5 Biggest Tornadoes in All History 

God speed Tim. You died at El Reno but your contribution to meteorological studies will never be forgotten...

The 2013 El Reno tornado sped up, increased in size and changed direction all at once. It formed from 3 supercells that combined into one and had many sub-vortices with 300+mph winds swirling around inside a relatively calm primary funnel. In fact there were multiple chasers caught in the tornado that left unscathed only because they weren’t hit by one of the sub-vortices. A true weather anomaly.

When I was a kid, living in Kansas, tornadoes were what seemed like a regular occurrence. My family was poor, but just about a month beforehand, my folks rented a small farm house just outside of Dodge City. The following storm season we were surrounded one day, but 3 tornadoes at once. By the grace of God, the owners had built a fruit cellar not far from our house...just like the one in Wizard of Oz. Not to sound too cliched, but being down was literally like lying under the tracks of a locomotive passing overhead. When we finally climbed out everything was gone. No houses. No nothing...

The El Reno tornado was in May, not March. There were several satellite tornadoes around it as well. The NWS only rated it as an EF3 because the structural damage was equivalent to that. However, in rural areas it was absolutely an EF5. The Greensburg Kansas tornado is historic as well as it essentially wiped out the entire town.

"I'm sure we've all seen tornadoes online...but never in person" Me, an Oklahoman:

Now we have a Quad State Tornado. I watched with horror as the tornado was down for over 4 hours. 12/10/2021 Prayers for all affected.

The El Reno tornado occurred just about a week after the 2nd Moore EF5 in 2013. My wife and I discussed the 1999 Moore tornado when deciding whether I should take a job in OKC in 2008. We thought something like the 1999 Moore tornado couldn't possibly happen again. We were so wrong.

I live close to Joplin, MO. That town is still trying to recover. It was a major blow to the whole area. Tornadoes are terrifying but also oddly beautiful. Like some elegant waltz you’re not able to look away from.

The Jerrell tornado in south Texas was one of the most dangerous tornadoes ever to spawn but it just didn’t hit a major populated area. But it destroyed everything in its path. It ripped asphalt off the roads and pulled storm shelters out of the ground.

Here after the December 10-11 Tornados in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois and my state of Kentucky. This Tornado event will be one that will make future list because of its size, duration, distance traveled and states affected and the number of tornadoes in one weather event. The destruction in the area is unreal, as is many communities in the path of these storms.

Honorable Mention: F5 Jarrell, Texas May 27, 1997 It wasn't one of the largest, but it was one of the strongest. It coined the expression, "Wiped the map clean."

My grandmother used to tell stories of the "tri-state" tornado. It had lifted a nearby barn of it's foundation and turned it around and set it back down near its original location. I think she claimed it was still on its foundation, pointing in the opposite direction. Apparently, the farmer just fixed it up and kept using it where it sat.

I want to give a little credit to Jeff Piotrowski for helping getting the sirens going in Joplin. He knew the tornado was rain wrapped and that not many people would be able to see it, so he stopped a cop and had them start the sirens. He and his wife actually almost got sucked up into it because it was so well hidden by the rain and clouds surrounding it.

Him: “The United States especially is prone to more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world” Me: “USA! USA! USA!”

From some of the sources of info on Tornados, its stated the F6 tornado can not exist on earth because it would have to have wind speeds in excess of 318mph. The one in OK in 1999 has speed exceeding that, so it could be classified as the first F6. Granted it may have only been one for only a brief minute, however it does show it IS possible

I remember the Joplin tornado. One of the most devastating ones to hit Missouri. Thousands of people afterwards volunteered to help clean up and rebuild Joplin

The most terrifying tornado I've researched was definitely the "Jarrell Tornado." No, it wasn't the biggest, but it was the most violent from what I saw.

i almost died in the joplin. that day was soo bad that they marked it as the costliest tornado

I grew up in Memphis and remember hearing about the impact of the Joplin tornado the next day. The wildest thing I remember about it was that there was a girl in a car without a seatbelt on and she got sucked out of the window.

