Okay, so here is the deal. There is currently a series of Tornadoes sweeping through WI right now, and one of them was spotted almost an hour ago several blocks away from my house. Luckily, it went the opposite direction away from us.
When we got word that it was near, we immediately took action to move all of our animals (Heaven forbid, we have a good amount.) to the basement. At the same time, I was trying to prevent myself from panicking, to the point that I was thought I was having a heart attack, because my left hand was going numb. But it wasn't. It was just panic. Panic that I was holding in. I do not want to go through that again.
...I COULD HAVE DIED!!!! AAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!
Quote from: Fluttershy on May 22, 2011, 04:29:41 PM
Okay, so here is the deal. There is currently a series of Tornadoes sweeping through WI right now, and one of them was spotted almost an hour ago several blocks away from my house. Luckily, it went the opposite direction away from us.
When we got word that it was near, we immediately took action to move all of our animals (Heaven forbid, we have a good amount.) to the basement. At the same time, I was trying to prevent myself from panicking, to the point that I was thought I was having a heart attack, because my left hand was going numb. But it wasn't. It was just panic. Panic that I was holding in. I do not want to go through that again.
...I COULD HAVE DIED!!!! AAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!
Well I'm glad you're okay. I have quite a few tornado stories, being raised in Michigan. It traumatized me into being unrealistically afraid of air raid sirens. :P
Yikes man, glad you're okay. You could die at any time, though, so there's no need to be afraid. No one lives forever.
Quote from: Portal Veteran on May 22, 2011, 04:53:10 PMIt traumatized me into being unrealistically afraid of air raid sirens. :P
Then you probably shouldn't listen to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeeq2fYbfGY).
tornadoes aren't all that bad, theres several every year where i live (Oklahoma).
luckily there's never been any damage to my house or anything like that.
in every neighborhood theres a tower for sirens so we always have warning.
its funny because I've come to realize that everyone from a coastal area is afraid of tornadoes while everyone from around where i live is scared of hurricanes x]
generally people are afraid of what they have not experienced before.
although, those eerie skies right before a tornado still get me... creepyyy
Good to hear you're okay. Holy crap, I know the feeling. :X
On a lighter note, do let us know what the damage rating was, if you ever care to look it up.
I haven't heard anything about the damage rating yet...I have heard that there was one dead in Kansas or something like that because of the tornadoes.
Dude, the tornadoes were everywhere! I heard there were some in Minneapolis!
EDIT: Okay, so from what I recently heard, there were six tornadoes that touched down here in WI. I'm gonna keep posting news as the damage report is read in my presence.
I did notice quite the squall line when I looked at a radar map earlier. The tornado outbreak thing really doesn't surprise me given all of those cells.
Yeah, be sure to keep us posted. My friends and I were terrified of tornadoes growing up, but we were always out trying to spot them whenever there were tornado warnings on the news. ;)
I love stormy weather, and I love tornadoes!
Well, I'd hate to admit it, but thats almost all I was able to get my mitts on about the Tornadoes. But to compensate for it, I will give you an experience of what it was like to be close to a Tornado without getting hurt (Or without seeing it, for that matter).
While me and my sister were busy getting all of the rabbit cages down to the basement, my Dad comes in (he was looking out for the Tornado), and says to us "Get out here, now".
Me and Liz go outside, look around, we don't see anything, but there was a loud rumble. It sounded like thunder that was on a loop. Dad says "Hear that? Thats the sound of a Tornado".
I still can't believe it was so close to us, and I didn't even see it.
EDIT: One of the tornadoes landed in Missouri and took a town right off the map. The death toll has climbed to 116.
Sounds like that one was an EF5. Little doubt.
To Wikipedia!
Actually, could you tell us what town you live in? There may be a documented account online already.
Medford, Wisconsin. The Tornado was south of Route 64.
Looks like I found it, and it was spotted approximately 45.28o N / 90.81o W (a.k.a. holy cow, that is close). Apparently, there's not an EF rating for it yet. Hopefully, if the damage was minimal, it was just an EF0 or an EF1.
Quote from: Fluttershy on May 23, 2011, 12:19:32 PM
EDIT: One of the tornadoes landed in Missouri and took a town right off the map. The death toll has climbed to 116.
that would be Joplin. been there a few times, drive right through it when I go visit my grandma up north. I was watching the world news, theres already been over 1,000 tornadoes this year, thats over double this time last year.
oh by the way, what about that volcano in iceland??
maybe the world IS coming to an end.......
Quote from: MagmarFire on May 23, 2011, 05:22:33 PM
Looks like I found it, and it was spotted approximately 45.28o N / 90.81o W (a.k.a. holy cow, that is close).
