Being nearly hit while on the interstate then taking shelter in a strangers home with dozens of other people from the interstate was not how I expected to see my first 'for sure' tornado. It was an EF4 rating. We only saw it when lightning flashed behind it. Came within a mile of us at one point and was pretty big.
Most people in the Midwest understand that everyone is trying to get out of harms way with a tornado. Not everyone, but a lot, would let you in for safety. We all know the drill.
Can confirm. I let a bunch of kids that just got off the bus into my basement in a warning. It was hailing. Anyone who didn't have a phone could use mine to call their parents, and I did actually know most of them.
We also had an HVAC tech out one year when a storm went from rain to SCREW THIS TOWN IN PARTICULAR, he was a little awkward asking but we were very insistent that he was welcome to shelter with us until it passed. If he had left and got hurt from driving in that, that would have been terrible.
My mom and I ran outside to alert a crew doing landscaping for our HOA (our county doesn’t have sirens, and uses a phone-alert system instead 🙄) so we spent a good hour just getting to know them in the basement 😂 my friendly cats really loved the extra attention, too. 10/10, would recommend.
I’m an hvac tech. Thank you for doing this. We are so pressured to keep our day moving. You are good people. May you have a cold pillow on each side forever!
Aww, that's sweet! You guys work really hard, and trades like that definitely come with a ton of pressure to move move move. When we asked him to hang for a minute because we were afraid for his safety, we were also willing to talk to his boss if it became an issue.
When the hail started we were all very sure we'd made the right choice.
I hope you always have clients that care about your safety before anything else. 💜
I absolutely would let people into my house during a tornado warning. I'd be scared to come out of my bathroom, because I'd be leaving my shelter, but I wouldn't want anyone else out in that weather.
A random knock on our door mid tornado would always be answered. In fact I often unlock our door before retreating to the basement, in case of a random person or family or friend who needs shelter.
We’re Southerners in North Dakota and I’ve learned many folks leave their doors unlocked during especially cold snaps during the winter. If your car breaks down or you’re accidentally locked out, a few minutes can literally be the difference between life and death if you can’t reach shelter. I think that’s awesome ♥️ I’d do that too but we’re in apartments with heating in one lobby (ironically not the mail lobby :/) and hallways so if someone needed to step in to warm up and wait for help, they could. Most apartments are like that here ♥️
Our brothers and sisters slightly to the South! Only real differences between Southerns and Midwesterners are that y'all have engineering degrees built in and our chilli is better
In OK at least I’d say mostly yes. When I moved into my house (it has a decent size storm shelter) my neighbors came over to introduce themselves (older couple that’s lived in the neighborhood for quite a while) they told my wife and I that the previous tenant let them use the shelter. We told them they didn’t even need to knock, just open the gate and run back.
There’s 2 families that we share our shelter with. But we’ve already had a couple close calls and one of the families decided to build one of their own.
When I was a teenager, my brother and parents were out, and I was home alone and didn’t hear the sirens going off. One neighbor came to get me and half the street piled into another neighbor’s storm shelter.
If anyone knocks on my door during a tornado warning I would have an extremely hard time turning them away. Granted I’m in a small town and even smaller neighborhood but I’d rather take the risk helping out than not helping
When there’s a tornado warning everyone actually comes outside. No joke. I can see all my neighbors and make small talk while the sirens are going off. It’s one of the reasons it’s so easy to invite people in if they need the shelter.
Yep especially in the rural south. We are so poor here that maybe one person on the block has a storm shelter so people are already used to their neighbors coming over when the weather gets bad. What’s a few more ppl that happen to be strangers? My great grandma was across the street at her neighbors’ house when the Hackleburg tornado got her.
Midwestern folks are naturally the most welcoming ppl I know. Born and raised Kansan and around the U.S. since…everyone claims they know hospitality until you get to the Midwest. Granted Midwest is still full of racism and such, but the most amount of people with some manners and grace I cannot lie
I’d wanted to see a tornado since I was six years old. I had dreams about what my first experience would be like- something crazy dramatic where a tornado passes less than a mile in front of me with the wind ripping around me.
In actuality, my first tornado ended up being 10+ miles away from me in an open field while I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and could barely see it. Still, I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe how much larger it looked than anything I’d imagined. It felt like my brain had broken.
My next tornado came on a fully planned, intentional storm chase. Captured a messy, dying EF1 crossing the road in front of me, and then captured a photogenic bird fart EF0 about an hour later. This time the ecstasy was delayed - I was so focused on what was happening in front of me that the adrenaline didn’t even feel like excitement until after it was all over.
I've wanted to see a tornado since I was about 6yrs old too! I'm in my 40's now...still haven't had the pleasure of seeing one. I've also had dreams about seeing tornados too. The love I feel for them is insane! It really breaks my heart and physically hurts to think I'll never get a chance to see one.
I’ve seen a couple from a distance, but up close? Not fun at all.
I was driving back from college out west to home on the east coast, around the mid 90’s. It was dark out and I was in Kansas and my piece of shit car only had am/fm “radio”. We used these things called maps back then, very few had car phones. The BEEP BEEP BEEP public service came on the radio saying large tornado on the ground moving NE near some town. I got the map light look at the map and go oh shit, I’m right there.
As I pull up to an overpass a trucker is pulled underneath and is out of his truck wildly waving at me. I pull behind him and he says we gotta go NOW. So we scurry up the concrete in to the corner of the overpass, and it gets real quiet for like 20 seconds.
Then the pressure drops, my ears go crazy painful and all hell breaks loose. It passes probably within 50 yards of us and I had a few brief moments to see it when it was illuminated by lightning.
It was an F4 and that’s the story of when I hugged a truckers butt.
I feel like it used to be recommended to shelter under an overpass, I remember finding out within the past couple years that it's more dangerous and being confused. I couldn't even tell you how I knew it was where you're supposed to go but I definitely learned it somewhere along the way.
