It’s our fourth anniversary this month! If you’d like to become a member, now would be a great time to do it. Then you’ll get to read posts like this.
Lead image: Amblin Entertainment
It’s our fourth anniversary this month! If you’d like to become a member, now would be a great time to do it. Then you’ll get to read posts like this.
Lead image: Amblin Entertainment
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My area isn’t a prominent tornado zone (yet…it seems like we have a few more each year), but we can get bad thunderstorms/rain events. One of the local news channels has taken it upon themselves to declare a Weather Alert Day, complete with special graphics and intense music, whenever any part of the area is projected to be threatened by such weather. Of course, the area is very large, and inevitably the weather strikes some remote area of a distant county instead of the immediate area. The result has been similar to alarm fatigue; many residents now consider Weather Alert Days to be just a sign that they should maybe pack an umbrella.
My workplace has a designated tornado shelter, but we’ve only been sent there a couple of times. The last time an actual tornado struck the immediate area (taking out a beloved Chinese buffet), I can remember sitting at my desk and hearing screeching alarms from several weather radios in the building, but there was no call to go to the shelter. A few people went there anyway.
When I lived in tornado alley the city government would blow the sirens every time there was a severe thunderstorm anywhere in the county. Then they wondered why people ignored the sirens! We do manage to get our best people in government.
To be serious for Mercedes – I’d be sad to no longer read her stuff and I bet her family and friends would be bummed too – as well as others not familiar with tornadoes, the safest place is in the bathtub. The plumbing in the bathroom give the walls extra strength.
Worst place is in your car, if you’re traveling look for a culvert or a ditch, get in, and cover yourself. Let the car take flight alone.
“Concept of a plan” had me cackling harder than it should have. Glad you were safe, Mercedes!
Just put a roll cage in all your cars, and then, a racing harness, and wear a helmet and g-suit, and you can ride it out, Mercedes! No problemo!
I might have asked the Bishop for a visualization of a CrossCab storm chase vehicle.
Buy a second-hand tank, remove the turret, and place the CrossCab where the turret used to be. All the occupants would be inside the tank, the CrossCab is basically just there as a decoy, like those lizards that can detach their tail when attacked.
Although IIRC in the US you’re not allowed to drive tanks on the street?
Glad you’re safe Mercedes! I’m a weather nerd (so is my wife), my minor was in applied meteorology, I saw one of the tornados through my 1st grade class window that was spawned from the Jarrel F5 storm May of 1997, and get a huge adrenaline rush with every storm.
But no, a murano cross cabriolet is not the right car for that job
When I was a kid in MPLS we had our house hit twice by tornadoes.
The second time the home was almost totally destroyed.
We had a basement which was a reason we all survived without injury.
My Dad was a cop and required to be on duty during both of these events, at night, in the dark. My Mom had to deal with 4 kids all under age 7 during that crap…
Sorry but people who ignore the warnings sort of deserve whatever happens to them at that point.
Can’t fix stupid, and all that.
Takes me back to a time when I was on a job interview trip. I flew from SC to Omaha Nebraska for an interview at the Omaha World Herald I think it was called. Well during the extended interview there were 4 tornadoes warnings. I was in a very safe building but they still insisted we walk down over a dozen flights of stairs to the tornado shelter. Then after the all clear walk up those stairs because the wait for the elevator would be too long. Four times I made that walk but the excellent Omaha Steak for lunch made it worthwhile.
Mercedes, there are any number of apps you can put on your phone that display radar, then you can weather geek out and see if the sirens are warranted. WMAQ’s news app probably has “live” radar (their website does) or maybe even a dedicated weather app.
When I was in Cleveland, we had a weather guy who got so excited when the NWS issued a tornado watch or warning. The jokes were kind of brutal. People in the newsroom would say he had a “weather woodie” or “Doppler dick.”
Ooh yeah, cars get tossed around. Definitely don’t seek refuge in or near cars!!!
https://kdvr.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2013/06/samaras.jpg?w=600
Picture of Chevy Cobalt that was destroyed by a tornado. The three weather chasers that were inside were all killed, one was found a half mile away from the car. Listen to the sirens, they are your friends.
Weird. Looks like a run of the mill Cobalt to me.
I debated “liking” your comment because people died, but, damn, you’re right!
It was a risk, lol.
To be clear, I’m not making light of the death, I’m just making light of the Cobalt.
Oh, yeah, that’s how I interpreted it.
That’s the nice thing about earthquakes. By the time you realize what’s going on, it’s usually already over, so there isn’t time to paralyze yourself with fear or overthinking situations. If I die in an earthquake, I die, but at least I didn’t spend half an hour worrying beforehand.
Definitely something to that thought. A big earthquake is more likely to last longer, perhaps giving you time to duck under a table or something. For the 1989 Loma Prieta quake [magnitude 6.9], I had time to move from my desk to brace in a doorway before it stopped shaking in Berkeley. Counter example to dying quickly though would be if you’re crushed in the rubble [like the pancaked elevated freeway], but don’t die immediately. Though true, no beforehand worrying, like tornadoes and hurricanes.
A smaller one, like the the magnitude 4.6 that occurred at 1:45 am earlier this week, not so much on the time to react. My wife has an earthquake alert on her phone, so it said something like “Earthquake Alert!” loudly in the wee hours and within a few seconds we felt shaking. The phone alert did wake us up, we noticed the shaking. Not much shaking for us since we’re about ~75 miles from the epicenter. Then we just went back to sleep since that’s all it was.
We’ve done preventive measures like the bolted house foundation and strapped bookcases to the wall and such, so hopefully we’re less likely to die in the rubble in a big earthquake.
Grew up in the Midwest, don’t miss those tornadoes at all! Sure sucks if you don’t have a basement to duck into though!