Hello, I am retired senior citizen and my nephew is a new meteorologist (congrats). We had family gathering last month and of course my first question to him, "which tornado was most powerful," without hesitation he said, "Jarrell." Then he pulled out his laptop and proceeded to show me some Jarrell ground/aerial photos, and those vacant concrete slabs were visually shocking. He also said, "twisting speed was 300 mph but what made this tornado so extraordinary was it's slow movement intensifying it's destruction substantially." So here i am and what i researched myself in 30 days was mesmerizing yet eerie. First and foremost R.I.P. to those that perished and my condolences to all family members/friends. 27 deaths caused by the tornado occurred within one subdivision of Jarrell, a neighborhood of 38 well built houses called Double Creek Estates. Each residence was completely swept away and reduced to a concrete slab. The tornado produced some of the most extreme ground scouring ever documented as the earth at and around Double Creek was scoured out to depths of 18 inches reducing lush fields of grass to vast expanses of mud. The Jarrell tornado left an unbroken swath of barren earth vacant of fences, grass, trees, telephone poles, roads and homes that once dotted the landscape. Cars and heavy wreckers were granulated into small pieces and scattered across the earth never to be identified, think about that for a ..moment. Regardless if tornado is moving at 80 mph or 8 mph, fact remains that so many meteorologist consider Double Creek storm to be the most catastrophic tornado in terms of intensity still today 2021. Suction vortices revolving around inside parent votrex probably peaked around 450 mph. I've seen photographs of Bridge Creek, Hackleburg-Phil Cambell, Bakersfield Valley, Smithville, Pomeroy, Udall, Brandenburg, Pampa, Parkersburg, Loyal Valley, Philadelphia-MS, Plainfield, Greensburg, Xenia, El Reno, Joplin and they don't compare to Jarrell's duration intensity, Nothing Does. Timothy P. Marshall is a structural and forensic engineer as well as meteorologist. He has conducted more than 10,000 damage surveys of tornadoes, hurricanes and hailstorms. He is best of the best and after surveying Jarrell he said, "Houses were obliterated. The destruction was so intense, it serves as a baseline for which other tornadoes are rated against." I've learned and seen enough What did i learn ? That "Dead Man Walking" is an understatement And my advice ? If you see one, RUN !!!!

Very surprised the Greensburg, KS EF5 from May 4, 2007 wasn’t mentioned. It was the first tornado to receive an EF5 rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale and reached a width of 1.7 miles. It was literally wider than the city itself and destroyed 97% of the town, killing 11 people and injuring 70 others.

What people seem to forget about El Rino is the tornado was so fast. I believe the fastest it ever went was about 311 mph.

You left off the F5 Moore tornado of May 5, 2013 that hit just 11 days before the F5 El Reno tornado that you mentioned and hit the same place as the F5 Bridgecreek/Moore tornado of 1999 that you mentioned. I think the F5 Moore tornado which stayed on the ground for over 40 minutes as an F5 and cost over 2 billion in damage, lives in the minds of most in Oklahoma as the worst because it hit an elementary school directly and killed 7 children, 24 total deaths in all. I was in both the El Reno and the May 5th Moore tornado, both horrible, but the May 5th was beyond heartbreaking. (I live by El Reno, but worked in Moore/Midwest City and why I was in both, incase that sounded confusing).

I lived in a small town called Holland during the time of the Hallam tornado. It just missed our small community by not even a mile. Houses outside the town had extreme damage. Our home had no basement, only we could seek shelter in the bathroom. I was 5 at the time and remember this day vividly, and I’ll always be grateful for it missing our town. I’m not sure I’d be here today if it hit us, considering our shelter wasn’t great.

4:33 oh we know… last night there is one that lasted for 4 to 5 hours and went through 4 states. And let me tell you this, last night tornado outbreak made me feel like we were back in tornado season again… while we are in December. While I live in Canada, I know that people in Tornado alley must expect tornadoes 24/7, 365 days a year, but still… yesterday’s storms were something else.

It's crazy that first Tornado is similar and took almost the exact same path as the one that hit Kentucky a couple days ago 😳

I knew a woman who remembered the Tri State Twister. She lived around Lesterville, Missouri. I recently watched something about it and many scientist are saying that it may not have even been a tornado. It may have been a once in a thousand year event. Hard to believe it's not number one on EVERY list.

On April 12, 2020, a tornado struck my small town of Seminary, MS. Peak intensity was EF4 on the verge of EF5 with peak width at 2.25 miles wide. Me and my family took a direct hit and it leveled our community. Ours was the third largest on record.

Correction. The El Reno tornado was MAY 31, not March 31. Otherwise great video :)

I remember driving through Joplin a few days after the tornado hit. I’ve truly never seen such utter destruction

I lived in Springfield during the 2011 Joplin tornado. I even remember the alert that went out warning of the danger. I had only a few friends at the time and I vaugly remember them talking about messaging their friends and family who lived in Joplin trying to warn them to get to cover. I can't remember much after that but I do recall the storm we got following the Joplin tornado being quite bad and it braking several of the tree limbs and dropping them in the front yard. A terrible storm that was and I still feel bad for the people of Joplin, I even got to go to the Walmart there for some training I had to do and I saw the old star that they kept as a momento from the event. Seeing it was a sobering moment to me that I should be thankful for what I have and for my family as well.

