steph said:
I agree w/Knox--hey since you mentioned it, I guess it's not off topic--Perry, how realistic was "Twister"? I know we loved watching it but here in Cali, all you have to fear natural diaster-wise is earthquakes...
XOXO
Twister was a very entertaining movie with awesome special effects, totally thrilling; and I've always been a fan of both Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt......but honestly, the movie was a joke (as pertaining to reality, especially storm chasing). Tornadoes don't normally move that slowly (in the movie it seemed the tornado took 10 minutes to pass). I was in a tornado in 1974 that badly damaged our home here in Georgia....it hit and was over in less than 40 seconds. It only took a few seconds to destroy what it later took weeks to rebuild. The average severe tornado in the southeast U.S. moves at a forward speed of 50 mph or more....why they are so very dangerous, especially at night. If the tornadoes in "Twister" had behaved as in nature, a lot of those folks at that obliterated drive in movie would have perished
🙁
Also, no storm chaser in his or her right mind would ever take chances like "Jo" and "Bill" did.....not unless they had a death wish (I try to stay at least two miles from the tornado, and to the south or southeast of the tornado -- or wall cloud, what the tornado drops from --at a right angle of the direction the twister is moving, which is usually toward the northeast in Georgia and Alabama).
I do see a striking similarity between myself and Helen Hunt's character (Jo) in that movie. When you are in a tornado and survive, either one of two things happens afterwords:
1) you become totally terrorized of thunderstorms and tornadoes, to the point it paralyzes you with fear. I've seen Becky cry during tornado watches.....stepsis Maria leaves home and goes to a relatives home when severe storms approach...somehow she feels safer around others. My mom was the same way. One reason Becky enjoys living in the Pacific Northwest -- she doesn't have to deal with tornadoes and the fear they cause her...as she did here, or when she lived in Mississippi.
2) OR it makes you defiant....you want to learn everything you can about the spinning monster, know what it is, why it occurs; and how to survive and help others survive.....that's what I did. That tornado when I was 12 is why I'm a Skywarn spotter today; why I've chased tornadoes, and why every time a tornado watch is issued for this area, I feel an adrenalin rush similar to a skydiver. It's another opportunity for me to challenge the monster....look it in the eye and let it know I'm not afraid, and it's never going to frighten me again.
🙂
