. . . by my phone screaming a tornado warning! Really gets the adrenaline flowing!
Mind you when I went to bed there was absolutely no mention of any kind of extreme weather, just that there might be thunderstorms going through about 1:30-2:00
Fortunately, this spin-up tornado was pretty far North of me and did relatively little damage-just to trees and power lines-then lifted back up into the clouds. There were a couple of other radar indicated twisters and straight line winds of 75MPH but again not near me. Actually, I don't know about the wind as I was in the studio, watching the weather radar. As soon as the leading edge of the storm passed I went back to bed.
One of the last Zoom chats with the Chookshed stitchers there were some questions about tornados. I've talked about them before and you see the wreckage caused by tornados on the news. They can certainly be destructive IF (and it's big one) you are directly in it's path. The largest tornados I've heard of are about a mile wide and are the extremely devastating EF5's. (Joplin, Missouri and Greensburg, Kansas) So the destruction might be 2 miles wide if you count the damage created by spinning debris. That said, EF 5's are fairly rare and outside of their direct path there will be wind damage etc but houses, buildings etc are not usually destroyed.
Most tornados are no where near that big, they drop out of the clouds travel a ways-sometimes a mile, sometimes a few miles, rarely several hundred miles then they lift back into the clouds. These smaller ones can do considerable damage but again you have to be in their path or very close. Much has been learned about the weather conditions that are likely to create tornados and the identification of tornados on radar has improved so much that debris spinning in a tornado is visible on it. Because of that there is generally ample warning to take cover-cue cell phone screaming at you, city wide sirens, etc.
Think about them in comparison to a Hurricane/cyclone. Those are several hundreds miles wide with very high winds. They spawn tornados and water spouts on the outer edges but the damage they create is widespread and then there's the storm surge damage. While I can't evacuate in advance of a tornado, I can read those hook echos on radar pretty well myself or watch the TV broadcasts about the storm. All in the safety of my studio-if it's coming near I head for the laundry room (about 10 steps) which, excepting the door is cement on all 6 sides.
Even though I understand more about them and the odds are against my ever being directly hit by one, I remain terrified of them. I was a child in tornado alley when there was little understanding of tornados and no emergency warning systems except for police sirens running up and down the roads.
This morning there was nothing to worry about.
So, all I lost was 45 minutes of sleep.
Wow--what a rude awakening. I am glad there is a greater understanding, and more of a warning about tornadoes now. That must have been very frightening as a child.
ReplyDeleteMother nature can be both beautiful and terrible. So glad you were not in the firing line and that you have a safe place if you need it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are safe and was able to go back to sleep. I am not sure I could have.
ReplyDeleteGreat information Gail and glad you are safe. xx
ReplyDeleteThat would wake you with a shock.......I would be terrified also....... In the cyclone areas way up north they build houses now to withstand wind strengths but not down here
ReplyDeletePhew! There was a tornado on the outskirts of our town last year, which is very unusual for here. It went through farmland for about 10 miles and destroyed a few homes.
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