Growing up in NYC and now on Long Island, we don’t see too many twisters.
Oh, every once in a blue moon we’ll get a small one touching down, and we do have those microburst storms...but never ANYTHING like what’s been going on out in the Heartland. I’m not sure a twister like that is even possible around here. (Perhaps a weather FReeper can educate me about that.)
Still, I’d always thought that sheltering under an overpass was the proper thing to do if caught out on the road when one of these monsters approaches.
Thank you for setting me straight. Your experience may save my life one day.
Regards,
Western MA had a EF-3 in June 2011.
There are times when there is no place else to go. It’s reinforced concrete and steel, offering at least some shelter. Can there be a wind tunnel effect, if the vortex passes directly over that location? Yes. If you were stuck on open highway, had no culvert let alone an underground shelter available to you, and an F4 was bearing down on you, what are you going to do, sit in your car? Suicidal. You take your chances up under the overpass.