So you wanna chase tornadoes, huh?

[Psyclone Brian]

Unless you are Jonas that stupid Nightcrawler. He couldnt do anything. Hes not in it for the science, hes in it for the money.

All the high tech gadgets... no instincts.

...and he didn't have Dorothy!

[zach]

When I went to ISU, we chased Tornadoes one spring. The storms came through Ames and did nothing but stir up dust everywhere and I remember looking out the big windows between the commons area and the rooms. So my roomies from the towers and I went chasing the storm down 17 to where the bad weather was coming through. We made it down highway 17 to 141 and it got really bad, could not see a thing. Parked under the bridges and jumped out and ran up and hid under the bridges...it got real dark, started to hail, heard a train, while the wind was everywhere and very loud and incredible......needless to say, we held on for life.

Best to my knowledge, none of us have done it since...man I miss college!

Z

[CyPride]

When I went to ISU, we chased Tornados one spring. The storms came through Ames and did nothing but stir up dust everywhere and I remember looking out the big windows between the commons area and the rooms. So my roomies from the towers and I went chasing the storm down 17 to where the bad weather was coming through. We made it down highway 17 to 141 and it got really bad, could not see a thing. Parked under the bridges and jumped out and ran up and hid under the bridges...it got real dark, started to hail, heard a train, while the wind was everywhere and very loud and incredible......needless to say, we held on for life.

Best to my knowledge, none of us have done it since...man I miss college!

Z

.

I've seen a couple tornadoes on the water off the coast of Florida (they call 'em waterspouts, but they are just tornadoes over water) but i have never seen a tornado in iowa in the the years i've lived here.

[dinger]

You're right! And if a house lands in front of you, you can just drive right through it!

has anyone ever noticed after the truck goes "up the stairs" and breaks into the bedroom through the wall...there is a husker football poster on the wall. makes me sick.

[IcSyU]

I'm watching it right now....breakfast in Wakita

[ajk4st8]

Meg where did you get all this beef?

[wxman1]

I'm watching it right now....breakfast in Wakita

Speaking of Wakita it almost got hit on Monday.

[dinger]

Meg where did you get all this beef?

Did you see my cows out front?

[cstrunk]

When I went to ISU, we chased Tornadoes one spring. The storms came through Ames and did nothing but stir up dust everywhere and I remember looking out the big windows between the commons area and the rooms. So my roomies from the towers and I went chasing the storm down 17 to where the bad weather was coming through. We made it down highway 17 to 141 and it got really bad, could not see a thing. Parked under the bridges and jumped out and ran up and hid under the bridges...it got real dark, started to hail, heard a train, while the wind was everywhere and very loud and incredible......needless to say, we held on for life.

Best to my knowledge, none of us have done it since...man I miss college!

Z

This is one of the worst things you can do. First of all, people who park under bridges/overpasses can end up blocking the road for people who are smarter and trying to get through. Everyone has seen the video of the tornado along the Kansas turnpike where the people say to get "underneath the girders" and hold on at an overpass. They were sideswiped by the tornado. If it would have been a direct hit, it is very likely that they could have been swept away from the wind tunnel effect that would happen there. A majority of the overpasses are smooth and don't have anything to brace yourself with anyways.

A better option would be to drive away or if you really think a tornado is upon you, bail out of your vehicle and find a flat, low area as far away from potential debris as you can, and lie flat and protect your head.

The best option, if you are trying to chase storms, is to know what the storm is doing and try not to get into the heavy precipitation. Stay on the SE side of the storm. You'll most likely stay out of harms way, and that's where you'll have the best view anyways.

[TykeClone]

I've been out spotting for tornadoes (not chasing them) and have only been out one time when I though that the sky was really, really scary.

Green freaking roiling clouds = not cool.

[Wx4Cy]

Not close enough?

How about this?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-GqoEkvN1k]YouTube - EXTREME VIDEO from Inside the Oklahoma City (Norman) Tornado on May 10th 2010[/ame]

[mksmith2]

I've never seen a tornado in real life.

I've never seen a destructive tornado and I've lived in Iowa my entire life. I used to live in Fairfield before I moved up here to ames for good about a year ago. I never saw one in Fairfield because (I think) Fairfield is in a land depression so when we had serious weather (like it was actually causing tornadoes) they would literally go back up into the clouds and hit some other town (Like Washington, or Mt. Pleasant). I think I've seen a micro-twister before though. I was moving up to Ames like a year and a half ago, bright sunny skies, some dark clouds but no rain or anything. Then I saw a really tiny hair thin funnel just touch down for a few seconds and then go back up. Some cars stopped but it was too far away for anything bad to happen.

that said, even after watching both videos I would LOVE to chase tornadoes. I've always had a complete fascination with them. I would definitely be the technical guy since I have no experience whatsoever in meteorology or whatever beyond what I've seen/learned on the weather channel and "Storm Chasers" on Discovery.

[twojman]

Wife and I were West of Waukee a few years ago. We saw a tornado (several miles from us) touchdown what looked to be south of Adel. Not too long afterwards the wind picked up and I think the temp dropped 20 degrees in 10 seconds. There were a few others along the gravel road, we all looked at each other and decided it was time to get out of there.