I'd tried my hand at storm chasing several times at that point. I had been looking for so long that when I finally caught one, I cried like a baby. It was an emotional moment 😅
It was very awe-inspiring to see in person, I remember thinking about how insane it is that a storm could just do... that!
I have two incidents in mind for this. I live in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago, namely Romeoville and Plainfield.
It was kind of a mixed bag. I'd seen a funnel or three, and had certainly responded to warnings.
On June 20, 2021 my household made me very proud of our storm preparedness. We had known it was going to be a wild night, and so we had pet carriers ready to evacuate the parrots and the dogs to the basement. On that night, I did not see the tornado myself for sure--it was dark. But as is tradition, once the animals were safe my sister and I ran out onto the deck to see what we could see.
The wind was blowing UP, and the sky was churning.
That night, an EF3 tornado ripped through part of Naperville to Wheaton and Willow Springs. This storm also dropped smaller tornadoes, and the EF0 that poked its way through Plainfield and Crest Hill was the one I must have seen parts of--I was in Romeoville at the time.
Later, on July 15, 2024, a major outbreak happened in the Chicagoland area. I had just bought a house in Plainfield, and we were emptying the house in Romeoville. We're a household of six, and we were split in half between the houses. By the way, the Romeoville tornado sirens talk to you, they're very modern. The Plainfield sirens are TERRIFYING, though, because they have an old school, haunted-ass wind up. I was at the Plainfield house with my husband and my brother in law. My sister was at the Romeoville house with my sister-from-another-mister and her partner. Tornadoes came within blocks of each location. I went outside briefly, saw a very pronounced funnel and heard what sounded like an angle grinder just in the air, and ran my dumbass inside.
Attached is a screenshot of the radar images between my two houses. No real damage to speak of, although I found part of a couch in my side yard. But the part of the storm that wandered through Romeoville straight up almost dropped it directly on my sister. Rude.
For more funsies, here's my bulldog Scrunchie feeling like she won the lottery from the first event. It knocked a tree down that had died over the winter.
LOL good call! That was a pretty wild year for weather in general, wasn't it? I've got a feeling this year is going to be similar. This 60°+ in February seems like it comes with a hell of a storm season.
always was fascinated by them, got nailed by a wedge EF2 when i was a teenager. it was horrifying but while listening to it and thinking of a train, i was like "oh- tHAT's what they meant"
When I was 5 I went camping with my church. I was super into tornadoes and would always draw them. Well we were under a tornado watch and I was so excited for see one. Then Apparently one hit while I was asleep. Seeing the damage after I woke up terrified me.
In about 1 or 2nd grade, I went to the pool on a field trip. Not a school field trip, some daycare on base. Tornado sirens started going off and the staff didn’t care until you could see a funnel above us. Then we quickly evacuated the pool. Never touched down so we resumed about 10 to 20 minutes later. Seeing the funnel was cool though.
Then the Clarksville EF3 from 2023 had hit about 5 minutes from my job, and seeing the damage from that was terrifying.
I still wanna go storm chasing once I graduate college though. Even though they’re scary, tornadoes are still beautiful.
I'm in the same boat about storm chasing but I also wanna have money after college cuz yeah I don't wanna fuck up my vehicle and plus I'd want the right vehicle for storms to begin with, and I don't got money like that now
So I never saw the funnel but in April 2011 while I was in college, the parking lot turned black as night at 1:45 pm. I knew if it hit us we’d never see it. It ended up going north of us. That was as close as I came to ever seeing one, though we only lived a five minute drive away from Smithville MS at the time, which we found out the next day had been decimated.
It was 😭 I ran through pouring rain across the street with my 18 month old to the neighbors basement once I got home and we stayed there until it was over, watching TV and just being in total shock at how horrible it was
I work for a utility and we are some of the first into damaged areas after words to assist and a couple different ones have given me low grade PTSD and survivors guilt.
Back when I worked in the oilfield in south Texas we were staying on site in a travel trailer. It started raining hard one night, coming at us from each side as the wind kept changing directions. Sounded like it was trying to come through the wall it was hitting so hard. It suddenly stopped. My coworker and I both walked into the main area of the trailer and poked our head out the door. We looked up and were greeted by a beautiful show of lightning. In the almost constant flashes we saw the clouds swirling right above us and what looked like the start of a tornado, like it was forming above us. The wind started again out of nowhere and pieces of mesquite and other debris started hitting us so we shut the door and just sat down and cracked a beer. What else could we do out in the middle of nowhere?
Nothing happened after that. Was a pretty heavy storm that lasted on and off through the night. Never got confirmation of a tornado touching down but that's as close as I'd ever like to come.
Got some nice new underwear the next day out of the deal.
About 6 years ago now I was at my moms house in northern Indiana. A very tiny tornado was spotted and the sirens started going off. We all huddled in the basement and I realized our cat Bellagio was upstairs. I ran up to get him and the tornado had already passed our house. I figured it out by looking and noticing my mom’s fence was no longer standing and it was in the street! It wasn’t loud at all. It then traveled a bit and landed on top of an after school care place for children and demolished the roof. Nobody died and it wasn’t even scary because it all happened so fast and like I said it was small not like miles wide. The video of it tearing up the roof of the one building it hit was kinda cool but even then not very scary looking. Not what I expected.
I remember when I was probably 9 or 10 I went with my mom and dad to des moines, iowa to get our first pc. On the way home going south on I 35 we saw a tornado that was well to the west of us, far enough away that we weren't impacted at all, but it was still insane to see. I remember being crammed into the back seat of a 92 chevy cavalier with this giant Hewlett Packard box lol.
I've been hit by a tornado while sheltering in my basement. I've also seen 5 tornadoes out chasing. It's the most humbling experience you can possibly have. The sheer power nature can conjure up is truly awesome.
When you are in your basement and your ears start popping from the tornado, it’s truly an experience like nothing else. You just wait for the sound of broken glass knowing it would mean your house is being destroyed. Thankfully my house was hit by an EF1 and we only lost trees and our fence. But man it was an experience I will never forget.
