Freaky, freaky thunderstorms

Raggit · Sun 13/06/2004 03:40:52

Man, we just went through a nasty thunderstorm tonight. The sunshine was actually shining through the clouds making this aweseom golden glow, but then entrancement turned to terror when I realized that the clouds were beggining to rotate.

Yes, I mean ROTATE, they were curling around and making loops in the sky. Some clouds were moving south and some were moving north, some were moving west and some were moving east. It was REALLY freaky, but I was standing at the back door taking photos. Some didn't turn out real well, but some are really nice. Things are calming down now, but the threat for tornadoes isn't over.

Oh yeah, and at one point I saw this little individual cloud moving straight UP in between these other churning clouds. :o

Have you ever had any cool or scary storm experiences?

shbaz · Sun 13/06/2004 04:01:01

More than I can remember. I think my area is a little worse than yours, I've seen wall clouds rotating directly over my house dozens of times. Wouldn't be anything new here.

Last week there was baseball ball sized hail though, which is kinda unusual, happens only a few times a year in localized areas in Oklahoma, and it was only a couple of miles away. It left little craters in the ground and broke many windshields.

Raggit · Sun 13/06/2004 04:05:01

Quote from: shbazjinkens on Sun 13/06/2004 04:01:01
I think my area is a little worse than yours

Definately. I believe that Oklahoma is the number one tornado spot in the U.S. We often see lots of tornado warnings and stuff AROUND our county but hardly ever IN our county.

shbaz · Sun 13/06/2004 04:55:32

Quote from: Raggit on Sun 13/06/2004 04:05:01Definately.Ã,Â I believe that Oklahoma is the number one tornado spot in the U.S.

There are parts of Kansas and Northern Texas just as bad.. I just think you're not in it if that's an unusual storm, aren't you further to the northwest? I think the Tornado belt pretty closely follows the bible belt, hence this animation I made:

The vicious weather is an effect of northern winds meeting with the moist warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. Over Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas they meet and create fronts that turn into these storms. I don't know exactly why it happens here and rarely in other places, but I think it has to do with the excess moisture and huge difference in temperatures. Temperature can fluctuate here as quickly as 50 degrees (F) in an hour.

Darth Mandarb · Sun 13/06/2004 05:20:04

I was at a buddy's house one time and we were watching this cloud front moving in on the horizon.Ã,Â It looked like a HUGE wave coming at us.

Then when it over took us, the clouds were churning and swirling (very similar to how you described it tonight) and then, no joke, right above us a tornado formed.Ã,Â It was HUGE!!!Ã,Â It started swirling and coming down and then it just 'poofed' out of existance.

If it had landed, it would have been right on us and we probably would have been killed.

It wasn't until it was all over that we realized we were just standing there watching it.Ã,Â Neither one of us even attempted to run into the house to the basement.

I love thunderstorms/tornadoes.Ã,Â I tend to go outside to watch them!

Why don't you post some of the pictures you took?

Edwin Xie · Sun 13/06/2004 05:34:28

I'm glad I live in California. Thunderstorms rarely happen and we NEVER experienced tornadoes.

Mr Jake · Sun 13/06/2004 06:23:35

When I was in Florida I saw bolt lighting a couple of times.... and both times I went there was a hurricance (flew out like the day before it reached the second time), but it both cases it was just the edge of the storm, extremly windy, but nothing too bad.

You dont often get bolt lighting in the UK

shbaz · Sun 13/06/2004 06:35:24

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sun 13/06/2004 05:20:04Then when it over took us, the clouds were churning and swirling (very similar to how you described it tonight) and then, no joke, right above us a tornado formed.Ã,Â It was HUGE!!!Ã,Â It started swirling and coming down and then it just 'poofed' out of existance.

That's a wall cloud.. Like I said, they're very common here. About 1 in 2 thunderstorms here will register as a tornado watch or warning and each one will produce about 2-3 wall clouds, and if it's a really severe one there will be more. If it touches down it is then that it becomes a tornado.

Also, you probably wouldn't have been killed. They destroy only what lies directly in their path, and had you went to an interior room with no windows or to a basement you would have a 90% chance of surviving or more.Ã,Â

The biggest tornado ever recorded occured in Oklahoma City. I saw that devestation, asphault was ripped up from the streets and it went directly through the suburbs for miles.. 23 people were killed. Now, that's a lot of people, but imagine how many were in the area who weren't even injured. Your chances are pretty good as long as you know what to do and you aren't outside watching it or running away from it in your car (like I'm sure some of the dead were).

Sorry if I seem like an information bucket, but this crap is repeated to me on a weekly basis, and every time I turn on the weather to make sure there isn't a Tornado on my street.

c.leksutin · Sun 13/06/2004 07:01:28

shbazjinkens: where do you live? I thinnk I'd like to vacation there. I like a good storm, I love a dangerous storm!

C.

shbaz · Sun 13/06/2004 07:15:03

Quote from: c.leksutin on Sun 13/06/2004 07:01:28
shbazjinkens: where do you live? I thinnk I'd like to vacation there.Ã,Â I like a good storm,Ã,Â I love a dangerous storm!

C.

