hit by mini-tornado

[dtvmcdonald]

Last night just after eating out for dinner, as rain approached with low clouds I walked into my apartment. Four seconds later (exactly) we were hit by a mini-tornado. I watched as one planter on my patio (I'm on the ground floor) fell over and the other plants were bent at 45 degree angles. Then it was over in about another 5 or so seconds. About two minutes later the warning sirens went off.

This morning I looked around. Our building had a about 20 square feet of roofing blown off and some side trim buckled, otherwise all is well. The three buildings to the west didn't do as well. Two had cupolos blown off and all three lost more roof tiles and siding than we did, nothing major. There is minor damage to some trees ... it would have been much worse but they had just been professionally pruned last month.

The thing hit a path about 100 yards wide going from SSW to NNE, which is the usual direction weather passes by her, including all tornados.

15 miles north the house of my best friend was also hit by a different one, but they suffered only damage to outdoor planters; nearby houses had the same minor damage as mine did.

I did not see the actual whirling, but others including the son of my best friend and one of our maintanence men who was outside (!) did.