Have You Ever Been In A Twister?

[Brandy333]

I'm not talking about just getting caught in the rain, wind and hail from it, I mean actually "in" a twister.   My dad did many years ago.  It was about 1998 or 1999 and he was on one of the outer loops of S. San Antonio called 410.   He was in a Ford Ranger he said going about 45 when he felt the truck leave the ground.   He didn't know how high he went, but felt the truck rotating.   He said when he turned one way everything was black, and when he turned another way he saw blue sky.   All the other traffic had pulled onto the side of the highway and stopped, and in one car he saw a woman watching with her mouth and eyes wide open. (lol)  

After a short while the truck gently lowered to the ground with the wheels turning, and after he was able to regain control of the truck and get composure again he was able to drive home.   I don't think any serious damage was done to him or the truck, but he was sure lucky.

[the13bats]

2 hours ago, Brandy333 said:

I'm not talking about just getting caught in the rain, wind and hail from it, I mean actually "in" a twister.   My dad did many years ago.  It was about 1998 or 1999 and he was on one of the outer loops of S. San Antonio called 410.   He was in a Ford Ranger he said going about 45 when he felt the truck leave the ground.   He didn't know how high he went, but felt the truck rotating.   He said when he turned one way everything was black, and when he turned another way he saw blue sky.   All the other traffic had pulled onto the side of the highway and stopped, and in one car he saw a woman watching with her mouth and eyes wide open. (lol)  

After a short while the truck gently lowered to the ground with the wheels turning, and after he was able to regain control of the truck and get composure again he was able to drive home.   I don't think any serious damage was done to him or the truck, but he was sure lucky.

Amazing story, he was very lucky  but I got a bit lost,  when the twister lifted up the truck the truck rotated do you mean like a record on a turntable?  or was the truck on its side?

[Guyver]

No, but that would be the scariest thing ever.  I have been in more than one powerful earthquake and that was scary, but a tornado terrifies me much more.  I was into “Storm Chasers” for a while and those guys did finally get into one.  The power is amazing.  But, I really got into it and studied it out.  There are accounts of things happening that are almost beyond belief associated with these events.

[Guyver]

No wonder the ancients think angry God made that.

[quiXilver]

I was almost in one.  I watched it go over the top of the school bus I was riding in coming home from kindergarten.

Bus driver saw it coming and turned off the street over the curb and scrape parked the side of the bus up against a brick building we were passing.  He told everyone to get under their seats.  I sat staring out my window as the funnel approached and lifted up as it came close, passing overhead and damaging the roof of the building we were parked against.

The bus never moved or jiggled from the twister, but the building's roof was peeled up like a sardine can lid and dropped in the parking lot on the other side. 

 

Never forget the sound, like locomotives and the green of the sky...  wyld ride.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by quiXilver
added some details

[Brandy333]

27 minutes ago, the13bats said:

Amazing story, he was very lucky  but I got a bit lost,  when the twister lifted up the truck the truck rotated do you mean like a record on a turntable?  or was the truck on its side?

I don't know, dad didn't say, but I got the impression it was like on a turntable.   I imagine the truck was veering as it was turning, and all he could do was hold on.

[Guyver]

I thought the movie twister was really good.

[Brandy333]

Just now, Guyver said:

I thought the movie twister was really good.

Yes, I've seen that time after time.   

[the13bats]

26 minutes ago, Brandy333 said:

I don't know, dad didn't say, but I got the impression it was like on a turntable.   I imagine the truck was veering as it was turning, and all he could do was hold on.

My OCD grinds on things like this,

Picture truck moving on road 45mph so then if the twister wasnt also moving same direction about the same speed it would be like the truck hitting something, now the truck and twister are of the same speed,

it could be anything 5mph ? 70mph But now of course to lift the truck the twister will start spinning the truck too turning like a record, but then dad says he looks one way sky the other way dark just like in the twister movie,

if the truck wasnt being tumbled then it would have been hard if not impossible for dad to see the sky and ground unless the twister had a hell of a hugh eye as big as the one in the movie which was made up.

However if the truck was side spinning like a bbq roast or tumbling like clothes in a dryer then dad could see sky and ground but since the truck is rotating he wouldnt need to turn to look the truck would be turning for him,

Another issue is the seat belt anyone who has been in a roll over will tell you passenger car belts are not a racing harness, had dad been tumbled like that he would have been injuried,

thats assuming he wore a belt with had he not he likely would have been killed and if the truck was tunbling im not good enough at math to give the odds of the truck landing upright all ready to drive away,

Its possible but unlikely the truck wasnt damaged, as the truck passes thru the walls its akin to being in a sand blaster but in a twister a lot of stuff is larger than sand,

I will assume dad didnt report it but have you gone online and tracked down the twister got the details on it, one that big would have shown up on weather radar.

