Just watched a funnel cloud...

Just watched a funnel cloud pass right over my house! My first thought was, grab the video camera! But I couldn't take my eyes off of the rotation long enough to run inside and get the camera. It was the most eerie thing I've seen in awhile. Just standing there praying that a tornado didn't drop out of it.

Not having a basement kind of sucks when crap like this happens. Kind of scary.

Also, on another note, living in the midwest prepares you for all kinds of stuff like this. Living in Maryland now, it's so obvious that no one knows what to do in a tornado. The local news station in Baltimore had someone outside standing in the storm reporting on it. "Look, it's raining outside!!!" Gee, good observation there... Also, there is no tornado sirens here. A warning was issued and the only way I knew is because I religiously check the NWS website and radars. (Yeah, I used to want to be a Meterologist before I met the monster otherwise known as engineering physics.)

Eegad, gadzooks and forsooth, even. I hate tornadoes. Lived in Omaha, Neb for 6 years and saw too many of those freaky things. I hate the moments right before they start to form, it gets all dark and everything just stops, no wind, no sounds, everything just gets eerily quiet. Hope you dont have any problems homey, maybe throw a rubberfist at it if it gets close, see what happens.

Yeah, it seems like we missed the worst of it. Sounds like down East of DC in Virginia, they had a brief tornado touchdown. Initial report is that someone died when a tree fell on their moving vehicle. Talk about crappy luck...

No worries here though, we didn't even lose power!

I live in Eastern IA and have witnessed about 5-6 funnels clouds in my life. One as I was driving down the interstate about 100-200 YDS directly east of me almost touched down a few years ago. I almost shat myself. Always very scary, but memorizing at the same time.

We also had an F5 tornado hit about 65 Mi North of where I live the day before Memorial Day, it was like 3/4 of a mile wide and was on the ground for about 43mi I believe. Completely destroyed a few communities up there. They just found the 8th death victim of the tornado today. Crazy stuff.

Some local media articles on the tornado:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/19496234.html - Click on the watch video link to see a house get demolished.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I'm originally from Ames, IA. My friend and fellow guild member (Maneater) moved to North Liberty near IA City. My relatives still live back home in Iowa as well.

When I heard about the EF5 that hit Parkersburg, I made sure and called everyone I knew to make sure everything was okay.

PS, Go Cyclones!!

Oh I know how scary it can be we had a EF-4 hit us earlier this month. I was at work when it hit. It destroyed the Gateway Rehibitation center less than a block from where I was at. The Tornado was 700yards wide when it crossed I-95. I was one of first to respond to it, everyone got out alive too. Here is a vid someone posted on youtube.

I was out in Oklahoma City back in the 90's when they had that record number of tornado's roll through... my luck, I was driving to New Mexico, and just happened to get caught in them... that was the most nerve-wracking night of my life! Glad ya'll are safe!

rhyzen wrote:...it's so obvious that no one knows what to do in a tornado.

I know exactly what you mean! Lived in Indiana most of my life, but spent three years in Jackson, TN. I recall one night working with a youth group and telling the leaders we need to be watchful, the color of the sky, all that jazz. They just laughed and said I was being paranoid. Then when it hit and power went out, we all went down to the restrooms, piled the kids in, while the rest of the adults stood in the hall...which was made of nothing but glass and steel girders. The tornado touched down less than a mile from the church. Paranoid my yankee foot!

Glad you came out ok though and no damage or injuries for you and yours. I've been through far too many tornadoes in my short life thus far! LOL

Thats crazy man. Growing up in Kentucky we deffinitly had our share of tornado touchdowns in the area. Those sirens are the worst soo creepy.