OMG! Can you imagine...

[voluptuary_manque]

There will be a lot of us there.

I read somewhere that someone allowed as how if you get warning that an F5 is coming your way that you might as well go stand on the front porch and get a really good look, 'cause it's the last thing you'll ever see. Diving into a cellar iw a waste of time. An F5 will suck you right out again.

 

[Weird Harold]

...being that damn close to this thing? Close enough to take this picture:

Looking closely at the picture, I think the actual tornado is a lot further away than it looks at first glance -- several hundred yards at least. It's at least as far beyond the two silos/tanks immdediately in front of it as they are from the camera and they're not right next to that shed as they appear to be -- they've got to be at least a couple of city blocks away to appear the same height as the shed.

It's still a damned impressive picture

 

[S-Des]

The story behind the pic posted at one site had a lot of people who claimed to be experts (and sounded like they were) that said this wasn't a tornado (and not nearly as dangerous as it looks). A number of them shared Harold's opinion that it was far further away than it appears. There were a number of words I've never even heard before and it got fairly heated, but I thought I'd mention it. It is however, the coolest picture I've ever seen (and my daughter was absolutely astounded).

 

[john-the-author]

...being that damn close to this thing? Close enough to take this picture:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/13/us/13tornado-blog.jpg

When the weather turned violent and stormy on Tuesday evening, Lori Mehmen, who lives in the small farming town of Orchard in northeastern Iowa, looked out her front door and saw a funnel cloud bearing down — and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.

Full story here.

A few years ago, when we were stuck in Indiana, a tornado was bearing down on us (no, no pix, but it did rip the roof off of a neighbor's house). We were in the below-ground basement of the n-d neighbor and watching the local coverage and our neighbor's daughter said "How does the F-scale for tornadoes work?"

My wife, without a hitch, said "That's how many times you say 'FUCK!' when you see the cloud."

It's as good a definition as any, I think. And yeah, I'd give this one at least an F3, seeing it that close. Saying "FUCK!" just once wouldn't seem adequate. <shudder>

I'll stick with earthquakes and the occasional volcano, thank you.

 

[Your_Imagination]

Wow that is freaky. Got to have a lot of balls to be out taking that type of photo.

 

[Liar]

Actually Liar, that's a small one.

If I get killed by a 500 ft drop instead of a 10 000 ft drop, is a 500 ft drop a small one?

 

[rgraham666]

Less time to change your mind, so yes.

 

[SlickTony]

that said this wasn't a tornado

Huh? WTF? HOW is that not a tornado?

 

[Guest]

Huh? WTF? HOW is that not a tornado?

Very cool pic, cloudy!

Actually, hubby just said he believes it to be a wall cloud, not a tornado.

We found some video on it, too - I'll locate that link - and there doesn't appear to be rotation.

A wall cloud is just a thunderstorm cloud formation that can, at times, look like a dairy queen swirl. Here's another pic of a wall cloud.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudfromwiki.jpg

 

[SlickTony]

Man. I've never seen that in real life.

 

[TE999]

...being that damn close to this thing? Close enough to take this picture:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/13/us/13tornado-blog.jpg

When the weather turned violent and stormy on Tuesday evening, Lori Mehmen, who lives in the small farming town of Orchard in northeastern Iowa, looked out her front door and saw a funnel cloud bearing down — and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.

Full story here.

I'm sorry, wall cloud, tornado, double dip cone, that is one scary motherfucker. An F-4 tore Gainesville GA a new one in 1977. I saw the aftermath and it looked like Hiroshima minus the radioactivity.

If an F-4 or 5 is bearing down on you, just put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

 

[Guest]

Man. I've never seen that in real life.

We have.

Sometimes the location of our home sucks.

I found some more pictures. A wall cloud is dangerous, of course, and often tornadoes do form from it. But not always.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudrotating.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudiththunderstorm.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudwithtornado.jpg

 

[DesertPirate]

Scary shit by any standard

 

[voluptuary_manque]

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/wallcloudrotating.jpg


This thing looks like something out of a serious sci-fi film, one of those where the advanced life forms either make off with a sizeable portion of the town's population or return a bunch of people they've abducted over the years. Creepy? Man!

 

[ms.read]

mmmmph!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Katyusha]

Ah, the light evening sunshine, the lush green trees, the tidy lawn. What a peaceful picture, if it wasn't for the HUGE FUCKING TORNADO next door.

*snerk*

 

[Katyusha]

We have.

Sometimes the location of our home sucks.

I found some more pictures. A wall cloud is dangerous, of course, and often tornadoes do form from it. But not always.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudrotating.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudiththunderstorm.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/wallcloudwithtornado.jpg

Oh is that what those are.

I saw some wall clouds east of the front range in Colorado a year ago. They were scary...we were headed towards the range and away from them but I was so certain a huge tornado was going to form and swallow us up anyway.

 

[mansome]

If you look at the photo the right way, it sort of looks like the cloud's mouth is opening up and a long tongue is licking the ground.................

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/13/us/13tornado-blog.jpg




hmmmm I think I'd much rather see Cloudy's tongue any day......