Posted on 12/13/2021 4:45:30 PM PST by Scarlett156
I experienced a brush with a tornado back in 1986 and I remember the sky was very strange.
The clouds were twisting and rolling in long strands of clouds and they were going in opposite directions. It was like skeins of yarn being rolled against each other.
Clouds do do very strange things when a tornado is around.
You made the right move. I have a tornado video where some folks were caught out in the open like you were and sheltered under an underpass and the tornado went right over them as they hung on for dear life. A tornado chasing crew was with them and recorded the whole thing.
Very scary.
It’s a sign from Nob!!!
*alarms go off*
*lights flash*
*loud pounding at front door*
Me: *peering around uncertainly* Let me just go see who that is... I’ll be right back...
(Not to make light of the deaths of nice people who were dutifully going about their jobs in a time of emergency. Whether it’s right or wrong: There’s going to be some paying. I mean, like, actual money-paying.)
Police and thieves in the street, oh yeah. Scaring the nation with their.... guns and ammunition... (copyright the Clash)
Ok, not trying to fight - I sincerely want to know what part of the story don’t you believe? Start from the tornado. It snowed here in Colorado while all that was going on. The wind was blowing hard and it was COLD. Now, think: If you say the tornado didn’t happen, a lot of people might be upset with you if someone they know died. So phrase your answer with care. (Some of it I wonder about, too, but I don’t have enough data to argue.)
I’ve encountered tornadoes before that and since - once over a rental car (rented by someone else who was trying to be nice to me) in East Colorado. That was scary. There was a person with me at the time. He was frankly terrified as I recall.
I have some pics of a windspout that passed right over my car while I was with my dogs (they were in the car, too) once in Elbert County, Colorado - that’s from about 2006 or 2007, I think.
The last time I saw a funnel cloud I did take a little video of it, it was from the house just a few months ago (at 8600’ in Colorado front range). If I want to post it, I’ll have to put it on ytube or something so don’t expect anything great immediately. The funnel didn’t touch down but it was quite dramatic!
“I have a tornado video where some folks were caught out in the open like you were and sheltered under an underpass and the tornado went right over them as they hung on for dear life. A tornado chasing crew was with them and recorded the whole thing.”
I have read that is actually a terrible idea, i.e., taking cover beneath a highway ramp or overpass, as it acts like a conduit for wind current and sometimes cars get pulled out and tumbled like little toys by the wind. I saw a video that seemed to support this. But what actually is the right thing to do? I guess if I was sitting out in a field having a picnic and a tornado threatened, and the only shelter near was a highway on-ramp, I wouldn’t spent too much time thinking it over and just take my chances.
They had gotten out of the car and were hanging onto the girders underneath.
I have also heard that finding a gully or ditch to lie in works.
Actually, underpasses are considered especially dangerous in tornados because, if one hits, at some point wind and debris will likely be funneled (so to speak) to higher velocity than it is out in the open, right at you.
In that situation you describe, I’d try to find an open spot at a 4-way intersection from which I could flee at a right angle from an approaching tornado. And / or scout out a ditch to get into if fleeing fails. (Hopefully it is not full of flood water!)
If the storm is rain-wrapped or it is nighttime / dark, and you think and a funnel is approaching, find a ditch . Wet is better than dead.
It is true that my 1st option could well result in hail damage to your car. Same thing: A dented up car is better than becoming a fatality.
Much appreciated! As an urban dweller, my instincts are much more honed to crime or civil unrest, and trying to think on your feet in an extremely unfamiliar surrounding is difficult, but I can visualize your recommendation.
God willing, I'll never need it, but better ready than regretting.
Unfortunately, that’s one of the problems with middle management. There were supply sergeants and quartermasters at Pearl Harbor that were refusing to issue weapons and ammo while the attack was underway, while the buildings they were in were being shelled or bombed. Others refused to let their troops and sailors take cover or fight back, instead demanding they continue with regular duty. Same kind of thing is likely to have happened here.
https://www.lowes.com/pl/Tornado-shelters-Sheds-outdoor-storage-Outdoors/1198837506
Both companies also sell buriable in-ground precast concrete storm shelters.
