I've been very very close to one, Ron. Close enough that my husband's dispatcher was freaking out. He had the weather radar overlaid on the truck radar when it came up behind us. I didn't even see the damn thing. We just got a meesage over the QualComm.. "Truck number 55011.. Take cover. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY! Life or death situation. Tornado immediately behind you."

We ducked into a grain elevator, parking under an aluminum awning. We vanished off Roger's radar about the same time it hit the ground... for all the world looking like we had been wiped off the map.

When I finally got to a location where I could call in, over 2 1/2 hours later, Roger was still there and was flipping out because he could not reach us. It was 7 in the evening. Roger was supposed to have gone home at 5.

I never actually got to see that tornado, but I saw the hail, and lightening, and felt some of the most incredible winds......

__________________

now THAT is a helluva dispatcher.
that's the thing with tornado's even in DAYTIME the rain/cloudcover is SO bad around the storm, you usually won't see much. it ain't like the movie "twister" LOL

__________________
tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.

He was. The company my hubby was working for at that time sold out, and no-one knows where Roger went. I only hope that where he went, he is working with folks who truly appreciate him.

__________________

I like chasing storms also, but i don't ever want to see a tornado in my semi. I live in MN and exactly a yr ago we had the F3 hit Hugo MN which is about 20 miles south of my house. Then the Parkersburg IA tornado hit the same day i think. I drive right thru waterloo and there was some debris and trees down just north of there too. I just can't imagine what i would do in a truck that is governd at 75mph and takes for ever to get there, if i saw a tornado in my mirrors.

I have crossed much of the track of the Parkersburg storm, which the NWS classified as a low end EF5 with maximum winds up to 205 miles per hour.

It devastated the south half or more of Parkersburg, but it started out west of there near New Hartford, after destroying much of Parkersburg, it skirted the north side of Cedar Falls and then went to the north of Dunkerton crossing Iowa 281 a couple miles or less north of town, it destroyed several houses, some of which have been rebuilt, but one is sitting there with the southwest sidewalls gone along with the roof and there is furniture sitting inside the walls that were left.It went from there to the northeast to near Fairbank, skipped a ways and the demolished most of a modular home sales lot on the south edge of Hazelton, it happened right after the other damage, it may have been a different cell but it ripped up large poles and turned them to splinters.

I hate to say it Ron, but if you went through a tornado and survived, you would be the "One" people would awe over.. LOL..

__________________




There are only three women in this world that mean anything to me and they are Karen, Krystal, Amanda..

I was in the F5 that wiped out a huge section of Oklahoma in May 1999(in my bath tub while my house was being destroyed). My biggest regret was that I didn't get to see the actual tornado. The downside to being in the storm is that I still hate the smell of fresh cut grass to this day due to the memories it brings up from that day.

At the same time though, I still love to watch the weather reports and will sit for hours listening when the threats are near. I guess there is something to be said about the excitement that tornados spawn. Nature's Fury!

Permit Gal, I can understand your dislike for the smell of fresh cut grass..

Back in 1982, when I was 10 years old, a hurricane formed in the north Pacific, hit Mexico, and then took a trip up the California coast before working it's way inland. It took out hundreds of trees and flooded roads, fields, everything... My brothers and I spent the night sleeping in the hallway, and I heard my mother's eucalyptus BOUNCE on the roof of the house.

To this day, straight line winds scare me to no end!

I can chase a storm, and not even think about it, but if I am not chasing it, ad the wind comes up, I want nothing more than to cower under my bed...

__________________

Just curious, how is this 'valid and useful'? They already know everything about them - what causes them, how powerful they are, what damage they cause - etc. How is throwing another wad of cash for the thrill seekers that got the grant a wise use of taxpayers money?

BTW if they'd pay me to do it I'd be there in a heartbeat!

Not everything is known about them. Like why the perfect conditions may be there, and a tornado does not form... and then a few miles down the road, where conditions are less than perfect, a tornado forms.

Also one of the big things they are trying to learn about with this is the whys and wherefors of what is called a "gustnado". They are similar to a tornado, with the main difference being that they have no wall cloud they are anchored to, and have no discernable rotation on radar. (They have no upper level rotation.)

Truthfully, they wouldn't even have to pay me to participate in this! Give me a chance, and be off and gone in less than a heartbeat!

__________________