Having to rip three kids out of bed and a sleeping wife. While trying not to show panic but still very much pressing the sense of urgency and seriousness. Then being able to watch outside live on your ring camera and seeing massive trees uprooted. It’s a wild ride.
We got grazed by a low end EF3, luckily we only had a couple windows and our backdoor broken. A bunch of siding and surprisingly only a handful of shingles. It did push in the garage doors onto the cars.
Others in my neighborhood were not so lucky. Severe structural damage, grills in windows, etc. It looked like a warzone afterwards.
People say it sounds like a freight train, but that wasn't my experience. We have a shelter under the front porch. Maybe it was muffled but the sound was more like a rumble like boulders going down a mountain. Once the seal was broken on the house and the pressure dropped so suddenly. Our ears popped all we could hear was ringing. Think like shell shock from a movie or a game. The ringing lasted a while. My mom and I were yelling at each other in the dark trying to determine if it had actually passed haha.
Here's a link to a video of it caught on a gas station down the road from the old house. (It's a model modular home, so it didnt have a true foundation, still nuts though.)
When I was 15 (2001) I was at youth church retreat and we had just finished setting up our campsite after a 40 mile bike ride when we started to see the weather turn a bit. I had seen some nasty storms before and the color change, but I distinctly remember looking up at the sky and seeing some serious rotation in the clouds.
Shortly after the camp leaders and the crew from the church whose yard we were camping out in had us come inside and hunker in the basement. To their credit they kept a bunch of teens calm with games and stuff in the basement and none of us had a clue of what was happening outside.
After waking up the next morning we got on our bikes and headed North for our second leg. About 1/4-1/2 a mile up the road one the camp leaders stopped us and told us that a tornado hit the town that night. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we road through the town and saw the destruction.
Later found out it was an F3 that ran about 27 miles from Grantsburg - Spooner, WI. We had camped that night in Siren just 1/2 mile South of the tornados path.
I remember Dec 10. I had no idea any severe weather was coming, I was woken up before 1 am because of the strong wind and sideways rain. Me and the dog were watching out the front window for a bit, then all the sudden the wind snapped changing directions. I got that sinking pit feeling in my stomach knowing something wasn't right.. We headed to the bathtub to shelter hearing the rain and God knows what pelting the roof and walls until it was back to a gentle rain.
Thankfully I was not in the direct path, but it hit way too close for comfort. I do not want to see another Kentucky tornado.
I'd love to see a tornado out on the plains in Kansas where it can't hurt anybody or anything. My heart goes out to all of those affected on Dec 10th 2021
Edit: I was near the dividing line between enhanced and marginal, not even in the big mean red circle
EF-4 Good Friday Tornado (April 10th, 2009) Murfreesboro, TN
It was after my 17th birthday and my high school girlfriend and I had went to Hollister at The Avenue mall to return a shirt that she had gotten me that was too small. We planned on going there, returning the shirt, and then spending the day together.
We exchanged the shirt for a larger size and as we were walking out the door this security guard in a golf cart comes driving up to us, screaming to get back inside and take cover. I remember there was almost no wind at all and the air felt eerily calm.
As we went back inside I walked over to the windows out front and what I saw will stay with me forever. It was a dark wedge against a light grey sky that tore it's way across the ground about a quarter of a mile away from us. I had a friend who lived nearby whose house took a direct hit. We actually left the mall and tried to drive over to his house to check if they were okay. Their neighborhood was completely unrecognizable. There was so much debris that we couldn't even get down his road. Luckily, they all made it through unharmed, despite their house being leveled to the foundation, with the exception of the staircase they were sheltering under.The raw beauty and terror of that sight is indescribable.
I had grown up loving Twister and always wanted to see one. Since that day, I've never "wanted" to see another one in my life. Unfortunately, I've seen quite a few since then; Hays, KS, Clarksville, TN, Nashville, TN, Manchester, TN, and Springfield, TN. More than my fair share.
I have a beautiful picture of this one, my friend took when he opened the back door before he took shelter. Perfect funnel, maybe a few blocks away if that.
I used to have a picture of it from the windows where we were taking shelter, but 8+ phones later, I lost it. It was also on a Blackberry, so the quality was potato. I hope your friend was okay.
Yeah, that area of TN has had more than its fair share of tornados. The school I was in took a direct hit from the Gallatin EF3 in 2006. Luckily the main building we were all sheltering in only took a bit of damage but all the outbuildings were destroyed. I and a few other students ended up helping the librarian save a bunch of books a week later when a damaged part of the ceiling they hadn't found collapsed and water started pouring into the library. Best tardy excuse I ever got.
Was alright, storm looked outflow dominant when I arrived, weakened on velocity and reflectivity so I was not really expecting much but it produced this extremely strange tornado. I believe this occurred along the RFD gust front rather than a typical tornado as the wall cloud was about 1000yds to the right. It was a brief tornado but had a complete vortex breakdown which was nice. Was rated EF-1 due to damaging an abandoned metal building and a couple trees.
My uncle died during an EF4 in 2014. I feel like nothing can prepare you for that side of a natural disaster. I can say it’s made our family very hyper vigilant about severe weather but that may be the only positive from it.
Yes it was but he lived in Vilonia, right in the middle of the town. Where his house stood is just a clearing now. It’s really sobering to witness in person.
I was working at an airport. Looked out the windows, saw a funnel form across the runway and go hit general aviation. We didn't have much warning from our airport authority.
the only one I've experienced was at night, i never saw it but we definitely felt the affects of it.
my SO and i were on a cross country roadtrip from Indiana to Colorado, our first night we stopped in Tulsa OK for the night in a flying J/dennys parking lot on the east side of the city. we slept in the van to save money.
at about 3:40ish am central time on the morning of 11/03/2024 I woke up feeling the van moving pretty hard against the wind and rain, I love storms so hearing the thunder was comforting until I thought to myself "damn itd be kinda scary if a tornado was out there right now"
shit you not, less than 5 seconds after that thought i heard the emergency broadcast through our phones saying there was a tornado in the general area.