I told ya! I could hear the sucker when I went outside!
Quote from: alex on May 23, 2011, 05:47:23 PM
Quote from: Fluttershy on May 23, 2011, 12:19:32 PM
EDIT: One of the tornadoes landed in Missouri and took a town right off the map. The death toll has climbed to 116.
that would be Joplin. been there a few times, drive right through it when I go visit my grandma up north. I was watching the world news, theres already been over 1,000 tornadoes this year, thats over double this time last year.
oh by the way, what about that volcano in iceland??
maybe the world IS coming to an end.......
Joplin, yes, thank you. And no, don't go all apocalyptic on us now! lol
Quote from: alex on May 23, 2011, 05:47:23 PM
maybe the world IS coming to an end.......
My mom is trying not to be that person, but a lot of things are happening that the Bible said would happen BEFORE the rapture.
Just for example, one of the prophecies was, that the sea will be filled with dead fish. We were looking at the oil spill for that one. Tornadoes and Earthquakes are supposed to follow. We've seen Tornadoes, but not that many Earthquakes.
Of course, if you're LOOKING for something, you're more likely to find it. :P
The Bible is about interpretation. But let's not make this a religious discussion, seeing as how most people here don't believe in God.
I can't believe how many people died. Last I heard it was
one.
Now an entire town is missing? What the hell man? :o
edit:
Found a first person video on Youtube.
Check it out here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQnvxJZucds&feature=topvideos_news)
Well, the storm has hit my city. It's pretty crazy, I'm on the road, we saw a tree fall over and the wind is about "h... 60-70 MPH right now, and we're in a smartcar... XP.
You have a smartcar? Really? :-\
*back on topic*
I saw that video last night. I really cannot imagine the fear those people went through.
storms are just sweeping the nation right now! it's crazy! there's a storm headed my way at the moment, high winds, 70-80mph, tornado warnings, the works. we are getting ready to take cover, though I've been through a few tornadoes and my area usually comes out okay, minor damage.
zv, about the end of the world stuff, I think there's been a few signs myself, but I don't think we are anywhere close. I think the bible prophecies will be really obvious, no question about it. "oh THAT'S what the bible meant" x)
(portal veteran is zv right? because I'll feel like an idiot if not.. I've been gone awhile)
EDIT: four confirmed dead in Oklahoma City, but I think they are still searching
The tornado thing being a prophesied thing is kind of inconclusive at this point, in my opinion. Tornado outbreaks like this are not unheard of, after all. Look at the Super Outbreak of 1974, and there have been dozens of other tornado outbreaks during the past twenty years alone, let alone the entire century past. As tragic as the deaths caused this year are, the number is still beaten by the 600+ fatality-causing Tri-State Tornado of 1925 (and that was one tornado!).
If you think about it (from what I heard), the weather has been wacky-wacky like this every time there has been a nuclear incident anywhere in the world. Remember Japan and the nuclear incident? The weather was also (from what I heard) misbehaving when Chernobyl became a ghost-town, Three Mile Island had an incident (I keep forgetting how severe it was), and maybe even when Japan was bombed during WWII. Scientists also had to do weather checks whenever they performed explosion tests with Nuclear weapons. If that is the case, then I believe we have nothing to worry about, it's just the Radiation in the air that is having an effect in the weather. But if that is also the case, we should probably think twice before sticking our tongues out in the rain...
Quote from: MagmarFire on May 24, 2011, 07:43:16 PM
As tragic as the deaths caused this year were, the number was still beaten by the 600+ fatality-causing Tri-State Tornado of 1925 (and that was one tornado!).
I forgot about that one, now that you mention it.
I'm not sure which would look cooler, a bunch of tiny tornadoes destroying a town, or seeing the town destroyed by one HUGE tornado. I know it's sorta off topic, but you gotta wonder...
And really, the Earth does through these bad weather cycles. These things happen every couple years.
Quote from: Inigo Montoya on May 25, 2011, 03:29:40 AM
I'm not sure which would look cooler, a bunch of tiny tornadoes destroying a town, or seeing the town destroyed by one HUGE tornado. I know it's sorta off topic, but you gotta wonder...
And really, the Earth does through these bad weather cycles. These things happen every couple years.
Well that's horrible to think about but I'm always a fan of a giant supertornado.
Also the earth is technically coming out of an ice age still
I was actually watching a report on the news where scientists think that most "big tornadoes" aren't really one big tornado. They now think that whenever we see a "big" tornado, it's a bunch of small tornadoes rotating around each other. Because all we see is one big debris cloud, we assume that it's only one tornado.
Yeah, I saw that report too. Reminded me of the Dyson cyclone vacuum.
