Date: August 26, 2008
Time: 2:56 P.M.
Place: Clemson, SC
Camera: None (much to my chagrin)
Warnings: Tornado Warning
Rating: S5

The day you're born, the day you die, the day you see your first tornado. All important days in anybody's life. For me, today was one of those days. The remnants of tropical storm Fay moved through South Carolina today. As with any tropical system, there's always the possibility of tornados. But honestly, I never in a million years thought this would be the day I would finally see one.

Tornado sirens went off around 2:30. I was between classes and decided to go up to the top of Martin Hall and have a look around. Low grey clouds were flying past, as is typical for tropical systems. It was pretty neat looking, but not that big a deal. I was just about to go back in when I made one last look on the other side of the building. There was definitely something different there. Clouds were darker and lowered. Still, I wasn't expecting to see anything. But as I watched, within about 30 seconds, I began to notice rotation. Still I wasn't convinced it was anything real. Within another 15 seconds, though, all doubt was removed. I was looking at a real live TOG! It was pretty ragged, there was no classic funnel, but there was enough condensation to show clear rotation on the ground. And of course, I didn't have a camera.

I ducked in for a second and told people if they wanted to see a tornado, now was their chance. We all watched from the balcony for about 2 minutes as the tornado moved from south to north just half a mile to our east! Even though it was so close, I wasn't able to hear it clearly. The most spectacular moment came as it passed the stadium and lifted several huge tree branches into the air. I won't lie, people cheered.

After it passed I ran out to check the damage. I was really nervous about my car, as it was very close to the tornado's path. It was fine, but not by much. I drove around, saw lots of trees down, called people and told them how amazing it was. Finally, after all these years of watching storms and after missing the big event in downtown Nashville on April 16, 1998, (seriously that has killed me for years), I have finally seen a tornado.

Note that none of the photos below are mine. I just gathered them up to remember the event. The video is very close to my location and shows exactly what I saw. Though I was watching it for a at least 2 minutes before the video starts.