6-6-06 Wisconsin tornados

wxnut · Jun 7, 2006

Chased some MEAN looking tornados in Wisconsin yesterday. So far no reports of injuries, and only one house with the roof ripped off, so given the magnitude of the event, we are pretty lucky.

Well anyway, here are a couple pictures...

This was 2 miles SE of Wisconsin Dells. Its about a mile or 2 in front of me.
(Doesnt look like it cause I have my 14mm lens on.) (The picture is also
cropped.)

Then around the Portage area, just sw of it actually I saw a wedge tornado. This was coming right at me. I wasnt able to stay long before I had to move on.

Here it is closer. Soon after this picture, as I was scooping up the
cameras, you could hear the roar, and the wind really picked up from the
west (left side of screen)

And now for the oddity of the chase... Its 6-6-06 and my odometer read
666 the whole chase. I have 166,6xx.x miles on my van, so for one
hundred miles during the heat of the chase it read 666. \m/

Doug Raflik
wxnut@charter.net

terri · Jun 7, 2006

Good GOD!!! The top image alone would have been enough to make me turn and run screaming! :shock: :lol:

I don't know how you do it, Doug. WOW!

Second and third are wild looking. :thumbup: Great stuff.

Big Mike · Jun 7, 2006

Awesome shots....that takes some stones.

Corry · Jun 7, 2006

I heard there were 13 or 14 tornados spotted last night....10 of which were in Wisconsin? Is that right? Great, now I can't remember the numbers they said on the news! :lol:

Anyway...great shots as always. I love seeing your extreme weather shots, even if they do give me nightmares! (oh, the pleasures of living in Illinois...literally, I really have had nightmares about tornadoes on numerous occasions, as recently as last summer).

Mind if I ask what a wedge tornado is?

wxnut · Jun 7, 2006

core_17 said:
I heard there were 13 or 14 tornados spotted last night....10 of which were in Wisconsin? Is that right?

That was the initial report. Some of those were reported twice. For instance, there was a report at 7pm, 7 miles north west of Portage, and there was a report at 7:02 pm 5 miles south east of Wisconsin Dells. Looking at a map that is the same place, so those 2 reports of tornados is really only one tornado.

core_17 said:
Mind if I ask what a wedge tornado is?

A wedge tornado is one whose width is larger than its height. It is the kind most sought after by chasers, but not me. I like a nice long, smooth cone tornado. They look better in pictures.

Doug

KenCo · Jun 7, 2006

Awesome stuff, I know they are very destructive but seeing photo's like these is really amazing. Would love to see something like this first hand, unfortunately we don't get many in the uk and none where I am.....I suppose I have to be thankful really.

Corry · Jun 7, 2006

wxnut said:
A wedge tornado is one whose width is larger than its height. It is the kind most sought after by chasers, but not me. I like a nice long, smooth cone tornado. They look better in pictures.

Doug

That kinda tornado sounds scaaaaaary. Thanks for the info! I have a new type of tornado to have nightmares about!

Canoncan · Jun 7, 2006

Nice shots.

AirVenture · Jun 7, 2006

You guys get all the fun up there. We never see tornados down here in Southwest WI. They always goes either north or south of here. Which I guess is a good thing, but I'm a trained weather spotter and haven't had a chance to spot anything!

-Brett

gigo567 · Jun 7, 2006

Wow, thats crazy.

AIRIC · Jun 7, 2006

Wow! Would love to spend some time chasing these. There is just something about extreme weather that attracts me.

Eric

WNK · Jun 7, 2006

Holy cow! Here in Milwaukee we had some storms, but NOTHING like that! Wow! Nice work!

ClarkKent · Jun 8, 2006

NIcely done. I wish I could have been there with my cameras. I love storms

zedin · Jun 8, 2006

Nice shots. I am jealous. I lived in Oklahoma for 11 years and never got to see one

even when I tried to chase some down my last year there when I knew I was leaving. Its just like all this time living in CA and never felt an earthquake. I have the worst luck.