Tornados

So did anyone else see any of the Tornados on Friday?

I was stuck in traffic on Waxpool road near AOL when one touched down and started coming towards me. I was able to inch up and turn right on Loudoun County Parkway and it followed me! I turned left near an office building and it kept going up Loudoun County Pkwy. All of the trees in the middle of the road are ripped up and it hit several buildings.

Scarry stuff!

 

Was it this one?

http://photo.weather.com/interact/photogallery/9999/126/pic2.html

I saw all those trees down on loudoun county pkwy/beaumeade circle... pretty crazy! I'm glad they didn't hit any residential areas.

 

The tornado touched down on Beaumeade Circle. I work for Freddie Mac, and our building on Beaumeade was damaged. Luckily, nobody was injured. Three rooftop A/C units were dislodged. There was water damage, too.

 

Yes, we were driving down Waxpool headed towards Rt. 28 (right near MCI/Ice House). The sky got all weird and I saw the funnel coming right towards us. We pulled off the road for a bit and noticed it was still coming so we made a u-turn and hauled it back home. The blue flashes inside the funnel were creepy - think it was electrical(?) from the buildings it was zapping on Beaumeade?
Came home to no power so we went to San Vitos's with the rest of Broadlands.

 

Yeah, a good friend of mine works at AOL and they had some damage to a few building there (at 28 and Waxpool). She said it took out the security gate on her building.

The evil side of me does find some humor in the fact that it hit AOL. Maybe we could work on Microsoft next? Just kidding!

 

I saw this one when it was driving through Chantilly, before it went through the Dulles property and got to Beaumeade. It was followed by a smaller twister that looked remarkably like the long thin funnel in Wizard of Oz. The neighborhood it hit in Chantilly is still blocked off, with piles of street and yard trees chainsawed/stacked for several blocks at the curbs. (Older neighborhood, so many mature trees gone now.) Saw on the news last night the one in Ashburn was classified F2. Amazing no one was badly hurt!

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

a few of my friends at AOL took pictures of the funnel cloud as it pass through campus and right over one of the buildings ..... they're pretty amazing

 

Yes, thats the one! Thanks for posting a link to the picture! I was driving up Loudoun County Pkwy and it was about 300 yards behind me!!!!! I turned at the red brick building and it kept going!

marielaveau, can you send a copy of the pics from AOL or post them somewhere?

I was the only one stupid enoough to head up Loudoun County Pkwy - Scariest thing I have seen!

Glad no one got hurt

 

Thank god it missed Old Dominion Brewery!

 

Hi rlab,
unfortunatly they were sent to me via email and ya can't embed them on this forum.... but I can cut and paste the story to go along with the picts

Here are a few decent shots of the AOL Tornado Scare of 2004. (pics# 1, 2,3,4)
Followed by a few pics of the scare I had later going home. (pics# 5, 6)

As I was driving home and talking on my cell phone with my wife (trying to calm her down and get her in the basement because of tornado warnings in Frederick county), the weather gets progressively scarier with the clouds skimming the treetops and traveling super fast. She then hears on the TV that a tornado has been spotted and traveling through Brunswick, Maryland. "What was that...Brunswick!, I'm in Brunswick!" I respond. "F*&^#! " A few minutes later about 500 yards in front of me, a huge piece of metal comes screaming out of the trees, followed by debris. I drop the phone, slam on the brakes and throw the jeep in reverse. The d*** thing is right in front of me, crossing the road. The jeep is rocking, I'm cursing, and going in reverse at a speed that's not safe to go in reverse. Fortunately it was traveling across my path, not towards me.

So I lived through that. The next day coming into the office (Saturday work day), I drive by the site and see a path where this thing had come through the woods. On one side of the road, is the "huge" piece of metal I saw being batted around like a piece of paper. (pic # 5) On the other side of the road is this truck (pic#6), which could have been me given another 5 second difference in timing.

I drank several beers that night.

 

I'm sure someone would be willing to host them on a server.

 

I'll see if I can figure out how to get them "live"

 

I'd heard the opposite, that it did hit Dominion. Just an unfounded rumor?

 

I can host them in my blog if you email me them.

 

I have several domains I can post pictures on. Send me an email and I will load the pics for you...love to do it!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug

 

This is a me too. I was on the AOL campus and it struck the building I was in. I had always heard about the train sound of a tornado (I just noticed loudness), but I had never heard about your ears popping due to the major pressure change. That was what made me realize it was really there. Very scary.

--Joy

 

Hi all......
thanks for all the offers to host the picts. Unfortunately I will need a real email address because this email system doesn't allow you to upload picts (unless I am missing something). But I'll paint you a mental picture:
big black clouds
partially hidden funnel cloud
WIND
RAIN
overturned truck......