what to do in a tornado situation

You are worried about a tornado that is 20 miles away?

OK.

 

Watch twister for tips and tricks.

 

Yeah, according to cinematic evidence, windows replace themselves, and you can just hold on to a pipe really tight and be okay.....

 

Have a dopler app on your phone and track it.

 

Wind speed can actually increase under a bridge due to the "tunnel effect", bad idea.

I know the experts tell you to get in a ditch, but I've never seen a tornado come without heavy rain also. I had a friend that tried to get into a ditch when a tornado was bearing down on him, the tornado didn't get him but he almost drowned when he got washed away and almost sucked into a culvert.

We have tornados all the time around here. I was scared to death when I was a kid but finally realized that even though we have lots of tornados, the odds are still very low they will hit you. If you are going to take a direct hit from a big tornado, there's not much you can do but pray.

 

My truck has a mechanical kitty under the hood. Hammer down!

 

One fine day a Dispatcher saw I burnt my 70 hours and then some. Told me to have some money free and get eat up, rested and call in when ready sometime tomorrow. Meaning eat, be merry and sleep in.

That night I spent half of it in the shop pit with 50 of my best friends as about 20 tornados walked the earth ranging from 2 miles to 15 miles west to east past the 4 truckstops near Akron OH where two interstates meet.

Ive had tornadoes closer than that.

What you want first of all is to get under ground. That means a tornadoshelter below the ground. If you aint got that then get into a deep ditch and do the nuclear position. Arms over head and body in flat line as possible.

A third consideration for Kansas in Particular is to find the shelters built along I-35 and use one of them. They look like outhouses but are shelters for that reason.

Finally but not last. ANY time you know of a outbreak occuring where you are going you stop wherever you are and wait it out.

My forth plan is bought and paid for in battle with tornados. I was in Kansas where a hail storm kicked up in front of me, it was a bad storm, I noticed everyone in 18 wheelers pulled under anything with a cover in two small towns. Hail covered everything.}

I maintains about 10 mph or so to keep behind the main hail core that kept traveling down the state route I needed to go eastbound. Eventually picked up a Fire Truck type patrol vehicle hunting tornados. When he stopped I stopped. And so on. Traffic did not matter because there was a monster not far ahead and it's not the place to be fooling with normal every day driving. I believe the actions of that fire patrol truck saved me and everyone who chose to stay with me regardless of how slow or long things took to get from town to town.

The biggest tornado story I can teach you from what was first hand and taught to me is Bruce's Texaco in Tulsa Ok a Two story truckstop that I considered my home stop when in that part of the USA. It shows cracks in the building clean through the foundation walls where the tornado physically tried to lift the entire structure and twist it. While killing 15 drivers in thier sleeper berths in the rows downhill to the rear, one driver saved him self by driving under the fuel awning where it held him down as it tried to throw him. A waitress held on to two elderly persons too stupid or stubborn to evacuate the dining room as the monster aimed itself at the establishment. She used a metal post to help get it done.

I do better in hurricanes than I do in tornados but when the sirens scream where I live it's just another day to live or die. But to do it well helping someone else. Not too long ago a EF4 came through after it trashed Vilonia. It's been in the process of being rebuilt. And it will happen again someday. We are blessed because there is a valley these things get into and they kind of cannot get back out again thankfully.

Best defense? Don't go where the Storm Prediciton Center says there is a outbreak ongoing or NOAA telling you a tornado is around. Plan ahead weather wise.

 

A few months ago I was headed to Fort Wayne, IN from Toledo, OH and passed a tornado heading the opposite way it was about a half mile away from me.

Then I caught back up to it on my way back so I would pull over for a few minutes when I felt I was getting too close. I was only about 20 miles away from where I was going so I decided I was going to let the tornado lead the way, since it was headed the same way and following along rt24.

 

Funny story...
When I was a kid 3 or 4 years old I would be listening to the news my parent were watching it would mention a "tomato" warning well at least that's what I heard. So I always thought that when there was a "tomato" warning we were being attacked by giant "tomatos" I also believed they didn't have hands so they couldn't open the cellar door and that is why we hid down there.
I'm not sure how old I was when I realized what a tornado was but I think sometime around the 1st grade