[design219]

I'm not asking for bad luck, but I'd like to see one someday... from a distance.

[Knof8]

Move to Oklahoma then

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by design219 

I'm not asking for bad luck, but I'd like to see one someday... from a distance.

Have you thought of visiting a trailer park?

[Thorzdad]

Yeah. Just draw a semi-circle from Oklahoma, through Kansas, Nebraka, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana. Move anywhere in those states and you'll increase your chances greatly.

They are pretty darned impressive and humbling things.

[64stang06]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Have you thought of visiting a trailer park?

Damn, beat me to it!

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by 64stang06 

Damn, beat me to it!

I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!

[nonhuman]

I went to college in Minnesota (Carleton College). A few months into my freshman year there were a couple touchdowns not too far from campus, and you can be damned sure our football team wasn't responsible. Anyway, the tornado sirens went off and all the midwesterners headed inside. The rest of us, however, wanted to see the tornado so we all ran outside. even though the closest one was a mile or two away the winds were strong enough that trashcans and dumpsters were getting thrown around. At one point, while trying to get a better view of the tornado that we could see in the distance, I noticed that the raindrops were started to blow around me in a circle. That's when I decided it was time to get inside.

[imitchellg5]

I saw one a couple years ago just outside of Altus, Oklahoma. I was about a mile away, which was plenty close. It was just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere tearing up the ground and a road or two. Pretty neat. I saw one in Georgia last year too. That one was very frightening. I was at my aunt's barn with my cousin (she was learning to ride horses) and it went around the barn by about a half mile after we left.

[mattyb]

I had the misfortune of spending 11 months in Ponca City, Oklahoma as a kid. Before we moved there my dad turned into a Survival Nut since he had heard about the frequency of tornadoes. I can even remember him doing a drill once. We had all sorts of crap, food that lasts years, water purification junk, etc etc.

Not one twister in the months that we were there. The family still takes the piss out of him now.

[Teronzhul]

I've seen several, well, mostly water spouts, but all were at distance. The one I wish I had seen was the one that went through my sisters back yard during Hurricane Ivan. It picked up their riding lawn mower and tossed it about 50 feet through the yard into the back of the house where it crashed into the breakfast area knocking a 6 foot hole in their brick wall. We were all in the house at the time and heard it, but considering it was about 4 am it was too dark to see. That, and the fact that we were all huddled in the hallway also would have made it difficult to catch sight of it. I don't think I'll be staying for any more category 4 hurricanes.

[xi_hyperon]

I've seen a few, but mostly from miles away. I went on a tornado chasing spree with a friend one year, but the few we caught up to were rain-wrapped, and therefore not visible. The updraft was impressive though.

[alligator]

When I was about 13, one came through my city. I was at a friends house, and we climbed up on the roof to watch. We could very clearly see the tornado from that height and even saw helicopters in the area filming it. I look back on it now and think how stupid we were then.

Also, my undergraduate college, Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter MN was half destroyed by a tornado after I graduated. The school was out on spring break at the time, which was good because many dorms were severely damaged.