Tornado!

For those of you that don't know Kearney, Nebraska had 6 tornado's touch down on May 29, 2008.  I went to school at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and lived 25+ years of my life in Grand Island, NE, only 40 miles to the East of Kearney. 

I lived through the Tornadoes of June 3rd, 1980 in Grand Island.  On that date, 7 tornadoes touched down in Grand Island,  one which was rated at F4 and 3 others rated at F3.  Also of note, three of the tornadoes rotated anti-cyclonically or clockwise, a rare occurrence in the northern hemisphere, where over 99 percent of tornadoes rotate cyclonically or counter-clockwise.

Anyways, our house got nailed that night.  I can still vividly recall that night and the sound of the tornado as it hit our house, the houses on either side of us, and the houses in front and behind our house.  My father opened up every window and everydoor in our house before it hit, and for that reason, I feel it was the main reason why we didn't lose the roof of our house, while all the houses around us did.  The roof of our neighbors behind us, ended up in our backyard.

Anyways, a friend forwarded me these pics of the storm system in Kearney.  Quite impressive.  Glad I wasn't there.

Speaking of the Discovery Channel, I ran into what I suspect is Sean Casey's (a storm chaser featured in Storm Stories who is trying to penetrate a tornado in an armored truck) new vehicle, the TIV 2, which looks like something out of Mad Max

This is quite an amazing looking vehicle; judging from the rear markings, it appears to have been custom built by a military armored vehicle company. I know the TIV 1 is still out there in service; I've seen it this year while chasing. I haven't watched Storm Stories in a while, so I have no idea if this has been worked into the documentary yet, but if not, I suspect that it will. It's quite a strange sight. And as for roads, well...