Tornado Watch vs Tornado Warning: What To Look For & How To Stay Safe
It's tornado season again! That time of year when damage and injury from high winds will likely strike with very little warning.
Tornado season usually means the peak period for historical tornado reports in an area, when averaged over the history of reports. There is a general northward shift in "tornado season" in the U.S. from late winter through mid summer. The peak period for tornadoes in the southern plains, for example, is during May into early June. On the Gulf coast, it is earlier during the spring; in the northern plains and upper Midwest, it is June or July. Remember: tornadoes can happen any time of year if the conditions are right! -- The Online Tornado FAQ
Since 1875, the first year for which annual tornado deaths were reported by the NOAA, as many as 794 people have died in a single year from tornadoes! That was in 1925. Most recently, in 2008, there were 125 deaths reported.
With internal wind speed at times exceeding 300 mph, the condensation funnel of a tornado will drop down from the clouds, contacting the ground and destroying everything in its path as it travels along, possibly for many miles.
In some cases, ground contact area can be relatively small allowing the funnel to dart in and out of a neighborhood -- selectively damaging one house, while avoiding the surrounding neighbors completely.
At other times, a tornado can have ground contact as wide as a mile -- obliterating entire towns in a matter of minutes as it takes a clean slate approach to leveling a wide swath across the countryside.
Here's how to stay safe during a tornado...
Tornado Watch vs Warning
Throughout tornado alley, which covers more than a 3rd of the country, residents and homeowners need to be aware of the dangers that tornadoes present and the safest places to seek protection during times of tornado watches and tornado warnings.
Check out the NOAA's Storm Prediction Center which shows all active warnings, watches, and weather advisories at this moment.
Specifically:
- A tornado watch means conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes.
- A tornado warning means that a tornado has actually been sighted by spotters or indicated on radar.
Tornado Damage & The Power Behind F5 Tornadoes
Your standard "stick and brick house" generally offers poor protection from the devastating strength of an F5 tornado. Projectiles can penetrate brick walled homes like missiles with very little effort.
This short video demonstrates how easily a 2x4 will blast right through such buildings:
That's why it's important to understand the power behind these forces of nature:
- The Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale explains what you're likely to experience with an F1 tornado, all the way up to an F5 tornado.
- More specifically, the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale shows the type of damage that is likely to occur with each type of tornado.
Providing your family with a safe haven designed to withstand the forces of a tornado is your best security blanket during the tornado season.
How To Stay Safe During A Tornado
Wondering where the safest place to be during a tornado is? In public places, you will often see signs posted showing tornado shelter locations near there.
Some highlights:
- at home - in a storm shelter or basement (away from the west and south walls) or in a small, windowless, first floor, interior room like a closet or bathroom.
- in schools -interior rooms and halls on the lowest floor, but avoid halls that open to the outside.
- in high-rise buildings - interior rooms and halls or central stairwells.
- in mobile homes -mobile home parks may have a designated tornado shelter or a steel reinforced concrete laundry room.
- in shopping centers, hospitals and factories -in the corner of an interior room or hallway on the lowest floor; best are bathrooms, closets, offices, or maintenance rooms with short walls.
- in the car - leave the car and head for a ditch or other low-lying area, but not under an underpass.
Source: The Tornado Project
Extra Precautions You Can Take
You may have heard that it's wise to put on a bicycle helmet or motorcycle helmet if you're directly in a tornado's path.
It's true that serious head injuries are commonly experience during tornadoes. So, if you can get to a bike helmet or motorcycle helmet that you keep in your garage, then it can't hurt to take this extra bit of precaution.
If -- and only IF -- you have time:
- Put bicycle helmets on kids.
- Put on sturdy shoes.
- Find your purse/wallet and keys; keep them with you.
- Put infants in carseats.
- Put collars and ID tags on pets.
- DO NOT open your windows.
Source: NOAA
Along those same lines, you should try to provide as much padding and cushion between you and the strong winds and blowing debris. Think about placing blankets, mattresses, sofa cushions, and large pieces of furniture over you while waiting out the storm.
-- The Tornado Project
Finding safety is something you definitely need to do as soon as the tornado warnings go out. Don't pretend to be an amateur weather spotter. Waiting and watching can result in your being caught out in the open with little protection from a deadly tornado.
Tornadoes Bring More Than Just Strong Winds
Often associated with tornadoes are violent thunderstorms and damaging hail events.
When ice chunks the size of baseballs are falling out of the sky, you better be under cover! Death is a real possibility if you're caught without a suitable place to seek shelter.
My own experience with such severe weather includes a small tornado hop scotching across a nearby lake and skipping over our house on its way to destroy about a ¼ acre of trees about 250 feet away. That same Spring brought a hail storm that found one of our cars outside the garage. With stones the size of half dollars, a nice mid-sized car was reduced in value to slightly more than scrap.
Now is the time to figure out where you're going to seek shelter... before the storm clouds and tornado funnels form overhead.
With many types of well designed storm shelters available -- both above ground and underground -- it might be wise to check out some of these storm shelter manufacturers.
Leave a comment