried to jog east a bit before moving south some more. I quickly got engulfed by rain, which slowed me down some more, making it more difficult to get ahead of the storm. As I was driving east, I suddenly saw a bunch of leaves being stripped off the nearby trees, swirling around in the clasic "swarm of vultures" debris signature. Even though there was no funnel or tornado visible (rain was impeding visibility), I immediately recognized the presence of a weak tornado right in my path. I was going to pull over and wait for it to pass, but then I noticed people were driving through it, seemingly oblivious to what was happening. I quickly reasoned that driving through this weak tornado was less of a risk than pulling over (and possibly getting rear ended). So I continued onward, with my vehicle getting rocked a little as I got in the circulation, and then drove out of it without issue. I tried to get off at the next exit and pursue it, but I couldn't catch back up. What was a very weak circulation where it crossed the freeway did eventually get stronger, downing some trees and damaging a few houses nearby. So, I've got one tornado under my belt, although it was probably the least exciting tornado one could encounter.

 

[Michael Snyder]

Puget sound convergence zone Aug 16th 1998 Kent WA
I saw rotation on the ground right in front of the neighbors house. It then passed directly over my house knocked things down in my house since an upstairs window was open, I chased the cell out past the Covington area. 1" hail in Western WA is about as rare as it gets.
The Tornado is probably to date oone of the weakest to ever hit anywhere in the USA , I have a couple nice funnel cloud shots as it moved away.

 

[Jason Foster]

....but didn't do first chasecation until 2011. We went during the worst stretch possible that year (Apr 30-May 11) so didn't see a lot--almost ran into a tornado at night in SD on May 8. It was next to us we just never saw it.

Hahahaha....

Yes....it probably was a good idea to bust that last second U-turn. I should not have been so aggressive that first season out for you and Mark. It was awesome though having you guess out those two season and experiencing what it was like chasing like a noob again. Seeing the excitement (especially when we engaged at and near LaCrosse) brought me back. You guys have done well too. Wish I could be out there again with ya.
-------------------
My first tornado like others wasn't chasing, it was a personal experience. In 1990 in Kensington, MD an F1 tornado hit. I had just returned to the house after a bit of a walk outside coming from a school bus stop. Little did I know, if I had looked up and south some I probably would have seen it. As it were, I was to wrapped up running next door to my buddies house. Tornado hard less than a minute from stepping inside. I got on the news (as did our fallen double decker treehouse..."we'll rebuild" we said and the news folks ate it up from us younglings).

In chasing, it would loosely be the called the first because I barely actually saw it (treeline mostly obscured the funnel/cone). It was in 1998 (no tornadoes my first season in 1997). It was in the small town of Burden, KS (NE of Arkansas City, KS). It did some damage in town but not too significant. if that didn't count than it wasn't until I returned in 2002 and caught one in Borger, TX (NW of Pampa). Again a very weak F0-F1. It was the same day Gammons/Collura nabbed the Guymon small multi-V. I am not sure it did much damage (trees and a shed). What I do remember was the terrible smell of the refinery in that down. YUCK!

 

[Gerry Davis]

My first tornado experience I was in but never saw. I don't remember the exact year, either 75 or 77 (I was 8 or 10), but we were on a fishing trip in WI. I was in bed watching the lightning to the north and my dad in the front room doing the same when all of a sudden this loud roar suddenly came out of nowhere. I could barely hear my Dad yell, GET UNDER THE BED! I could see him from under the bed trying to shut the front door to the cabin and he could not. Just as suddenly the roar ended. I shook so bad the rest of the night my brother had to sleep elsewhere. lol. The next morning at dawn we went out and the whole camp was tore up (not flattened but damaged). boats tossed, cars tossed, cabins smashed... One cabin had the side tore off and the dishes still on the shelf. Ours was the only untouched cabin. Down the road it hit a trailer park and tossed trailers into a lake. I guess ever since then I wanted to see what it was that went through that night.

 

[JeremyS]

My first tornado, I suppose was a rain wrapped tornado that went close to Kirksville, MO in 2008ish, maybe?? Although I only ever saw the outer edge of it for about 30 seconds, so I count my first day as June 17th, 2010 in Minnesota. Witnessed 6-7 tornadoes that day including the EF-4 Conger tornado. What a way to break into the tornado count column!!

 

[cstrunk]

The first tornado that I saw was November 12th, 2005 in Ames, IA from Jack Trice Stadium. I was process of going through the gates to enter and the tornado sirens were going off. I ran to the south side of the stadium and saw a wall cloud to the west. As the storm moved northeast I caught a glimpse of the tornado on the northwest side of town. My first foot chase.

