Charles' comment on "the best distance to see tornadoes" reminded me of when I was a freshman in college, living in the dorm. Tornadoes were rare in Ann Arbor, but that weekend we were under a warning. We all dutifully trooped to the interior hallway designated as a safe spot.
The sky was that freaky green that it sometimes gets before a bad storm, so we all assumed that a tornado was on the way.
One of my friends had her fiance visiting that afternoon; he was in the hall with us, but then he got up and started moving towards the door.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I want to see it!" he responded. (Meaning, the putative tornado).
"No, you don't. And you're not going to," she responded.
He sat back down. (Granted, she had grown up in Nebraska so she knew from tornadoes, and her command was said in more of a shaky-scared "I don't want you to die" voice than a "I will control your every action" voice)
(They got married a few years later...and, from my last contact with her (she teaches now at A and M, Commerce - not that far away - they are still married, more than 20 years later. Perhaps the "happy wife, happy life" saying that someone I know claims is actually true...)
3 comments:
You graduated UofM? My son did too; he's going to a fraternity reunion tomorrow [o, grief...]
Yipe! This story reminds me of the day I was walking home from school and the sky turned that sunglasses green shade. I turned and looked at the circling clouds a couple of miles away, watched the funnel form and touch ground, then lift off again.
That's as bloody close as I EVER want to be to one of those monsters. They're better observed on the television.
I've seen tornados.. I lived in IN most of my life, but saw one 2 houses down from us when I was about 12 in FL at my grandmother's. Thankfully it went up into the sky and disappeared. No one believed me until the fire dept came.
I had a roomie in college that was an atmospheric science major. During storms like that she would hop in a car with other atmos/sci ppl and head out "storm chasing". I told them they were nuts. Our senior yr a tonado hit 2 miles from campus and killed 10 ppl. I don't think she does it anymore.. even tho both her and her atmos/sci husband are still working in the field.
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