tornado touches ground! When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I was riding with my mother in West Hollywood. A fierce storm suddenly came up, wind was howling around the car, and Mom was getting scared. Suddenly an aluminum porch chair came zooming by, narrowly missing us, and the car began bucking, as tree leaves and sand began hitting us. We got through it all right - I seem to remember the weather changed to bright sunshine by the time we got home, about 4 miles away. The local newspaper later reported that the West Hollywood storm was deemed a tornado by the weather department - albeit a "small" one. That's my only encounter with a twister but it's enough to last me for a lifetime.