:but having grown up in Indianapolis, I
: certainly am familiar with severe storms and tornados
Yeah, I grew up an our and a half northwest of Indy. A few years ago a major tornado ripped through the southern part of the city, not even a mile from my brother's house. When driving on I-65 you could definitely tell where the funnel's path was....trees, trees, trees, NOTHING, trees, trees, trees.
Luckily tornados and blizzards have been the only life-threatening severe weather I've experienced. The worst always seemed to be during those night track meets. We had many cancelled or postponed due to tornados touching down close by. And when you're running. you can really feel it when a severe weathre front rolls in; I was almost knocked over in one of my races when a giant gust of wind swept over the fields; shortly after the police came and told us to get inside. But I agree with Steve, mankind is our worst enemy, nature doesn't have spite.