Central CA coast here, we get temblors every so often. I can feel the wave pass through just as it starts. House creaks, cabinet doors will open, but not much else. Being outside when one hits and the ground moves is freaky.
2003 happened to be in another state when a 6.4 (I think), struck west of Paso Robles. My house is around 35 miles from the epicenter. When I got home a day or so later, there were some small cracks in the drywall, but no serious damage. The worst was that kitchen cabinets all popped open and broke plates, glasses, etc. The cabinet where I kept all my hot sauces and spices emptied on top of each other and the fumes would burn your nose and eyes.
Scary shit that convinced me to bolt everything to the wall stud if possible.
Serves you right for not keeping your valuable hot sauces in a mini wine bottle holder.
Damn, that’s a good idea!
I am a bit curious about the fact that the safety steps to take in the event of a hurricane are the same steps to take in the event of a nuclear bomb attack. Lol
The last step is the same. Oddly, if you’re not drowned by the storm surge in a hurricane you’re likely to get killed by one of the tornadoes that hurricanes always engender.
I was on my back on a creeper, under a car, in the process of pulling the engine when that happened. 🙁 I didn’t feel it at first, but what got my attention was this strange rattling noise that I had never heard before that turned out to be everything mounted to the wall and on top of the adjacent workbench starting to vibrate. I rolled the creeper sideways a few inches in order to be able to peek out from under the car to see what the strange noise was. When I saw everything on the wall and workbench starting to sway and jump violently I scrambled out from under and ran like hell out of the building, just in time to watch all the cars in the parking swaying and jumping as well.
Good times!
That’s why I never sweated a direct hit from a very powerful tornado. That happens, you’re done for no matter what you do, so why sweat it?
I think the best car to ride out a tornado would be a race car that generates some downforce. Just have to make sure you keep turning into the wind. Also, you want to be at the touchdown point so it doesn’t throw a cow at you.
Unrelated, but what ever happened to the autopian taxi? On my way to the dentist at 1pm I saw a NYC nv200 taxi with a crumpled rear door but intact glass drive by in Chicago just south of Wrigley? It was one of those ‘what’s a polar bear doing in texas’ meme moments.
I think they sold it at auction after driving it across the country.
‘Twas sold.
How much? What was the net gain/loss?
I don’t remember. You’d have to ask the staff.
Something not pointed out is that I had a pick of four cars at the time. Sheryl was out in her VW, so I had access to the CrossCab, the Miata, the E61, and the Scion. The Scion was the closest and the CrossCab was the furthest away.
The birdies had a little bug out bag with themselves, some food, and water in it. I carried my box of keys and titles.
I’m not quite sure why I gravitated to the worst choice of a getaway car.
The wild thing was that the community center had people in the workout room. When I said the tornado sirens are blaring, they ignored me entirely.
Id actually put the CC as number 2/4 for best choice, potentially first. Because AWD and higher clearance in a storm scenario.
IMO that makes it the worst option as now the wind can get underneath the car and pick it up / roll it over. E61 would have been my first choice.
Your neighbors are…not too sharp.
I think it’s a byproduct of my area not having a tornado in decades. When I was a teenager, I even remember people saying “we’re too close to Lake Michigan to have a tornado.” I took a year of Meteorology in college and one of the charts we looked at was historical tornado tracks near Chicago. More than one of them plowed right into the lake…
I don’t want to think what will happen if a tornado actually touches down around here one day.
I had a funnel cloud go over my back yard, going towards my local village, only when it had gone over my house did they sound the alarm. I have security cam footage of the wind literally reversing for a bit. That was fun.
Please, Please familiarize yourself with Max Velocity on YT. He is always live during bad weather and usually calls tornado warnings before our gutted National Weather Service. He will show you LIVE if a tornado is coming down your street!!
Bless those weather YouTubers. When I was a kid, you knew your town was in for a ride because gosh darned Jim Cantore showed up. I still remember when he came to Chicago during the 2011 blizzard and got maximum euphoria from thundersnow! That, and I also remember the black Smart that rolled by during the broadcast. lol
Yes I am a 25 year certified Skywarn weather spotter.. Sign reads
For Your Safety Stay Back At Least One Town.
His vids are NWS vids and they broadcast local immediately national at a less than emergency time table.
He streams storm chasers live.
He also uses roadway and railway LIVE cameras.
He green screens over live shots.
His products are not NWS.
That’s not good.
(Says the dummy who went out to stare at the sky when sirens went off at the MAMA Rally a few years ago only to say, “It’s not even still out there. We’re FINE.” Do as I say, not as I do, I think?)
Alarm fatigue is real. If they sound the siren every time there’s a possibility, people will tune out the siren. Sounds like they already have.
Just look at car alarm fatigue.
Politicians live in mortal fear of having a tornado and not having the sirens sound so they tend to ignore alarm fatigue.
Illinois now has more tornadoes than any other state. It’s wild that Tornado Alley has shifted eastward for no apparent reason. /s
The Democrats have modified their hurricane gun* (that I guess they stole from the Chinese who were using it previously) to create tornadoes. They’re slowly moving them eastward in a stealth attack. I believe the plan is to strike when Trump’s new ballroom is completed.
*Trump 2022 and Marjorie Taylor Green 2024.
Tornados are seeking sanctuary from Trump’s anti non documented tornadoes.
I was just saying this week if an evil genius created a Tornado machine (not the delicious gas station roller snacks) they would deploy it on the first Wednesday of the month at 1PM (that’s our siren test).
We didn’t get the tornado warnings in the city but we did have some intense lightning and really strong downpours. When I parked my car at the bar last night, the street was clear. When I came out to leave, the Miata was in a very large puddle.