The first tornado I saw on a chase and was able to photograph was the Mapleton, IA tornado on April 9th, 2011. I was set up on a hill about 8 miles or so away from town and got pictures of the rain-wrapped tornado. I ended up seeing 3-4 other tornadoes at night in my first night chase. That was a storm to remember.

I came close on June 30th, 2009 near Grundy Center, IA, where I photographed a nicely wrapped wall cloud and few associated funnels. I was too far away to tell if there was any ground circulation, but there were other chasers on the storm so maybe they could chime in. I also saw and photographed a nice thin funnel and ominous wall cloud while I was working in Colorado somewhere around Last Chance in June or July 2007, it never touched down from what I could tell.

 

[ChristianT]

My first was the Milsap Tornado on May 15, 2013. I only saw the last few minutes of it as it roped out from about 4-5 miles away but it was pretty to watch. Moments later I saw another tornado that lasted about a minute on the new wall cloud. All the while just south of me the Granbury Tornado was beginning to take shape. Since then, I have seen four what I would call possible tornadoes. Pretty sure most were gustnadoes, but one might have been a landspout.

 

[Winston Wells]

My first tornado was #44 on Fujita's famous map of the April 3, 1974 Super Outbreak. This F-4 tornado struck the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, OH when I was eight years old. It was preceded immediately by the more famous Saylor Park F-5 that tore through the western part of the city. My family and I were scared out of our wits that warm, balmy afternoon, and we had already heard about the deadly Xenia, OH F-5. For some reason my mom thought it would be a good idea to go out to a nearby restaurant in the northeastern suburb of Montgomery, and when the restaurant's manager opened the blinds we saw the Mason tornado about four miles off to our northwest (I was already a stickler for proper positioning). The power went out, the manager herded us into the restaurant's basement, and the rest is history. I was hooked.

My first "chase" tornado was also historic: the mile-wide F-4 beast that destroyed Hallam, NE on 5/22/04.

 

[Mike Benefield]

My first tornado was on May 19, 1973, in Fort Payne, Alabama. The NWS rated it F4. I could see it coming from about 3 miles away, moving right toward me. It was multiple-vortex. When it got within a block away, I took cover. Most of the neighborhood was destroyed; the roof was completely removed from our house, and one wall collapsed.

 

[John Farley]

Looking through the thread, I see that I have not responded - probably because my answer is complicated. The first for-sure tornado that I SAW was in mid-May, 1970. The tornado occurred in Lansing, MI, and I saw it from the campus of Michigan State University, where I was a student. Although there were photographs of it at the time, I could not find any on Google Images just now. However, it was a long, ropy funnel, rather horizontal in the middle, kind of like the famous Cordell, OK tornado, but I and most who saw it were looking at it through trees, so nowhere near as visually impressive to most who saw it. And based on what I will describe in the next paragraph, I skedaddled to the basement rather than standing and watching it for very long.

Although that was the first tornado that I definitely SAW, it was not the first one that I experienced. Prior to that one, I experienced at least one and possibly as many as three tornadoes as a boy in Iowa. On May 7, 1964 (when I was a freshman in high school), an F2 tornado passed a block north of my house. Although I now know that it occurred with an HP supercell and was rain-wrapped, I had no idea of what was going on at the time except that there was a very intense severe thunderstorm moving through and then, like now, I wanted to see it. As the tornado touched down just to our north and began its 7-mile east-to-west track across the south side of Waterloo, IA, the rain and wind at our house were so intense that you could not see the houses across the street at its peak. A neighbor 2 houses to our north had an anemometer, and it recorded a peak wind of 100 mph - and that was still a few hundred feet south of the damage path. Numerous buildings were severely damaged in the tornado, and 27 people were injured, according to archived reports. And what was I doing? Standing in front of a west-facing picture window watching the storm. I am lucky that the window held. That experience gave me more respect for tornado warnings than I had ever had up until then, and for years after that, my fear overcame my curiosity and sent me scrambling to shelter whenever the sirens blew.

But even that may not have been my first tornado. A year or two before that, I saw what I would now describe as a wall cloud that appeared to extend to the ground northwest of my aunt and uncle's house in Waucoma, IA, in Fayette County, IA. So far as I know it was never confirmed as a tornado, but there was wind damage in Lawler, IA, about where it would have been. And a couple years before that, I experienced what I now think may have been an anticyclonic tornado at my home in Waterloo. Our house was under the updraft of what I am sure was a supercell storm, which produced golfball hail at the airport 4 or 5 miles north of our house. As the low updraft base passed over, I tried to go outside to look at the storm, but the wind from the west or NW was so strong that I could not open the storm door to go out. Then suddenly debris came flying up our street from south to north. Looking east after the brief violent wind passed over, clouds were moving every which way. A couple miles due east of our house, a church was pretty much destroyed by wind. This event was never confirmed as a tornado so far as I know, but was instead described by the media as a "freak storm." But considering the sudden wind shift from W or NW to S, the narrow damage track, and the intensity of the damage in some spots, I am inclined to think there is a good chance that this was an anticyclonic tornado. I am not entirely sure what year this was, but I would guess probably somewhere around 1960 or so.

