I have been fascinated with tornadoes since I read “I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011” by Lauren Tarshis. 

I remember on a road trip writing my own “book” about being trapped in the Joplin tornado. It was two pages long.

Immediately after that, I started looking up tornado videos on YouTube, amazed by how big they can get and their rotation across land.

I know loving something so destructive is a bad thing, but I cannot help myself.

In my speech class, I did my informative speech about tornadoes.

All the information I was researching I felt like was just a refresher and that I could give this speech for hours.

I brought up the Andover tornado that came through in 2022, but I couldn’t talk about my obsession with seeing it.

I was up in Northeast Wichita by Aviate when I got to see it with my own eyes.

I was entranced.

My sister, who was 8 at the time, was crying and all I could do was think “this is the coolest thing I have ever seen.”

Watching it tear through the town was just so mesmerizing. 

Even though I couldn’t see the bottom of it, watching the funnel and the tornado growing bigger as it went on was a life goal.

That tornado was an EF-3, meaning it had wind speeds between 136 and 165 MPH based on the damage. It had an estimated high of 155 MPH.

Honestly, all meteorology has always interested me.

I love storms, ice and snow, tornadoes, tsunamis, just about anything that has to do with weather.

If I didn’t want to be a teacher, I would most definitely be a storm chaser or meteorologist. 

I might even storm chase or sit out and watch it for fun.

I don’t think I would want to live somewhere that doesn’t have tornadoes.