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Discussion » Questions » Weather » What was the absolute worst weather you’ve ever endured? For me, it was the freezing temperatures of South Korea during field maneuvers.

What was the absolute worst weather you’ve ever endured? For me, it was the freezing temperatures of South Korea during field maneuvers.

I’ve also been through a tornado in the Midwest United States, monsoon rains in Okinawa and in The Philippines, arid desert heat, sandstorms, and a typhoon at sea. South Korea topped them all. We had to learn to adapt and survive outdoors using just the equipment we had at hand and nature to build temporary shelters, but we also had to keep on the move either on the offensive or to keep from presenting a stationary target to the enemy. 
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Posted - June 19, 2023

Responses


  • 3707
    I've been exposed to three horrid weather conditions in my driving career.  The first was in a taxi going from the Amtrak station in Buffalo to the hotel downtown.  The fog was so thick, you couldn't see your finger in front of your face and it was a white-knuckle ride all the way.  We asked the driver how he managed to drive under those conditions and he said that it was like that very frequently and you learn to deal with it.  

    The second was my driving back home from Long Island after a Christmas dinner with my family.  None of us looked out the window the entire time we were there and when we left and hot outside, there were 6+ inches of snow on the ground.  I had never driven in that much snow before, so I was nervous and drivers were very mindful of the conditions and were driving very carefully.  The worst part of the ride was that I had my parent and my sister's mother-in-law in the car with me.  Needless to say, there was plenty of "backseat" driving.  I couldn't wait for them to get out of the car.

    The third was driving back from Virginia to Pennsylvania after my niece's college graduation.  The snow was coming down in sheets and blowing towards the car.  The wipers couldn't get the snow off the windshield fast enough and my brother-in-law refused to pull into a motel to wait it out until the snow let up.  You want to talk about nerve-wracking!  We were on a major highway and the semi trucks were passing us as though the sun was out and the road clear.  I don't think we went more than 15 mph because you couldn't see the taillights of the car in front of you.  

    Everyone shivers when I tell them I've done a skydive, but I felt safer doing that than any of the other three situations I just mentioned.
      June 19, 2023 3:59 PM MDT
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  • 53509

     

      Thank you. Have you endured severe weather in situations other than driving-related?
    ~

      June 19, 2023 4:05 PM MDT
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  • 3707
    Well, we've had a couple of nor'easters over the years, but I stayed home from work during them so I was safe.  We've had some major snowstorms where everything was closed for a couple of days and we did have Hurricane Sandy which did some real damage to the Long Island Coast, flooding of our subway system, downed trees, etc., but for the most part, the northeast is not subjected to the severe weather issues in other parts of the country.
      June 19, 2023 5:20 PM MDT
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  • 53509

     

    Thank you again.
    ~

      June 19, 2023 6:32 PM MDT
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  • 11002
    The experiences of driving in the snow are all too familiar. 
      June 19, 2023 8:40 PM MDT
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  • 3707
    I don't do it unless I absolutely must.  I am concerned more about other drivers not being careful than I am about my own driving.  People who drive SUVs think their cars are impervious to ice.
      June 19, 2023 8:46 PM MDT
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  • 844
    Yes, being raised in the northeast, I've driven through many a blizzard. I remember one back in the nineties, I had to pick up my mother who had made an emergency visit to the hospital. Two gray haired ladies in a boring, boxy, beige '81 Chevy Malibu. 

    When I stopped at a light, an SUV with two young guys stopped in the lane to my right. We both waited for the green. When the light changed, I accelerated as my mother had taught me, barely touching the gas pedal. By the time I got to the next intersection I looked back. There was the SUV, still spinning his wheels at the traffic light. We laughed all the way to the next light. This post was edited by NYAD at June 20, 2023 6:32 AM MDT
      June 19, 2023 9:52 PM MDT
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  • 3068
    Not reading through rest of your post,
    Worst weather I saw, hopefully it wasn't really a tornado, but a really heavy rain with some tremendous windy that I remembered,
    then didn't have any power for about a week after that!
      June 19, 2023 4:10 PM MDT
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  • 53509

     

      That’s fair: I bypass all of your posts.

