My little corner of Opera

Back in 1990, when the F-5 slammed into Plainfield (about 15-20 minutes south of Aurora) and tore up the high school like a house of cards, I was with my mother in North Aurora (just north of Aurora, as you could imagine) after being picked up from school (I was in grade school at the time, so don't laugh). She wasn't feeling so well and ended up falling ill, but even I remember seeing the skies turn jade green that afternoon. Fortunately for me, I didn't see any twisters in the area, and none were reported in Aurora that day (well, none that I can recall), but I'll never forget the color of the sky. It was bone chilling, almost like staring down the gaping maw of the hell-hound Cerberus itself.

Fast forward to 1999. I was living in North Aurora at the time, working at a local fast-food place (ironically, despite working fewer hours, I was bringing home more money every two weeks than at my previous job, so I didn't complain). That summer was hotter than normal, and when we did get rain, it was usually in the form of thunderstorms. Well, two of them (a few weeks apart of each other) spawned small tornadoes. One of which was nearly directly overhead my apartment building, and the other was off to my right (towards the river). They were small, and I could tell they weren't going to touch down. Sure enough, they dissipated.

I still thank God to this day for providing me with the first-hand demonstration of nature's power in that safe setting (and for not letting them touch down, because it would have been the end of North Aurora had they done so). Now in 2004 (or was it 2005?), I was living with my family (I fell on hard times) on the west side of Aurora. We were getting pounded really hard one night. My neighbor in the apartment building got ahold of me and asked me to take a look outside.

Bad idea. Directly ahead of me was a large wall cloud that spanned half the sky, with a large twister coming down right in the middle. It was slowly heading to the east-north-east, and I could tell that the wind was shearing it as it tried to reach the ground. I called 911, reported the twister, gave the dispatcher the approximate size (I'm talking at least a third of a mile for the funnel - upwards of a half mile or more for the wall cloud itself), heading and rate of rotation (as best I could tell, anyway), then told her that the funnel was being subjected to some pretty intense wind shear, and that it should be forwarded to the National Weather Service in Romeoville right away.

I found out afterword that I was one of only two people to see the twister before it was reported - the other being my neighbor at the time. Aurora fire and police tracked that beast halfway across town, straight down Galena Boulevard from WalMart (near Orchard Road) towards Lake Street (and downtown Aurora). From what I understand, it finally succumbed to the shear somewhere on the east side after crossing the Fox River.

I still wish I had a camcorder at the time to record it - it was HUGE, and I doubt anyone reading this even believes me anyway. Had that tornado touched down, the destruction would have been massive - I wouldn't be typing this, and Aurora would likely have been declareed a federal disaster area. Fortunately it didn't, despite getting about a third of the way to the ground.

Just something for you all to think about before reading the rest of the article I excerpted above: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/421684,2_1_AU10_TORNADO_S1.article