primitives getting ready for a storm

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3136360

Oh my.

Sigmund Freud would have a field day with this.

orleans  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:45 AM
Original message

Why Are You Supposed To Get Out Of Your Car During A Tornado?
   
and lay down in a ditch?

(what if there is NO ditch? what if the ground around you is flat?)

if a tornado can lift a car can't it lift a person off the ground?

if things are flying around wouldn't you be better protected in a car than out in the open?

petersond  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:47 AM
Response to Original message

1. Haul ass to a highway underpass and hold on for dear life....

PinkTiger  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:51 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. I have heard that highway underpasses are not that safe.
   
"if you're caught outdoors during a tornado, don't try to outrun it in your car, says III. A tornado can change directions quickly. You should seek shelter indoors immediately. If that isn't possible, get out of your car and duck down in the lowest spot you can find, such as a ditch or gully. Because a tornado doesn't suck objects up, but blows them around, a highway underpass is not safe since it leaves you exposed to flying debris"

http://www.insure.com/articles/homeinsurance/tornado-ti...

petersond  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:53 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. true, I don't think much is safe when a tornado is around
   
I guess when its down to the brass tacks, you gotta do what you gotta do. I don't see many decent ditches, or gully's in my area...underpass to me seems a safer bet, but with tornado's, what is really safe, unless you are in a cellar 8 feet below ground....

girl gone mad  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 02:16 AM
Response to Reply #3

9. I read a study not long ago..
   
that said people who fled in their cars were safer.

ProudToBeBlueInRhody  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:52 AM
Response to Reply #1

4. Actually, no.......
   
The suction generated underneath an overpass is supposedly even worse if it passes overhead.

petersond  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:55 AM
Response to Reply #4

6. Okay,
   
I stand corrected, again... I figure its safer than trying to find a tiny ditch...what really is safe around a tornado, unless you are in a cellar 8ft underground

ProudToBeBlueInRhody  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:59 AM
Response to Reply #6

7. Hey, I know.........
   
....I think you're screwed no matter what!

petersond  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:59 AM
Response to Reply #7

8. I'd hate to be a test subject on this matter...
   
the odds don't look good either way,

seriousstan  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:48 AM
Response to Original message

2. Because a tornado can terminate 3 feet above the ground. It is possible for it to pick up the structure you are in and not you. Play the odds. Remember, What happens in Vegas. stays in Vegas.

orleans  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 02:44 AM
Response to Reply #10

12. my daughter is planning a two - three hour car trip tomorrow to visit a college and the weather.com is saying there is going to be a line of severe thunderstorms and possible tornado outbreaks--their little video is saying if there is one day you follow weather this year make it be thursday. parts of tx, la, entire state of ak, mo and entire state of illinois. (we're illinois and she wants to head south--straight into the line of fire!) a huge possibility of long tracked tornadoes.

great.

i show her this video and ask her if she can make other arrangements, etc.

she glares at me. (i worry too much--too much of a weather freak)

"some people don't pay attention to the weather. some people just go where they are going."

Mind_your_head  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 05:51 AM
Response to Reply #12

15. That's a nasty looking line of thunderstorms moving in alright
   
I don't know that I would let my daughter drive in that either. It's not any fun driving in rain like that, even for a very experienced driver. Perhaps your daughter can postpone her trip until the line of thunderstorms passes - leave later in the afternoon or go on Friday? You could always tell her that "the worrying about her would just ruin YOUR day, and you don't want her to go driving in a storm".

I'm like you - I always check the weather before a trip. Good luck with whatever you decide about her trip.

I dunno.

You know, I'm one of the few born-and-raised in Nebraskans, perhaps a couple hundred or so of us, out of 1.6 million, who's never in his life seen a tornado, just as I'm one of the few Nebraskans who's never in his life seen a live rattlesnake, at least that I know of.

In fact, while tornadoes are a regular occurrence in Nebraska, I don't think at any time in my life I've even been within 25 or 50 miles of one.

If one is out in the open, what most are told here is to simply lay flat on the ground (even if the ground is flat); yes, it would be nice if there were a ditch or something, but just laying flat on the ground, whether in a gully or ditch or top of a hill, should be enough.

I have no idea, but if caught out here, I assume I would just follow the lead of the cats here, and the cattle and horses across the road, and do what they do.

[Texacon]

orleans  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 02:44 AM
Response to Reply #10

12. my daughter is planning a two - three hour car trip tomorrow to visit a college and the weather.com is saying there is going to be a line of severe thunderstorms and possible tornado outbreaks--their little video is saying if there is one day you follow weather this year make it be thursday. parts of tx, la, entire state of ak, mo and entire state of illinois. (we're illinois and she wants to head south--straight into the line of fire!) a huge possibility of long tracked tornadoes.

great.

i show her this video and ask her if she can make other arrangements, etc.

she glares at me. (i worry too much--too much of a weather freak)

"some people don't pay attention to the weather. some people just go where they are going."

That's a big storm!  ALL of Alaska?!   

KC

[Rebel]

That's a big storm!  ALL of Alaska?!   

KC

We're not dealing with the sharpest knives in the drawer. 

[Lord Undies]

I dunno.

You know, I'm one of the few born-and-raised in Nebraskans, perhaps a couple hundred or so of us, out of 1.6 million, who's never in his life seen a tornado, just as I'm one of the few Nebraskans who's never in his life seen a live rattlesnake, at least that I know of.

