Auntie Emm, Uncle Owen.....

Experienced my first twister yesterday. We went from Thunderstorm Warning to Touchdown in less than 20 minutes. We got a major thunderstorm hitting north of Indy when it turned into the 'classic coma' and we had funnel cloud reports on the ground. We went to all coverage all the time. The weather department took over the newscast and the chopper was up and heading north. When they got there we saw a damaged shed, some roof half off and an 18 wheeler off the highway; but as the copter got a better angle on the storm path I saw the line of destruction it had created. Homes crushed, trees uprooted, and that 18 wheeler was actually one of five tossed off the highway. You could actually see the storm's path in the soil of a newly tilled field. The sight was surreal, I had never experienced anything like it. I was stuck to the TV for over an hour until another director asked if I wanted to go home and he would take over (I was at the end of my shift.) I got up but hung around a little while longer while we followed the storm front a bit further north. I was amazed at the power of these tornadoes, now seen first hand and not some quick vo in the news or on the big screen in Twister. This we mere miles from my new home and hit places I knew.

While I was stunned and amazed the rest of the crew was oh hum, just an F1. Just you wait until a good F3 or F4 (rare around here, not nit uncommon), then I would be amazed. Thinking on that I sure miss my 140 inches of snow back in Rochester, NY.