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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Ripsnort on June 01, 2008, 03:01:58 PM

Title: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Ripsnort on June 01, 2008, 03:01:58 PM
Last week-end we had a family reunion at the farm in Hugo, Minn.  A tornado came through and killed 1 boy and sent dozens to the hospital. We were just 1/2 mile North of it. Outside like fools (though only a few steps to the basement) we sat there in the "hook" cloud (on the wall where tornados like to form) and recorded with DVD cam. Little did we know when the siren went off, 5 minutes later the tornado hit. 50 homes were destroyed. Another 300 to 400 homes were evacuated because of safety concerns created by downed power lines and leaky gas lines.  You can't get any closer to a tornado without being part of the damage!

This video has no "defined" funnel cloud as it was inside a bigger cell, but this EF3/EF4 tornado was too close for comfort.  After the tornado hit, we had another thundercell pelt us with golf ball sized hail, damaging everyones vehicles and RV's. We were in no danger, as the basement cellar was just steps away and everyone except us storm chasing fools were down in the basement cellar.

VIDEO: (If you are dial-up connection, you may have to wait awhile)
YouTube - Hugo Tornado 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnQC8RhDRvE)

Additional video of still pics of the damage (Not my video)
YouTube - HUGO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJNxI5fi0mU)

Size of the hail chunks:
(http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL767/2726312/8668097/319655191.jpg)
(http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL767/2726312/8668097/319655192.jpg)


News Story:
kare11.com :: KARE 11 TV - Homeowners return to their tornado torn neighborhood (http://www.kare11.com/news/ts_article.aspx?storyid=512045)
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Dago on June 01, 2008, 03:05:41 PM
Glad you are okay, and didn't have any family property damage to report.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Fulmar on June 01, 2008, 03:08:43 PM
A very appropriate item to help 'size' the hail.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Ripsnort on June 01, 2008, 03:12:08 PM
A very appropriate item to help 'size' the hail.
Hell ya! Beer and storms!  Ya sure you betcha! :D
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: REP0MAN on June 01, 2008, 06:34:58 PM
Sounds like a quiet May weekend here in Oklahoma.

Glad you and yours are good to go Rip. Those sucka's can really relocate some crap....

:aok
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: AWMac on June 01, 2008, 06:37:02 PM
Man we had some bad storms roll thru Tulsa today.

Pitch black outside at 9:30am, trees bent sideways, branches flyin, most of all my yard stuff is in the pool.

But Hell anyways Oklahoma is still OK.

Glad yer ok Rip!

Hope you did well today also REP0!

 :aok

Mac
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: REP0MAN on June 01, 2008, 06:46:26 PM
We were in Pryor this morning Mac, in church. Was black as coal outside at 9-10am when we were driving up. Thunder and lightning but no rain till we got inside the church. We heard it rain and blow but otherwise uneventful. We got home about 2pm and it looked like some really bad tree trimmers had massacred the neighborhood trees and just left everything on the sidewalk. 61st and Garnett was without power but we were up (south and east of there). Work called and wanted me to come in tomorrow on my day off to help with storm recovery. Guess there was a buncha Cox lines that got kilt. Electrical storms usually reek havoc on our modems and digital converters too.

Still glad you're okay Rip. Sorry for the thread detour....

:)
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: AWMac on June 01, 2008, 06:52:07 PM
71st and Memorial had power out for awhile also. Wifey came home from work then got called back again after 2pm.  Had a tree here topped. Seems like my pool is a magnet for stuff.

Yeah Cox went out about 3 times between that time...*sigh*
I was watchin "Band of Brothers" on the History Channel at that time. 
Like I almost missed the storyline LOL.

Glad all is good.

Same with you Rip!

