A Twister! A Twister!

I read my first book about tornadoes in 1st grade. Ever since then I have had an unnatural fascination with tornadoes (perhaps even going further back to my first viewing of "The Wizard of Oz" which makes a twister a magical thing). Though I really thought that the movie "Twister!" was campy, the thought of storm chasing has a romantic appeal to me. Last night from about 5:15 until about 6:30 pm we had a tornado watch in effect for Kirksville. The local tornado warning sirens were blaring and rotating so that one moment, they were louder than the next, only to become louder again. The sky was unusually dark. There really wasn't too much wind, though, not at our house, at least. We heard reports of a tornado touching down north west of us and headed toward a town a few miles away. Then we heard of a tornado sighting just a few miles west and tracking to Kirksville. It was north of our house and our neighborhood was not in any danger at all. We had a few moments of wind bursts and downpours, but just about a mile north of Wal-mart (maybe less) a tornado ripped through several homes, killing a couple of people, and destroying a lot of property. I was amazed at how narrow the damage path was when in one neighborhood every house was significantly damaged and in the neighborhood just south of it relatively few fallen tree limbs was the extent. I saw the frayed remnants of tree trunks sticking out of the ground like a stubborn weed resistant to being pulled up by the roots. I saw debris piles where a house stood and another two-story house which stood no taller than a one-story house. Several cars were flipped onto their roofs. Downed power lines and snapped power poles. Debris scattered everywhere. I think I may have a different view of tornados now than I had just yesterday morning.

http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/photos.aspx?id=299569

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520137,00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ope9pkY9w2E