Funnel Cloud Forms Over My House!

[Julie Mo]

We just got back from the grocery store and a storm was moving in.  We look overhead and see this:

 

I sent the video to our local news but they didn't feature it.  But they showed a picture taken from a bridge that goes over a river that feeds into the bay.  This is the Facebook page of the local weather guy showing the waterspout at the end of the funnel cloud.

That funnel was almost directly over our house so we couldn't see it extend out like it did.  Mother Nature is amazing, isn't she?

[Canute]

Saw one in the Fort Walton Beach area of the panhandle, back in days of yore (1970s).

[Julie Mo]

While I was filming the video I was thinking that the funnel cloud overhead was all there was to it.  I was fascinated by it but my girlfriend was freaking out so I told her to put down the hurricane shutters.  I had no idea the part I couldn't see was creating a waterspout about 1/2 mile away.  So here I was standing almost underneath the funnel cloud thinking there was no danger at that time.  

 

I've been reading up on waterspouts and what could have happened was the waterspout formed over the water and then created the funnel we saw overhead.  I think the water temperature here is in the mid 80s, maybe even approaching 90.  That can create a lot of heat rising off the water.  So maybe the waterspout was pulling down the funnel?  I don't know but it was cool watching it form.

[reklein]

OH YEAH ! Well we had an earthquake in these parts. Didn't do much damage though. Epicenter was in a remote are.

Those twisters are like watching a cobra you can't take your eyes off of em. Glad you didn't suffer any damage or wind up in OZ.

[Julie Mo]

2 hours ago, reklein said:

Those twisters are like watching a cobra you can't take your eyes off of em.

I'd say that is a perfect description of what I was experiencing.  And I was wondering how close I'll let the cobra get before running inside. 

[CDW]

Just imagine if you were a poor bloke who found yourself in a small boat off shore with a water spout hovering about. 

When I was a kid, we used to take weekend fishing trips out into the Gulf of Mexico in my Dad's boats fishing for Grouper. We had no real advanced weather warning and would sometimes find ourselves in big storms. As a kid, it was scary as heck, particularly at night. 

[Julie Mo]

Another photo

When I see these other shots I'm trying to imagine where the center of the funnel really was.  It looked like it was directly over our next door neighbor's house.  I was standing almost under our eave when shooting and my camera was maybe 10 degrees from directly above me.  Then I see these pictures and try to figure out where that funnel actually was.  Our house might be around where the tree on the right is.  The location looks so different from what I was seeing. 

[druxey]

Impressive: I don't think I'd have had such a steady hand-held shot under those circumstances, Julie!

[John Allen]

Most fisherman sadly ignore the waterspouts believing they are weak imitations of land tornados. After 30 years on the water they can be bad dudes. Saw one flip a 46 foot bay shrimper, we had to dive into the cabin to get the skipper out.

 

Hated working at night in bad weather almost ran dead center into one had told the story in a previous post this site, still get the heebie jeebies when thinking about it. If you see it coming that's one thing, when you cant see and all of a sudden hear it its too late.

[BETAQDAVE]

    Julie, speaking of waterspouts, here is a stunning photo of one in Florida from way too close to the business end!  

On 7/12/2017 at 7:03 AM, John Allen said:

Most fisherman sadly ignore the waterspouts believing they are weak imitations of land tornados.

    A few years ago one of these sprang up in the waters of Green Bay just southeast of Egg Harbor.  Heading north east it came ashore just south of Frank E. Murphy Park and ripped up several homes and a wide swath of forested land.  It continued up the face of some bluffs and crossed HWY 42, making a shambles of a landscaping supply store and several more buildings before it finally petered out a couple miles later.  So yes, these are nothing to sneeze at!

     

    Then there is this photo of what I would call an electric tornado.  There apparently is some kind of electric component to most tornadoes that researchers are studying to determine if there is something there to help predict the formation and behavior of tornadoes.  Although not always quite as spectacularly visible as shown here.

   I'll tell you one thing for sure, if I saw one of these coming, I don't think that I would stick around to photograph it!  I think that maybe my self-preservation instinct would kick in right away.  (As anyone {like me} who managed to survive a real close encounter with a tornado would tell you.)

[reklein]

How does one know which way to run from a tornado? Don't they dance around some?

