Tornado!

Update: I've been informed this was a land spout. Hey, it was still pretty scary!

What an incredible weather day we had yesterday!  I'll let the photos tell the story... but just a little background first.  

We live in Kansas one mile east of Interstate 35 and one mile north of the Oklahoma state line.  The overturned semi trucks on I-35 that you may have seen on the news?  That was within 5 miles of our home!  The hail in the photo below?  Tennis ball size when it came down.... we were standing on our covered front porch looking at the southwest weather coming toward us,  when all of a sudden from our north side came a flying ball of hail which scared the crap outta both of us!!!  So all the weather was coming from the southwest, while the large hail came from the north.  It was amazing!  We drove around after the storm passed by so we could assess any local damage, and also try to find the path of the tornado.

Click on any photo to enlarge!


This photo (above) is straight out of my camera, so the tornado, which is only one mile to our south, is hard to see against the light colored sky.

Here's the adjusted tornado photo, with the contrast pumped up and additional post-processing effects.  My son said it looks like a "Wizard of Oz" tornado.

The storm after it passed over us (above); it's now heading to the northeast, towards Arkansas City.

I tried to gather up what was left of some of the hail, but it had already melted quite a bit.

Here's part of the tornado path... it uprooted some of these hedgerow trees and tore down some barbed wire fence;  below is a close-up of the earth that was flung and wedged between the fenceposts.


Photos of the overturned semi trucks on Interstate 35, just miles from us, on our local TV station.

As far as what it felt like, it was scary and exciting all at the same time.  Right before the storm really hit us, the thunder was a continuous rolling sound, like a growl that never stopped.  I've only heard that kind of thunder once or twice before since I moved here.  It's a very eerie sound.  As the tornado passed to our south and the hail bounced in from the north, it was only a few seconds later that the storm really hit us.  The rain came down so ferociously that we had to run inside the house. Within just seconds, we couldn't even see out the windows.  I remarked that if a tornado was forming outside, we wouldn't even be able to see it.  Of course our satellite TV was already out of commission.  For the sake of being safe rather than sorry, I threw the dogs into our bedroom closet (poor Trixie!!) and then I jumped in with them for a few minutes.  Tom of course said he would continue to monitor the skies for a tornado, even though he couldn't see anything outside!

The weather today is predicted to be mild and sunny, but later tonight we will have more storms!! You just know I will always have my camera handy, and my goal going forward is to try to not be as EXCITABLE, to calm down, and get even more and better photos.

I uploaded several of my photos to KAKE.com very late last night, and was surprised to see several of them on the morning news.

Our next purchase is definitely going to be a video camera.  I would have loved to get some video of that hail coming down and flying all around us!  

It was one crazy day!!

40 comments:

  1. Yikes! Glad you are all okay...I don't miss those midwestern storms!

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  2. I hope the hail didn't cause damage to your house. We had a hail storm like that last year and everyone in our neighborhood had to have a new roof. The picture of the tornado is amazing, I can see why the news used it. Ironic, I live about a mile east of 35 too, just a little (or a lot) south of you. We had tornadoes about 80 miles or so North of us at Lake Texoma.

    Keep that camera ready for the storms tomorrow and hold on to your hat!

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  3. I thought about you, Susan! Incredible pics!!!!!
    So glad you and your animals and home are fine...

    We went through Hurricane Frances in 2004 and lost our home. But, I would choose hurricane over tornado any day! You have time to pack and get out!!

