75 Degrees In St. Louis On Nov 16Th

[Mitch f]

My only tornado story while fishing occurred in 2005 while fishing with Mark Dessieux, the owner of Adventure Outdoors outfitters on the Upper Meramec. We were actually fishing below the Meramec bridge on Hwy 44 at Route 66 park. We were at the second railroad bridge below Hwy 44 when we noticed a storm blowing in. The fishing was good that we didn't want to leave but the wind got so bad we absolutely had no choice. On the 2 mile ride back up stream, the wind was blowing my boat almost sideways and the rain started to pelt us very hard. Right as we got to the 44 bridge which is only a few hundred yards from the ramp, Mark pointed up to the sky, right in the middle of the river. As I looked up there was a tree branch that I swear was 20 ft. long absolutely suspended in mid air and not moving in any direction, just spinning in slow circles. After that we really busted hump toward the boat ramp!

[Gavin]

You never know when the Lorax puts the hit out on you.

[Old plug]

I have been real close to some but never under one. Any of you who have been out here at the lake know how big a 2 stall dock and ramp is. They run about 30x30 and up on the average. Any thing that can pick one of those up an fling it up in the yard often with maybe a 24ft pontoon and a run about in there is something to be respected. You were very Lucky Mitch. Sound like you about go swept up. Storms are scary for sure. When i went through my first Hurricane at sea we were taking blue ones over the bow. Ant the carrier had 65 ft of what we call free board.