[BETAQDAVE]

    It's driven by the wind so it mainly follows the storm, but the bottom of the funnel will sometimes go back and forth within a mile or so of the general path of the storm.

[John Allen]

Dave,

 

Now that's a waterspout.

Bill where to go with a tornado nowhere, get in the middle of your house lay down cover yourself with a mattress and pray. Oh do not get in your car or you can be an advertisement for the new flying automobiles.

[BETAQDAVE]

    

18 hours ago, reklein said:

How does one know which way to run from a tornado? Don't they dance around some?

    A lot depends on the size of the storm as a cat 0 tornado only has wind speeds of around 75 MPH and can be just a few yards wide, but the big ones are cat 5.  Category 5 tornadoes can reach 2.6 miles wide with wind speeds up to 318 MPH.  I have personally seen the destruction left behind by the cat 5 tornado that went thru Barneveld and Black Earth WI in June 1984.  It came in the dead of night with little warning, probably the worst possible situation for anyone to experience. 

    I worked for a lumberyard in Madison at the time and we set up a trailer for disaster relief in Barneveld near a brand new housing cul-de-sac that was stripped almost bare of all of the houses that were there just the day before! 

    The twister came thru a farm implement company yard and picked up a pick-up truck.  A couple managed to get in their basement on the side facing the storm, thinking that would be the safest place to be when the twister came thru and picked up the entire house off the foundation, and dropped that truck right on top of them!  The towns water tower was even bent out of shape.

     The path of destruction was over a mile wide as it continued on to the next town and beyond.  And then there are the multiple funnel tornadoes that can weave back and forth in the storms path.  So, like John said, you just pray that you will survive the storm, but sometimes even that is not enough. 

[mtaylor]

On 10/18/2018 at 2:58 PM, BETAQDAVE said:

 

   I'll tell you one thing for sure, if I saw one of these coming, I don't think that I would stick around to photograph it!  I think that maybe my self-preservation instinct would kick in right away.  (As anyone {like me} who managed to survive a real close encounter with a tornado would tell you.)

Been around them and they are nothing to trifle with.   Take cover and hope for the best.   Back in '74, there was a string of tornados from Cincinnati to Xenia, Ohio.  Cincinnati airport weather radar (it's in Kentucky) took a hit and we got a call (at the electronics company I worked for.. we had a test radar on top the building) to fire up our radar and help them out.  Very scary standing on the roof as one of the visual spotters and hearing the radar guys giving warning.  Something 20 or more tornados that day.   One took out a big swath of Xenia. Another hit the little town just east of us.

[MEDDO]

Everyone here in Dayton thinks they are safe cause everyone “knows” tornadoes just fly right over Dayton so they can go land in Xenia.

[John Allen]

11 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Another hit the little town just east of us.

Mark,

Sadly people get complacent and don't take warnings seriously, a lot tend to take their chances in mobile homes I guess they feel where are we going to go, any where is better than staying they can educate themselves on weather and weather patterns if twisters cause a warning just leave go to a relative that has a sturdy home.

 

They should show the video of what hit Xenia, great loss of life. Early warning on Tornadoes has  improved, they will show a nice colored square with a high probability. Recently we were under several warnings  but all had passed by the time the had live updates. Its the nature of the storm NWS does the best they can under guesstimating conditions.

People have to be storm smarter and remove themselves from life or death situations they wait to long to take action whether it be hurricanes, floods or tornadoes.

[Julie Mo]

It's amazing when you realize what warnings we used to have and compare them to now.  In the book Issac's Storm, about the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston, the National Weather Service was in its infancy.  The NWS man stationed at Galveston walked to the beach to watch the wave patterns to determine what was approaching.  About all they had at that time was reports from Puerto Rico and a few ships.  So he watched the wave patterns.  When the storm surge started rolling in, people just kept moving to higher levels seemingly oblivious to the power of the waves impacting the buildings in which they sought shelter.  We're pretty fortunate to have the advanced early warning systems we do today.  

[BETAQDAVE]

On 10/20/2018 at 9:01 AM, John Allen said:

Sadly people get complacent and don't take warnings seriously,

    Obviously these people have never seen one up close and personal! While stationed at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma, our company was out training in an open field when a tornado was spotted heading right at us.  Our Sergeant promptly ordered everyone to hit the dirt facing the storm, hold onto our helmets with both hands, and pray.  We were soon being heavily peppered with rain, hail and all kinds of flying debris.

