10 Tornado Myths... (Tornado Safety) (Tornadoes and overpasses)

Hello, it's Michael. Every spring I hear someone say on TV something like, I had no warning. This just doesn't happen here. We have never seen anything like this before. It bothers me because as a storm chaser and an amateur weather forecaster, I often know days in advance and states thousands of miles away where tornadoes might be forming. Why did I know that tornadoes were in store for Alabama on March 3rd, four days in advance, while people in the path of these storms said they had nine minutes or even less warning time? Worse is hearing of loss of life, voices silenced, and entire families wiped out by weather situations where death was absolutely avoidable. This doesn't need to happen again. And while this video alone won't save your life, I hope you'll be better prepared next time. To get started on myth number 10, I want to tell you about the who's and the what's of tornado weather awareness. Up to a week in advance, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma releases maps of areas where severe weather may occur. These are the professional guys and gals that devote their time interpreting weather models and current conditions, trying to find the next severe weather event. Once they're reasonably certain something's coming, they will paint it on a map. The majority of tornado events where violent and destructive tornadoes have occurred, there were at least three days of lead time and sometimes more. And it's getting better all the time. The Sunday, March 3rd, 2019 event in Alabama, for example, was officially predicted the previous Thursday, almost 84 hours earlier. On the day of an event, the SPC will update these maps five times. And if you really want to get into the weeds, you can read the technical information behind why an event is happening, the timeline of events, who will be impacted, and by what. And that includes tornado potential. Hours before storms even appear on radar or satellite, the SPC will draw on a mesoscale discussion where they will tell you whether or not they believe a tornado or severe thunderstorm watch will be needed soon. More of these discussions will come later after a watch is issued to update the public on the progress of the storm system. Recently, in the case of Lee County, Alabama, the SPC even predicted a violent tornado in that area a full hour ahead of time. The SPC issues watches once storms fire up an environment favorable for severe weather. This is when you have to really start paying attention to the weather, if you weren't already. A watch doesn't mean a tornado is imminent. It doesn't mean it will hit your specific town. It means pay attention. Have your weather radio on. Check the batteries in your flashlight. Call your mom and dad or your kids to make sure they know what's going on too. Charge your cell phone. Go over tornado safety with your immediate family. Whatever your plans are, get ready to use them now. But for tornado and severe weather warnings, a new group of people get involved. This time it's your local National Weather Service office. You're very likely to have one within about 100 miles of where you live. These are the professional guys and gals watching the radar and satellite feeds, monitoring weather stations, launching weather balloons, to get an idea of what the atmosphere is up to. They also take public reports of severe weather and based on all that information they are getting, public weather warnings are issued and delivered via local news media, social media, and weather radio. So now that leads me to myth number 10. I've only got a few minutes of warning before a tornado or none at all. The odds of a major tornado occurring without some sort of wide lead time are the exception and not the rule. Most times there will be many hours and even days of lead time. If someone is telling the media that they had no warning, or if you're reading an article that says somebody only had nine minutes of warning, I'm sorry, but they've likely got their heads in the sand. Okay, so some tornadoes do occur without some specific warning, but odds are these are going to be weak or occur on general severe weather days that weren't expected to produce tornadoes. Or we're at such a small scale of time and size that warning a specific location is just not feasible. Luckily these kind of tornadoes tend to be very weak. Tornado warnings on average have 13 minutes of lead time before a tornado hits. And personally I've seen plenty of warnings where there was as much as an hour of lead time. So let me give you an example. Here's the warning and tornado reports map from March 3rd, 2019. No tornado went unwarned and most had warnings upstream for as much as three hours. And those are just the warnings. As mentioned before, this event was being tracked and given to the public four days earlier. Now let's talk about the final group of people involved in severe weather awareness. Typically your local law enforcement or public safety officials in your town or county are responsible for running tornado sirens. Not the Storm Prediction Center and not the National Weather Service. Your county or city will have trained storm spotters watching the weather at edge of town and they will also receive public reports. Here's the thing. It's totally up to your community to even have sirens. When to decide when the sirens blare and what criteria must be met. Was it because the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning moments earlier? Did the sheriff see a tornado? Maybe there's a scary looking cloud in the sky and the public reported it. Or did a storm chaser scream at a parked police car panicking that a violent tornado was about to level a major city? It's coming on the ground right here. All right, get the sirens going. Get the sirens going. I'm telling you. And yeah, that actually happened. That's what tornado sirens are based on and that's when it's often too late. So here's tornado myth number nine. I can rely on a tornado siren to tell me when to take shelter. No. First, tornado sirens only exist in some communities that choose to install them and they only work if you can hear them. If you're in your home and the sirens go off while it's thundering and then rain, wind, and hail are pounding the side of your house, chances are you won't hear them. Tornado sirens are meant to warn people who