Someone is going to jail.
Whatever, glowie.
Quickly pull over, bring up a weather app on your smart phone, look at the radar track and proceed at right angles to the storm cells’ path at high speed, keeping an eye out for places to shelter.
Local news stations’ web broadcasting of storm coverage (in Dallas-Fort Worth anyway) is also something good to log into for this purpose.
Fired if you leave and dead if you don’t. What a choice 🤪
I’m not from Mayfield, but, I’m close enough that I was monitoring this storm ever since the 1st warning in Arkansas. This thing was BIG almost the whole way, and it was on the ground a long time before it even crossed over into KY. Lightning illuminated pics of the funnel were posted on TV before any warning for Mayfield even went out. The path (as with many big tornados) was almost a straight line, and even as fast as it was going, the TV mets were showing Mayfield dead center in the storm’s sights maybe 20 minutes out. About then I started asking my wife and daughter to text good friends we have in Mayfield, that this storm was very likely to hit the town. I’m no “expert”, but I’ve been watching tornados, one way or another, ever since one took out my family’s house when I was 10 y/o, and 10-15 minutes out, there was little doubt this storm would hit Mayfield, hard. The continuous radar signature(s) alone were jaw dropping, and... telling.
Yes, in a general sense, this is a rare event - almost unprecedented* if the ground track turns out to be continuous from Arkansas to well east of Land Between The Lakes. But, 15 minutes out, the odds this thing would take out a good portion of Mayfield were nearing certainty. And the warnings WERE sent out in time.
*I’m sure you are well versed on the 1925 “Tri-State tornado” — also in this area! — which would likely be the best candidate as a precedent or even a bit greater in terms of the storm’s behavior.
Outside in a ditch would have been better than in a collapsing building. (Check how most of the deaths in that Tri-State Tornado occurred.) However, I think it will turn out the real issue may be lack of adequate shelter in the factory. Watching drone vids and such, I see no evidence of such in the wreckage. In this part of the country, that’s damn near criminal, esp. if employees are going to be told they can’t leave in advance of threatening weather.
(A news story on right now is saying a church in Lone Oak (South Paducah, basically) was contacted (by Paducah police?) about being a shelter just before the tornado hit Mayfield. SOMEBODY was on the ball.)
One last thought: Everyone in the candle factory has been accounted for, and the final death toll there is 8. The media and the Governor are guilty of major hype / misinformation about the likely toll. I wonder if some employees fled and were initially afraid to say so?
Agreed. Except I don’t have a smart phone. B4 digital, one could get radios to monitor local TV stations, who usually do a good job tracking tornados in their coverage area. Maybe somebody makes a digital OTA tv tuner that can run off 12 volts?
I don’t think I’m gonna move to Indiana...
Also, a bit further back:
https://www.weather.gov/pah/1925Tornado_ss
Well, the smartphone is the best and most versatile option.
Failing that, you can get a portable 7” DTV for under $100 that can run off USB or 12V vehicle power. There are 4” units under $50.
I was actually thinking maybe the $29 OTA DTV tuner I saw a few days ago - plug the audio into the car radio aux input. But I’d have to see if the tuner uses a 12v wall wart power supply.
A couple weeks B4 my daughter was born, I was headed to the hospital to join my wife in a childbirth class, but a couple tornados came sweeping through. At night. I listened to the local TV station and was dodging tornados accordingly. Ended up at a rest stop where employees there had opened up their safe room to members of the public @ the rest stop. I remember thinking “Damn, all those semis parked to the west of the building may come rolling at us...” Luckily, that storm stayed a couple miles to the South. At the hospital, everyone was sheltering in the hallways, but, luckily the tornado missed them, too.
so I parked under an overpass (which I was really lucky to find!).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
According to weather experts that’s the worst possible place to seek immediate shelter.
That only demonstrates bigger twisters
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