As an Alabamian, I was waiting for the one from April 27, 2011. It spanned 4 days and impacted 26 states, with Alabama being hit the hardest. 62 tornadoes touched down that day and it lasted around 18 hours in Alabama alone.

I am surprised that Jarrell, Texas 1997 Tornado did not make it on this list. It was said to be so violent that asphalt was ripped from the roads, grass/crops were uprooted & soil was scoured up to a depth of 1 foot, hides of cattle were stripped from their bodies. So much violence that victims of this tornado had to be identified from their dental records.

I live in southern Illinois, in the heart of "tornado alley". I've seen 4 tornadoes personally throughout my life so far (I'm 28) and seen the aftermath of 3 towns destroyed by tornadoes on 2 occasions (2 during one instance and 1 on the other). I was 9 years old when I saw my first as it went through the cornfield behind my home , i remember my dad putting me and my sister in the bathtub while he and my mom held onto it while we waited for the house to take damage but it narrowly missed us and only took shingles and knocked a few trees down while being INCREDIBLY LOUD. You dont know real power and pure fear until mother nature shows you what those are.

I live in Oklahoma but less than an hour from Joplin, MO. The Joplin tornado wreaked total havoc. It hit one of the main hospitals which IIRC was a 9 story building. The building didn't collapse but it did have to be demolished because it was moved several inches off of its foundation. When you actually see a tornado with your own eyes, the first emotion to register is disbelief. Your brain knows what it is seeing but it doesn't register as real. It's hard to fathom that something that God awful can exist. But you can't look away.

I chased the Hallam, Nebraska tornado and witnessed it from a couple of miles away. Due to the timing near sunset and the width of the tornado, it was hard to tell there was a tornado, other than the power flashes. It was literally a huge wall of blackness moving along to my north.

I live in Joplin and the tornado that came through was insane I saw it personally and dealt with the consequences afterwards. A lot of friends and family were torn after this monster stuck. I still have nightmares to this day and I'm 20 now. it's been 10 years and people are still going through the pain it caused.

I just moved 6 miles from Moore, Oklahoma. Been fascinated with tornadoes my whole life. Seeing Oklahoma has the number 4 and 1 spot here is crazy.

I spent 11 years living in Lawton, Oklahoma which is the middle of Tornado Alley. I was in 3 tornadoes including the devastating 1999 tornado that hit OKC. Lawton is a hour south of OKC. It destroyed almost the entire state. I’ll never forget that day. Not only for the destruction it caused but also it happened 2 days before my 22nd birthday.

The only tornado I’ve ever seen was back in 2005. After hurricane Katrina hurricane Rita hit. I was 16 driving home when it crossed the road right in front of me! I was a good safe distance away. It was low to the ground but a pretty good size tornado. It was such an experience to see! Luckily it didn’t do much damage since it happened in the country side outside of Greenwood Mississippi.

Was one of these named The Dead Man Walking Tornado? Was that the El Reno one?

The EF5 that recently ripped through Kentucky was pretty damn devastating. Over 100 deaths.

I was born and raised in Tennessee an my great grandmother told me about the tornado that hit in 1925 . She told me that there was straw and hay sticking in trees an at that age i couldn't wrap my mind around how in the world something so fragile could possibly stick in trees like a knife or some kind of dart 🎯. It's freakishly amazing how much power tornadoes have. God rest all the souls that was lost in all these tornadoes...

I like how you left the biggest one for last. That el reno tornado was insane!

I’m surprised Greensburg wasn’t on here as well as some others. May have only taken 11 lives compared to others but it took out 96% of the town.

Seen quite a few living in Tornado Alley but the scariest was being in a car with my 2 year old daughter under an over pass right next to the tornado. I’m 35 year old man and I had tears and did alot of praying. If my daughter wasn’t with me then I honestly believe it wouldn’t have been that scary. As a parent and as a dad your there to protect your children and keep them safe. The feeling of not having much of any power over the situation is a horrible feeling. Tornadic winds are also very horrible. For tornados it’s scary due to the complete darkness and sheer noise of the winds and of the objects flying is what frightens people to the core.

