Twister
I was on my usual five mile afternoon drive through the countryside on the way to work. The weather did not seem threatening at all, although it was a little dark out. I glanced over to the north and saw a Tornado!
When I was a child I was very close to a tornado that did a lot of damage to our town. Also we saw damage from other tornadoes in the area. My fear of tornadoes was not too irrational, but I had a very healthy respect for them.
The location where I spotted the tornado was near my parent's house so I stopped and told my Dad, who was sleeping because he worked third shift.
I told him, "Hey! Get up! There's a tornado outside!" I suppose all tornadoes are outside.
"No there's not." He was a little groggy.
"Yes there is! Look outside!"
He looked out the window and saw it. "There is!"
Then I tried to call home, since my wife and two children were swimming outside when I left only a couple miles away. No one answered the phone. Here they were, outside swimming while a tornado lurked so close to them. What if lightning hit them?
So I went back outside trying to figure out what to do next. We watched it. And watched it. It was probably about as small as they get. It was about three quarters of a mile away, or about a kilometer away.
It went up and down like a yo-yo. Boards and small items were being picked up by it and flying around in it. We continued to watch it. Okaaaaay. . .We became less excited as we watched.
So I told Dad I might as well go to work. On the way there I kept my eye on the phenomenon. it was running parallel path with me to work. I watched it travel the whole way with me, all the while staying low to the ground and keeping its full funnel form. Very weird.
By the time I got to work I was desensitized to the thing. I casually walked into the HR office and told the manager that there was a tornado nearby.
"What?! Don't come in here and tell me that!"
I invited him to go outside and look. We both went outside. Naturally, it was nowhere to be seen. The weather still did not look threatening, which made my assertion all the more unbelievable.
Fortunately, someone had reported the funnel to a local paper the next day to confirm my claim and salvage my credibility.
I would still recommend keeping your distance from any tornado if you suspect one is near. All it would take is an object to slam into you to ruin your whole day.