fritz Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 What does one sound like? Today around noon I heard a sound like a big diesel rig driving up to my house. I went out on the porch and looked around, but saw nothing but the heavy rain coming down from Emily. Then the sound diminished. Later I found out that there was a tornado about 6 miles to the south of me, and the entire county (as well as several other S. Texas counties) was under a tornado warning. That would explain it. I never heard if it did any damage, and when the rain subsided a bit, I went to the club to get a beer. As I left home, I noticed a dark cloud coming up from the south, and called mrs fritz (who is part of the emergency management team, and has constant radar contact) as to what was going on. She said that there was a tornado about 6 miles south of me, and since I was on the road already I should keep on driving. Luckily another tornado did not materalize. We have avoided the winds of Emily (who went ashore well to the south of us) but we are on the wet and tornado prone side of her. But the rain was surely welcome to the ranchers around here. We will have green grass again! Has anyone been close enough to a tornado to say what they sound like? I always heard that they sound like a freight train, but this one sounded like a big truck revving up. fritz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamprat Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 fritz, Here in Kansas a tornado is not all that uncommon. However the only one I have ever been close enough to hear almost took the roof off my house. We suffered broken windows and tree limbs through the roof. The sound was that of a train. I think was because the walls of the house were actually breathing. The continious change of pressure (caused by the circulation of the wind) actually made the walls sound like a train passing. I can understand how it may sound like a diesel as you are in the open and it was not directly above you. Glad to hear you missed the hurricane. Hope your grass grows long and tender so you may have bumper hay crop. Swamprat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Fritz, We've weathered a few twisters up our way here in East Texas. The last one I was aparty to knocked a big red oak over on my house, on my room! It was raining like hell and the wind was howling like mad. I was sitting in my room tying fishing flies and ignoring the upteenth thunderstorm to hit the area that year when all of a sudden the house started shaking a little from the wind which had kicked up harder. Amidst the chaos outside, I heard a snap, a whoosh, and a thud, and then I couldn't see out my window anymore due to the tree obscuring my view. Now I've always been told that a tornado sounds like a freight train sans the sirens - I believe that! I heard what sounded like a freight train passing the house. I found out later that a twister had tried to form in our little neighborhood, did some damage, but touched down about a half mile down the road and ripped up a couple houses and mobile homes. I'm told that we got off easy with 3 cords of wood and new roof. So in response to your question, yeah I think you could describe as a big diesel engine sound. Its definitely a big roaring noise. I'm glad it didn't hit your property - tornadoes make a bloody big mess! You wouldn't believe some of the storm damage I've seen riding around with my father, who is an electrical lineman, after one of these B A thunderstorms passes through. A bloody big mess! And how about all this rain? I bet the pastures are green and the cows fat! Things are perking up around here too. The guy across the street just got a cutting of hay and in a about four weeks, he'll be at it again if this rain holds like it has. You can almost watch the bahai grass grow! Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fritz Posted July 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Bahia grass! That stuff is fine in areas with a lot of annual rainfall, but it has been tried here and all it does is get about three inches tall (thick as hell though). When I was in the custom baling business, I had a newbie to our area ask me to come cut his hay. He had about 30 acres of bahia grass. I looked at it and told him it was not tall enough to cut with a hay cutter. He did not understand why it did not grow as tall in Goliad county as it did in Harris county. I told him that this was not Harris county, and anything west of the Colorado River was not going to get the rainfall of the Houston area. Bahia requires a lot of rainfall, and the county agents advise everyone not to plant it west of the Colorado. But I have seen one field make a very good cutting of hay, one year, then decline to a nuisance stage. Right now, since so many people around me planted the cheap seed (about 80 cents a pound at the time) it has spread into neighboring fields as a nuisance crop. It never gets tall enough to mow, but messes up a disc mower when you hit a spot of it. It is slowly taking over some coastal bermuda fields. All because some newbie from Houston decided that it should work. It didn't. fritz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCShooter Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Fritz, My wife and I were in Huntsville, AL, in 1974. I think they said that around 50 tornados went thru town that night. One of them took a dental lab down to the slab just across the street from us. It really does sound like a train. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emul8 Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 fritz -- I, being from Oklahoma, have way too much knowledge of what tornadoes are like...I used to live in Moore, OK, which is like the ultimate tornado magnet. The tornadoes would pass through our apartment complex and mess up everything at least a couple of times every spring. In my experience, tornadoes "roar"...just before they come on, it is dead silent and still all around, then the funnel comes down and as the tornado approaches, it roars mightily! I guess the sound could easily be likened to the sound of a big rig engine, or a train. And yes, the sound is much worse when it is 'amplified' in a house. I guess the sound created could be related to the size of the tornado...and there are all sizes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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