Skywatch Friday
I know that while we've had recent hurricane-like weather in Ontario, it is bad in the mid-US.
Five F5s (the worst) a year in Tornado Alley is normal, with 1300 tornados a year being average.
They only kept stats since 1925, when there were 800 dead.
The truth is: hot wet, cold dry, systems meet and cause these storms. They are predictable, May/June, for example, but unpredictable when they will touch down.
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| Aug. 2009 |
Those who watch them- do not see trends.
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| Dec., 2008 |
I've been in Muskoka hurricanes, and they aren't any fun. This devastation makes me grateful to live in North America, with infrastructure, EMS crews, Hydro teams who work hard after storms.
On May 24, 2011 a violent tornado struck the community of Newcastle, OK. ... A number of motorists made the choice to shelter from the tornado beneath the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur overpass on State HWY 76 overpass. The results of this action are revealed in graphic detail on this video. IT IS A MYTH that highway overpasses provide any sort of shelter from tornadic winds! On May 3, 1999 during what is regarded as the preeminent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma history, people were killed and/or suffered horrific injuries after doing the same... TVN's own Reed Timmer, then a naive freshman meteorology student, narrowly avoided being engulfed by the Bridge Creek F-5 by doing the same thing, and has publicly spoken against this practice ever since. DO NOT USE OVERPASSES AS TORNADO SHELTERS!!!!!
For more information on this subject, please visit this link.
4 comments:
It always amazes me what storm chasers do. I've heard about the underpass thing. I wonder if it would help to stay on the side of the overpass instead of under it.
Kay of Musings
We've seen what straight winds at high speeds can do for damage. I truly hope I never get to see a tornado.
I think winds start approaching a couple of hundred miles per hour, it really does not matter where you are. If you are in the path of the thing, you are going to have a very bad day. Awful stuff this year. I would never wish the clean-up and personal tragedy on anyone. W.C.C.
Those guys who took the first video are stupid. That was an unacceptable risk that they took. That same tornado toppled over a drilling rig and tore the blowout preventer stack off the hole. These are "deep rigs" that weigh maybe about 2 million pounds.(The well had been "killed" with mud so no leaks, emissions, or spills). The vehicles and heavy trucks on the site were smashed. Nobody was hurt.
I agree that hiding out under an overpass is not the thing to do but I've often wondered what one is supposed to do if caught out in open country. Several people were killed in their vehicles as they tried to run away. I've decided that I would make haste to the nearest culvert and crawl in with the snakes for safety.
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