I’ll take my 30"+ blizzards over even a F0 tornado any day. Blizzards don’t scare the hell out of me.
I can understand studying Tornado’s for scientific research. My hats off to those people. But there’s no way I’d go out of my way to see a Tornado just for FUN. I don’t consider that FUN. Way too dangerous. And with more and more people out there doing this for fun…the danger zone is going up.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say it wasn’t thrilling to see one in the wild. But I got plenty of thrills being a mile or two away from the mesocyclone, which is the large rotating cloud from which tornadoes emerge. Driving up to the tornado to shake it’s hand was never a good idea in my book, considering what my mission was (storm spotting and videography for local stations). I don’t need to be close to call in a tornado sighting to Skywarn. For those who’s missions do require them to get close, I understand. And they’re doing it, mostly, for science. The one guy who gets very close on purpose and who openly isn’t doing it for science is Sean Casey, who’s doing it for a tornado documentary he’s working on. And he built himself an armored car with hydraulic ground attachment ram spikes that’s already survived an EF-4 tornado hit with no injuries to anyone in the vehicle. And even though his is not a science-only mission, he’s been nice enough to let meteorologists stick instruments on his vehicle so that data can be grabbed when he’s out there.
The ones who frustrate me are the ones who want the thrill without bothering to get educated about storm structure, behavior, etc, and who don’t consider the effects their actions have on the other chasers in the area and therefore make things dangerous for everyone.
shadowfox, I didn’t read that, I heard it on the TV news, but I don’t remember which station. I thought that 150 mph ground speed seemed awfully high, but then wind speeds in excess of 300 mph isn’t too common either.
I heard 100+ mph ground speed for the multiple vortices orbiting around the central one. If you watch one of the videos you’ll see a large number of smaller tornados come down around the edge of the major one.
I mean no disrespect to Mr. Samaras and the other 2 who lost their lives as I’m aware of him by name and know that this kind of thing was a passion for him.
However it is simply not good judgement for anyone, including the experts, to place themselves anywhere near the path of a tornado.
The spotting of tornados on the ground by storm chasers could be said to serve a purpose but in my opinion, it’s unnecessary. Law enforcement and civil defense have done a pretty good job of that and with the vast improvement in radar and so on the areas where tornados start to form usually appear and tornado warnings are issued before anyone on the ground sees anything.
There’s also the issue of many tornados never being seen due to dust or rain shrouds, nightfall, etc.
The one that caught me while out in a pickup and made me seriously think it was all over was an F2 at night and in November; an unlikely time of year for a tornado to even surface.
I agree with MikeInNH. I was chased by one in Columbus OH some years ago. I watched it out my rear view mirror. I turned left and it turned right so we never got together. It ended up tearing the roof off a line of homes portches, but no injuries.
First let me state that I’m a trained severe weather spotter from the St. Louis County, MO, SKYWARN program and spent a decade as one of the SKYWARN lead operators of the ham radio network of spotters that feed real time spotter reports to the National Weather Service office in St. Louis during severe weather. (Note: I am a trained SPOTTER; not, repeat NOT a storm chaser!)
In answer to the question about whether the safest place is in a car, the answer is NO NO NO NO NO.
Tornados pick up and toss cars and even fully loaded semis through the air, tumbling and tumbling and often end up with the car totally crushed or wrapped around some tree or pole or building that somehow survived the winds. All the debris field in those winds will break out windows and the winds of the tornado will suck people out of the car even if they are securely belted in with seat belts. The debris in the winds is lethal if you are hit by it. Debris is moving at 100 to 200 mph or more in a tornado. That will come right through windshields and a human body. Depending on the strength of the tornado there is no safe place in a vehicle hit by a tornado.
That said, people sometimes survive unhurt having their car hit by a tornado. My dad did so when caught in his car in a twister near Pryor OK the same day that President Roosevelt died in 1945. He was damned lucky.
I’ve seen quite a lot of film footage of tornados and their aftermath and you can hardly recognize some remaining debris as having been a car or truck.
Especially in an EF5 or even a slighltly lesser EF4 tornado the only safe place is underground. An EF5 in Texas a few years ago literally scoured the slab foundations, driveways and even streets from the earth.
I grew up in Tulsa OK without a basement and we had a few close calls with tornados. I’ve even been driving a car on the turnpike within a few hundred yards of a twister when it destroyed the truck stop at the Big Cabin exit in 1979. It was a rain wrapped tornado so we couldn’t see it. But even being not directly in its path, the heavy 1965 Olds I was driving was lifted slightly and dropped one lane over. Do not care to repeat the experience! After that is when I later got involved in SKYWARN just so I would know enough to better avoid being caught up in another one unaware.
Everyone should own a NOAA weather alert radio. Even if you do not live in tornado country the weather alert radios warn of floods, blizzards, wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters. They save lives, especially if dangerous conditions happen at night.
OK4450, glad your family was unharmed in this recent batch of terrible tornados through Moore, El Reno, etc.
The people in KS in that famous footage taking shelter under the overpass were damned lucky because the tornado did not pass directly over them. But note the strength of the winds that did tear through underneath the overpass. People who saw that news footage think it is the place to hide. And far too many people have died since then trying the same thing. But wind funnels through there with terrific velocity. And the higher you are the stronger the winds in a tornado. So people harboring up under the girders get killed either by debris hitting them or by being sucked out from under the girders and up into the funnel where debris kills them.
From all of us in OK. Thanks to all for the prayers, donations and hands on help. The Phrtoolman from OK City, OK. Good night and May God Bless All…