Tornado at the Point

First off, prayers and thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tornado(s) in the south.

With all of the reports around the U.S. about Tornadoes I can't help but think of a story from High School. One afternoon we all decided to go up for an afternoon of Raptor riding. It was a perfect afternoon, not too hot but a decent wind to keep things cool. As we started toward the Raptor it was a typical long line and people dressed like eachother with the matching shirts. We worked our way up to the top spot, ready to load into the shoulder harnesses. This is when things started to slow down. The group of us started to realize that we were alone. We looked behind us and the people that used to be standing there was quickly moving toward the stairs, apparently they were fearing the Raptor. However, the raptor wasn't the intimidator, we looked down over the railing to see a scene from King Kong. People were running and screaming like mad. They all had the same fearful look on their face as they turned their heads to look at the impending doom that was heading our way. In a slow motion turn, we all looked behind us back toward the coast of Cedar Point. Sure enough, barreling down at us was a very tall water tornado (spout). It wasn't playing around, it was heading right for us. With that unspoken "OH Sh#%" look we all took off down the stairs.

When we reached the bottom we started dipping and weaving in and out of people on our way to some kind of strong structure. The scariest part? As we ran past those picnic umbrella's they were being pulled into the sky like really big bottle rockets. The best part? We stopped and took the time to pose for a picture. The worst part? I don't remember who has those pictures. I remember Porter and I stopping and pointing at the Tornado, screaming faces in the background making the scene look almost unbelievable. We sprinted to our cars only to find out that there were 3 other water spouts making their way to the Point. Apparently water spouts love the magnum. Being 18 year old kids, we of course posed for more pictures with the spouts in the background. Below you will find the news report from that day.

We had fun with the situation, but there was defintely a real amount of fear there. I can't imagine the people of Alabama seeing the mile wide Tornado and the immense reality that it brings with it. Again, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in 'bama. Roll Tide.