What do you do if a tornado is coming?

[Imo.]

I travel mostly secondary routes and carry a road map so I don't get too lost. Most radio/tv stations announce counties for watches/warnings and I don't know my counties when I travel...they will announce spotted tornadoes heading toward such and such town therefore the paper map. Our heavy thunder/lightening storms without tornado watches can be rather unsettling to me so if I am on the road, I find a town close by and go shopping or get acoffee and let the brunt of the storm blow over.

Local media (regional) is pretty good at alerting us to potential adverse weather, often a couple of days in advance so we can sort of prepare...in fact they get a little excited.

[RogerDat]

In a way I think there is more risk from lesser storms than there is from Tornados. The tornado will have a devastating impact on a small area, the rest of the storm or even bad storms that don't spawn tornadoes cover a much larger area.

Damage to canopies and awnings, damage from loose and blowing camping equipment in a campsite, or really bad driving conditions are a more frequent if less devastating issue to be aware of.

Much of the same advice applies, hunker down and wait for it to pass. To which I would add make sure your equipment is set up or stowed appropriately for coming weather. Look around and make sure you upwind neighbors have done the same. Steel frame recliner folding chair will do some real damage hitting a car or FGRV driven by a 45 mph wind.

[Receo]

Pray

[norman and jean mulloy]

Karen, I'm glad you asked the question.
Here too in Ontario we only get a couple of sightings a year, and I've only seen a few trees snapped. So we have nil experience dealing with the devastation a tornado causes. It breaks my heart to see those families.
Why is it that tornado alley homes have few basements? Does it have to do with water tables?
thanks everybody for the suggestions.
We are hoping to do route 66 next year, and Springfield, Mo this June. I better start figure out those apps. Tornado season seems to be longer lately.
jean

[Donna D.]

I can't help, I just cringe when reading these kinds of posts. I suppose when camping it's a lot like going into a movie theatre... find where the EXITS are before you sit down. Here on the Pacific side of the continent, most of our "shower houses" are built out of concrete blocks. I would imagine those are safer than inside an all molded towable during a tornado. But then again, what do I know?

Be safe everyone!

[carlkeigley]

Originally Posted by Receo

Pray

This is the number one solution.
And know how to trust and be thankful.

Tornado Alley; Bible Belt.
Oh, I don't know...................LOL

[Darrell in Al]

I'm a little late but, My course of action was toss few clothes in Jeep haul butt away from prior location.... a tornado was on ground about a mile away. I could see it from top of hill by my Scamp. Went to work not knowing what I'd come back to in the morning. The tornado is part of it then, debris from it it can fall out sky 1/4 mile or more from it.

[kbingel]

thanks again all....I just downloaded an app for my phone and ipad called, Storm Shield...and well, will do what I can to stay alert and use the precautions everyone mentioned. I'm not about to stress over it....esp. now that I have some good info. in my tool box. I'll let you know how it goes....

Karen

[Burtim]

OK. As a pilot and resident of Nebraska (and Iowa) this is something I know about.

I have been very close to several tornadoes, in two and seen two. One while driving in Missouri and had major vehicle damage. As others have said, you are more likely to be injured driving through a bad storm than encountering a tornado.

I would not stay under and overpass as others have said, but if you get out and RUN to the top of the incline under the concrete beams and get tucked up between them, that is one heck of a lot safer than just sitting on the road under an overpass or out in the open.

When you watch the weather, it will be early days in the year with higher temperatures and humidity that are likely to produce these big storms. Why then? Because there is cold air over the top and the hot air wants to rise. That cold air wants to sink. BAM. That's the fight of nature that creates storms. If you see an area where it's hot and not far away the temperature is a lot lower...watch out. Try to avoid those areas! That difference is the beginning of trouble. If you look at the map over the past week, the Northern plains have been very cool. It's in the 40's here. Down South it's been quite hot. That's the formula. That line will be moving North over the next month. So will the storms.

If you have to drive in storm season, leave early in the morning and get to your destination by 3-4 PM. After that, the heating of the atmosphere has occured and it will start to cool off. Big tornadoes and storms are more likely to happen between about 4-8 PM. Get situated and have a plan when you camp in likely storm areas.

In the summer time, big storms out here happen later because that's the only time it cools off. It's the cooling off that usually triggers them. Just be near shelter at the likely times.

Weather people are pretty good at giving you an idea where to look for storms. They predicted almost all of the storms last week well in advance.

We had a boy scout camp here with incredibly strong buildings loaded with kids a few years ago. A tornado blew all of it away and killed many. Sometimes, no shelter is going to help, you have to be underground. Find a culvert going under a road, leave your vehicle and get into it as far back as you can. That's what I would do. If you have a heavy coat and something like a football helmet or hard hat, put it on. Sounds silly, but it is getting hit by flying tree parts and rocks that kills you. Protect your head!

