Have you ever seen a tornado in person?

[ElevationNotice]

Nope, I have not,

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Yes. Many of them.

 

[starry_solo]

Never and don't ever want to

 

[Disneychick75]

Yes! My then toddler son, my goddaughter and I were in the playroom at my parents' house when I heard a loud crash. I grabbed the children and ran to the kitchen. Right as I threw us on the sides of the cabinet that held the fridge, the playroom door blew backward off its hinges and flew about 6 inches or less in front of our faces. Then, it blew through the house and exited from the picture window in my parent's room. We went back to the playroom and saw that the picture windows on either side had imploded! The glass blew threw the floor and shards embedded themselves in the slab. If we had not run out of that room, we would have been badly, if not fatally, injured. The loud crash I heard was a 60 tall steel antenna that the tornado bent like a pretzel over the eaves of the house.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Thankfully no... and I would like to keep it that way. I have had them hit near where I was a few times, but never saw one.

 

[TippyThomas]

Yes, a few times.

 

[Meriweather]

no not a tornado, just dust devils

 

[tvguy]

Twice in the same day, in two different states. Left St. Louis in a rented motorhome and saw one as we were leaving, and a few hours, and 150 miles later saw a second tornado in Albion, Illinois. Just property damage in St. Louis, but two people were killed in the Illinois tornado.

 

[Travel60]

Seen several, hit by two. Worst was second:

I was with boyfriend, we left his parents' house around 11:00 pm and headed toward my parents. Hard, hard horizontal rain. Suddenly he stopped car and said "fasten seatbelt tight and lay down in seat." He laid over me. Tornado hit, car demolished, he was hit in back by flying debris. Another car came by, I flagged it down and they agreed to take us the 3-4 blocks to my parents. But too many trees down, we had to walk the last blocks. Storm kept circling back. The top floor of my parents' house was gone. Parents and brothers huddled in basement. Four cars in driveway all some level of damage.

Scariest night of my life and I still freak when storms are near.

 

[Moliphino]

I didn't see it, but we did have an EF3 go though my town in 2011 and I saw all the damage after. My house and job were both north of the path.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Yes when I was about 9 or 10 I saw a tornado touch down in a corn field looking out from my back yard. Not sure why my parents weren’t concerned but I just remember it got really quiet, no wind, then I saw the funnel and then everything went back to normal. We lived in a small town surrounded by corn and soybean fields. Maybe there was no alert system back then, in the 50s.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Yes. Some of the waterspouts I’ve see have been a little larger. The only one I’ve ever photographed, and it was on an old phone with a not so great camera, is this little one during a drive home from work. I know it damaged a few rooftops and fences.

 

[Donaldswife]

Yes, a few times. I live in Indiana and they are a regular occurrence

 

[Brian_WDW74]

The building I worked in was hit by a tornado in 2017...while we were working in it. The building had to be demolished and I'm still working from home because of it.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Yes! My then toddler son, my goddaughter and I were in the playroom at my parents' house when I heard a loud crash. I grabbed the children and ran to the kitchen. Right as I threw us on the sides of the cabinet that held the fridge, the playroom door blew backward off its hinges and flew about 6 inches or less in front of our faces. Then, it blew through the house and exited from the picture window in my parent's room. We went back to the playroom and saw that the picture windows on either side had imploded! The glass blew threw the floor and shards embedded themselves in the slab. If we had not run out of that room, we run have been badly, if not fatally, injured. The loud crash I heard was a 60 tall steel antenna that the tornado bent like a pretzel over the eaves of the house.

Oh my word!

 

[sasywtch]

May 3, 1999 was my first one in OKC. My daughter's traveling softball team was practicing in the neighboring little town when the tornado was hitting Lawton (I think it's Lawton SW OK). I was in the car listening to the radio and sort of freaking out. They were all laughing at me. A half hour later (practice was over 15 minutes earlier), that tornado was going through Moore, Tinker AFB, took out the dugout where they had been practicing, took out a Sonic. We were in our neighbor's underground. A few years later, 2 tornados, one 5 miles south and one 5 miles north hit at the same time. We were at the basement of the church in our little town. We were all standing outside watching the two tornados and storm chasers driving by. I think the north one took out part of the little Six Flags there.

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

Yes. It was coming at my childhood home from a distance, and thankfully hit a hill and turned a different direction.

 

[Donalddidwhat…?!]

I’ve seen tornado damage in person more than once, but have only ever seen a small tornado in person once before. And by small, I mean it had just touched down while continuing to form.
The architectural firm I used to work for for 31+ years had an office in the hills just southwest of Austin, Texas proper.
A tornado warning had been issued, and as I was looking out my office window I noticed what looked like a skinny dust devil full of what looked like leaves, twigs, etc. Next thing I know, it and the debri hit my window, went over our building, and over the hill next door. No damage was done to our office, but it ended up growing and gaining steam, and caused some minor damage down the road, before it broke up.
I’ve always had the theory that the hills here in most of Central Texas are why we don’t have a history of more severe tornadoes, as they tend to break up any serious rotation…just a theory, though…

 

[luvthatduke]

No tornadoes, thankfully, but saw a waterspout several years ago in NJ.
We were standing near the wall that works as a break near the ocean
when the three of us looked northward over the water & saw a large waterspout.
We watched as it moved towards land but it was far away enough we couldn't see where it went.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, while we watched it move to land it took out part
of a restaurant dockside, killing a man who was working on the roof (I think), and injuring another person.
We felt so bad when we saw it on the news later, just goes to show you never know what's happening sometimes.

 

[bsmcneil]

In NC, during a wild series of them back in - I want to say April 2011? I was driving east on US 64 and saw one forming and touch down to the left of me. Pulled over - was safe. Made it to a coffeeshop in Raleigh where I was planning to meet a friend - and a restaurant a couple of doors down got hit by one about 20 minutes into our coffee.