Quote from: Portal Veteran on May 25, 2011, 09:01:52 AM
I was actually watching a report on the news where scientists think that most "big tornadoes" aren't really one big tornado. They now think that whenever we see a "big" tornado, it's a bunch of small tornadoes rotating around each other. Because all we see is one big debris cloud, we assume that it's only one tornado.
I actually think that's still a debated concept in the scientific community (at least Wikipedia thinks so), but there is little doubt that the concept of a "multi-vortex tornado" exists, as they, too, have been documented.
And, of course, you can't argue that they are pretty much the Chuck Norris of tornadoes. Come to think of it, if I recall correctly, there are many regular-sized tornadoes that have multiple vortices in them, as well.
Does anyone here even know what the inside of a Tornado looks like? I need that info for a fanfic I'm writing.
But anyway, if this kind of thing happens so frequently, I really don't see it as a sign of an apocalypse. We really don't have anything to worry about!
The absolute inside of a tornado, if it's large enough, is really calm. It's like being surrounded by a sheet of flying debris without actually touching any of it. Can't say for sure what it's like inside a smaller one, though.
A smaller one is possibly quite similar if you're in the absolute center, but then again, if the vortex has a small enough radius, it's likely the calm becomes negligible. You'd still be in huge danger of getting bludgeoned or flayed alive.
Death from a tornado can result in a multitude of ways. The most common is being struck by high velocity debris. The second most likely way it could kill someone is making a structure collapse on someone. Other ways they kill are by tearing people literally in half, or throwing them out of the vortex at high speeds. Even if you're tossed into an open field with no trees or buildings, you're still going to be traveling at over a hundred miles an hour. In any case, I've never heard of someone getting sucked into a tornado and living.
Did anyone see the movie Twister? It's pretty old, and has crappy effects, but I happen to remember one scene vividly. This guys is holding the cellar door shut, and the tornado rips the door off, and sucks him up along with the door. I wish I could find that scene. :P
I have heard a few reports of people being sucked into Tornadoes and surviving. Very few, but they exist. I'm pretty sure that not many people, if they were sucked into the Joplin tornado, are still alive. The death toll is STILL rising.
Quote from: Portal Veteran on May 25, 2011, 11:07:12 PM
Other ways they kill are by tearing people literally in half...
What the heck!? I haven't heard any accounts of THAT before. :o You sure it wasn't caused by debris or something?
QuoteDid anyone see the movie Twister? It's pretty old, and has crappy effects, but I happen to remember one scene vividly. This guys is holding the cellar door shut, and the tornado rips the door off, and sucks him up along with the door. I wish I could find that scene. :P
I remember that part, and it raises interesting fridge logic: If he got sucked in, why didn't the other two?
Actually, there are a whole bunch of things that movie botched up that it's hilarious sometimes.
Quote from: MagmarFire on May 26, 2011, 03:47:16 PM
Actually, there are a whole bunch of things that movie botched up that it's hilarious sometimes.
Next time my friends and I have a "bad movie night", I'll recommend it, because you're completely right.
I saw that movie. It was...interesting.
Quote from: Portal Veteran on May 26, 2011, 10:31:43 PM
Quote from: MagmarFire on May 26, 2011, 03:47:16 PM
Actually, there are a whole bunch of things that movie botched up that it's hilarious sometimes.
Next time my friends and I have a "bad movie night", I'll recommend it, because you're completely right.
I'd also recommend "The Room" or "Garbage day", really. But getting back on topic...
i heard from a friend that a drinking straw got stuck inside of a tree...
HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??
I have no idea...
My Mom was talking to some guy who wanted people to help him clean up his land from all the insulation (also known as Pink fluff that you find in walls) that was strewn about as a result of the tornado.
Also:
A couple of kids were orphaned because of the tornado. A High School graduate who was either on his way to or from a graduation party was sucked out of his car. Some guy woke up around a half a mile from where he was before.
The death tole is around 138 now. I think it stopped.
Quote from: alex on May 29, 2011, 08:02:14 PM
i heard from a friend that a drinking straw got stuck inside of a tree...
HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??
Don't underestimate EF5s. If they can topple steel-reinforced buildings, it doesn't seem like a huge feat to embed a piece of plastic into some wood.
EDIT: ...In retrospect, I guess that makes the rip-people-in-half thing more believable, doesn't it? Still, you'd thing that people'd get sucked up well before getting ripped in half... -.-
A tornado actually touched down in Queens not so long ago. Bunch of trees fell all around New York City, and it was pretty bad. A lot of places lost power for a few days, and it took the city forever to restore it.
I remember being in my dorm (which is allll the way in Long Island) and seeing the forest nearby literally sway. It was scary o.o;
Not so cool when you're that close, is it?