So when was my first tornado? I really don't know, except that it was at least 45 years ago, and probably more. My first CHASE tornado, on the other hand, was not until December 23, 1996 in the Evansville, IL area. Yes, December - that is not a typo.

 

[NancyM]

The first (and only) tornado I've seen is the April 1966 F3 "White Tornado" in Overland Park, Kansas. I saw it through a window at school as we were going to a lower level. Things could have been much worse considering the timing with schools letting out.

http://www.jocohistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/alb/id/393/rec/2

I could have seen one in Jan 1967 if I'd looked out the door when my father did, but I was racing down the stairs to the basement. This was an F4 in St. Louis County, MO. It was about 1 mile west of us when my father saw it and destroyed a neighborhood 1/2 mile north of us.

 

[Matt Salo]

My first tornado was July 18th, 1986 - Brooklyn Park / Fridley, MN. It was 4 miles from the house I lived in at the time, and was standing out in the front yard watching it for 30+ minutes, beginning to end. The entire lifecycle of this tornado was filmed and broadcast live from a news helicopter. This is the tornado that took me from deathly afraid of severe weather, to completely obsessed with it.

http://www.minnpost.com/politics-po...tornado-made-broadcasting-history-twin-cities

 

[ScottCurry]

My first tornado was in November of 1995 in Turkey (the country, not Turkey, TX). I was a Junior in High School, on a bus traveling from Ankara to Incirlik. We were traveling south on E90 and the tornado was to the west. I didn't have a camera on me, so no photos. It was the only tornado to hit Turkey that year, and 1995 was the last year that Turkey only got 1 tornado (in 2013, they got almost 60). The tornado was not rated as tornados were so rare (never more than 1 per year prior to 1996), Turkish Meteorological Services did not forecast them or investigate them. The tornado was very different from the tornados I've seen here in the United States. The cloud base was very high and there was no wall cloud. It was just a funnel cloud and a tornado in an otherwise normal looking storm.

Here is a photo of a tornado in France that looks very similar to the tornado I saw in Turkey:
http://strangesounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tornado-rodez-France-august-2014.jpg

If you are interested in learning more about tornados in Turkey, here is a good article:
http://www.academia.edu/7311470/Tornado_climatology_of_Turkey

I feel blessed to have seen what was at that time one of the rarest tornados on earth. I moved from Turkey to Alabama in 1996 and saw my fair share of Tornados during the 1997 season. If you are wondering, I am an American military brat. We lived on an American military base in Incirlik, Turkey where I attended my Junior year of high school at a DoDDS School.

 

[Robert Forry]

No photos or video of my first as my wife and I were caught totally off guard back in August 27th, 2003 south of Jackson, MS while on our way to NO for the Labor Day holiday weekend, and my wife's birthday. We were driving in one of those late summer thunderstorms in the South. You know the ones... Large CAPE, PW values over 2, and raining at more than 2 inches/hour. We had just gotten gas at the Yazoo City exit off I-55, and we were in what I thought was just a bad squall. Turns out we were in the precip core of a cell that contained a small tornado. It got so bad with the wind, at 70 MPH it felt like we were doing 5 with the headwind that was rocking our car. We pulled off the roadway just in time as the wind changed directions from head on, to from the due east. It was rain wrapped, but we saw the funnel clearly (not so clearly) condensated all the way to the ground from a distance of a hundred yards. My first trip to the Bears Cage. It knocked down a small patch of the pine trees that lined either side of the road. With its crossing, and our exit from the RFD core, the sun came out, and we continued on our way.

The SPC shows only a wind and hail report from that day which is surprising to me. Had we called it in maybe that would have been different.

I kick myself for not having a camera ready. Of course, I never leave home without it today.

 

[Royce Sheibal]

Was '91 or '92, I think. Cone Tornado (which I later found out to be an F2) dropped just south of the Iowa Western Campus, where I was for the yearly Ren-Fair. Hot day, sky turned bright green. We got out of there just in time, the tornado set down on the other side of I-80 and I watched out the back window of my dad's Camero as he floored it the hell out of there. Probably the #1 reason why I got into weather and chasing.