     The storm passed right over us and one thing about it that I'll never forget was that the air pressure began changing rapidly, alternately slamming me into the ground and lifting me up (the scariest).  Thankfully it went over us very quickly (Although it sure didn't feel that fast to me!) and continued on its way.  Several of the guys were sent to the hospital because they were injured by the flying debris.  Luckily, I only suffered some heavy bruising of my chest and legs and I couldn't hear anything at all for a few minutes.  (Except maybe my heart pounding away in my chest!)

    The main thing is that you feel totally helpless being completely at the mercy of these storms.  I'll tell you one thing for sure though, since that experience when ever I hear he siren going off, I head for shelter right away!

 

[lmagna]

When were you at Ft. Sill Dave?

 

I did my AIT there in 68 before going overseas. About all I remember is the tornadoes, the heat in the summer, the cold in the winter, and the rain that would come out of nowhere and drown you. Oh yeah the Cockroaches anywhere inside and the Tarantulas anywhere there was grass! I came to the firm conclusion of two things. The wind in Ft. Sill didn't blow, it sucked, and that the only people who lived there were either sent there by the military or had never been anywhere else and didn't know better! I think it may have been one of the few places that make Vietnam look inviting!

[BETAQDAVE]

38 minutes ago, lmagna said:

When were you at Ft. Sill Dave?

 

 I did my AIT there in 68 before going overseas.

    I was there for AIT in the spring of 72 after we had begun pulling troops out of Nam.  I left college half way thru my junior year (Started right on Veterans day of 71 at Ft. Leonardwood MO.) to volunteer to be trained for artillery surveying, until I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.  I was discharged from the Army after a military career(?) of eight months and three days.  As a matter of fact, I just missed out on a trip to Panama after Graduation for a bit of jungle training. (Apparently for duty in Nam.) (DARN IT)

[lmagna]

My route to Nam was a little different.

 

Most guys were going there VIA Ft Polk LA. (Apparently they have enough creepy crawly things there to make them adjusted to what was coming along with the humidity to make them at home later. I was part of the 1/31 infantry the ONLY infantry at Sill! 

 

I went from there to Ft. Lewis WA. in September and was issued jungle fatigues and an M-16 and herded onto the parade grounds where we waited in the rain and COLD for the entire night being spoiled with gourmet C-Rats! The next stop about 24 hours later could not have been more of a culture/ environmental shock! But then coming home a year later and being dumped onto the streets of Oakland CA. was a shock as well!

 

By 1972 you probably had as much a chance of being shipped almost anywhere as you did to Vietnam. I know a couple of guys who went there about that time and they said that it had changed considerably. The only thing troops were interested in was not to be the last guy to die before the order to come home came down from the powers that be. Anti war was bad in my time but it was rampant by your time.

 

I always thought that it was stupid for the military to turn away people who wanted to serve because it was discovered that they had some kind of infirmity. It is obvious that you had years of productive life ahead and there are thousands of jobs in the military outside of "Trained Killer" that people can do even if they are seriously impaired. We had one guy discharged for flat feet, and another for a heart murmur. The guy with flat feet could run faster and further than I could!

[BETAQDAVE]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 9:13 PM, lmagna said:

I always thought that it was stupid for the military to turn away people who wanted to serve because it was discovered that they had some kind of infirmity.

    That was not totally true.  I was actually given the opportunity to remain  in the Army as a classroom instructor because I finished in the top 3 or 4 in the classroom phase of training in surveying.  The main reason that I didn't, was that a military lifer that I worked with there advised me not to. He said he was not given much opportunity for promotion because of some service injuries.  He was put on a permanent limited physical profile and was always put on the bottom of the promotion list because of it.  Now with the current need for tech savvy people, that has probably changed.

[lmagna]

36 minutes ago, BETAQDAVE said:

Now with the current need for tech savvy people, that has probably changed.

That may be true. I know that they have returned injured combat MOS people to combat positions. Not many but a few that could prove they can still do the job.

 

Your's is the first case I have ever heard of from our time, (VN war period) where they used common sense and offered someone a non combat position rather than let their possible talents go to waste. But sadly unless you are in a field like nuclear weapons or some other high end normally non combat job, promotion is based on combat experience. I knew more than one lifer that was doing their second or third tour just for that reason. It may have been different in the Navy or Airforce.