Was in the middle of a tornado in a little town in Eastern Montana. Was in a bar when the sirens went off and walked outside to see why the sirens went off. Right above me was this funnel poking down but the tail was 5 blocks to the south of me. I watched it for at least 15 minutes as it was stationary. 50 homes were damaged 17 destroyed, only two people were hurt and two horses killed. The Montana High School Rodeo Association was having the finals at the fair grounds Appx. 2-3 thousand in attendance and tons of very expensive horse trailers there. A base ball game was in progress 2 blocks away, In the same vicinity a golf tournament was going off. A large wedding reception at the lake side park in progress at the time also. Damn lucky there weren't more deaths. The tail of the tornado did go in the lake and it destroyed the tornado. I watched the funnel which was pure white and I could not see the middle of the tail as is it was like a clear tube but I could see the bottom of it because of the trash and when it hit the lake it looked like a water spout. I looked up at the funnel and it was weaving slowly back and forth as it destroyed houses but when it hit the water the funnel went parallel with the ground and dissipated. If it didn't hit the water it was heading directly down town which would have been a super disaster. It was a f3 170 mph. The worst tornado in Montana history.
