What Do Tornado Skies Look Like?

Near the beginning of Twisters, a weather-station tour guide tells an innocent group of schoolchildren that Brooklyn had an F1 tornado two years prior. I don’t know which storm she’s referring to — I certainly don’t remember 100-mile-per-hour winds whipping through Boerum Hill — but if this really had happened, it would have probably been the closest I’ve ever come to witnessing a real-life tornado. I’ve lived in New York since I was 2 years old, so Twisters and its 1996 predecessor, Twister, two movies about righteous, hot tornado chasers, have left me feeling kind of left out of storm-adjacent culture, if such a thing exists. But just last week, there was a scary occurrence not too far from the city: Four tornadoes actually touched down in western New York, after Hurricane Beryl whipped through three upstate counties.

I am very fortunate to have never been at the mercy of this type of extreme weather, but thanks to the Twister franchise, my morbid curiosity has been piqued. As horrifying as these movies make tornadoes look, I have to admit that there seems to be something almost divinely fascinating about them. Surely I do not want to chase one, be chased by one, or exist anywhere in the vicinity of one, but I am wondering what it might be like to witness a real-life twister from afar. Is it as scary as it looks? Is it breathtakingly, terrifyingly beautiful, as Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt would have me believe? Or is it just normal, unpleasant weather?

Luckily, a few of my colleagues actually have an idea of what it’s like to witness a whirling column of air. They generously agreed to answer all the questions whipping around my tornado-noob brain.

Danielle Cohen, staff writer: Thank you guys for telling me, a woman who has never truly experienced wind or rain, everything I want to know about tornadoes. Can you all start by telling me where you grew up?

Danya Issawi, fashion news writer: Kansas 🫶

Brooke Marine, deputy culture editor: I usually tell people I’m from Philadelphia because I moved there at around age 10, and that’s where I went to middle and high school. But I have midwestern roots! Before my family moved to Pennsylvania, we moved around between Detroit, Naperville, and Ann Arbor.

Katja Vujić, writer: I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee!

Catherine Thompson, features editor: I grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts, which is decidedly not in Tornado Alley. But I was home from college working at the local Six Flags in the summer of 2011 when a freak, truly terrifying twister ripped through downtown.

Danielle: Eek! And how did everyone else experience tornadoes?

Danya: We were the brand of midwest family where my dad would make us go sit in the middle room of the house, or the basement, and then sometimes he’d just vibe out by the door watching.

Brooke: As a child, I remember hearing about many tornado warnings: There would be a blaring sound on the TV and the weather reports on the radio, and we went into the basement as a precaution a handful of times. You have to stay away from walls that are adjacent to the outside, doors, windows …

Katja: I have memories of blasting the radio while crouching in a tiny bathroom in the center of our house. We didn’t have a basement.

Danielle: Did you guys have tornado drills at school?

Brooke: Yes! We were taught to get into the tornado-drill position in the hallway, which is to face the wall, crouch down, cover your head (with a book if you have one), and brace for impact. Basically, you’re in a scrunched up child’s pose. We did those at least once a year in elementary school.

Danya: My worst nightmare was being in low-waisted jeans during a tornado drill.

Katja: At my elementary school the drills were in the hallway, and at my middle school they were in the stairwell along the stairs. Tornado drills were always a source of drama, in my experience. Not weather drama, just social drama.

Brooke: It was kind of fun, though, because you got out of class for 15 minutes. I had a uniform (Catholic school) so no low-rise fears here.

Katja: People would be passing around gum and notes.

Danielle: What happens during an actual, non-practice tornado?

Brooke: I have no memory of seeing one rip through the skies IRL, but you can hear the wind for sure.

Danya: The sky gets a weird color, and everything gets really fucking quiet, and then the wind picks up again.

Katja: I never witnessed one with my own eyes but definitely remember some creaky windy evenings in that bathroom.

Brooke: This is kind of weird, but I remember I could smell static sometimes. I think it was ozone that I was smelling?

Catherine: The sky was a sickening color, sort of yellow-green, where the clouds had this Exorcist-puke tinge to them.

Katja: I definitely remember the weird brown-gray light on tornado days.

Danielle: Okay, this sounds like a horror movie??? How were you notified about tornadoes pre-iPhone alerts?

Brooke: I am hearing the beep, beep, beep alarm in my head right now. Whatever you’re watching on TV just shuts off and they play this instead. Ah, memories …

Katja: That just awakened a feeling of nostalgic fear inside me.

Danielle: What if you don’t have your TV on?

Katja: They also had actual sirens in my area, so you could hear them blaring outside. The sirens were almost worse than the wind.

Danya: They’d test them at the beginning of every month, so at first you’d freak and then be like, Ah, it’s Wednesday.

Danielle: In Twister, they are always talking about how people get very little warning time when a tornado is coming, which is why they can be so scary. Did you ever experience that?

Katja: There’d be a tornado watch, like, days in advance as part of the meteorologist’s weather report.

Danya: Tornado watch meant conditions are prime for one to form, then when one was spotted you’d get a tornado warning. You can also look at the sky and kind of know, “Hmmm, yeah, this is giving tornado.”

Danielle: When it’s puke color?

Danya: Or sometimes a weird green-brown or faint pink. I loved tornado skies. So pretty. Sorry!

Katja: And great lighting for photos …

Danielle: What was the aftermath like?

Danya: Sometimes it’s devastating — my town has been damaged by tornadoes multiple times, and people in the community lose their homes — but other times it’s just some fallen tree branches and stop signs knocked over. My friend’s dad owned a tree-care service and he was always booked and busy.

Catherine: What struck me most was how clearly you could see the tornado’s path. There were buildings reduced to piles of wood right next to buildings standing intact.

Danielle: What was the vibe around tornadoes where you guys grew up — was everyone really scared of them or kind of laid back?

Danya: People in Kansas, despite multiple tragedies befalling the state tornado-wise, are very casual about them. My boyfriend’s parents in Wichita once sent him a video from their porch of a tornado ripping through stuff in the distance. I was like, Hey, okay, so what if you went INSIDE?

Katja: I don’t remember being super scared of them — more annoyed that I had to spend hours cramped in a tiny bathroom with nothing to do. It was a pretty normal part of life.