Will do my best to help you out.

Michael: I was sitting south of 470 and Smoky Hill when I took the pictures. When tornado looked like it had lifted off the ground, I headed north. With more thought after writing account, I realized I continued PASSED Smoky Hill and up to Quincy. I could have gotten off on Smoky Hill, right by the mall. It was before Quincy I hit the hail. Most hail like that forms between the tornado and the storm. Where I took the pics on 470 was NOT in this part of the storm. Does this make sense? I really feel that the tornado passed very close to me on 470 and headed towards Southlands Mall, or I’m wondering if I went through it. I say this because even to our eyes, it can look like a tornado is NOT touching the ground when it still can be. It can be a clear funnel or aka a condensation funnel. We only “see” it and “see” it touching because of dust, dirt, debris, water etc, whatever it picks up. I remember passing Smoky Hill and hitting quick rain and some strong winds, then bam! hail starting falling. Also, whenever it touches the ground, it’s a tornado. When it doesn’t, its a funnel. I don’t think this one ever left contact with the ground for the 30 mins it was reported as on the ground. Again, I think there were times it looked like it did.

Anthony: Usually the NWS (National Weather Service) comes out in the following days to assess the damage to an area to apply an F-rating. Now it is now called an “EF” rating. It was modified a few years ago and is now called the Enhanced Fujita Scale. It has been updated to accurately reflect what type of damage the winds of a tornado can do. As for the same line of storms heading your way–certain ingredients have to be there in the atmosphere (instability, lift, winding blowing different directions at different heights in the atmosphere, temperatures, moisture among other things) for storms to form and then for tornadoes. By the time that moisture reaches you as plain old rain, or even thunderstorms, it’s taken on a whole new identity. Those same ingredients have to come together again to make the storm that forms a tornado.

I hope this helps both of you.

Brian, would you like to add/change/correct anything?

We were at the clubhouse in Aurora off of Powhatan (spelled wrong) road around 2:15 when we saw a funnel beginning to form. The place is right near Cherokee Trail High School. I decided to leave in my car to go back toward E-470 and I saw a 4×8 sheet of plywood fluttering through the air, on Arapahoe rd just past the high school. The funnel never reached the ground when I saw it. I drove east and parked at a gas station located at 470 and smokey hill. We got major hail, but I’m wondering if the tornado formed BEFORE or AFTER I saw the little funnel forming.