     

    ~

      June 19, 2023 8:16 PM MDT
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  • 3068
    Oh-Really Great, Randy D !!!!
      June 20, 2023 4:28 PM MDT
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  • 5451
    The first one was the tornado on the 12th of May of last year.  The second one was the tornado on Memorial Day of last year, so basically back-to-back tornadoes.  Those were the only two times in my life where I had to go to the storm shelter.

    The 12th of May tornado hit the town to the west of my town, passed north of my town, then hit the town to the northeast of my town before it crossed into Minnesota.

    The Memorial Day tornado was moving toward my town but it dissipated just before reaching it.
      June 19, 2023 4:44 PM MDT
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  • 2999
    That sounds scary.
      June 19, 2023 5:27 PM MDT
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  • 2999
    I've had a few in my lifetime. While a fairly new resident of Dallas Texas, I had just started a new job which involved a lot of driving.  It was around noon and the sky suddenly went dark, not black but a dark green.  Many clouds were in the sky and the air was ominously still and quiet.  The sirens began sounding so I called my office, didn't really know what to do.  The person who answered said " I don't know what you are going to do but we are all in the basement on the south wall, a tornado is coming, go to the nearest 7-11 one get into their cooler."  I did just that, a tornado, a good distance away, passed by.  Very scary, after the all clear I was amazed at how quickly everything returned to normal, like nothing had happened.  I was shaken for a while. 
      June 19, 2023 5:37 PM MDT
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  • 34269
    Yep, green sky is tornando sky. This post was edited by my2cents at June 19, 2023 7:30 PM MDT
      June 19, 2023 6:19 PM MDT
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  • 3068
    Do you know why the tornado make the sky green
    (maybe not really full green, but just partially green/just greenish?)
    Then maybe if the sky looks green is when you know if it really be the tornado there
      June 19, 2023 7:08 PM MDT
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  • 10637
    "Worst weather" is subjective.  I enjoy all kinds of weather.  If there are strong winds, I'm right out there enjoying them (unfortunately, this area is not very conducive to tornadoes).  Same goes for thunderstorms (I would have loved to have been a storm chaser in my younger days).  We just had epic snows that crippled a good portion of the area - and I thought they were neat (even without electricity).  Ok, I wasn't fond of the 115+ degree temperatures, but it was still neat. 
      June 19, 2023 5:53 PM MDT
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  • 44608
    Cyclone in the Indian Ocean. Much damage to the ship. I thought it was fun.
      June 19, 2023 7:32 PM MDT
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  • 11002
    I was indoors and safe and dry in an upper floor apartment, but in 1987 we had slow moving storm that produced several tornadoes and brought 10 inches of rain in 8 hours.  I had been in the underground garage around 9 pm during a tornado warning and it was completely dry. A couple hours later, after seeing that a nearby shopping mall had flooded, I decided to check the garage again. All the cars were bobbing around in several feet of water. Across the metro area, streets were completely flooded and people abandoned their cars. Basements flooded and some houses collapsed. Sewers and drainage ponds just couldn't cope with the amount of water. The next few days the temperatures were over 100F, my car was a total loss, and there wasn't a rental car to be had. 

      June 19, 2023 8:37 PM MDT
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  • 53509

     

    ~

      June 19, 2023 9:13 PM MDT
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  • 44608
    We had an EF2 come through and trash our North End last Thursday. Lots of damage but nobody hurt.
      June 20, 2023 8:55 AM MDT
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  • 844
    I've been very lucky, blizzards are about the worst that I've had to deal with. The most difficult thing about storms (rain or snow) in the northeast are when the electricity goes out. That's not usually dangerous, just annoying.
      June 19, 2023 10:12 PM MDT
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