 

Yep, great story, dads a lucky man beat all kinds of odds.

 

[Silver]

scary:

 

[Brandy333]

10 minutes ago, the13bats said:

My OCD grinds on things like this,

Picture truck moving on road 45mph so then if the twister wasnt also moving same direction about the same speed it would be like the truck hitting something, now the truck and twister are of the same speed,

it could be anything 5mph ? 70mph But now of course to lift the truck the twister will start spinning the truck too turning like a record, but then dad says he looks one way sky the other way dark just like in the twister movie,

if the truck wasnt being tumbled then it would have been hard if not impossible for dad to see the sky and ground unless the twister had a hell of a hugh eye as big as the one in the movie which was made up.

However if the truck was side spinning like a bbq roast or tumbling like clothes in a dryer then dad could see sky and ground but since the truck is rotating he wouldnt need to turn to look the truck would be turning for him,

Another issue is the seat belt anyone who has been in a roll over will tell you passenger car belts are not a racing harness, had dad been tumbled like that he would have been injuried,

thats assuming he wore a belt with had he not he likely would have been killed and if the truck was tunbling im not good enough at math to give the odds of the truck landing upright all ready to drive away,

Its possible but unlikely the truck wasnt damaged, as the truck passes thru the walls its akin to being in a sand blaster but in a twister a lot of stuff is larger than sand,

I will assume dad didnt report it but have you gone online and tracked down the twister got the details on it, one that big would have shown up on weather radar.

 

Yep, great story, dads l a lucky man beat all kinds of odds.

 

Sorry, I didn't include in my post so perhaps it will help some, dad did tell me when he went airborne he was going 45, but when he came back down and wheels were turning truck was going 60.   I remember him saying that.

[Grim Reaper 6]

3 hours ago, Brandy333 said:

I'm not talking about just getting caught in the rain, wind and hail from it, I mean actually "in" a twister.   My dad did many years ago.  It was about 1998 or 1999 and he was on one of the outer loops of S. San Antonio called 410.   He was in a Ford Ranger he said going about 45 when he felt the truck leave the ground.   He didn't know how high he went, but felt the truck rotating.   He said when he turned one way everything was black, and when he turned another way he saw blue sky.   All the other traffic had pulled onto the side of the highway and stopped, and in one car he saw a woman watching with her mouth and eyes wide open. (lol)  

After a short while the truck gently lowered to the ground with the wheels turning, and after he was able to regain control of the truck and get composure again he was able to drive home.   I don't think any serious damage was done to him or the truck, but he was sure lucky.

On 24 January 1967, the following Tornado struck St. louis County and the Neighbor where my home was located. It was the wildest thing I have every experienced in my entire life, when the storm hit it sounded like a Freight Train was coming through the house. In Missouri homes are built with basements, so that where we weight out the storm. We were very lucky, our home was located in depression so the storm skipped over our home. Because of we only lost sections of the houses roof. Unforchantly all the homes above that depression were leveled down to the foundation, it looked like an Atomic bomb had detonated. 

Below is information that is published concerning this storm, I have increased the size and highlight the Neighborhood where I grew up. I have also included some photographs I found on line that were taken were I live and the that show the damage the storm left in its wake.

The tornado initially touched down around 6:55 p.m. in western St. Louis County at Olive Street Road near the Howard Bend Pumping Station where damage was reported to the Chesterfield Manor Nursing Home. The tornado moved northeast at 40 mph striking the small community of Lake, the luxury homes at River Bend Estates and Old Farm Estates valued between $25,000 and $33,000 (1967 dollars), Creve Coeur Meadows and Glenwood Subdivisions, and the heavily populated communities of Maryland Heights, Bridgeton, St. Ann, Edmundson, Woodson Terrace, Berkeley, Ferguson, Dellwood, the Hathaway Manor Subdivision, and Spanish Lake.  The tornado apparently dissipated or weakened as it crossed the Mississippi River, as there is no record of significant damage in Illinois.   

The damage path ranged from 50 to 200 yards wide and the tornado was on the ground for approximately 35 minutes. Remarkably only 3 fatalities were reported while 216 people suffered injuries. Damage included 168 homes destroyed, 258 with major damage, and 1485 with minor damage. At least 600 businesses were damaged or destroyed. The total damage was estimated to be around 15 million dollars.