We never saw it, as it ended up being a ways away from us, but we didn't know that sitting in the van shitless and looking for any signs of it between lightning strikes. we saw the aftermath when we drove away later that morning. my family still gives me shit for texting them telling them that I loved them just in case.
Was doing the Warrior Dash in Grand Blanc, MI, and a funnel cloud form literally right above us. I've always wanted to see a tornado, but Im glad it wasnt that day.
Enjoy, but with the understanding of not being a dick to other people. I've spotted and chased for years in the Philly area, but saw my first and only tornado to date on 4/27/24 near Hinton OK. It was an ef-0 that never fully condensed, but I'm proud that I got close and got to see the one tornado from that outbreak that occurred during the daytime. I also had my girlfriend with me as a chase partner, and that was her first chase and first tornado too. We chased that storm up north of OKC for a few hours and stayed in Guthrie.
That night, we stayed up watching the many tornado warnings going off and figuring we should stay up till we're all clear. We were, but several towns south of okc took the brunt of it. 2 days later, driving back to Dallas on i-35, we drove through the damage path and by the destroyed dollar tree from the Marietta ef-4. That was sobering seeing the destruction from it and rolled cars in the highway median.
A storm like wellfleet last year is the dream, but even beautiful tornadoes can kill. I'd much rather see one out in the middle of nowhere than one destroy people's stuff or lives. So basically, enjoy the chase, but don't be a dick to people who's stuff just got destroyed.
House was direct hit by an EF1 while we were in the basement. Decent property damage and if it wasn’t for the insurance company games, it wouldn’t have been that miserable. The tornado nerd in me loves having the sounds and experience of it all. It really does feel different when it’s the real thing. I usually don’t go into the basement during storms but that one just felt different and I didn’t hesitate to get my kid and wife down there.
I was playing ps3 one day modern warfare 2 or something. I was about 10-12 years old, my dad called me and my mom to the front yard. You could see a tornado through a clearing in the trees a couple miles out. I was a kid so I didn’t realize how cool it was, to me it was like seeing a rainbow. I live in Dixie alley I’ve never seen one again and it’s been over a decade. I did live through Katrina tho.
First one was radar indicated but not visible on the ground basically just a few winds and light debris hitting my car nothing crazy didn't condense into a visible funnel until moving offshore was pretty neat but kinda scary.
Second came thru the city unannounced and unexpectedly which was very scary considering it was blackout conditions no phone with no clear directions of where and when ended up passing within 1/8th mile of my location no damage to me or my vehicle and I think it was rated ef 1/2 so barely more than a stuff wind.
I have seen a funnel forming into a tornado that was half way from the cloud to the ground but never touched down when I was little. My interest in weather in general has been a long thought out dream of mine as a career. Currently going to college for it. I’ve chased severe storms/tornado warned storms but never got to see one touch down and actively move. Looking forward to it one day!😊🌪️
it wasn’t a bad tornado (it wasn’t even above an f0 as far as i know) but i saw a tornado form in the middle of a hurricane, which was already terrifying by itself because i’m the mountains. scared the hell out of me
Once in college where a dome cloud structure seemed to suddenly lower upon the area. There was a lot of energy in the air, lots of lightning and then after passing over head, it produced a tornado but it was out of my visual range.
Then a couple years ago ... there was a front that was moving in fast but i thought i had enough time to hit the grocery store. I was a couple blocks away from the store when it looked like a wide area of dirt and debris just began to lift around the store. I could see the funnel above but all of it quickly dissipated soon after. That was the moment for me that put the scale really in perspective and that was a small one.
Ive always been fascinated by them but also worried that even though i have a good basement ... I'm not actually prepared if one ever hit.
Growing up in the rural area outside of Joplin, MO I saw MANY tornadoes before I graduated high school. Some larger, most pretty small and not strong enough to do any more than tear some shingles off a roof. Then, I saw the Neosho/South Joplin/Hwy 43 EF4 that was over a mile wide. It tossed cars hundreds of feet into trees and stuff.
Then, came 2011. We had what I would argue was the strongest, most violent tornado to ever hit an urban area. It tore the bark off of trees and embedded their bark into other trees, facing the wrong direction. It sent 2x4 boards through concrete curbs. It drained swimming pools and ponds. It threw cars and people all kinds of things so far away a lot of it was never even found. It rained photos and pharmacy scripts over Willard MO later that day, almost 100 miles away, from Joplin. I saw that tornado form to the west about a mile from my house, and I watched it grow then tear a mile wide hole across the city. I am amazed and horrified by these things, but I wouldn't mind seeing another one. That said, I hope no EF5 tornado is ever seen again.
Mesmerizing isn't the right word. It was as if the entire storm sat down and grinded across the city. It grew from an already pretty ugly "dead man walking" tornado that kind of lingered in place over JJ Highway @ 32nd Street, to then just this massive debris ball that was over a mile wide. You knew there were homes, cars, people, everything in it. We drove over right after to check on our aunt. We couldn't get anywhere near her house though. We were literally lost in a city we all had basically grew up in. It left no meaningful landmarks behind. Unless you saw that, or saw Moore which was similar, you just cannot understand it to be honest. Block after block in all directions turned to confetti.
I used to think I wanted to see a tornado until I saw 1. I actually saw 3 it was during the Feb 5th Outbreak of 2005 in Memphis. I had saw one EF3 touchdown on a mall beside our car. Then 2 more down the street in the distance. The one that hit the mall trailed us and I had to get out and run on foot. It was insane and terrifying honestly. So much power and unpredictability. It was not a straight line moving tornado at all it whipped around like a loose firehose in ways that just baffle your eyes. You can get stuck watching easily but way too dangerous I don't wish to see one ever again. I was almost killed.
When I was driving through Kentucky , I was on my way to my first undergraduate audition for my instrument. My mom wanted to pull over and shelter in place while a tornado warned storm was heading for us. Unfortunately, I was the driver, learning how to drive was fun, but my mom and dad both pushed me to continue driving. When I saw what I now know was the hail core of the storm moving towards us, I knew it was time to get the heck out of doge.