In fact, while tornadoes are a regular occurrence in Nebraska, I don't think at any time in my life I've even been within 25 or 50 miles of one.

If one is out in the open, what most are told here is to simply lay flat on the ground (even if the ground is flat); yes, it would be nice if there were a ditch or something, but just laying flat on the ground, whether in a gully or ditch or top of a hill, should be enough.

I have no idea, but if caught out here, I assume I would just follow the lead of the cats here, and the cattle and horses across the road, and do what they do.

Frank, I grew up in Dallas.  I've seen two tornadoes.  My earliest memory is a tornado coming down our street on April 2, 1957.  It did a lot of damage to our home.  The second one I saw was in about 1977.  I was in a high area and I could see the horizon.  I watched a tornado dance west to east in far north Dallas/southern Collin counties.

Tornadoes are too localized to scare or dictate life to the rational among us.  They aren't like hurricanes or earthquakes.  One can get out of the way of a tornado.   

[DixieBelle]

I've seen at least four tornadoes. They scare the crap out of me. Here is the last one that touched down a half mile from my parent's house.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2008-02-05-south-storms_N.htm

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQ7R7ssTOQ&NR=1[/youtube]

They lost shingles and a mailbox but thankfully nothing else.

[jukin]

MOVE TO WHERE THE TORNADOS AREN'T! [/Sam Kenison]

[CG6468]

MOVE TO WHERE THE TORNADOS AREN'T! [/Sam Kenison]

Ahh, Sam Kinison! Baaaaaaad Sam! 

[Texacon]

That's a big storm!  ALL of Alaska?!   

KC

We're not dealing with the sharpest knives in the drawer. 

And they don't mind proving it ..... over and over and over and over.

KC

[PatriotGame]

orleans  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-10-08 01:45 AM
Original message

Why Are You Supposed To Get Out Of Your Car During A Tornado?
   
and lay down in a ditch?

(what if there is NO ditch? what if the ground around you is flat?)

Actually, there is only one thing a DUmmy can do:

[djones520]

The asshole in me wishes to tell all DUmmies to run for the nearest open field and make a human pyramid when they see a Tornado...

The meteorologist in me says that I need to tell them to pay attention to the advice about finding a ditch.  The pressure in a tornado will drop enough to make objects like paper float, but not enough to suck a man off the ground.  Find an area where you'll be as sheltered as possible from the winds and debris.  An overpass only FUNNELS that wind and debris making it worse.

That video that we all saw 15 years ago about those people surviving under an overpass was a complete and total one in a million fluke.

[Airwolf]

MOVE TO WHERE THE TORNADOS AREN'T! [/Sam Kenison]

[Miss Mia]

Whenever I have nightmares, they're always tornadoes.  I'm scared to death of them.  The nightmares vary, but in some I'm always driving, with 5 tornadoes coming and the only shelter around is a trailer park.   


Even in my dreams I know that you're supposed to lay in a ditch, never an overpass. 

[djones520]

Whenever I have nightmares, they're always tornadoes.  I'm scared to death of them.  The nightmares vary, but in some I'm always driving, with 5 tornadoes coming and the only shelter around is a trailer park.   


Even in my dreams I know that you're supposed to lay in a ditch, never an overpass. 

I used to have traumatizing nightmares about them as a kid.  Now a days though I get excited about seeing one on a radar, let alone in real life.  I'm kinda a nut about severe weather...

[Duke Nukum]

why are they afraid of tornadoes?  Don't they just need to run out, hug one, and tell the tornado they understand it is only because of a bad childhood that they are so destructive?

[Miss Mia]

Whenever I have nightmares, they're always tornadoes.  I'm scared to death of them.  The nightmares vary, but in some I'm always driving, with 5 tornadoes coming and the only shelter around is a trailer park.   


Even in my dreams I know that you're supposed to lay in a ditch, never an overpass. 

I used to have traumatizing nightmares about them as a kid.  Now a days though I get excited about seeing one on a radar, let alone in real life.  I'm kinda a nut about severe weather...

The nightmares are a reflection of stress in my life.  I only have them during times of great stress.  *shrug*

[MrsSmith]

The only tornado I've actually seen in Nebraska was by York.  It wasn't a very strong one, but the people on the interstate totally freaked out.  Some were flying past doing at least 90, others stopped and went running out into the extremely flat ditch.  My kids and I looked frantically for our camera, but ended up just enjoying watching it.   

While we lived in a trailer in North Platte, NE, we stood by a ditch and watched an evil-looking green cloud spin overhead...but the funnel came down out of sight and tore through the park and some houses north of town.  I bought a house with a basement just a few weeks later! 

I think the best place for tornadoes was Cheyenne, Wyoming, especially the summer of...1980 or 81?  We saw 7 or 8 of them there, one tore through the north side of town, it was something like 2 blocks wide on the ground, killed a couple people.  We stood in the doorway (of our trailer  ) and watched that one... 

[BlueStateSaint]

Whenever I have nightmares, they're always tornadoes.  I'm scared to death of them.  The nightmares vary, but in some I'm always driving, with 5 tornadoes coming and the only shelter around is a trailer park.   


Even in my dreams I know that you're supposed to lay in a ditch, never an overpass. 

I used to have traumatizing nightmares about them as a kid.  Now a days though I get excited about seeing one on a radar, let alone in real life.  I'm kinda a nut about severe weather...

You're a meterologist . . . It's allowed.

Now, for me, OTOH, it's looked on as an artifact of my head injury, nearly 20 years ago.