User blog comment:AkioTheTwo/Tornado Expieriences/@comment-27387353-20161231000856

Ah Hell, I'll respond to this, since I've told only a few people about my experiences. One of my first experiences with a tornado was in the 2007 Groundhog day tornado outbreak in Florida. I was in first grade at school when the line of thunderstorms eventually moved over our area after the main event, and a strong mesocyclone passed right over our heads, knocking out the power and downing several trees at and around the campus, as there was rotation and a funnel cloud that you could see from looking out the window, but no tornado was ever confirmed from this particular storm of that outbreak, strangely.

My next direct encounter was in 2013 when a waterspout formed from a typical Florida afternoon thunderstorm, and I happened to be within viewing range of it. If I can find the picture, I will upload it and share it to here.

Then came my best year for tornadoes (and life in general); 2015, for which I was in Texas. My first encounter there was in April. I was driving home from a concert in Dallas just after midnight, and a line of severe thunderstorms was moving through the area. I had been driving on the I-30 for about 20 minutes when I drove through a clear area along the interstate, and when I looked off to the west because of all the lightning, there was a relatively large tornado on the ground. It did not draw close to me, but the next morning I read the news to see that it was rewarded an EF0 rating and had been measured to have been 200 yards wide.

Then the climatic event of the year, and likely the one everybody heard about; the EF4 Garland tornado. I was on the I-30 to the south of the storm, driving in the darkness, heavy rain and high winds when I saw the tornado cross the bridge of the interstate. It was an eerie sight to see, with all of the power flashes illuminating the funnel cutting power from the city around me. The authorities made no effort to attempt to shut down the bridge; likely due to the high winds that persisted after its passage. Because of this, I got to see the tornado's back side as it was crossing Lake Ray Hubbard and about to move through Rowlett. On the way back home, it was strange thinking that had I been further ahead on that overpass, I could have fallen victim to the tornado. That same night (after midnight), a tornado warning was issued for my town, as the same storms that affected Garland and related areas had progressed north to where I was. Two separate tornadoes touched that night to the west and south of my town, respectively.

As a bonus, while not tornadic events, I will mention that I was also directly affected by Hurricane Charley, Tropical Storm Debby (2012), Tropical Storm Bob (2015), Tropical Storm Colin, Hurricane Hermine and Hurricane Matthew.