[Superb voice & clear speech!] I viewed this in Dec '21 just after freak winter tornadoes ravaged 6 US states. Here in Canadian Rockies we seemed tornado-free, but a freak microburst shocked us.

I went to Oklahoma for army training, I think there were 3 tornado warnings while I was there. It’s absolutely terrifying just how quickly it can go from 110 degrees with no clouds in the sky, to pitch black sky 70 degrees and 50 mph winds.

In Oklahoma, the town first hit on 05/03/99 is Bridge Creek, not creed. Further, footage used for the '99 entry was from the 05/20/13 EF5 that went through roughly the same area in the OKC metro. As an Oklahoman that experienced these, I enjoyed the video! Just pointing some things out 👍

Take it from someone who has lived their entire life in Tornado Alley and has been through multiple tornadoes, these are things you do not want to mess with or experience! They are deadly and can kill you in a split second. Very powerful and terrifying. Stay far away! Good advice for the curious and the tough guys who think they’re indestructible and seek these things out!

The Moore EF5 was barreling right towards my apartment in Moore. I said 'screw it' and jumped in my van and hauled ass southward. I returned to abject devastation just 2 blocks from my apartment, which was unscathed.

I always liked tornadoes when I was a kid I even drew them on paper before

All I have to say is, how lucky we got here in Dayton, Oh during the 2019 tornadoes. We had 21 total hit the state around midnight-4am of the Tuesday following Memorial Day weekend. 4 of those hit Dayton alone. 1 EF-4 and 3 EF-3’s. We don’t get tornadoes… sirens were only placed in bigger suburbs of the area and even then, those didn’t even go off. We’re still rebuilding. 2 of those were inches from completely taking out our children’s hospital and Trauma Level 1 hospital.

I lived in Henryetta O.k. when I was younger, and in 2009 I watched 4 tornadoes sore through the skies at once. It was pretty damn impressive but scary at the same time.

The old-school footage in the beginning is awesome...puts tornadoes into a solid historical perspective.

The Moore tornado required them to rewrite the EF scale.

I have lived in the southeast all of my life, and haven't had any, that I am aware of, encounters of the personal kind. However, one passed about a hundred yards of the house. It vibrated my trailer, needless to say I left and went to my parents house. I responded to the tornado that occurred in Beauregard, Al. In 2019, and as a stark reminder for several months afterwards I would pass the prayer closet that saved a woman's life that day. I can still see it in my minds eye. Sitting on its slab, where the rest of the house was.

I was training in Dallas for a new job in '99 with a few people from Moore and OKC. They had all flown in and I had a vehicle since I was local. They couldn't get in touch with family, couldn't get back, so I drove them home. I've seen quite a bit of tornado damage, but never seen anything like Moore, OK in 1999. The devastation was unreal and cannot be understood from videos and images.

I have a picture of the el Reno tornado from several miles away. I was at work that day. It came close enough the building I was in took some roof damage and we had leaks and water coming in. The building creeked and moaned with the winds. Some of us stepped outside briefly to look. The wind about took the door off.

A tornado that was more recent would actually take #3 on your list as the third largest tornado in history. Just a tad bit smaller than the Hallam. This tornado was on Easter Sunday of 2020 in rural Seminary Mississippi. Only killed 8 people but it’s size was massive and it was extremely destructive. I drive past the damage all the time as it isn’t too far from where I live.

My “favorite” tornado system was the Barneveld, WI tornado system of 1984. It was unusually bad for how far north it was. 46 confirmed tornadoes, including the F5 that destroyed Barneveld, killing 9 and giving the storm system its name. 4 others were killed elsewhere. I lived in a town (Black Earth) hit a few minutes later-it passed a block from my house. When we later moved to Iowa, the town we lived in had been hit by the same storm system earlier that day.

I’ve seen 2 in person. I remember the Joplin tornado. It did some work. Another one I seen was down in Branson which is just south a bit of Joplin. They frequent that area. Fascinating

I moved to WA this year after having been born and raised in TX aka part of Tornado Alley for 24 years. I just realized this was the first year of my life that I haven’t lived in fear of tornado season. It’s kind of surreal thinking about it.

Also watched that Joplin tornado on the news and i can remember the news station trying to rotate their weather cam back around but the tornado kept turning it the wrong way. One of the scariest days of my life to date.

And to think, on May 20th, 2013 Moore, OK got hit by an EF5 that killed over 100 people, and nearly wiped out the city. Eleven days later, the largest tornado on record almost hit the same area.

