Almost tornado in PA

Wowza did I have the bajeebers scared out of me today. Always loved a good storm. So when the wind started blowing really good, I headed outside. Next thing I know, the wind is blowing from every direction. (Not a good sign.) And the trees were weeping to the ground. I could feel my feet being swept off the ground. Not kewl, so I headed inside. Our lights started flickering, and then a transformer let out a long electrical groan. All our doors started pulling shut and wind swept through our entire house via the windows. And I could feel a slight rumbling.

Immediately, I headed down to our basement. While calling out to my sleeping husband to follow suite. Next I called my 3 kitties downstairs too. Now cats are quite independant. But all three came running lightning fast for me. They knew mommie meant business.

As things settled a bit, I ran to our integral garage to see what was up outside. The very heavy double garage door was lifting up and down. As far as it could get away with since it was locked.

After things settled even more, I went upstairs and turned on the TV. It said 10-15 mph winds and some thunderstorms. Yeah right..... About 15 minutes later it said we had a tornado warning that ended in 2 minutes. No kidding!

In PA, the hills and mountains tend to break up the tornados. Or at the very least, keep them well enough above your home. Either it passed right over us, or it was very close. Whew!

sounds like a "microburst". not quite a tornado, but it is a VERY strong downward wind draft. We had one happen here a year or so ago. it blew me OUT the garage and into the driveway! ripped the tree out of the ground down the street and snapped our willow tree in half! it was all over in a matter of minutes, and the tornado sirens never went off...

reply to post by elouina


Glad you're ok

I live in the Netherlands so the only thing we have that even resembles a tornado is a dust devil or a water sprout
I would like to see one, in time. Will most certainly soil myself when it happens.

Thanks,
OnlyLove

Edit to add: chase.tornadovideos.net...

Originally posted by sm0k3
sounds like a "micro-burst". not quite a tornado, but it is a VERY strong downward wind draft. We had one happen here a year or so ago. it blew me OUT the garage and into the driveway! ripped the tree out of the ground down the street and snapped our willow tree in half! it was all over in a matter of minutes, and the tornado sirens never went off...

Whatever it was, it was close to what I experienced when a tornado passed through our main city area. I was at work at the time, and woza was it amazing to see. We do get tornados touching down around here. But it is usually just one house or building that is affected. But that time, it wiped out entire streets. But the main city area does have a much lower altitude than in my suburb.

It was the worst to ever hit my house. And we have had some super strong winds in the past. Pittsburgh has rain and or thunder showers every time you turn around. We lose our electricity for days at a time with every decent storm. So I am surprised I even have power right now.

Originally posted by OnlyLove
reply to post by elouina

 

Glad you're ok

I live in the Netherlands so the only thing we have that even resembles a tornado is a dust devil or a water sprout

I would like to see one, in time. Will most certainly soil myself when it happens.

Thanks,
OnlyLove

Edit to add: chase.tornadovideos.net...

edit on 24/5/2011 by OnlyLove because: (no reason given)

Thanx! I love a good storm,, and I don't scare easily. Tornados are very rare around here. Although we are in one of the highest altitudes in my area, I am in a small valley. So I really do think a tornado flew overhead the valley.

Wow .. and we were just discussing how windy it was in Scotland yesterday ...

I was saying how lucky we are in UK, that we don't get freak weather like you guys, and other parts of the world get ... We get the excitement of gales .. without actually being at risk ...

Your experience sounds more scary than exciting .. glad you, hubby and kitties are safe

ETA - And just as i posted that .. . hailstones started hitting off my window ... Almost June, and we are getting hail stones here .... i could be wrong .. but i dont recall wintry weather this late into spring

I live in the Netherlands so the only thing we have that even resembles a tornado is a dust devil or a water sprout

I'm sorry for going slightly off topic but we did have a few tornado's in the Netherlands. The Dom ( a cathedral) in Utrecht was hit in 1674, which is the reason why the tower has been separated from the rest of the building. We had an F4 in 1927, and F3's in 1967 and 2008. There are a few more but I don't know their classification. They are very rare over here and I really, really hope it stays that way.

reply to post by elouina


Are you anywhere close to Pittsburg? There was a prediction about a tornado close to Pittsburg.

Originally posted by redrose123
reply to post by elouina

 

Are you anywhere close to Pittsburg? There was a prediction about a tornado close to Pittsburg.

It was a Pittsburgh suburb.

Thanx to everyone! Now here I sit today questioning if it was a tornado. The fact that we got a tornado warning for our area right after it happned makes me lean towards yes. What's also odd is that it wasn't even raining. It always rains when we get high winds. Often with tornados you either get hail or nada. So it had to be a tornado passing over the valley.

I can rememeebr once seeing an entire apartment building lose its roof nearby. Same goes to a house also. Once again, they usually touch down much higher here than in non mountainous areas. And where they touch down the closest to land seems to always be in the same areas. I think geography really makes a difference.

Our odd up and down geography also makes for some interesting events. I once had a huge old war plane about 20 feet over my house. (Day before local airshow.) My entire house shook like an earthquake hit. I sprinted out of my house and saw the plane and thought it was crashing. (Any lower and it would have.) And the back wall of my house, inside and out, cracked. My neighbor who was also home, sat on her basement stairs and prayed. The airport lady didn't believe me. And I said, do you want to know what the writing on the plane said? And she told me that there was no way a plane could be close enough for me to read the writing. So I told her what the writing on the bottom of the plane said. That shut her up really fast! And I also told her she better go and look at the radar too.