Kansas Tornado's

The current Nat Geo has an article on the huge number of dangerous tornados that Kansas has each year. Last year they set a record for the number of confirmed events. It gives me chills to think about the devastation as I experienced a tornado as a child. We were in a storm shelter when it passed close by, destroying a barn and some out buildings and many trees.

Fact is, Texas has a lot of tornados too. The number is distorted because here, anything smaller than an F-3 we classify as a "whirl wind" so they are not counted. Kansas has "brown" tornados because they suck up dust and dirt and corn shucks giving them a brown hue. Texas has deadly "black" tornados because they suck up black dirt from the blackland prairie as they drill down into the earth. However, there is record of one "brown" tornado out near El Paso. Apparently it had sucked up a bunch of illegals crossing over from Mexico. No-one was injured but the Border Patrol had hell finding them as they were scattered over a ten mile area.

Just a little trivia from here in ole Saint Marcos. I'll tell you the true story about the Alamo one of these days. :smiley31:

LOL, though tornados are no laughing matter. I had to pull over to the side of the road and lay in the ditch once, I believe it was in '91. The twister sucked the pavement right off the road in a 50-75 foot area about 50 yards in front of where my car was stopped.

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Originally Posted by DeeDubya

I'll tell you the true story about the Alamo one of these days. :smiley31:

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I've heard Danny still throws great parties in the basement.

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Originally Posted by ashauler

LOL, though tornados are no laughing matter. I had to pull over to the side of the road and lay in the ditch once, I believe it was in '91. The twister sucked the pavement right off the road in a 50-75 foot area about 50 yards in front of where my car was stopped.

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:smiley3::smiley3::smiley3:

Will

This thread got me thinking about this. The tornado I referred to was this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o6K8teFQ_w

I live about 4 miles from the air base, and was actually driving on Pawnee street, which borders the base on the north side. This footage is actually after it hit the air base and moved towards the north east and the suburb of Andover. I don't remember exactly how long it stayed on the ground, but it was many miles. It hit the suburb of Haysville on the south, cut across Wichita from south central edge to the North East edge and moved into Andover. Much destruction.

When I got out of the ditch, there were power poles snapped cleanly about 10-15' up and guy wires wrapped around the tires of my car. The outside mirror was gone on the driver side, drivers window broken by a rock, dents all over the place. It started right up and I drove it away. I was covered in mud, leaves, grass and stuff. I'll never forget it.

Yikes :smiley40:

This made me think of the Saragosa, where an F4 killed 30 people in a town of some 400 in 1987. Many of these events have tragic stories attached, and this one is remembered as such because of the smallness of the community; everyone knew each other, most were related. Most of those killed lost their lives while attending the high school graduation ceremony.

The wiki story is pretty good and has links to other tornados, including the F5 that hit Lubbock in 1970. Afterward, the sheriff announced that looters would be shot on sight.

As a Kansas resident, I'm glad to say I've never had any up close and personal experiences with tornados (knocking on wood).

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Originally Posted by TheRichLife

As a Kansas resident, I'm glad to say I've never had any up close and personal experiences with tornados (knocking on wood).

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Kansas City, doesn't really qualify as Kansas.....too much Missouri rubbing off on ya. :smiley36: :smiley36: j/k

Don't even post in this thread dreadog.....you don't count either. :smiley7:

If you came to my house for any KU vs MU game you'd find we're VERY far from Missouri. :smiley37:

The Greensburg tornado came within about 6 miles northwest of our farm before it finally dissipated. And then the very next day a smaller tornado upset one of our irrigation systems about 2 miles east of the farm. So i have to say that we have been very lucky.

Being born and raised in Iowa, I've been within 1/4 mile of 4 tornadoes. Watched one chew up a strip-mall across the street from our house, pull up our big oak tree by the roots, and punch it through the upstairs wall of the house.
Now I live in California. Earthquakes, smog, too many people that don't drive very well....moving back to Iowa as soon as possible.