Tornados and Severe Storms
by Frederick C. Kruse III - Fritz
Welcome to my
Tornados and Severe Storms homepage. I grew up in Baraboo, a very
small town in
southern Wisconsin, and tornados were in my blood from birth. I
was born in Madison, Wisconsin and my parents, first day from the
hospital, took me for a ride around the State Capitol during a
thunderstorm, my first chase. As I was growing up, my dad and my
uncle would always talk thunderstorms and tornados, and they had many
discussions on the causes of tornados, anywhere from lightning to
Earth's magnetic fields. My favorite movie was the "Wizard of Oz"
with the tornado scene. Every time there was a severe
thunderstorm, my dad would wake us 4 kids to take the whole family
out of the house and watch the storms from a hill; even at 4 o'clock in
the morning. Part of the reason was for protection, we did not
have a basement, and the other was to watch lightning and
tornados. On 8 May 1964 during a family outing to Adams
Friendship, Wisconsin, we witnessed the first tornado. My mom was
looking to the west and said to my dad, "that looks like a
tornado!" My dad remarked that these were just "hangers".
Hangers was a slang
term we used to describe any scud
clouds or hanging 
down funnel like clouds under a
severe
thunderstorm. One of these "hangers" quickly became a tornado and
was coming for us. Immediately the sky turned a sickly dark, and
my dad pulled the Vista Cruiser over to the side of the road. It
was so windy, with torrential rain, and darkness you could not see in
front of you. My dad tried to open the door to take a look, but
the wind was so strong he had to use all of
his force to open it.
Quickly he said to us kids in the back, "Get down on the floor" and
seconds later a large tree fell down in back of the car, and the car
started to rock in the winds. Maybe a minute passed and the sky
turned blue again. A few miles down the road, there were twisted
trees and only a foundation of a house. Later I asked my
dad, "What was that!" and he said, "That was a tornado." Then,
after
almost nearly being killed by a tornado, my curiosity peaked, I asked
him how tornados form. He said, "No one really knows exactly
how they form and why." He told me to go to the library and check
some books on Tornados. The very next day I brought home as many
books as I could carry on severe storms and tornados, and I could not
put them down. I
was glued to every bit of information and trying to glean every tidbit
of understanding. This led to a Degree in Meteorology from the
University of Wisconsin and a career in the National Weather Service
with
a
strong desire to understand the exact causes of the tornado and to try
to save some lives.
Tornadic Storm Chases and Pictures
Windthorst KS - 7 May 2002 | Dalhart TX - 15 May 2003 | Shattuck OK - 21 April 2004
Medicine Lodge KS - 12 May 2004 | Alma NE - 22 May 2004
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Kruse III - Fritz