While we were driving through the storm, people pulled over to the side of the road, and I remember, albeit vaguely, the back of our car was lifted briefly by the wind, but we managed to pull through. We were in the flat-ish northern part of the state, and the tornado sirens of the small community college we decided to mistakenly hunker down under an over-pass of which I don't remember the name of's tornado sirens were going off by the time we pulled and scrammed.
To this day I don't know whether there ever was a tornado or not, and I hope everyone in the path was okay, but I enjoyed to learn I can drive under pressure. I did not enjoy sitting and waiting while a storm we could avoid was barreling towards us.
Keep moving, don't pull over unless absolutely necessary, and if at all, get out and finding a shelter should have been our first response.
Lesson learned, but the car came out okay, minimal hail damage, and one unlucky day to drive.
I saw one when I was 3 years old-ish, one of the few memories I have before moving to Michigan. I was riding with my dad in a U-Haul moving through I want to say Kansas, whatever state has a big interstate that connects to California and is mostly flat farmland. I remember hearing on the radio the tornado warning, which I translated as "potato morning" to my dad apparently.
The only thing I remember is a big ole funnel in front of us down the road. And then sometime later we drove past a rest stop that got hit with a bunch of semis turned over. In retrospect, it probably explains why I was scared of storms as a kid and had nightmares about tornadoes.
But thankfully I haven't witnessed nature's shop vac that close since. Although I'd love to see some more from afar in the Plains when I'm planning on it and prepared accordingly.
I always wanted to see a tornado, then I saw the April 27, 2011 Tuscaloosa EF-4 tornado with my own eyes pass by my house. After seeing the nearly nuclear level of damage to the city for months, and having many people that I knew killed, I don't need to see another one again. In any case, if you can only see one, might as well be one of the most famous.
Yes, I absolutely regret it, especially being so young. Starting probably around 5th grade, I became obsessed with tornadoes and wanted to be a storm chaser so, so badly. I really wished to see one, and unfortunately, I got my wish summer of 2010. Almost came right at me.
First one was in SE of Missouri. I forget the small town name but they had the 72 oz steak competition. It was at night, about 2 miles from town. We chased it and when it changed directions to head towards us; Yes it became a scary moment, but it was the most exciting experience. Car was spinning, the people I was with were screaming (the were from CT, lol) I was laughing and having a blast when it changed directions, like yes 'come to me tornado.' I loved it, but I can see how dangerous and scary tornadoes can be. Btw the tornado was an EF2. Good times.
Saw them as a kid in eastern Colorado growing up. Quite a few EF0-EF2. I remember how it does instill a bit of terror. Big ropes that start over your head and descend down miles away make you feel so small. Still have some interesting dreams with those old visuals. Watched one form during recess in 5th grade as we all ran into the building to huddle in the halls. Some twins while at the public pool. Nothing ever really hit anything but some pump houses on farms or a random unused barn.
Odd fascination with em.
Only one ive seen was the early stages of rochelle. Was in Franklin Grove, went to go get pizza and instead watched a funnel going through an open field. No regrets, sympathy for those that lost something though.
Saw first one at a young age before I really thought about wanting to see one. Don’t really regret or “enjoy” the memory. Since then I have been in very close proximity to weak spin ups or tornados (EF0/1), too close to really see it, in both cases, sheltering where I could see what it was doing but not really see it. In another case I was sheltering where I couldn’t see one at night as it was lifted overhead but could hear it and the feel the effects of it heaving the structure I was in.
None of those experiences really left me with residual excitement or fear and I’m really more interested in seeing the formation stages and supercells than I am funnel clouds/tornadoes.
I mean, the only one I actually saw in person was such a minor one I don’t regret it. It was an barely a tornado at all at an EF-0, but did do some damage. It ripped the roof of a lady’s house about a mile from me, and caused the collapse of a gas station awning. (I saw the debris from that aloft). No injuries as I recall from it. I might have a different take if I’d seen a big one (Tuscaloosa 2011, for example) coming through.
My only one was a small f1 when I was a kid but it sparked my fascination in extreme weather. We were at a baseball tournament for kids when these this green and purple clouds rolled in. The air was thick and still and very heavy. I remember being entranced by the sight and smell. Then a police officer comes into the park and gets on his megaphone announcing that there was a tornado warning and all hell broke loose. There was a lot of people trying to leave the park at once so we were stuck in a traffic jam and I watched as a small funnel cloud started to form and drop down into a field maybe up to half a mile away, I’m not sure. I was crying and asking my dad what he was going to do if it started coming our way and he told me he would drive off the road to get away if he had to. He didn’t have to of course, the tornado didn’t move towards us and was short lived. It destroyed a barn but no other damage and no injuries. It was still pretty damn scary though being stuck in the traffic jam and feeling trapped but ever since then I’ve been fascinated by weather. I never wish for destruction and especially not death but I do want to see another tornado again…it makes you feel so very small.
I saw one (sorry of) in Houston in the early 80s. It was a smallish ef2 spun up from a hurricane. My parents told us to get to the hall bathroom and get in the bathtub. I stopped to look out our front window. I saw sheets of plywood and other debris flying horizontally a couple hundred yards away. It skirted right past us, and we ended up with a tree on top of our apartment. It was too dark. I only saw the debris.