Oklahoma.. you'd need to be here a while, it doesn't happen every week, and even when it does the storms are huge and there are a few different areas that are serious, usually many miles apart. I don't know how you'd plan something like that actually. There are storm chasers, maybe there's a way to get in with them? I've heard mostly they have dull times chasing rain though. You kind of need to live here to get the full effect, because then the storms come to you.

You can be here digitally though, I found this webpage: http://www2.okstorms.com:8080/

You can see what a wall cloud is, and why one might mistake it for a full-blown tornado.

Hehe.. great quote:

QuoteI was amazed at the drivers who dodged debris in the road, ignored the damaged structures and blown down highway signs and continued driving into the storm in front of them.

Dart · Sun 13/06/2004 14:13:21

Well, there was this one time where my friend Darren and I had just finished skating at a skate park. Although the sky was darkening and the winds were increasing, we decided to ignore these storm warnings from Mother Nature and go skateboarding through this deserted park trail which led to where we lived. So off we went.

It soon started to rain after five minutes of skating, and since rain can and will ruin skateboards, we tried to look for somewhere to take cover. We were in a field where there were a couple of small shrubs and huge trees, and we decided to camp out under one of the trees so as not to damage our boards.

Soon the light rain turned heavy and lightning and thunder were right above us. Only then did I realize that trees were the last place to take cover in a thunderstorm, so I yelled to Darren for us to just run home.

About 10-15 seconds after we started running that we heard this huge *KA-BOOM* sound and saw this bright flash in the air. Feeling a bit shocked, we looked back to the tree we hid in only moments before, and realized that lightning had struck it.

That was just too damn close... I think Darren and I have learnt our lessons now.

Raggit · Sun 13/06/2004 15:34:09

Shabazjinkens, we live inside the tornado alley map. Thunderstorms, wall clouds and tornadoes are not uncommon here at all. I meant they are uncommon for me and my family to see right out the window. In my entire lifetime I've only seen one actual tornado and that was from the front porch.

I think the good Lord has spared us quite a few twisters!

Raggit · Sun 13/06/2004 16:04:01

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sun 13/06/2004 05:20:04
It wasn't until it was all over that we realized we were just standing there watching it.Ã,Â Neither one of us even attempted to run into the house to the basement.

Haha, that's actually an easy thing to do. It's like no matter how bad the storm is you just can't tear yourself away from watching. Time and time again I found myself at the back door snapping pictures. I've gotten some of my pictures touched up so they're visible. Maybe I'll upload some.

LordHart · Sun 13/06/2004 16:37:47

Heres a nice link to a Japanese soccer game that was very exciting...

http://members.optusnet.com.au/soft3200/eepmoi/soccertornado.wmv - 2mb

And everyone must remember their tips for surviving a tornado...

Raggit · Sun 13/06/2004 16:45:31

lol, those Japenese players are freaking out over a dust devil!

kl4Uz · Sun 13/06/2004 22:57:14

i think there has never been a tornado in Europe and I hope there will never be one

Edwin Xie · Mon 14/06/2004 01:47:12

The wierdest thunderstorm I encountered was (by the way, I don't think it was raining and it didn't cause harm) the time I was using my computer. It was night and I was using my computer. Suddenly I saw a flash on the window and I closed my computer. The flash followed by thunder and it shook the ground like it was an earthquake, probably a 3 on the scale for earthquakes. There you go, wierd.

Edwin Xie · Mon 14/06/2004 01:53:43

Quote from: Dart on Sun 13/06/2004 14:13:21
Well, there was this one time where my friend Darren and I had just finished skating at a skate park. Although the sky was darkening and the winds were increasing, we decided to ignore these storm warnings from Mother Nature and go skateboarding through this deserted park trail which led to where we lived. So off we went.

It soon started to rain after five minutes of skating, and since rain can and will ruin skateboards, we tried to look for somewhere to take cover. We were in a field where there were a couple of small shrubs and huge trees, and we decided to camp out under one of the trees so as not to damage our boards.

Soon the light rain turned heavy and lightning and thunder were right above us. Only then did I realize that trees were the last place to take cover in a thunderstorm, so I yelled to Darren for us to just run home.

About 10-15 seconds after we started running that we heard this huge *KA-BOOM* sound and saw this bright flash in the air. Feeling a bit shocked, we looked back to the tree we hid in only moments before, and realized that lightning had struck it.

That was just too damn close... I think Darren and I have learnt our lessons now.

NEVER hide under a tree in a thunderstorm. Break into a car if you can!

Raggit · Mon 14/06/2004 02:35:24

Here is a piccy of the storm my original post was about:Ã,Â
Ã,Â Ã,Â Ã,Â Ã,Â Ã,Â Ã,Â Ã,Â Ã,Â
http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/RaggitTstorm.jpg

It is completely unedited.Ã,Â Actually, I had to adjust the contrast and brightness etc...Ã,Â But all the clouds are totally real.

PS, the white stripe across the upper corner of the screen was the edge of the roof. Just thought you'd like to know that!

Darth Mandarb · Mon 14/06/2004 04:07:59

That's a wild looking storm! Great pic!

I used to see storms like that when I lived in Michigan.

Now, living in Florida, we get lots of lightning.

I can sit out by the pool at night and watch the lightning storms over the everglades. It's really cool. But there's really no danger of tornadoes down here.