Four Dangerous Tornado Myths
Learn the truth behind In most cases, you only have a few minutes invisible. Sometimes, tornadoes get these myths and protect or even seconds to escape a tornado. wrapped in rain and are difficult to see or Immediately move your family to the the condensation funnel—the trunk of the your family. basement or innermost room of the house, tornado—is clouded by dust and debris. by Jen Henderson away from windows and exterior walls. And many tornadoes strike in the evening An interior bathroom or closet is a good when it’s too dark to see them. choice if you don’t have a basement. Cover It’s that time of year again. Temperatures Don’t take chances. If there is a tornado yourself with thick blankets, a mattress, or warm up, the air is humid, and warning, seek shelter immediately, even if other layer of protection from the debris thunderstorms become more frequent. you can’t see a funnel. and stay there until the storm has passed Of course, following closely on the heels and the tornado warning has expired. of those claps of thunder and flashes of lightning is the threat of severe weather, especially tornadoes. Myth #2: Overpasses are a safe Tornado haven in a tornado. Watches and While Alabama took the most recent brunt of the force of Mother Nature, TRUTH: Never park under an overpass Warnings Coulee Region residents skirt the fringe or try to outrun a twister. “Many people of Tornado Alley. While every storm have seen a video of a camera crew taking doesn’t necessarily lead to a tornado, shelter under the bridge as a tornado Tornado Watch: straight-line winds and the potential threat passes over,” Schroeder says. “While the A tornado watch means tornadoes make it important to know the facts about camera crew survived the tornado, and and other kinds of severe weather tornadoes and how to respond to protect bridges are typically stable, the wind flow are possible in the next several your family. is accelerated through the confined space hours. It does not mean tornadoes between the bridge and the road, creating are imminent, but that you need to Myth #1: Open windows to an even worse situation.” be prepared to go to a safe shelter, if a tornado warning is issued. equalize pressure in the house. Instead, he suggests that you’re better off in a ditch. Get out of your car and lay flat TRUTH: Taking time to open windows on the ground, covering your head with Tornado Warning: won’t save your house, but could your hands. A tornado warning means that a certainly cost you your life. According tornado has been spotted or that to John Schroeder, director of the Wind Myth #3: Tornadoes are easy to Doppler radar has indicated a Science and Engineering Research thunderstorm circulation capable Center at Texas Tech, this is a common see when they form. of producing a tornado. When a misunderstanding—and a deadly one. TRUTH: While movies, such as the tornado warning is issued for your “Keep your windows closed,” Schroeder cult classic “Twister” or the Discovery town or county, take immediate says. “Opening a window has the potential Channel’s docudrama “Tornado Chasers,” safety precautions. to actually make things worse by allowing often show tornadoes as easily identifiable wind to create internal pressure.” columns of wind, some are virtually
CPCLAXCOMDQDMBYDPN $PVMFF1BSFOUJOH$POOFDUJPOt#OULEE 0ARENTING #ONNECTION s 37 Myth #4: Tornadoes can’t occur big cities and the continued expansion of in mountains or big cities. the suburbs, metropolitan areas are at risk.
TRUTH: There is truth to the idea that “It seems inevitable,” Grazulis notes, “that tornadoes can be unpredictable; they a killer tornado with a death toll of 100 or don’t pay much attention to geography. more people will strike the United States Thomas Grazulis, author of “The Tornado: sometime in the future.” Nature’s Ultimate Windstorm” (2003, The peak time for tornadoes in any given Oklahoma University Press), suggests that region is usually spring, early summer, and these myths about where tornadoes can again in fall. That’s the time when seasonal and cannot strike persist because they’re temperature differences encourage the difficult to dispel—wishful thinking, short clash of cold, dry air and moist, warm air memory, and the rarity of such tornadoes. over the landscape. This is when you’ll “People hold tightly to these myths,” he want to pay particular attention to weather writes, “just in case they might be true.” reports, invest in a National Oceanic and The reality is that tornadoes can strike Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio, and keep an eye to the sky. nearly anywhere. In the late 1980s, a LEARN MORE: tornado swept through Yellowstone After all, the best protection against a National Park, leaving a path of tornado is knowledge, and understanding To find out more about tornadoes destruction up and down a 10,000- the difference between fact and fiction can and tornado safety, and to find foot mountain, and dozens of big cities keep your family safe. have been hit across the country. From statistics about tornadoes in your Nashville, Tenn., to Salt Lake City, state, visit the National Oceanic and from Milwaukee to Dallas, no Jen Henderson is an experienced storm chaser. metropolitan area is out of harm’s way. She has been published in regional parenting and Atmospheric Administration magazines around the country, including In fact, Grazulis warns that given the Houston Family and New Jersey Family, (NOAA) website: www.noaa.gov increasing concentration of populations in among others.
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