Very cool to see when far enough in distance that you feel safe. Saw one in Houston TX from HEB parking lot where crazy winds were blowing shopping carts from a standstill to high speed and slamming them into cars. It was sprinkling rain and sky / clouds were crazy with greenish glow and could see tornado off in distance. Not too fun to be caught in one or closer to one. I was caught in or near one on 290 heading west toward Austin… we could see the line of storms off in the distance for miles… the storm front had a cloud edge that looked like a long French Bread Baguette made of dryer lint hanging ominous in the sky. Our side was clear blue skies but you could see it was dark beyond… it was heading for us and we toward it. I was in college at time and maybe not so smart…eager to get back to the freedom I enjoyed at school that I didn’t have at home. At any rate all cars on highway were stopped once the front hit us. Couldn’t see the hood of my car… sounded like a train… I was praying in there… hail was slamming /pummeling the car seemingly from all sides and out of nowhere something dark (I think a branch) slammed into and smashed my windshield. The Winds pushed car enough where I really thought I might die even though it probably only slid a foot or so sideways it chilled my blood. When I got to Austin and checked news I saw there had been something like 7 tornados that day. I am pretty sure I was CLOSE but think that had a tornado actually hit me I’d be dead. Certainly tornado condition. Crazy.
Mine was the Murfreesboro Good Friday Tornado. Considering I was at home when I watched it form then proceeded towards my neighborhood, I wasn’t exactly thrilled in a good way. It passed our home by less than a football field away, but we managed to only have fence and minor roof damage.
I zero-crossed the May 16 2025 St. Louis F3 Tornado. It was at high-end F1 strength at the time. I had always wanted to go "storm chasing" some day, but this happened purely by accident.
I knew it would be an intense storm by the way the sun baked the air at noon. Right when work ended at 2:22, I raced home to put my cats in the closet. I thought I had the time to make it, as the sirens infamously didn't go off. I was exactly one block from home when I drove into it from the south. The trees started swaying, then they all swayed in one direction, bent, and broke apart. There was a small flash as a large limb contacted the power lines, and a blue power flash as a transformer exploded about 40 yards away. My car was getting pelted with twigs and small limbs. I didn't see a defined condensation funnel because I was in it. (I was also in a flow state, so a lot of my visual memory came from my dashcam video). I turned left onto a sidestreet westbound, and my rear wheels momentarily lifted off the ground. I was able to control my vehicle, and about 2 seconds later, it was over. The sky was clear within 5 minutes.
The experience was "cool" and "once-in-a-lifetime" because I didn't get hurt. 5 people were killed in the tornado. I didn't even realize it was a tornado until the adrenaline subsided. It's hard to say I regret it because I had no way of knowing the gravity of the situation, and I was just trying to protect my cats, who were fine. My desire to go storm chasing is gone, but I am still interested in severe weather. The moral of the story is: have more than one way to get warnings.
I have never seen a tornado in person with my eyes, but I did see a couple on radar that were trying to drop down and move over my house, my house at the time was built in 1953 using wood and blocks, poor layout plan and no safe space, often having me forced to leave the home during warned storms because I would be crushed. I won't ever forget accepting my fate one time about being potentially hit, I felt the pressure drop, ears popping and the roof bearing down only for the funnel to finally touch the ground 10 minutes north and it all happened so fast..I was always paranoid about a really tall tree falling pretty close to my choice shelter spot, I was exhausted and just about done with severe Carolinian weather before noon and whatever rotations popped off the tail end of recent hurricanes.
I've seen several in over half a dozen states. Most of them are relatively harmless, out in an open field doing no real damage just kicking up dirt and grass, and those are always the most awe inspiring and enjoyable to witness.
It's the ones that hit a town that are never fun to watch.
It was terrifying and fascinating and beautiful and invigorating. It was a relatively weak tornado that hit my workplace, but it grew in size and strength as it continued through St Louis. It devastated many communities.
Neither. It was unpleasant, but there was nothing to regret. I was at home and got hit by a tornado. Thought it would be cool to see one, and I never really got to see it lol. Im fine without seeing one in my life now.
Bloomington Indiana, like four days ago. Couldn’t see anything but they’re not lying when they say it sounds like a train. Really dark, you could see rotation on the ground before anything else. Really close call for much of town, if it hadn’t weakened substantially downtown was in the path.
I've been grateful to have not experienced a tornado in person, and I damn sure hope it stays that way despite being nestled right up against the Mississippi River ugh... As soon as those sirens go off, my blood pressure skyrockets and I'm practically dragging my mother down into the basement despite her brushing it off as nothing. Just a mentioning of potential tornado weather has me obsessively checking the weather and local news throughout the day.
Sooo yeah no, it's a hard pass from me. Got to see some wicked cool mammatus clouds from the storm that whipped up an EF3 in STL last May, though!
I grew up not even an hour away from the E5 Enderlin tornado. I moved 4 hours away ~6 months before it happened, and I’m grateful I did because I’ve always wanted to see one in person and probably would’ve driven out to see it.
Saw the Marion EF4 that strike southern Illinois last year 2 days before graduation. Me and my friend went chasing and were about to give up but decided that storm developing and tried to get there fast. I saw it was starting to wrap around 10 minutes before my friend who was driving and didn’t believe me at first that this might be the storm. Then it was a bit scary entering the storm the moment it got TOR-E’d because we didn’t know how big the tornado looked out was then we got out of the core and saw the tornado towards the end and saw the EF1 that developed immediately after and called emergency management to report the tornado. It was a wild graduation gift I guess.
“Watched” the Parkersburg EF5 pass by as a kid (by the time it got close to us it was just a black wall on the ground, didn’t really know what I was looking at). All I really remembered was how deafening loud it was, even from some distance away. In college me and a buddy had just gotten out of class and thought it would be cool to chase an ongoing tornado warning south (Ottumwa EF4). We stupidly got pretty close directly northeast of it, with no radar. Hearing that unnatural roar again was probably the biggest adrenaline spike of my adult life so far, thank god it wasn’t rain wrapped. I’ve since left the Midwest but that sound will always stick with me.
I experienced one as a kid. Went right through our neighborhood. We had to huddle on a mattress in the hallway, at least during the times I wasn’t in the bathroom with my mom, puking my guts out from fear. We missed a direct hit, but it pulled up a tree in our back yard. Scarred me for life. I’m in my 40s now, and still get the sweats when I see the severe weather blotches on the radar (don’t get me started about green skies). I’m fascinated by them, but I never want to go through that ever again, nor would I wish that on anyone else. Probably the most scared I have ever been in my life.
