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A tornado can be a mile wide?? Is that the truth???

Yes. The Tri-State Tornado of 1925.

NOAA/NWS 1925 Tri-State Tornado Web Site--Startling Statistics

On March 18, 1925, the Great Tri-State Tornado tore across Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Southwest Indiana. With its rapid movement, monstrous size, and long track, the tornado took hundreds of lives and injured thousands. By all means, the Tri-State Tornado was a rare event—an event that few people will ever experience in their lifetime. To give you some idea of this tornado’s magnitude, this section is devoted to a list of incredible statistics on the tornado.

3 states affected (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana)

13 counties affected, including:

Missouri: Reynolds, Iron, Madison, Bollinger, Perry
Illinois: Jackson, Williamson, Franklin, Hamilton, White
Indiana: Posey, Gibson, Pike

19+ communities affected, including:

Missouri: Ellington, Redford, Leadanna, Annapolis, Cornwall, Biehle, Frohna
Illinois: Gorham, Murphysboro, De Soto, Hurst-Bush, Zeigler, West Frankfort, Eighteen, Parrish, Crossville
Indiana: Griffin, Owensville, Princeton

219 mile path length

¾ mile average path width (some accounts of 1 mile wide—a record width)

3 ½ hours of continuous devastation

1:01 p.m.—tornado touched down 3 miles NNW of Ellington, Missouri

4:30 p.m.—tornado dissipated about 3 miles SW of Petersburg, Indiana

N 69° E heading maintained for 183 of the 219 miles

62 mph average speed

73 mph record speed between Gorham & Murphysboro

F5 tornado on the Fujita Scale, with winds perhaps in excess of 300 mph

28.87" lowest pressure measured on a barograph trace at the Old Ben Coal Mine in West Frankfort, Illinois

695 deaths—a record for a single tornado

234 deaths in Murphysboro—a record for a single community from such a disaster

33 deaths at the De Soto school—a record for such a storm (only bombings and gas explosions have taken higher school tolls)

2,027 injuries

15,000 homes destroyed

With the technology that the Okc weather stations have, it is foolish to sit in your house and take shelter. We usually have at least a half hour warning of a rotation or "hook echo". If it looks like it might get close to us, we head south.

We knew for 2 hours that the May 3rd tornado was huge and bearing down on the south side of Okc. So we stayed at home on the north side and kept an eye on the tv.

One thing about tornados and thunderstorms in OK, 99% of the time they move from southwest to northeast. The only exception being a hurricane in the gulf.

And I am now sitting in a house that was built in 1926 - over one that was destroyed in March 1925.

Our elderly neighbor used to recall that storm - she said that the entire horizon was just black. They didn't have any sort of storm warning system, and many people didn't realize what it was - until it was upon them (and it was moving really fast).

A friend's grandmother lived south of town, and she recalled that they didn't realize that there had been a tornado in Murphysboro - until they saw the smoke rising from numerous fires later on.

¾ mile average path width (some accounts of 1 mile wide—a record width)

At least it sounds like it's a rare occurence. Still..so hard to imagine.....the destruction must be unbelievable.