Mac
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Getback on June 01, 2008, 07:10:21 PM
Glad you are okay Ripsnort. Very sad to hear about the lad.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: boxboy28 on June 01, 2008, 07:47:28 PM
Back in my day we didnt name tornados............we didnt have time to!


lol glad you made it thru rippy!

but seriously when they start naming tornados?    must be a west coast thing!
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Donzo on June 01, 2008, 08:03:58 PM
Back in my day we didnt name tornados............we didnt have time to!


lol glad you made it thru rippy!

but seriously when they start naming tornados?    must be a west coast thing!

Who named the tornado?

Hugo?...that's the name of the city in MN where the tornado hit.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Getback on June 01, 2008, 08:06:11 PM
Hail and Ale! I know I've seen Cooled by mountain streams, Cooled by glaciers, but cooled by pummeling hail! :confused:
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Ripsnort on June 01, 2008, 09:00:03 PM
Back in my day we didnt name tornados............we didnt have time to!


lol glad you made it thru rippy!

but seriously when they start naming tornados?    must be a west coast thing!

Well, if you lived in Fridley, MN, you remember the Fridley tornado of '65 and '87.

Most small towns name the tornado by town name and year, unless you live in tornado alley, then you might name it by the week, month and year.  :lol

Now Hugo, MN will remember the "Hugo Tornado of '08".

Consider it a country thang. ;)

And yes, Hugo is a town.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Masherbrum on June 01, 2008, 09:40:54 PM
I was on the way to work from lunch, in 2006 and had to sit through 3 cycles of traffic lights.    Why?   The temperature was 80+ degrees and I stop at the light.   Suddenly, it was like someone dropped you in the Antarctic.   I immediately close the moonroof and windows.   The guy next to me wasn't so "quick".   After 5 seconds, the heavens dropped hail stones the size of marbles.   You could NOT see in front of your car.   It was hailing like this for about 4 minutes.   No rain, just hail. 

The hail stops and you see the most wicked Cumulonimbus (Thunderhead) off to the East.   Rumor is, a tornado touched down in Detroit from the same storm.   Noone knows for sure, but the cold updraft was something I learned while studying Meteorology.   

Rip, next time you see a wall cloud, try not to gaze.   :devil    Good to see the Nelson family made it out ok though.   Prayers for the victims have been said.   

<<S>>   
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Druss on June 01, 2008, 10:53:37 PM
Well, if you lived in Fridley, MN, you remember the Fridley tornado of '65 and '87.

Most small towns name the tornado by town name and year, unless you live in tornado alley, then you might name it by the week, month and year.  :lol

Now Hugo, MN will remember the "Hugo Tornado of '08".

Consider it a country thang. ;)

And yes, Hugo is a town.


The May 11 tornado, Lubbock, Texas. I remember it well. An F5 through downtown Lubbock.

"The storm's final death toll was twenty-eight people, ranging in age from nine months to eighty-eight years of age. Many of the victims were found in their homes, where they had been killed by flying debris. Only a few were actually sucked into the tornado. Another five hundred people were injured.

Approximately twenty-five square miles (40 kmē) of the city were either damaged or destroyed. The final damage toll of $250 million made it, up to that point, the costliest tornado in U.S. history.

It is also believed that this is the only F5 tornado ever to directly strike a skyscraper. The former Great Plains Life Building was physically twisted, although it was repaired and still stands today as the NTS Tower.

After the storm, Mayor Jim Granberry, who served from 1970-1972, imposed a curfew.

The Lubbock Tornado also served as a model for the development of the Fujita scale, developed a year later in 1971.
"

      -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubbock_Tornado


Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: rpm on June 01, 2008, 11:16:12 PM
You can't get any closer to a tornado without being part of the damage!
Oh, I beg to differ. I rode a small one out in a 18 wheeler in Denison, Tx that went right over us and had another one go thru my backyard. To be fair, the one in my backyard did send my wellhouse flying a couple hundred yards.