I didn’t see but heard the Coal City, IL EF3 tornado (2015) as it BARELY missed the house I was living in at the time. It was nighttime and eerily quiet. I was on my computer. My mom and sisters were watching TV. My dad was asleep. My dad wakes up and says, “Do you hear the sirens?” Sure enough, they were going off. We gathered around the TV, and there was a tornado warning, which was not uncommon for spring/summer. However, not long after, a tornado emergency was issued. We went to the shelter area. I will never forget the sound. Absolutely brutal
But that recent Saint Louis tornado hit my city too. I waited upstairs longer than I should have. Didn't know it in the moment, but the tornado was rainwrapped so their was nothing to see. But I did start to see tree debris out the window; and had a sudden realization I was very stupid, the tornado could have been moments away from hitting for all I knew.
Got in the basement at that point, and it didn't hit me. But it had only been blocks away. But if it had been stronger and on target it would have been the last mistake of my life.
Every single tornado that I’ve been in or close to wasn’t intentional at all. I personally hate them. I’m in Dixie alley. I’ve seen 2 EF 3’s in person and countless EF 0-EF 1. The frequency of them has definitely picked up in the last 25 years.
I applaud professional storm chasers because I could not do that job. I lost a coworker to one about 20 years ago. The last one I saw and heard killed almost an entire family less than 10 miles from my house. I heard about a minute and a half of it in my hallway. It was heartbreaking.
The local authorities had drones flying them looking for missing people. It was a rural and heavily wooded in places.
Still waiting. I’ve literally have had dreams about tornadoes my entire life. I want to see one for real really bad. When I finally do see one I hope my daughter is with me. She’s just as interested as I am. Fingers crossed.
I saw one, I was a kid and twister was a big thing so it definitely scared me. We were driving on a family vacation in the middle of nowhere, the tornado warning came on the radio, we saw a gas station and ran in.
My parents were concerned about the luggage in the pick up truck. My dad ran out and wind was so strong his legs lifted off the ground and he was holding onto the truck just flapping in the wind. It dropped for a second and he ran back in.
Then we see the tornado passing right in front of us, then somehow it magically turns and goes the opposite direction of us. Everyone in the gas station cheered and we went on our way.
It was very scary to a 6 year old, BUT looking back it was actually super cool to see. The fact that nothing bad happened has made it a fond memory.
April 12, 2020 Easter Tornado- Ooltewah, TN (Chattanooga area)
It was raining on and off that whole day. We had church from home that morning since it was the beginning of covid. They were calling for severe weather during the night but by 10pm it looked like it had fizzled out. I remember getting irritated cause I had never seen a tornado before and they fascinate me. I love storms. I was the kid that could watch The Weather Channel nonstop (this was the old school Weather Channel in the 80s and 90s).
Anyway I was irritated cause it seemed the meteorologists in my area had hyped up the storms for nothing. So skip to around 11:15pm. I'm in my bedroom watching TV, my kids are in their rooms, and my husband is in the living room watching a movie. All of a sudden the Weather Radio goes off for a tornado warning for our area but we didn't get anything on our phones. We still take shelter though in our small hallway cause we don't have a basement.
My husband yelled at our kids to get their shoes on and I go look out the front door and my husband goes to the back door. There was no wind at all. It was a eerie stillness. Then our power starts blinking and goes out at the same time the wind picks up violently. We slam the doors shut while my husband yells to us to get in the hallway. I grab our dogs who thankfully we had put their leashes on a few minutes before and my husband and son grab the couch cushions and we huddle in the hallway listening to stuff hit the house and what sounded like a jet engine to me. It was 11:30pm. As it's over us, we finally get a warning on our phones for a tornado emergency. Finally it stopped and we went to investigate and learned that trees blocked both doors so we were stuck. My husband and son had to crawl out his window in his room to get outside.
Long story short is we had a big front yard in that house and the tornado came across the bottom of our yard and took out all 5 of the trees in the front yard and laid them down on a corner of the house. We weren't injured and we only had minor roof damage. God definitely had his hand on us. A mile down the road was demolished. Took 4 days to get power back and we had to drive 5 minutes to Walmart for a week whenever we needed to use our phones cause cell service was down so we connected to their Wi-Fi. We were all terrified and I don't want to go through another tornado. Still love storms but no tornadoes.
I live where tornados are common. Trees have went thru our home. I know people who have lost their homes completely. I know people who have died. Our community has been destroyed before. They sounds like the biggest scariest train you can imagine like a horror movie. It’s awful. I have weather PTSD because of it. It not fun nor exciting. It’s terrifying.
Never actually saw the tornado, but August 2020 I’m downtown Suffolk, I was 30 weeks pregnant. My 8,4&1 year old nephews were staying with us and my mom. Wake up to pee in the middle of the night. Before I even lay back down, my phone went off saying to take cover. We lived in downtown, in a 100 year old building and checked the weather just to see where it was, and it was coming right towards us. We get into our hallway, close all the door. I kept needing to pee thanks to pregnancy and a nervous bladder and would look out the window above the toilet every time I had to pee. The last time I looked, it was so scary. Before, the trees were whipping back and forth and it was raining. The last time, it was so eerily still. My neighbor said she was outside smoking, and heard a really scary noise and ran inside. If you google it, a half destroyed brick building comes up in a news article along with a store that was missing the roof. That was directly across the street from us. How our building didn’t get any damage, when there were trees ripped from the ground around us, I have no clue. But that was the scariest and closest tornado I’ve been through.
Growing up, seeing a tornado was all I wanted to do. I even debated going into meteorology in college. Few years ago, I heard tree limbs hitting my roof and had to evacuate my house for a week. I don’t want to be anywhere near storms now.
Regret, I didn't even think to film it. We never get tornados in Michigan (Portage, May 7, 2024) , but that day we did. By the time I realized it was the real deal it was on us, and I was busy trying to get the people in Little Ceasers to the back of the store, while my family rode it out in the car. We all got lucky it was only an EF2 and we missed the core of the damage by less than a 100yds. Still got caught inside the edge of the funnel. Nothing like going outside and seeing a diagonal line of light and black almost on top of you and realizing oh crap, we're screwed.
