A Small Tornado

By Rob Watson

Everyone has seen the destruction done by large tornadoes. Whole towns, even significant parts of cities destroyed. The average tornado is 75 yards (meters) wide. An average of 55 touch down in State every year. Here I would like to show you the effects of a small tornado. This property belonged to my friend Charlie. This first view is of an equipment building that was blown down.

The august person in the center of this second photo is your humble correspondent. Notice that the large, full, grain bin in the background is undamaged as is the small empty one in the foreground.

The tornado bypassed these empty grain bins as well...

Here is a combine head for harvesting sunflowers... it is mostly undamaged.

 In the background is an undamaged animal barn.

Below, the large bin on the left was empty. The small one in the middle was used to store odds and ends.

Here, part of the roof of the equipment building rests in the shelter belt north of the place.

The rest of the roof landed about 200 yards (meters) north of the shelter belt.

The trail of this tornado wandered across a milo field for a few hundred yards before doing the damage seen in the pictures above. The corn in the foreground of this last picture shows it was still on the ground  a few dozen yards after the row of trees. Then, no doubt satisfied with itself, it lifted and went to that great thunder cloud in the sky.