Tornado question

[Poetinwood]

I drove an 18 wheeler for many years and have seen many tornadoes. Heavily forested states are the worst, you can't see the sky, not that it would help. I had a really bad patch of driving on the Green Stamp in Pennsylvania and wound up facing backwards in the median. A highway patrol pulled up and was writing me a ticket. "What's the ticket for officer?". "Reckless driving." "You show me the tracks and I won't fight it in court." He couldn't find any tracks in the median from a 80,000 pound truck. I didn't get the ticket.

[Nomad518]

Years ago when I lived in Indiana, an EF4. Tornado went through our town about a quarter mile from our house. (Google 1964 Palm Sunday Tornado Marion IN). We had baseball size hail that totaled many cars. We huddled in our car inside our garage and listened to updates on the car radio (power to the house was knocked out and wasn't restored for a week). It completely demolished many well-constructed homes, a shopping center, an a mobile home park. If on the road and with sufficient warning, drive in a path perpendicular to the path of a Tornado. Getting as little as a mile out of the direct path could save your life. I would not stay in my AS. I would drive from the area as quickly as possible and be prepared to hunker down in a deep ditch if I could find one.

[gaylejoe]

The tornado which struck the Dallas and Garland areas several weeks ago claimed 8 deaths in vehicles as the storm crossed over IH-30 in Garland.

If we are traveling into an area of bad weather and needing an overnight stop I either call or drive to the Police or Fire Department and ask directions to their designated storm shelter. That's where you will find us. I will not wait till the weather starts cooking before I make the move.

Most campgrounds call their showers a shelter if you can call it a shelter. We stayed in Seneca, KS at a small campground behind a hotel several years ago. They had a very nice storm shelter. I mean a real storm shelter.

Tornado's I do not take lightly.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by gaylejoe

Most campgrounds call their showers a shelter if you can call it a shelter.

If it's constructed of concrete masonry units (CMUs) it might stand up to an EF0 to EF2 storm, but I wouldn't expect it to stand up to anything worse. If it's constructed of unreinforced brick (no vertical rebar) or any lesser construction, expect it to come down on top of you in an EF1 storm. Problem is, when a storm is coming, you won't know where it stands on the EF scale until it's all over than the National Weather Service tells you. About the only reason to take shelter in a bathhouse is that emergency responders are likely to go there first (not knowing which campsites were occupied) so they won't have to spend as much time looking for you.

I recently discovered that American Red Cross has smartphone apps for most types of natural disasters; tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, etc. that gives you an alarm when there is a warning for your area. You can track alarms not only your current location, but also other locations such as the homes of relatives.

[Cardinal283]

Just my two cents here from a multiple time tornado survivor. This includes the ones that hit Dallas last week. I was in the direct path of the first tornado that night. Tornados travel from southwest to northeast 99.9% of the time. Obviously if you have a storm shelter then get in it. If you don't have a storm shelter then not much is going to help you if the tornado passes directly over you. A bathtub, a ditch, a low place, etc isn't going to help you unless you're out of the direct path. With the radio, tv, Internet, and sirens people now have ample warning. If you are in the the direct path then jump in your vehicle and drive northwest or southeast depending on your position relative to the tornado path. This is the fastest way to get out of the path. Most tornados aren't that wide so it only takes you 1 minute driving at highway speeds to get out of the direct path. 5 min at highway speed and you're 5 miles from the path. This is a no brainier. Don't climb in ditch. Listen to the radio, check the Internet, watch the TV and be prepared to go as soon as they tell you the conditions are right to form a tornado at a particular location. I had 10-15 min of advanced notice the other day before the tornado got to me. I jumped in the truck and drove 5 miles WNW till I clear. I waited 10-15 min for it to pass and I drove home. Luckily the tornado lifted before it got to my house.

[PKI]

We have not lived in Tornado country for about 40 years, but we went to school in Norman Oklahoma. That's just South of Moore where tornadoes have taken quite a toll in recent years.

In Kansas, my cousin was caught in her heavy Vet Supplies truck as she was headed to the storm shelter. She lived, but spent significant time in recovery.' They found her in the middle of a field and the truck was a ball of scrap.

There was an engineer who sold folks on the idea of sinking a set of anchors in the garage slab. The concept was that you anchored the car to the slab and it became a storm shelter. Never heard of anyone who had the system and made it through a storm. But folks used to think cars were safe.

While we were in OK, there was video of a group of travelers who sheltered up high under the deck and between the girders of an interstate overpass. The sound on the video included the noise of the storm passing over and showed the cars rocking. Folks used to think bridges were safe.

The SW corner of a depression, basement, or shelter is believed to be safest. But there is another consideration as well. While tornadoes generally travel SW to NE, one was reported to travel the reverse direction through the area just North of Oklahoma City. A bit disconcerting for sure! As someone posted, they do very unpredictable things.

Appreciate the info provided by all. Research has opened eyes and developed new ideas. A properly constructed storm shelter is likely the best option. The major concern should be to note those twisties are now reported over a much wider area.

All you folks on the road, be real careful. Pat

[Len n Jeanne]

It's been mentioned before, but knowing what county you are in when driving is a good idea. Also keeping tuned to a local radio station. When driving in Nebraska on I-80 we had a couple of tornado warnings and the radio stations generally interrupted their programming to say what counties were affected. Not much help if you're not from "outstate" and haven't a clue which county you are in.

Has anybody else noticed that the sky seems to turn green when there's a tornado warning? Top Five Tornado Myths Debunked No kidding.

[Poetinwood]

I always laugh when I hear the SW corner being the safest.
Draw a dot on a piece of paper and take a round glass and put it near the dot. The edge of the glass is wind direction, and you can hit the dot from any direction you wish depending on which side of the dot you approach from the SW.

[Bob662]

An EF-3 tornado came through our area just before Christmas. A 20 foot section of aluminum bleachers was ripped up from a race track and subsequently found 30 miles away. One lady was paying bills when it passed over her house. Her checkbook was found in Jackson, TN, more than 50 miles away.

This is a heavily forested area -- those forests now look like Verdun in 1918.

[cwf]

To return to OP question..

Anyone's guess.
If you have a "possible direction" of a storm,
and are in the bullseye
and can get away, try.

Being inside your AS is not good IMHO. But you must act

We all have wide swaths that are "in the area of probability" which makes it hard to know when to act.

Stories of attacks by of these monsters, from the survivors, show the indiscriminate effects. A town North of us up I35, with a population of about 500, have had two dead on hits in about 15 years of each other. The example of the power was that the roads, homes, road signs, fencing and even plumbing was gone... Not swirled around... Gone as if they had never existed. "Debris" was found over 20 miles away... Much never found.. Including people.

Imagine, debris of all sorts grinding against you, it will rip anything apart. You can't survive a Blender like that without acting by implementation of your PLAN.

When weather is bad, prepare to move.. To execute their plan... You can't waste time gathering important items like meds, papers, etc.

[cwf]

If you live in one of these, survival increases dramatically when properly built:
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