Tornadoes
Although tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, these destructive forces of
nature are found most frequently in the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains during the spring and summer months. In an average year, 800 tornadoes
are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries. A
tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air extending from a
thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous
destruction with wind speeds of 250 mph or more. Damage paths can be in excess
of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Once a tornado in Broken Bow, Oklahoma,
carried a motel sign 30 miles and dropped it in Arkansas!
![](live_weather_forecasts_on_pc_27665.jpg)
![](tornadoaaaa.jpg)
Tornado Safety
Each year about a thousand tornadoes
touch down in the US. Only a small percentage actually strike occupied
buildings, but every year a number of people are killed or injured. The chances
that a tornado will strike a building that you are in are very small, however,
and you can greatly reduce the chance of injury by doing a few simple things.
One of the most important things you
can do to prevent being injured in a tornado is to be
to the onset of severe weather. Most deaths and injuries happen to people who
are unaware and uninformed. Young children or the mentally challenged may not
recognize a dangerous situation. The ill, elderly, or invalid may not be able to
reach shelter in time. Those who ignore the weather because of indifference or
overconfidence may not perceive the danger. Stay aware, and you will stay alive!
If you don't regularly watch or listen
to the weather report, but strange clouds start moving in and the weather begins
to look stormy, turn to the local radio or television station to get the weather
forecast.
Check The Weather Channel for additional
information, or if you have trouble getting up-to-the-minute forecasts on a
regular radio, then a
"NOAA weather radio"
is a wise investment.
If a tornado "watch" is issued for your area, it means that a
tornado is "possible."
If a tornado "warning" is issued, it means that a tornado has
actually been spotted, or is strongly indicated on radar, and it is time to go
to a safe shelter immediately.
Be alert to what is happening outside as well. Here are
some of the things that people describe when they tell about a tornado
experience:
- A sickly greenish or greenish black color to the sky.
- If there is a watch or warning posted, then the fall of
hail should be considered as a real danger sign.
Hail can be
common in some areas, however, and usually has no tornadic activity along
with it.
- A strange quiet that occurs within or shortly after the
thunderstorm.
- Clouds moving by very fast, especially in a rotating
pattern or converging toward one area of the sky.
- A sound a little like a waterfall or rushing air at
first, but turning into a roar as it comes closer. The sound of a tornado
has been likened to that of both railroad trains and jets.
- Debris dropping from the sky.
- An obvious "funnel-shaped" cloud that is rotating,
or debris such as branches or leaves being pulled upwards,
even if
no funnel cloud is visible.
If you see a tornado and it is not
moving to the right or to the left relative to trees or power poles in the
distance, it may be moving towards you! Remember that although tornadoes usually
move from southwest to northeast, they also move towards the east, the
southeast, the north, and even northwest.
Encourage your family members to plan
for their own safety in many different locations. It is important to make
decisions about the safest places well BEFORE you ever have to go to them.
Safe Places
The best places are:
-
In a storm shelter specifically designed for that use--within the
basement or outside the home entirely. Some companies manufacture pre-fab
shelters that you drop into a hole in the ground, and that blends in with
home landscaping(some more, some less).
- In a basement, away from the west and south walls.
Hiding under a heavy work-table or under the stairs will
protect the family from crumbling walls, chimneys, and large airborne debris
falling into the cellar. A family in the
April
8th, 1998 tornado in the Birmingham, Alabama area survived because a
hutch toppled and was held up by the dining room table they were under. That
hutch helped deflect the debris that would have struck
them. Old blankets, quilts
and an unused mattress will protect against flying debris, but they should
be stored in the shelter area. Precious time can be lost by trying to find
these items at the last minute.
- In a small, windowless, first floor, interior room like a
closet or bathroom. The bathtub and commode are anchored directly into the
ground, and sometimes are the only thing left in place after the tornado.
Getting into the bathtub with a couch cushion over you gives you protection
on all sides, as well as an extra anchor to the foundation. Plumbing pipes
may or may not help hold the walls together, but all the extra framing that
it takes to put a bathroom together may make a big difference. If there is
no downstairs bathroom and the closets are all packed with "stuff," a hall
may be the best shelter. Put as many walls as you can between yourself and
the tornado. In a pinch, put a metal trash over as much of you as you can.
It will keep some flying debris from injuring you. Even that may make the
difference between life and death.
For more information visit these websites
http://www.tornadoproject.com/safety/safety.htm
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html