Has anyone been caught in a tornado? We don't have them in this neck of the woods. Can you describe it to me?

Answer 1

When I was a little girl we were visiting relatives on their farm. We were in the kitchen and I looked out the back door (which had a window) and saw a tornado in the orchard in the distance. It looked like a piece of black string. I didn't know what it was and asked and before I knew it we were all bundled off to the "root cellar" (I usually have to explain to people what a "root cellar" is and why they call them that, ask if you don't know), my mother, sister, grandmother, great aunt and me were sent down to the very back of the cellar. I remember it was dark and musty-smelling and I was frightened, so I stared at a jar of peaches while my grandpa and great uncle held down the door of the cellar which rattled and wanted to fly open but they managed to keep it shut. It wasn't a very big tornado but it was all very exciting. Ever since then I was always scared sh*tless of tornados growing up. Even when they announced a tornado watch I used to grab the dog and run down to the basement. When grown I was driving up the Card Sound Road in Florida during an awful storm and felt the pressure drop and knew there was a tornado around. We could just make out two water spouts off the coast. The people in the car who had never seen a tornado before were scared, but I made a joke about stopping and getting in the ditch with the gators. That relaxed them.

Growing up we used to have a tornado drill once a month in school. We would go to a corridor in the middle of the building away from the windows, sit cross-legged on the floor, clasp our hands behind our heads and put our heads between our legs. That was the "tornado position".

They say the safest place to be is face-down in a ditch. Not technically, but the best thing to do if you are caught outside is to lay on the ground face down and cover your head. The biggest killer is flying debris.

Answer 2

Not only have I been through a tornado but a couple hurricanes as well...the wind blows like mad, tears everything up, throws debris all over the place at a speed that can impale you with a two by four, and scares the mess out of you! When it's all said and done, and if you have survived, it looks like an atomic bomb has been set off!!!

Answer 3

Tornados are large vaccum like tubes that lift and throw objects into the air for miles.

Tornados are very distructive and they are dangerous.


The Fujita Scale:

Has an average of: F1 to an F5 tornado (in size, shape, wind speed) and maybe an F6

www.noaa.org N.W.S. (National Weather Service)

Answer 4

I've never actually been caught in one.. but near miss in a few.. I'm origionally from SW PA.. i now live in CA.. Tell ya what.. I'll take an earthquake any day.. and i've been through 2 of CA's largest ones in the last 20 years.. and Very close to both of them.. EQ's are easy IMO LOL

Answer 5

It gets the dark black green in the sky, you may get hail, you normally get rain all the time. I was in a trailer when it happened, and the whole thing was rocking, I saw a tree fly toward the vortex roots first! It really does sound like a freight train is barrelling right by the house.