(Our) Storm Stories

Would love hear some stories about weather you have been through here in the Ozarks or in other locations around the globe. It can be our own version of Storm Stories. Sssh... don't tell The Weather Channel!

Not sure how to explain this one but here goes!

I was living in the small town of Athena, Oregon. It was 1994, I was in 6th grade, it was May if I remember right. It was lunch time and we were all finishing up our meals when a rush of classmates and teachers went running outside. Curious, I went outside to see what was going on. To my shock, there was a tornado in the field across from the school. It was a small rope tornado, not doing much but whipping up dirt. I remember it being a very white/pale gray color. At first some teachers passed it off as a dust devil, which were common. But as most looked up they noticed the dark clouds overhead. There was no rain, hardly a breeze even.

Then another "rope" appeared just north of the one we had been watching, then another, and another, one even showed up on a hill a few miles away. It was so surreal! Nothing like it had ever been seen or documented in Oregon history. Tornadoes were so incredibly rare that there was no storm plan in place for schools like mine. We all just stood outside in amazement at this strange phenomenon of multiple rope tornadoes.

Well come to find out years later, they were not documented as tornadoes, but cold air funnels which just happened to reach the ground. They were not violent by any means. I have no idea if anyone got some kind of pictures out of it either, so its more of a "photographic memory" moment, something I wont forget for a long time.

That is very interesting Jesselee. That would have definitely been a sight to see. That would be like me in an earthquake. What do I do? What do I do?

Surely someone else has an interesting story to share!!

I have a story.

I was in high school. It was in 1977 or 1978. We were having a school assembly and everyone was in the high school gym. I went to Grain Valley High School in Grain Valley, MO, which is close to KC. Suddenly, the principal came in and said we were under a tornado warning and everyone needed to go to the basement. We sat down there for about two hours. We got word that the tornado was headed straight for Grain Valley and was on the ground. It wiped out Pleasant Hill's high school gym. It never hit in Grain Valley, but my dad told me later that him and my stepmother were leaving our house to escape the tornado, we lived in a trailer. As they were stopped at the end of the driveway, by dad told my stepmother they could go back to the house. He had heard the tornado go over the house in the sky.

It was pretty awesome.

Yikes Dorothy! I bet that was quite the storm!

I will never forget watching the F-3 tornado cut through Pierce City and head a little over a mile north of my home here in Monett on May 4, 2003. That was one of the most awesome, yet horrific moments I have experienced in my life.