Nine days ago, Nebraska got hit with a mammoth tornado. An F-4 tornado. A tornado which was 2.5 miles wide at one point. A tornado that enveloped the entire town of Hallam. (Here is the evidence.)

The amazing thing about tornados is the unreal stories which they leave behind. A piece of straw piercing a wheel rim. One house ripped from its foundation while the home next door is untouched. A farmer finding his cows wandering in circles miles away from his own pasture. And stories like these:

The tornado was unlike anything Ken Dewey has seen. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln climatologist, Dewey ranks as the dean of Nebraska tornado experts. He has been chasing twisters for 25 years.

"This town is gone; there is no other way to describe it," Dewey said. "There are only five homes where people can go on with life as normal.

"At one moment in time, every last building in that town was inside the tornado."

One home, Dewey said, was picked up and smashed down on its side, spitting out everything, including a woman who had been inside.

"She was popped out and was sitting underneath her dining room table when everything else came flying out. The washer machine landed on top of the table."

Fortunately, she was unharmed.

I think I would like to know where she got that table. Sounds like a worthwhile investment.