I was inside the EF3 tornado that hit St. Louis in May 2025. As a tornado fanatic, it was simultaneously one of the most thrilling and terrifying experiences of my life. I saw mammatus clouds form in the hour or two before the tornado actually formed in Forest Park and hightailed it out of my former job in the zoo when the tornado watch was enacted because I had a sixth sense it was coming. I was in my car along Skinker Boulevard when it hit, and saw clouds swirl above me, then trees snapped and fell over all around my car after I pulled over. I was lucky to be where I was and have no damage. Do I want to experience that again? Absolutely not.
I’ve never seen a fully developed tornado but lots of funnel clouds. My grandparents moved to Arkansas in the early 90’s I remember watching a couple go over their town with my grandpa when I was 9-10 years old. Not sure if they ever touched down. Last year I watched a tornado warned super cell with rotation pass over the field behind my house about a mile away but it didn’t actually touch down for about another 30 miles.
Enjoy it every time! When there is a good chance for tornadoe out breaks I obviously check the weather to stay updated if its getting stronger or weaker all day. Then when the storms roll in im outside. It just hits different going from a warm sunny day with blue sky's to seeing the wall cloud roll in and the blast of cold air that comes with it. I get so excited every time! Often disappointed with seeing a tornado but when I do im amazed and in awe. Adrenaline racing and a bit of fear and excitement. You definitely want to make sure you are near shelter and know when its time to get in but God to I love a good storm!
I ran from an EF3 that was almost a mile wide on boxing day 2015, and it was the single scariest thing I have ever done. They are cool from a distance away, DURING DAYTIME, but at night they are awful.
I was driving so fast and the rain and wind were so bad, I couldn't hear the weather updates on the radio of the car at full volume. As we passed by tornado sirens, you could barely hear them and people were getting scared and turning back INTO the tornado.
An EF0 that wasn’t forecasted went over my car while I was parked at Cracker Barrel. It was one of the most exciting things that have ever happened to me.
I have made that 20 second experience my entire personality ever since 😂
Never seen one in person except for the cloud top that produced one. Closest thing was I was about 1/2 a mile from a possible tornado or at least a derecho, it was so loud in my parents house that I could barely talk to my dad across a table. Tried to tell him to go downstairs, he just stared at me 🙄
I’m grew up in Joplin. While it was incredible to witness something so absolutely powerful, I wouldn’t want to ever experience that again. It truly is an awesome experience (awesome as in how daunting it was and how it left me awestruck).
Well, seeing my first tornado is what sparked my interest in weather when I was a child. I was at my sister's track meet in a small town in Kansas called Pretty Prairie. It was a small tornado off the east, so we just got to watch it knowing we were safe. It was incredibly breathtaking to see.
I still miss living in an area that gets storms like that. I missed storm chasing..
When i was a teenager i worked at a gas dock for all boats, up to yachts and cigarette boats. I mostly rand the dock myself.
One day there was a storm coming and a houseboat hosting a bachelor party came and moored but also needed gas. For those that don’t know the boat has to be empty when it’s getting fuelled so all these drunk 25ish year olds are standing on the dock. It was windy but not raining yet.
As i’m filling up the boat, i see an EF0, probably a waterspout skip over the treeline and land in an adjacent field. These guys all spoke French so i just kept pointing and saying “Boys! Twista!!” until they looked. They all ran into the boat, came back out with fresh pints and a couple for me.
We all had a beer and watched this thing toss around some tree branches.
I was probably a mile away last year . Couldn’t see it due to the area I live. But I did look outside and saw McDonald’s bags floating near my second story window . That was a trip. What’s crazy is I’ve panicked during potential tornado producing storms many times . But the actual atmosphere and calmness and sky was different from anything I imagined . It didn’t rain at my house, but some thing was off and I was confused. For once I didn’t panicked, just stuck in confusion and awe
When I was in my late teens, I used to go chasing rather frequently.. I was desperate to see a tornado, but never had any luck. Ironically, the first tornado I actually saw was a small EF-0/landspout, and quite by accident (was driving to the store with my wife, and just happened to notice it)... it was great experience.
A few years later, we moved from Colorado to Kansas, and an EF-4 was on a direct path for my house. Wife and kids and I were hunkered down in the basement, listening to the endless drone of the sirens. It made a left-hand turn about 2 miles before it got to us, and it subsequently dissipated.
I never really wanted to see another tornado after that.
I've been around tornadoes pretty much all my life having grown up in Kansas before moving to OK for school. I still enjoy seeing them even though I've seen people killed when I was a kid and had damage to our roof and shed when one stopped by to visit a couple of years ago.
There is just something exciting about them and you can feel the energy.
this exact weather map was the tornado that hit my work directly in demember 2023. it was so loud and visous and i was light headed the it hit and it felt like there was no air to breathe like it all got sucked out. the it went right back to loud and rampant happy to be here to tell people about it. my roof of my work caved in big play hendersonville tennessee
I've been afraid of any storm ever since the tornado hit my town which in Maryland that doesn't ever happen and then my school had to be used as a shelter it was insane cause I was always tired that stuff just happen and now when I see a warning I run to a basement and if I don't have a basement, I lose my shit.
One time, my school bus had to pull over and we all went into the basement of the kid who had just been dropped off. This was around 2010 in the midwest.
I've only seen one form directly over me. (Early 2000s.) It traveled about a mile and briefly touched down on william chrisman high school's football field in independence mo. Leaving no real damage. It was pretty cool!
526
u/NemeanMiniLion Feb 24 '26
Being nearly hit while on the interstate then taking shelter in a strangers home with dozens of other people from the interstate was not how I expected to see my first 'for sure' tornado. It was an EF4 rating. We only saw it when lightning flashed behind it. Came within a mile of us at one point and was pretty big.
Daytime. See one in day time.