    Keep us posted on the aftermath. Rough weather everywhere. J had to make a trip to Nashville after the flooding. He said it looks like a war zone. Hundreds of thousands of homes, business's, just devastated.
    Please take care!
    xo, misha

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  4. Glad you are safe. We will keep you in our thoughts this evening. Be safe.
    Take Care,
    Leigh

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  5. Glad everyone is okay! Those are some awesome pics. The photoshopped one instantly brought that little song to mind from Wizard of Oz (where Miss Gulch is riding her bicycle), and it's still going through my head.. lol. Hope there's no more excitement of that kind in the near future. I know you hope for more photo ops... just be careful if they arise!! :) -Tammy

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  6. so glad you made it through the storm okay...i think we got alot of the wind from your storms...so sad about Oklahoma too...nice photos

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  7. Scary stuff! Glad you're okay. Be careful out there!
    Cold and rainy day here in Michigan...

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  8. Just saw your pics on the noon news. It was funny that I was just telling my hubby about your pics and one pops up on the TV. So he had to go online to KAKE and look at them. :)

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  9. Susan you were on the edge of that one! Geez. We're about 20 miles north west of Wichita so we were safe and didn't get much rain or any hail. We used to live about 5 minutes from the airport in west Wichita so I'm sure the people in our old house took shelter if they were home. I have to ask...was your hubby born and raised in Kansas? Mine was and I know he wanted to go outside and walk around but he didn't because he knew I'd be upset...oh ya. Like you and not being used to this tornado stuff I really watch the weather and the computer or TV and I certainly had my weather radio on. You got some WONDERFUL photo's of that tornado and congratulations for getting your pictures on the Kake!! I hope you do get a video camera and I also hope the tornados stay far enough away that you have to use the ZOOM :-O Have a great day and I hope all goes well this evening for all of us. Maura

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  10. I would be with you, jumping in the closet with the dogs! We used to live up on a hill in Arvada, Colorado, facing toward Denver, and one year I watched as five perfectly formed tornadoes lined up on the horizon. It was a site to behold, but that was the day of the brownie instamatic camera and it was nowhere to be found for a photo. But I can sure still see them in my mind's eye! Be careful out there, girl!

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  11. wow. that is some big hail!!! I am glad yall r ok.

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  12. I was thinking about you last night after I watched the news!!! Now I will be even more worried thinking about you out there taking pictures!!! Girl,you get in the cellar (if you have one) next time!!

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  13. Welcome to Kansas!!! Amazing photos but you are right...you need, nay I say, must have a video camera!!! Get it know girl so you'll be ready next time...Who knows it could be tonight! We are 90 miles straight north of you on I-135 and didn't really get any tornado action---just rain and straight wind. We have a son and his family in Ark City...Talked with them today and they are fine! And just for the record, after being born and raised here it is still exciting AND scary to me!!!

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  14. I've lived through 2 tonadoes in Missouri, and then moved to KS a couple years ago. Glad you are all safe.

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  15. I am glad you are okay. We were lucky and it missed us just to the north.... Oklahoma did get hit hard down by OKC, but we live north of Tulsa and it missed us, but we were glued to the TV.

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  16. It does look just like the Wizard of Oz one!! You snagged a great photo..stay safe!! :)

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  17. Thát's good blogging attitude, risking your life to take photos of tornados in stead of locking yourself in a closet with your dogs. Hope you are safe and that the tornados will not sweep you away to real Oz land. Good luck and stay safe all of you :-)

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  18. Wow - that sky is enough to send me running for cover! The force of Nature is amazing. Glad you weren't harmed.

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  19. OMG-I am SO jealous! Although, not of all that damage the tornado caused (that's very sad)!! My friend and I were actually out chasing the tornado watch we had the other day. LOL
    That's how crazy we are...Nothing really came of it though :/
    Those pictures are great! That's so exciting to hear they actually got on the news!
    Man, you're really getting noticed these days :D

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  20. Great photos! Loved the enhanced one of the tornado, too.