are assumed to be outside and away from other warning methods like radios, cell phones, TV, or other sources. Understand that the people who run the sirens have learned about the threat from second or even third hand sources. Do not rely on a tornado siren to tell you when to take shelter. It may cost you your life. If you hear the tornado siren from inside your house, it better be from your basement or an interior room and somehow louder than your weather radio. All right, time for myth number eight. Tornadoes avoid cities and metro areas. No, they don't. As a storm chaser, I have a hall of fame list of tornado-isms that random people tell me. One of them is that tornadoes don't hit cities or they don't hit my city. Chicago is almost cult famous for its attitude tornadoes ranging from disruptive skylines to cold Lake Michigan breezes. This is also the city that once thought that the Cubs couldn't win the World Series because of an insulted goat. Not only was the Chicago metro area famously hit by one of the most powerful tornadoes in U.S. history, current weather theory suggests that the storm that produced this tornado received enhanced low-level shear thanks to a lakefront breeze. Lake Michigan may have actually helped cause a tornado to form and it was one of the worst on record. But if you aren't convinced yet, here's one hitting Miami, here's a tornado hitting Nashville, downtown Kalamazoo, or how about Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Dallas, and Bronx, New York City. Believing you are safe from tornadoes because you live in a big city can get you killed. Myth number seven. Your cell phone will tell you when a tornado is coming. Under perfect circumstances, a tornado warning alert may appear on your phone as soon as one is issued and your geolocation is within the tornado warning polygon. Okay, let me rephrase that. In other words, if you have good signal, the emergency alerts are on, and if you are inside of a National Weather Service tornado warning box, you might get the alert. But I can tell you from experience, having deliberately put myself in tornado-warned areas, or even standing less than a mile from a tornado, I have not gotten an alert at all. This system isn't perfect and there are a lot of variables. Don't wait for your phone to alert you to take cover. Number six. Fleeing a tornado is safer than fill-in-the-blank. Especially in early spring, tornadoes may move faster than your road network may allow. Plus, you'll likely be driving in bad weather and other vehicles are going to start slowing down. Before the tornado hits, you might have baseball-sized hail obliterating people's windshields and 60-mile-an-hour winds, which will not only make driving unsafe, but roads could become blocked by debris, trapping you in front of the tornado in progress. Ultimately, underground shelter is by far safer than driving away from a tornado that is in progress. This is why I'll repeatedly say, have a plan now. Be ready to execute that plan when a tornado watch is issued. Do not decide to evacuate your home when a tornado is coming for you. It could get you killed. Wait a minute, Michael. Aren't you a storm chaser? Chasing and storm spotting is a skill that comes from practice and learning from other storm chasers. Being in the correct location to view a tornado and not be in its path, or getting munched by severe hail and winds, not chasing in cities, avoiding trees and bad road networks, and always having a navigable path for escape. Fleeing a tornado is entirely different, and learning on the fly how to do that with a tornado you probably can't see is a terrible idea. Number five, manufactured homes are safer than mobile homes. Any structure with light wall construction that isn't anchored to a foundation is going to be a giant meat grinder, even in a weak tornado. If you live in a manufactured or mobile home, don't shelter in an interior room in this case. Seek shelter in a basement, a storm shelter, a cellar, a community shelter, or have an evacuation plan and execute that plan when threatening weather is imminent, not in progress. It's already here. An underground shelter of any kind is far safer than riding out a storm in an unanchored structure that could get you killed. Myth number four, and this is one I love in particular, Tornado Alley gets the most tornadoes, or they don't happen here. You've heard it before, Tornado Alley is over there, but I live over here. Now the only real truth to this is that this is where tornado chasers get videos of tornadoes, absolutely, but statistically tornadoes are just as frequent in the Deep South. Anyone, especially east of the Rocky Mountains, is susceptible to strong tornadoes. Us weather nerds call this one Dixie Alley, and over here is Carolina Alley, and up there is Hoosier Alley. Sadly, and more importantly, more tornado deaths occur in the Deep South than anywhere else in the world. Alabama statistically has just as many violent tornadoes as Oklahoma. Let that sink in, and then tell your friends. Unfortunately, fatalities in the South in part come from a belief that tornadoes happen somewhere else, or they happen in different times of the year. While it's true that more people live here than on the plains, that belief that Tornado Alley is over there manifests itself in public attitudes, building construction, and preparedness. Believing Tornado Alley is a place somewhere else could get you killed. Number three, deadly tornadoes only happen in hot summer weather. This is very wrong, and it's a common reason why some people get caught off guard. In fact, I would go so far as to say that hot summer weather is actually not very good at all for strong tornadoes. Most tornadoes occur in the spring. Here's the SPC's statistical graphics showing when tornadoes are most likely to occur in any given year. March and April are the most threatening months for Mississippi and Alabama. It's not uncommon for a storm system in early spring to bring tornadoes to any region, and then immediately follow that up with wintry weather. You know that old cliche, and I'm sure you've used it before. If you don't like the weather in your state, wait five minutes. Yeah, we all say that. Okay, except Hawaii. Major spring tornado outbreaks have occurred as far north as Michigan and other northern states. Winter isn't exactly safe either. Last December, a damaging tornado rolled