I wouldn't ordinarily shove upon you my love affair with the weather, but for this, I'll make an exception. These videos show an up-close look down the throat of the beast.

Video #1 is from Parkersburg, Iowa; a bank ATM shows a house across the street being ripped apart. The massive wedge tornado can be seen racing into the picture from the left. When we consider that the tornado was half a mile wide, the camera shows merely the onset of the fury.
I could be mistaken, but I think this is the only video, in such intimate detail, of an EF-5 tornado's wrath. (EF-5 = a maximum tornado of incredible strength, whose winds may approach 318MPH (509KPH)) http://youtube.com/watch?v=BiHJ5J7ulOU

Video #2 is from inside the aforementioned bank. Poor, poor bank. Luckily, it was closed and no one was in it. Again, I can't recall a like video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=v5KI63L22UU

Oh my goodness. I won't be able to sleep for a week! That was some amazing footage. I really do feel sorry for the owners of the house and bank - they'd better have some great insurance!

By the way, I have a good friend who is also infatuated by weather and all things pertaining thereof, except I think she's just a little nuts. She scares the socks off of me when she regales me with all of these stories of her standing outside her house with a camera, just waiting for the tornado twisting above her to touch down so she can get some good footage of said phenomenon. Thankfully, one never has. She also runs outside during our severe Texas thunderstorms to get pictures of the wildly tangled flashes of lightning that strike with insane rapidity. That's just asking for it, I'm telling you! I'm surprised she isn't dead ten times already. The only reason this girl and I get along is because we make a mean piano duet! (Well, sometimes. )

You're not quite this crazy, I'm sure.

During Hurricane Lili in 2002, I discovered by no accident that it is impossible to stand up in 100mph wind.

The worst experience I ever had with weather was during one of my long runs; I was out amongst the newly harvested sugar cane fields, I was one of the taller objects for miles around. A thunderstorm popped up right over me and proceeded to hurl lightning at me. A particularly near bolt landed less than 100m away. Incidentally, I ran my first sub-4:30 minute mile right then.

Surely, at that speed, the lightning couldn't catch up with you.

Seriously, if you were the tallest thing for miles, you are extremely lucky to be alive... Though I understand being hit by lightning is not always fatal.

of course, it's sure to be an electrifying experience!

sorry, I just couldn't resist.

That was really close! Yes, you are very fortunate to still be in the land of the living. The experience makes a interesting story now, though! And enjoying hurricane breezes must be a guy thing - when my dad was around my age he and some of his college cohorts frolicked in the wind during a hurricane (I'm not sure which one). I am too much of a scaredy-cat to do such a thing, I’m afraid - too bad, because he said it was great fun at the time (ahem, until his mother found out).

Yes, it's a guy thing. This a long story...

I was on the leeward side of a brick facade during the height of the storm (Hurricane Lili) I really tried to venture into the 100mph wind (it was probably gusting to about 110), I could get one leg into the wind but that was it; had I rushed out into it, I would have been carried along the ground like a ping-pong ball. It was so strong, it untied my shoes. While I was outside, the tool shed (which was downwind) just flew apart; an outboard motor was carried 200 feet into the neighbor's fence. Our other neighbor's large pine trees were all snapped mid-trunk, hence my estimate of 100mph. Our roof was stripped bare of tiles and part of the understructure was damaged.

This is exactly what I saw, (it's a guy thing) This guy is crazy. Footage of Lili 20 miles from my location. http://youtube.com/watch?v=9EYfCWDGlN4

However, had the storm been this intense, guy or not, I don't think I'd have been outside!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H9VpwmtnOZc&feature=related

Wow, that video of Lili was nothing short of amazing! Highly educational too. I haven't been in a hurricane myself (the closest I ever came was when tropical depression Allison came through, and all it did was dump water on our heads for a week), and now I'm really sure I don't ever want to. Glad hurricanes don't usually bother the DFW area (oh, but then we've got tornadoes - plenty of them - and the other videos you posted left me with the impression I don't want to be in one of those either). Seeing the roof of a building being peeled off like one would peel an orange is a scary demonstration of the tremendous power of such a storm.

And whoever filmed the last video had indeed lost his mind; he could have gotten halved by some of that sheet metal roofing flying around like everyday litter! He seemed to dodge death on several occasions, actually. I agree - I would have been inside and huddled in a nervous ball in the most obscure corner I could find!

Yes, the difference between the first video, a category 2 with winds of 105 (Lili) and the second video, clearly category 4-5 winds, 130-160mph, is an order of magnitude. One picks up carports, the other picks up cars.

Not sure what's going on lately with tornadoes intersecting rolling cameras, but here's another one. This time they're in a freakin' car...talk about lucky to be alive!

Tornado goes over storm-chase-vehicle.
http://acadiana.cox.net/cci/apvideo/061 ... _x040b.wmv

May I just second your statement that those guys were extremely fortunate to still be breathing! Those normally calm and collected storm-chasers lost that cool veneer really quickly, and, believe me, I would have too. What an amazing video! I will have to show that one to my weather friend the next time she traipses over to my place.