    If you're looking for a video camera, the Flip is a great little camera with good clarity and only costs about $100 at Walmart. Hey, you could buy it with your tips from working the turnpike! :)

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  21. Wow! Those pictures are amazing! I'm with you - I would have found the whole thing frightening and exciting all at the same time. I'm so glad y'all are ok - and I'm proud you threw the dogs in a closet and dove in after them! :)

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  22. Glad you are okay - inspired me to write my own tornado story. It's a favorite of my grandsons. I lived in Clarksville, TN in 1976. My son was an infant, and I was a very young 20 from PA - and had never been in a tornado. The sirens wailed, the sky turned greenish black and the rain started. I didn't know what to do, where to hide, so I stuffed my infant son in two motorcycle helmets and taped them together, than sat on the steps and waited. After what seemed forever, I heard a noise like a train, the rain stopped, and a huge boom!!! All the windows in the front of my house, and the door, blew outward. whew!

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  23. OH! And your photos were GREAT! Thanks!!!!

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  24. I was just watching some of the damage on t.v. tonight, so sad, and so scary! I am terrified of tornados (probably thanks to the Wizard of Oz, LOL!) I am glad you were safe. Your pictures were great!!

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  25. Amazing. That is close enough! I have not seen one that close since I lived in the south. Glad you escaped unharmed!

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  26. Glad all is okay and you, hubby and the pups are safe and sound. I've never seen a tornado in person but as a child, I had nightmares about them a lot, and your photos reminded me of what they tornadoes looked like in my dreams.

    Very, very scary stuff, but great photos! I hope tonight ended up being a lot quieter than last night, but if not I hope you got some wonderful photos!!!

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  27. Lived here in KS my whole life and I still hate tornado's LOL!! Awesome shots you got!! Stay safe!

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  28. Amazing photos! I wouldn't have been able to keep my hands steady. Yikes!

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  29. Wow, scary things tornado's, glad you are OK. Pictures are amazing, be safe!!!

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  30. Same day tornado touched down south of Bowling Green,Ohio. Good job getting those photos.

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  31. OMG, Susan! What an active weather day it was on the 11th! Thanks for sharing pics. Your area is included in our weather coverage, so I was thinking of you as the storms were moving through the area. The storms broke apart before reaching our part of NE Oklahoma.

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  32. Wow! And there I was muttering on about our first frost of the season. I'll just go and shut up now! Stay safe.

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  33. Not living anywhere near this kind of weather, it always amazes me. Take good care of yourself when you are out there, it's dangerous.

    Do you get a warning?

    Jen

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  34. Wow, what amazing photos! I'm glad you are all okay. Seems as though there is one tornado after another this year.

    I bought a Flip video camera at someone's suggestion and I love it. Takes great videos, you can watch them on the television too and best of all it wasn't expensive.

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  35. Hey, that's cool that your photos got on the local news!

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  36. Gah! I am so jealous!! I thought of you while those storms were brewing, and almost had the other half convinced to make the trip down there! He's a bit of a chicken when it comes to storm chasing. You got some EXCELLENT photos lady!!! I am glad you are all ok, and congrats on getting on the news!

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  37. I heard that ya'll got slammed last week! That's awful, that's the only thing about Spring that I hate!!!

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  38. Happy to let you keep those tornadoes :)

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  39. I read your comment on my tornado post and came over to find out more about you. It's kind of uncanny!!!
    Not only are we both originally from Ohio, but we are both from NORTHEAST OHIO! Girl, I was in Portage County... we shopped at Chappel Hill Mall ALL THE TIME!
    Not only did we both move more west in the Mid-West, but we did it only one year apart - I moved to Missouri in 2007; You moved to Kansas in 2008.
    We both are, obviously, married to farmers/cowboys.
    We both love photography and both have zazzle sites.
    You've got three dogs; I've got three dogs (All Border Collie rescues, and I've been trying to talk Hubs into letting me get a merle!).
    I'm sure there are more similarities, but I couldn't help but sabotage your comments section and leave you a very long comment pointing all this out LOL (I tend to ramble... sorry)

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  40. That was a little bit scary but very exciting at the same time. I'm so glad your family is safe. Those tornado photographs are fantastic.

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