right through a major town in Illinois. In November of 2013, a destructive tornado rolled right through Washington, Illinois. Oklahoma residents know full well May is the month to be the most wary of, but major events have occurred in other months, like October as well. Later in spring, the main threat moves north to the upper midwest. Meanwhile, hot weather and other factors in Texas and Oklahoma and the deep south begin to limit tornado potential. The point is, waiting until summer or hot, humid weather to be prepared for severe weather, and especially tornadoes, could get you killed. All right, number two. Let's go for some shelter myths. This one is for baby boomers and Gen X especially. Don't open windows. This just wastes time. Tornadoes will happily open them for you with flying debris. This is a holdover from 1950s era tornado safety theory, and it hung around for a couple of decades, well after it was debunked. Wasting precious time can get you killed. The absolute best thing you can do, say it again, is to get underground immediately. Better yet, when threatening weather is forecast, watch TV or play video games with your NOAA weather radio on. For well-constructed homes that don't have a cellar, go to the interior room, such as a bathroom or closet. Put as many walls as you can between you and the outside. Protect your head. Wear a bicycle or DOT helmet, if you have one. And make yourself as small of the target as possible from flying debris. Mobile, manufactured homes, or any home of questionable construction quality, or if you have any doubts and don't have a basement, know a good place to shelter nearby. Be ready to get there in as little time as possible. Be prepared to execute this plan long before tornado warnings are issued. Don't just wait for severe weather to come in range. If none of the above options are available to you, install a shelter like Tim Marshall suggested, for example. If you are thinking about building a home, make tornado safety part of your plans. If you can't build a basement, look into custom above-ground tornado shelters, safe rooms, or just fortified interior rooms, and see if that can be incorporated into your home plans. Make them dual-purpose, like a pantry or a hobby room. Ask your builder plenty of questions, like how exactly is the home secured to the foundation? Will it meet or exceed code? Look into alternative home construction designs and materials, such as insulated concrete forms, which have a dual bonus of disaster resistance and very excellent energy efficiency. It's time for the number one tornado safety myth that could get you killed, highway overpasses. They are not shelter, period. On April 26, 1991, a film crew was losing ground against a tornado on the Kansas Turnpike, north of Wichita. And again, let me remind you of tornado myth number six while I'm at it. Cameras still rolling, they parked under an overpass and hid under the steel girders underneath the bridge. Luckily for them, the center of the tornado passed just to their south, bringing the weaker northern flank of the tornado over where they were hiding. Even luckier, the type of overpass they hid in allowed for things to hold onto and three sides of protection. Overpasses like this are more the exception than the rule. Had this been a more direct hit or a less useful overpass, the story might have been very different. Just seconds before, a car parked in the ditch was lifted and tossed, seriously injuring the driver. There's another lesson there, too. Sheltering in your car isn't a good option either. Take these storm damage pictures as evidence. You don't want to shelter in a car. Eight years later, people who had seen this video themselves or were told secondhand to hide under overpasses during a tornado did just that during the May 3, 1999 Bridge Creek Moore EF5 tornado. Not only did several people lose their lives because of this, many others were permanently injured in gruesome fashion. The list of injuries were horrific. You can read the full report I've linked to in the description. An overpass is a bad place to take shelter for several reasons. Tornadic winds above ground are actually higher than at the surface. Overpasses create a wind tunneling effect that increases wind speeds. These winds can actually suck you right out of the overpass. When that happens, you have nothing but concrete and steel surrounding you to bounce you around like a ping pong ball. Honestly, the number one thing you need to do is to avoid getting into this situation in the first place, which means being weather aware even while you are traveling. If you are traveling and you're caught totally off guard and cannot find proper shelter underground or in the interior of a sturdy structure, your last resort option is to get into a ditch and lay flat against the ground, face down, and covering your head. Now that doesn't sound like a great idea either, right? I mean, it's a terrible situation to be in, and you're right. You don't want this to ever be the case. Laying in a wet ditch with hail and debris falling on you is not at all ideal, but being slightly below ground level is your best option for avoiding being lifted and tossed or being sideswiped by debris. It may seem intuitive to stay in your car or that a highway overpass might seem like better protection, but it isn't. Hiding under an overpass in a tornado can get you killed. Well, that's it, and sorry for such a morbid video. Recent events and reactions to them compelled me to make this video, and I hope you've learned something and that you'll share it with someone. Everyone knows somebody that has that one crazy tornado myth that they've held on to for probably years. As we exit another decade, I'd like for everyone to truly take some personal responsibility for their safety in severe weather, and let's all help make sure tornado fatalities become even more rare as we build better, know better, and continue to improve forecasting. If you do nothing else, purchase a weather radio. In the description, I'll post links to my source material, as well as the particular multi-purpose weather radio I own and other resources. If you like this video, you know what to do, and please subscribe for future weather and science content. In a few seconds, I'll show you some suggested videos about tornadoes. Give them a click. Thanks for watching, and I hope to see you next time.