I work at Denver International Airport. I drive my sorry ass to and from there everyday, about 25 miles. Anyways, as the bus driver is taking us from the airport to the employee parking lot, he comments about the stormclouds and how he used to watch tornados as a kid. Should have taken it as a sign. I call my best friend on the way home from work to chit chat but she doesn't answer. I look up and swear to God I can see funnel clouds popping in and out of the clouds all around me. She finally calls me back. I'm driving on the backroads home from DIA (airport), takes me through farmland and generally unpopulated. I take it because I don't have to drive on the tollway, and I save about $10 that way. She tells me the tornado sirens are going off back in Parker. I lol, because we don't have tornado sirens, and she must be hearing Arapahoe County's sirens (they are next to us, Douglas County). I tell her I don't see shit, but if something forms I'll see it, because I'm on a huge hill that let's me see to the Platte Valley (where Denver is). Her husband calls and she switches over, and in the meantime, BA-BAM, funnel cloud turns in to tornado and starts to come down. Wind is picking up, rain is picking up, but I have to take a picture. I pull off in to a dirt-dirt road (I'm driving on a dirt road that has asphalt on it) and snap the picture. It looks far away, so I decide to try and make it to the main roads so I can get home. Anyways, turns out I'm east of the storm (but north), and it's going south-east. By the time I get close to the mainroad, the twister is probably no more than 5 miles away, and I can see the debris field it's generating. It was hailing too bad for me to take pictures then, but there was about 45 cars huddled under a bridge trying to ride it out. EDIT: Local news story, hit a mall that I drive by (E470 and Smokey Hill Rd) http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=117258&catid=339 First pic is the zoomed in version, and the second pic is the *FULL* version that I took.
Holy crap man, I'm glad you're ok. Awesome picture! Ever since I saw Twister as a kid, I've been scared of tornadoes.
who won? crazy stuff though man I have always been interested in weather and whatnot so that's pretty cool to me
Good grief. Still, at least you were the wacky good guy and got to survive. Did you see your rivals, dressed all in black, get consumed by it?
Car is too wet still and it's not bright enough to check for hail damage, but I got pelted on by just under golf-ball size hail for about 5 minutes or so. Some places near me got hit with baseball size hail.
Cool. Good thing it didn't get you. Also, you're luckly that you got to see a tornado in person. Ever since I saw the movie Twister, I've wanted to see a tornado in person. I'd also like to see the eye of a tornado.
you shouldve punched the gas and sped away going "WEEEEEEEEEE!" off topic you say? maybe. funny? thats for you to decide nice pics though
*monocle pops out* Egad! That makes British weather seem a trifle pale in comparison. I was going to say it's a shame you didn't have another person who could take a picture of you standing and staring defiantly at the weather, but it's probably best that you didn't.
A tornado dropped a tree on my house when I was 12. If the tree had fell a foot more to the right, I probably wouldn't be here.
I've always wanted to see a tornado in person. But numerous people have told me that I do not. I have a peculiar hatred for Denver International. Everytime I fly through there my travel plans get screwed.
