What are the odds- Tornado strike?

I received a message friday night, after work, while at an extended family get together, 45 minutes from the house, that our place 30 miles north received significant damage.

I went up their yesterday, big trees snapped off, at least a dozen, old roofing panels on the oldest barn, one side, at least a 1/3 gone off a 80 x 125 barn. It sheared posts off the training pen which was just posts and stockade fence panels. Front door of barn was sucked in, back wall off barn was sucked in, all out of plumb now. A small sign that was on a small shed like barn attached to the larger one was sucked off the exterior wall and was found inside the barn. A limb was stuck in the phone wires 25' feet up. The area of destruction all has a signature of rotation, trees down in varying direction. The old aluminum roof panels on that end of the barn is mangled and in some trees, strewn all over the nearby paddock opposite the direction of the storm that came through, aluminum nails scattered. Insurance company due in today to inspect for the claim. 500 bales of hay destroyed too.

What are the odds in this area, north of Albany NY 20 miles, that a tornado touched down briefly in just our location ? Isolated for sure, as nothing else in the area was touched. Have not seen anything like this since the one in '98. No injury to anyone or any of the horses. My father described feeling a vacuum at the back door when it was happening as he was trying to get the dog back inside as this rolled in swiftly.

Bill, I was up in NH for the weekend and Friday night was a strong blow with heavy rain. lost power for the night came back on Saturday.
Mostly trees down big one's all over the place. If it wasn't Ankered down it is gone.

We live in what has been meteorologically called tornado alley. Tornado damage has been done to homes and farm steads within a five mile radius of our home/farm/acreage. Some very extensive. The closets' about a mile and a half. Why they drop down where they do is anyones guess. But it will not surprise me if in fact one would hit us. Many travel for miles on the ground with their evidence in the crop fields of their passing without doing much damage. One of the close ones I could see out of our kitchen window as I scanned the horizon during a stormy time. The local and national weather forecasters had given the position of that storm during a tornado warning, they were right on. I wish you the best as you try to put things back together, of course you will never be quite the same. Unfortunately you will recall the date forever. Wishing you the best with your insurance adjustor and your repairs. gobble

I'm in Central NY - the one in 98 hit us pretty hard (for NY anyway - I think it was an EF 1 or 2), but Friday night we just had some gusty winds and heavy rain for 10 minutes or so. You guys up north got the worst of it - still a lot of power out north of Albany
Pete

I can't remember the exact dates but Charles city home of oliver has been hit several times by tornadoes and always in years ending in 8. I'm not planning on visiting this year.

Born, raised and lived more than half a decade in tornado alley and have been fortunate to have never had tornado damage. Have experienced it while in FD during and after a hurricane, and saw one start way up here, way up in the air. That one ended up making a swath not too far from here all the way to Lake of the Woods. Have been very lucky in that regard.

Is good to hear everyone is OK, and that you have insurance to cover damages. Take lots of pics.....for your own protection (just in case!).

Have seen lots of instances of tornado damage, from the air, in your area. Used to live on the east coast. Remember seeing swaths just on the Mass side of your border and northern CT that looked like a vacuum cleaner touched down and went through. In 2011 my house got hit while I was in it. Watched it come on the radar and when it hit, looking out the windows, it was just like The Wizard of Oz (sans the witch) and when I could see again a bunch of massive trees were missing and my roof was stove in.

Down here in the Carskills we get small twisters on occasion and one big one in 1961. The last one I saw cut a swath about 50 feet wide through the woods, 24" diameter sugar maples twisted off. Another one destroyed a garage. Sometimes they will jump from ridge to ridge and not hid the valley too bad.

Probably less than winning lottery.

I've lived in N Texas, tornado alley, all my life.

Been blessed to have not been in the path of one.

Had the shop roof blown off once, then destroyed second time. Wasn't there either time.

But I've seen some horrible destruction. Tornadoes are usually accompanied by torrential rain and hail. Not much can survive a direct hit.

Drove by some damage on I 35 just south of here a few years ago. Many deaths, an entire community was completely stripped away. The only evidence left was cleaned slabs with a few pipes standing and bent over. All debris, trees, even grass gone as if cleared with a dozer.

That'stoo bad you had all that damage. Good no one was hurt. You can rebuild. It will probably take some time and money. The people in Hawaii with a wall of lava rolling onto their house, their property will probably be gone forever. In California we have a few earth quakes. We are lucky not to have tornados. Stan

I remember the super outbreak that hit Charles City and Oelwein Iowa, we lived about 20 miles south of Oelwein, thickest I have ever felt the air.

We get a bad storm through here about every 5 years. The last real bad one was 2010. EF4 I forget the exact numbers but the damage was just unreal. The way this summer is starting out has concerned. A week ago it was barely above freezing and today its supposed to be 80°

Sod Buster

Here in N. Louisiana we have lots of tornadoes, most of which are fortunately small--EF1 or even EFO. In many cases they don't stay on the ground and travel long distances cutting a swath of destruction. They are prone to dip down, do considerable damage in a small spot, then lift up to dip down again farther along. I've had three of those around my place, just twisting the tops out of a few trees, throwing small things around, etc. I've been in or near several others similar--one literally right outside my office window. The way these storms can destroy things in one place and leave things intact 50 or 100 feet away, is mind-boggling. I recall reading a report once that a big tornado lifted a house totally off the slab and carried it away. The dining table, which was set for dinner, was left undisturbed, with even the napkins still in place.

I was in Joplin about three weeks after that tornado, and I was astounded to see what a large twister can do.

sorry to hear you got hit billy, we had a tornado go through Edmonton in 1987 and a lot of people where hurt and killed. I helped with the cleanup and the power of these beasts and the destruction they do is unimagnible. the good news on your post your dad and yourselfs are all safe, it's going to set you back though cleaning up the mess and rebuilding. be carefull and be safe billy.

(quoted from post at 06:22:07 05/07/18) Born, raised and lived more than half a [color=blue:5282daaab8][b:5282daaab8]decade[/b:5282daaab8][/color:5282daaab8] in tornado alley

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ooops, this should have said half a century

Guess that would've made me a young rascal. *lol*

Always can be worse, thankful my father and the hired hand who lives on site are ok. He's got a good person there. I'm waiting for the go ahead if he wants me and a friend to do the tree work, rest he will have to hire out. I'd sure like to get out of the darned office a few days this time of year anyways LOL ! Clean up and work, it will go quickly.
Amazing to see what it did to the place, have not seen a mess like that since we lost a huge barn to wind in '74. I think the worst thing is the darned aluminum nails, need a way to get those all gathered up. Need to do a sweep with as many eyes on it as can be had !

Appreciate concern by all, could have done a lot more damage then it did.

They're dang funny things. Aren't common in West Virginia anytime but especially rare in the Fall. Then one Oct. 3 a tornado went down a creek at 4 p.m. Next day at 4 p.m. another tornado took exactly the same path. There's just no telling what they'll do.