Little more knowledge behind the 1925 tristate nado. It destroyed 3+ towns not wiping them off the map but damaging them severely. My fathers current place of residence in murphysboro was hit hard, my town of desoto where 38 school children were killed in school, and Goram(ive been there one time). It was expected to lose strength when crossing rivers but it didn't, it only got stronger. A book called death rides the sky is all about the tornado that day and it includes stories from people who survived it. Its a really good read I recommend it.

MY parents, in 1966, began renting a home in DeSoto, Illinois. It was THE ONLY HOME LEFT STANDING in 1925, as the Murphysboro, IL tornado came into DeSoto, IL from 6 miles away, which was the start of the "Tri-state Tornado.'

I'm surprised that the Moore, May 20, 2013 tornado is not on here....Especially as it followed almost the same path as the May 3, 1999 tornado.

The actual top 4 largest tornadoes at the time of this video: 1. El Reno, OK EF3 (2013), 2.6mi 2. Jiangsu, China EF4 (2016), 2.5mi 3. Hallam, NE F4 (2004), 2.4mi 4. Bassfield, MS EF4 (2020), 2.25mi and the video only has 2 of the top 4

The El Rino tornado was upgraded to an EF-5 in 2014. This was due to the unprecedented wind speeds and satellite ropes, as well as it's record breaking size. This Tornado had a huge impact on the chasing community, and is often forgotten for it's mostly rural damage path. Please, be safe when chasing.

My 2nd great grandfather, had relatives and friends who where affected by the Tri State tornado in Shelbyville, Illinois . He took many pictures of the devastation of his family and friends farms caused by the tornado when he went down there to help out in the aftermath.

May 3 1999 Oklahoma We were driving home to ok from Chicago. As we headed west, there was massive wall cloud which stretched for miles. We arrive in Tulsa...then saw mega debris. Homes were pelted by mud. Some were literally 3" thick. Unreal. That was the worst. It's literally gouged the earth where you can still see its mark today in stroud.

I lived in Missouri during the Joplin tornado on a military base but the thing was dangerous enough they put everything near Joplin on immediate lockdown shutting us in school until about 15 minutes into it’s rampage, what sucks to is about 2-4 days after that tornado another tornado hit Joplin while they were recovering, but it wasn’t as destructive.

I saw my first tornado July 24, 2021, during the Swartz Creek MI tornado. It wasn't bad at all, but it was scary because when we turned the corner while we were driving, you could see the swirling vortex in the sky.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the tri-state tornado couldn't have possibly been a EF-5 as noted in this video. The extended scale wasn't around back then.

Hats off to the brave storm chasers, I don’t know how they do it.

April 27, 2011. A storm cut through the southeast spinning off over 150 tornadoes in a single day. One tornado ripped into Tuscaloosa, Alabama so large that the EF scale did not have a rating for it. Hundreds died during the storm. My family was fortunate as my uncle and cousins lived just 10 miles from the funnels path. Many others were not so lucky

I’ve been through two tornadoes and man they are unbelievably powerful. After the first tornado was over we went outside to assess the damage done. I remember seeing pine straw driven into trees. We had several 2x4 boards get impaled through pine trees. Or what was left of the trees.

Can't forget about the April 27, 2011 tornadoes outbreak. The tornado tore a 132-mile path of destruction, killing 72. It was the nation's deadliest single tornado in over 50 years. A total of 348 fatalities occurred across multiple states, including 253 in Alabama. Those 348 fatalities were the most in a tornado event since April 5-6, 1936.

Didn't mention that Joplin's tornado went from a skinny rope to a mile wide in 10 seconds.

Ya forgot 1 thing about El Reno tornado, it was the only tornado to date on record that claimed storm chaser lives due to its irregular path and behavior which caused confusion among chasers

A few missed: Greensburg KS, May 4, 2007. Not to be confused with the EF5 that hit the same day. This EF3 reached 2.20 miles wide. PardeeVille WI, June 7, 2008. Was only around EF2 winds but reached exactly 2 miles wide. Bassfield MS, Easter Sunday, 2020. Did EF4 damage and had a width of 2.25 miles wide, the 3rd largest ever recorded.

so were all just binging tornado videos huh?

El Reno was in May of 2013. Just over a week after another tornado that struck Moore.

Would love to see a list of tornado super-outbreaks. The is an amazing short documentary on RU-vid called "Day of the Killer Tornadoes" dealing with the 1974 super outbreak if people are interested.