The tornado was given a F4 rating on the Fujita Tornado Ranking Scale. The F4 occurrence was likely small in aerial coverage with the majority of the severe damage being classified as either F2 or F3.

[the13bats]

14 minutes ago, Brandy333 said:

Sorry, I didn't include in my post so perhaps it will help some, dad did tell me when he went airborne he was going 45, but when he came back down and wheels were turning truck was going 60.   I remember him saying that.

Did you have see gumball rally?

I re read your OP so while in the twister moving forward st 60mph dad saw the blue sky, black ground and stunned witnesses, pretty darn cool. 

So lets say truck was lifted while going 45mph and while carried in the storms eye accelerated to 60mph, i would say its impossible for a person to have any real idea how much they accelerated while in the twisters eye,

now we would have to do a lot of assuming what dads gas pedal foot did while in the twister but even if he beat every odd and had the throttle open to what would be 60mph in the twister there is no load on the wheels,

so when the twister sat the truck down the wheels would have to catch up to 60mph, stunt men in movies have such a hard time keeping the vehicle from going 360 they use hidden cables,

Its just amasing, it really is.

[jmccr8]

We had 2 twisters back home one day I was just leaving the hotel for home and as I walked to the entrance 8 sets of double doors flew open and after a bit saw a hard helmet rolling up so grabbed it and went for a quick run to my car so I could have some fun.

jmccr8

[MissJatti]

I guess you dad was in a F2 or F3 tornado, anything bigger you fathers truck would have been long gone.

[jmccr8]

I can remember a few times when I was young we had dust devils that were like small twisters from 8'- 12' high and would run into them so we would get tossed about. 

jmccr8

[Brandy333]

9 hours ago, the13bats said:

Did you have see gumball rally?

I re read your OP so while in the twister moving forward st 60mph dad saw the blue sky, black ground and stunned witnesses, pretty darn cool. 

So lets say truck was lifted while going 45mph and while carried in the storms eye accelerated to 60mph, i would say its impossible for a person to have any real idea how much they accelerated while in the twisters eye,

now we would have to do a lot of assuming what dads gas pedal foot did while in the twister but even if he beat every odd and had the throttle open to what would be 60mph in the twister there is no load on the wheels,

so when the twister sat the truck down the wheels would have to catch up to 60mph, stunt men in movies have such a hard time keeping the vehicle from going 360 they use hidden cables,

Its just amasing, it really is.

Yes, it is very amazing, and whatever exactly went on I don't know but I'm glad my dad wasn't killed or severely injured.   I am sure it was a very frightening experience for him.

[rashore]

Had a skipper over the house once when I was a kid. We thought it was just a really bad storm and hung out in the basement rec room. But after, we found out and saw where it had touched down in the farmers fields, skipped over the house, and touched again in woods. 

[Brandy333]

34 minutes ago, rashore said:

Had a skipper over the house once when I was a kid. We thought it was just a really bad storm and hung out in the basement rec room. But after, we found out and saw where it had touched down in the farmers fields, skipped over the house, and touched again in woods. 

It's odd how a twister will do that, skip over places but demolish others.   I don't know why but mobile homes seem to be hit by them often more than others.

[the13bats]

Weather, like fire and water sometimes tries very hard to make us believe its alive and thinking for itself.

[Amaryllis]

I sometimes have nightmares about them. I can't imagine what it's like to live in tornado alley. I feel for those who have to live in fear when the sirens go off.

[Brandy333]

On 4/18/2021 at 6:29 PM, Amaryllis said:

I sometimes have nightmares about them. I can't imagine what it's like to live in tornado alley. I feel for those who have to live in fear when the sirens go off.

I do live in tornado alley and sometimes the sirens do go off here.   Fortunately haven't been right directly in the path of one though.

[Myles]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:25 AM, Brandy333 said:

It's odd how a twister will do that, skip over places but demolish others.   I don't know why but mobile homes seem to be hit by them often more than others.

I don't think that is true.   I think we just hear about them more because they cannot stand up to the high winds.

All my life I have lived in places that have a couple destructive tornados each year.  Never been in one directly, but have been close enough to watch it go by a couple times.  

I have a survival kit made up in the basement.   Radio, water, granola bars, a few tools, flashlights and stuff like that.  

[+Desertrat56]

my dog and I sat in the apartment bathroom while several jumped around the buildings, and one jumped over a fence and landed next to the one I was in taking out a tree, then hopped over and took out the roof on the next building.