Right before a tornado, they say everything goes silent. No bird song nor birds on the wing, and wild animals hunkered down out of human sight.

I've been in (adjacent to) a couple of tornadoes. Just before they hit, the world outside goes suffocatingly still. There's no wind or movement and sound seems smothered. Then, the world feels like it's juddering; it feels and sounds like your in an endless moment of a freight engine roaring down on you.