Patrolling the house is Elmyra ( who walks around, and will speed up if Babs is in sight ), Dizzy Devil ( who stands in place unless tornado spinning, moves quickly ) and Arnold the Pitbull ( walks around slowly, generally the least menacing ).

Severe weather is uncommon in the Chicago area, though there have been some exceptions such as the F4 tornado that devastated the south side of the city on April 21, 1967.

* 1966 – Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an " F5 " on the Fujita Scale: the first to exceed US $ 100 million in damages.

* 1986 – A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.

Audubon writes that while on horseback he believed the distant rumbling to be that of a tornado, “ but the animal knew better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of going faster, so nearly stopped that I remarked he placed one foot after another on the ground with as much precaution as if walking on a smooth piece of ice.

In 2007, on 22 and 23 June, numerous tornadoes touched down, the largest of which was an F5 Tornado that devastated parts of Elie ( the strongest officially recorded tornado in Canada ).

* 1926 – The deadliest November tornado outbreak in U. S. history strikes on Thanksgiving day.

In a typical year, Ontario averages 15 confirmed tornado touchdowns, where more are reported in the Windsor-Essex-Chatham Kent area, though many are seldom destructive ( the majority between F0 to F2 on the Fujita scale ) and only few are stronger and very destructive.

An F2 tornado entered city limits on June 2, 1998.

A rare tornado on June 12, 2012 seen from a window of the Venice Marco Polo Airport

** A tornado on the Detroit River kills 17.

* August 28 – The Plainfield Tornado ( F5 on the Fujita scale ) strikes the towns of Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 29 people ( the strongest tornado to date to strike the Chicago Metropolitan Area ).

** Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an " F5 " on the Fujita Scale, the first to exceed US $ 100 million in damages.

* July 21 – Eleven support towers on Kinzua Bridge collapse after being hit by an F-1 tornado.

The town was said to have appeared to have been swept up by a tornado on Earth, and brought to Mars.

A tornado that affected Hallam, Nebraska on May 22, 2004, was up to wide at the ground.

This area would be clear ( possibly full of dust ), have relatively light winds, and be very dark, since the light would be blocked by swirling debris on the outside of the tornado.

Tornadoes also produce a detectable seismic signature, and research continues on isolating it and understanding the process .< ref name =" tornado seismic signal ">

Usually, the funnel cloud begins causing damage on the ground ( becoming a tornado ) within a few minutes of the RFD reaching the ground.

A multiple-vortex 1957 Dallas Tornado Outbreak | tornado outside Dallas, Texas on April 2, 1957.

The EF Scale was designed so that a tornado rated on the Fujita scale would receive the same numerical rating, and was implemented starting in the United States in 2007.

Path of a tornado across Wisconsin on August 21, 1857

Before the 1950s, the only method of detecting a tornado was by someone seeing it on the ground.

Some meteorological situations leading to tornadogenesis are not readily detectable by radar and on occasion tornado development may occur more quickly than radar can complete a scan and send the batch of data.

* 1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.

* 1990 – The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.

* 1953 – Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A tornado hits Flint, Michigan, and kills 115.

* 1953 – Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: a tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts killing 94.

* 1953 – The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak: an F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.

* 1970 – The Lubbock Tornado, a F5 tornado, hits Lubbock, Texas, killing 26 and causing $ 250 million in damage.

* 1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

* May 27 – The second-deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people.

* April 5 – A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 216 and injuring over 700 ( the 4th deadliest tornado in U. S. history ).

The smaller tornado hits north Gainsville, the stronger tornado the west side of town.

* March 28 – The 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak hits the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.

* June 29 – A Level 5 tornado hits Woldegk, Germany.

** Lubbock Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Lubbock, Texas, the first to hit a downtown district of a major city since Topeka, Kansas in 1966 ; 28 are killed.

** A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people ( the most notable of 26 tornadoes that day ).

* May 11 – The Waco tornado outbreak: A F5 tornado hits in the downtown section of Waco, Texas, killing 114.

** Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts, killing 94.

It was featured in the 1996 blockbuster film Twister starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in which Wakita was destroyed by an F4 tornado that was part of a storm system later spawning an F5 tornado.

There are some orchestrated tracks that were in the movie but were not released on the orchestral score, most notably the orchestrated intro to Humans Being from when Jo's team left Wakita to chase the Hailstorm Hill tornado.