And pray. You might as well start the conversation. When your time is up, your going to be face to face soon enough!

FWIW, you are far more likely to have a car accident than be injured in a storm. Drive safely!

[Raz]

The national weather service transmits weather reports 24/7 on several frequencies around 162.400 MHz. No matter where we have camped, we have always found at least one station. To receive these transmissions you need a radio with a weather (wx) band. They are easy to find, Walmart, Amazon. The weather service often gives storm warnings by county so a good road atlas with counties listed is nice to have. Know where you are. Raz

[David B.]

Originally Posted by Receo

Pray

Dave & Paula

[Francesca Knowles]

This happened in Nebraska last year. Nobody killed or much hurt- but the other two RV's at the campground were completely destroyed! Bet those folks wish they'd bought a Scamp 13 instead...


After wild tumble in tornado-tossed trailer, camper Jim Stoddard happy to be alive

Stoddard’s trailer was one of three in the 1,061-acre Wagon Train Lake recreation area damaged by the tornado. He was parked away from the others in a primitive campsite.

Stoddard, 57, said he was bunked down in his 13-foot fiberglass trailer when he heard the civil defense sirens. He picked up his cellphone to call his sister in Hickman when a weather emergency text message flashed on the phone. “I just read the message and thought I better head for the ditch,’’ Stoddard said. “Then, bam! It hit. It sounded just like trains, without the whistle.’’

The lightweight trailer started spinning, then flipped and rolled up an embankment. “Then it nose-dived,’’ Stoddard said. The trailer hitch caught in the ground, sending the camper end over end. “We came down the hill, rolling one way or another,’’ Stoddard said. “I lost track.’’ The trailer traveled about 150 feet in a U-shape path before coming to rest in the ditch — the same one that Stoddard had planned to flee to moments earlier.

Debris pinned Stoddard inside the camper. Under him were the crushed remains of his plywood and fiberglass bed. He lay under a splintered wood shelf, a television and jumbled possessions. Stoddard picked his way out of the wreckage. He had gone to bed wearing only his underwear. He later found a pair of trousers and pulled them on, before finding the pair that held his wallet. “And I wanted a cigarette,’’ he said. Stoddard found his cigarettes and a lighter. He was about to light up when he heard the hissing sound of his propane tank leaking. “I decided to wait on the cigarette.’’

A flash flood raced through the campground, rising about halfway up the side of the trailer. The trailer was not hitched to Stoddard’s 1991 Chevrolet van. The twister had spun the van 180 degrees and blew out all windows except the windshield. “I had all the windows rolled up because it was raining,’’ he said. “They’re unrolled now.’’ Gravel, grass and other grit caked the inside of the vehicle.

As Stoddard retrieved possessions scattered across the campground and from the creek on Friday, he noticed scuff marks across the ground that marked the camper’s tumbling path. Fallen trees covered the path in places, indicating that they fell after the trailer passed by. “If one of those big trees had hit, it would have been the end of Jim,’’ Stoddard said. He found his pillow in the creek. His picnic table was in the ditch. Another table was wrapped around a tree trunk. The back and the battery of his flip phone had disappeared, but the device appeared otherwise undamaged.

[Borrego Dave]

Wonder if he ever repaired it ? He sure has a good reason for a new name,
"Egg Roll"

[carlkeigley]

An icon twister with eggroll written on it
would sure be a conversation starter...........LOL

[carlkeigley]

You know how the news leaves you with teaser so you will
not switch channels during commercials? Today they left this
one: What NOT to do in a tornado.

Okay, I took the bite thinking of this thread.
What NOT to do?

Take a picture (movie) with your smart phone
as a tornado comes straight at you. And there
was plenty of debri flying in the video.

[captsteve2002]

I saw the destruction along I-40 as I was driving east. A swath about 1/2 mole wide was totally destroyed on both sides of the freeway. All traffic was at a crawl so everyone could rubber neck. My heart and prayers go out to all the people affected by the tornadoes this last week.

[kbingel]

Captsteve, that would be sad! And scary. We will be going through on wednesday. And coming back the following monday. I think I'm prepared however from all the great replies here.

[Filbert V.]

Pray...and open up that special bottle you've been saving for a "special occasion". Live each day like it's your last, some day you'll be right. Don't worry about the what ifs in life, and live in the moment. Let go and live!

[Donna D.]

Crap, I'm a child of the "cold war." Nothing scarier than that... DUCK, COVER, HIDE. Throw yourself in a ditch...

Just pay attention to your surroundings, PLEASE!

[carlkeigley]

Yep remember them bomb drills..........LOL