I haven't seen one, but I've been near a EF5, around 5:57AM. I live in a mobile home, the only thing that was destroyed was it flipped my swimming pool like a taco, and kinda broke it. ( We fixed it ) but we was like 10 miles away. My dad was probably like 7 due to him on the way to work

I've lived in Tornado Alley most of my life. I'm jaded by the sirens because it almost never means anything (different jurisdictions sound the sirens for different reasons-- I know some places only sound for *confirmed* tornadoes, but that isn't the case where I'm from). But my great-aunt lives outside of Joplin, and I'll never forget when she was recounting that evening. She heard the sirens, of course, but brushed them off, thinking it was probably just severe weather like it almost always is. Fortunately, they were not in the path of the tornado-- but her son's house was smack in the middle of it. Even more fortunately, he and his family weren't home. Not to mention his house, most of the neighborhood was gone when they got back to it. We went to visit them four months later, in September of 2011. If you've never seen anything like it in person, it's probably impossible to comprehend. The photographs, the aerial views, the news reports... None of the images I'd seen really gave me a great idea of the scale and breadth of the damage. Granted, when I went to Joplin, most of the major cleanup was finished. But I'll never forget any of it. It looked like a war zone. Even if I am jaded, after seeing all of that, I'll never take any chances with the sirens, that's for sure. A couple years ago, we had rotation-- not a tornado, but rotation-- pass directly over our house. They say a tornado sounds like a train. We could hear this one too, and the whole house shuddered. I hope that's the closest I ever come to actually experiencing a tornado.

It was terrible when that happened in Joplin. Much love for our city. I wouldn’t have the mother of my child if she would have stayed home that day. Tornadoes are so fascinating nonetheless

I was actually in the Joplin tornado, in fact it was 5 days after my birthday, thanks for the late b day present Mother Nature 👍

I find it interesting that the many tornadoes spawned by a massive system that stretched from Kansas to Michigan and Ohio-the Palm Sunday Tornadoes was not included. We were living in Northern Indiana at the time and two hit our farm within an hour of each other-the second one was massive. Our place was the first place left standing-for about a mile. Several of our neighbors were killed. Was had a house full of homeless neighbors that night.

Just experienced one of the worst tornados to hit Little Rock (AR) a few weeks ago, and have never seen anything like the level of damage that it caused here. It was a lower-end F3 with wind speeds of around 165mph, but it absolutely leveled the areas where it touched down. Despite being in tornado alley and having been thru several previous tornado warnings before, Little Rock typically doesn't see anything like this because of the geography and all of the hills. The flatter, more rural areas usually tend to get hit worse. However, this particular storm ended up devastating parts of the city. There's plenty of videos out there of the event, along with the aftermath. It's truly a miracle that nobody lost their life in LR, although there were deaths reported in North Little Rock and Wynn, as well as injuries numbering 300+.

i remember the joplin tornado. i was in kindergarden on a field trip in kansas. we had to travel to a school right next to the place and hundreds of people gathered in a small computer lab. we had to sit there for 5 hours jam packed. after a couple hours, the roof flew off and we all thought we were screwed but luckily the tornado flew away without touching our building.

I have been through the EF5 tornado in Joplin Missouri in 2011and it was 15 blocks away from my house it was the scariest day of my life

I live on the dry line in Oklahoma. I get to watch them swirl over my head every year. Scary stuff. Been here 35 years and it's never any less scary.

I have never described a tornado as beautiful.

as an okie (Oklahoman) i love watching these storms, the power of mother nature amazes me, and we're so used to these things we just get outside and watch, take shelter if you've got it but most of us just get out and watch, theres little you can do

Had to run away from the May 3,1999 tornado. Took shingles off my roof and left debris all over the yard. One of the weirdest experiences of my life was driving through Arcadia while shingles showered down around me like a massive flock of dying birds.

I was working in OKC and lived in El Reno during the May 3rd 1999 tornado...we almost had one form up 3 times in El Reno that night...some wicked scary stuff.

I observed the Joplin tornado of 5- 22 - 2011 . . I lived about 4 and a half miles south of it's path . . I will never forget that day , ever. . . Actually 161 people lost their lives . .I have lived in Joplin since 2004 . Originally from St Louis . .I have seen tornados in St Louis while growing up . The one that hit Joplin was the biggest I have ever seen . That was the day of Jopln High Schools senior graduation . . Fortunately the ceremony was held at Missouri Southern State University . . Just after the ceremony the tornado struck , the high school was totally destroyed . . . Only one graduating senior was killed . . And that occured while he was driving home with his Dad. . .

I noticed Jarrel, Hackleburg (sp?) and Moore weren't on there?