You city folk are funny. ;)
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: DiabloTX on June 01, 2008, 11:28:39 PM
Reminds me of a memory I have that happened during a Med. cruise when I was in the Navy.  At the time I was working on the flight deck of our cargo ship staging cargo for the vertrep later that night.  To the port side was a fully formed and agitated water spout.  On the starboard side was a smaller less convincing looking one.  We steamed in between them and I think all work topside stopped as we did that.  Sometimes, every so often, I do miss sea duty.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: DREDIOCK on June 02, 2008, 12:31:42 AM
Scew dat.

I feel a hell of alot safer here in Jersey where all I have to worry about is getting mugged or murdered rather then have to worry about being sucked up in a giant wind funnel in the middle of the night or pelted to death by large ice meteors falling out of the sky.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: B17Skull12 on June 02, 2008, 02:44:02 AM
Scew dat.

I feel a hell of alot safer here in Jersey where all I have to worry about is getting mugged or murdered rather then have to worry about being sucked up in a giant wind funnel in the middle of the night or pelted to death by large ice meteors falling out of the sky.
Don't kid your self.  About a week ago we had a 2 tornadoes come through Southern California, which didn't surprise cause im a geography major, but all my friends were like tornadoes no way.  Then again California gets more tornadoes than any other place not in tornadoes ally or Florida.


<edit> the tornadoes were out by midnight targets house.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: SD67 on June 02, 2008, 04:52:01 AM
Hey Rip, does the other wrist have a band that says CHANGE?
:rofl
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: DiabloTX on June 02, 2008, 05:48:27 AM
Hey Rip, does the other wrist have a band that says CHANGE?
:rofl


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: AWMac on June 02, 2008, 06:08:49 AM
Hey Rip, does the other wrist have a band that says CHANGE?
:rofl


 :rofl
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: DREDIOCK on June 02, 2008, 06:29:01 AM
Don't kid your self.  About a week ago we had a 2 tornadoes come through Southern California, which didn't surprise cause im a geography major, but all my friends were like tornadoes no way.  Then again California gets more tornadoes than any other place not in tornadoes ally or Florida.


<edit> the tornadoes were out by midnight targets house.

You can keep California too.
Thats a friking ticking time bomb too.
The Earth wants to swallow people up there.
I'll stay here where at least I might have a chance to fight back.
LOL
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: DiabloTX on June 02, 2008, 06:32:17 AM
You can keep California too.
Thats a friking ticking time bomb too.
The Earth wants to swallow people up there.
I'll stay here where at least I might have a chance to fight back.
LOL

NJ has a fight tax.  You'll have to save your money first.
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Ripsnort on June 02, 2008, 07:42:59 AM
The "Hope" wristband was a charitable donation for Breast Cancer research. No laughing matter. And, its my Nephew's hand, not mine (Mine are much larger, and more callous....:D )
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: SD67 on June 02, 2008, 08:35:19 AM
Ahhh OK our breast cancer wristbands are pink.
Still it was funny at the time :)
:salute
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Ripsnort on June 02, 2008, 08:52:42 AM
Ahhh OK our breast cancer wristbands are pink.
Still it was funny at the time :)
:salute
It was....and "I have a dream!..." :D :salute
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Maverick on June 02, 2008, 01:13:07 PM
Glad you didn't have much in the way of damage and no injuries there Rip. You back from your trip yet?
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Ripsnort on June 02, 2008, 01:14:33 PM
Yes, arrived home Saturday. Leave again at the end of the month for a week. When will you be in this "neck"?
Title: Re: Tornado missed us by 1/2 mile
Post by: Maverick on June 02, 2008, 05:26:59 PM
Plans change at the drop of the hat as far as timing goes. We'll be in Medford until the 19th. Headed North slowly after that. Sutherlin for a little while then Winchester Bay before heading to Seattle area. Our "native guide" indicates that the want us to get to Washington after the rains let up.  :lol IIRC that won't be this geological age.....

We are supposed to be in Washington for the 4th, but I am not sure which part of Washington yet. We will be in the Seattle area for a little while as we want to take some day trips to the North American Socialist Workers Paradise Canada  :P to see Vancouver Island.