The thing about tornadoes
Since we seem to be living through the 24 hour news cycle of tornadoes right now (or as we in the Southland refer to it, Spring), I figured it might be a good time to explain some things to those not from 'round here as it were.
First, we are not so much nonchalant about these things as we are resigned to them happening. This is not unlike Californians and earthquakes and Hawaiians and volcanoes. In the Spring and Summer, we have thunderstorms. Large ones. Large like in Biblical terms on occasion. These sometimes, if conditions are correctly assimilated, produce tornadoes. You cannot predict them, you cannot forecast them, you cannot plan for them. You can prepare for the aftermath of them, but that's a different thing altogether. I have been in thunderstorms that screamed across states at 60+ miles per hour with wind gusts of 70+, and I have been directly under a super-cell type storm as it formed and was almost hit by lightning five or six times while driving. Seriously, it struck every pole as the car I was in drove past it (within 20 feet or so), then struck the transformer outside the office I was going into just for good measure.
The storms here are not any worse than the ones you see in "stormchaser videos" on Discovery channel or the web, it's just that usually those are out in the plains states where they harass the occasional farmhouse and field of corn. Sometimes they hit a town, and that's as bad a thing as can happen. (I was actually in Wichita the weekend Greensburg, KS was leveled, and the storm wasn't that harsh where I was so you see how unpredictable these things are) The big difference is that we are much more densely populated, so no matter where the twister touches down, it's generally removing somebody's home from the earth. Our tornadoes are hampered by the fact that we, unlike Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma, have hills and trees to slow them down. This just means that they touch down, destroy some stuff, slow down and dissipate, then reform right over the next hill. Repeat until the storm has moved on...
That being said, we do get the occasional tornado that ends up with a clear path and rolls along for a hundred miles or so. We had one a few years back that followed Interstate 85 like this. Did a huge amount of damage. Again, there is no planning or predicting, just dealing with it when it happens. (much like earthquakes, etc.)
If you haven't seen the pics and videos from the past couple of weekends, watch them. Even they can't convey what these things are capable of. I'm not talking about "drove a straw through a pine board" stuff, just the raw images of a subdivision literally scraped off the face of the earth and turned into confetti. Once you grasp that, you realize why we lose sleep this time of the year. Nothing stands in the face of a big one (F3 or bigger), absolutely nothing. Not brick, not stone, not metal. What it can't bring down, it twists and breaks until it is unusable and must be leveled by cleanup crews.
The most scary thing about these monsters is the lack of warning. You can see the thunderstorm cell, you can see some "possible rotation" but you cannot see a tornado on radar. (Unless it has already sucked up enough debris that the debris shows up on screen, as it did in the Tuscaloosa storm) Warnings mean that conditions are favorable - it's Spring/Summer and there is a thunderstorm happening at the moment. Watches mean that somebody saw one somewhere, or thinks they did, so get ready just in case. The weather folks are getting better and giving us more advanced warnings, but you still can't predict an actual tornado. Seriously, one can appear out of thin air in a matter of seconds right in front of you at any time. This is what makes them dangerous and scary. Many people wake up as they land in a tree, or find themselves flying through the night sky with no idea how they got there. Mix this with a big storm in the wee hours of the morning and it makes for bad, bad things happening to people as we've seen.
I guess to sum up, sometimes we (myself especially) seem pretty blase about them, but it's really because it doesn't do any good to fret and worry. I've lived here for forty years now, and I've never actually seen one in person. That doesn't mean that I won't end up in a tree next storm, but it does mean that I try to know how to deal with it when I do end up in the situation. We don't have storm cellars like in the midwest, but we know where to hide if we get a warning all the same.
I do appreciate people asking if I'm ok as it lets me know that people know things are happening and that assistance is on the way to the people that need it, and it's nice to know people care enough to ask. After the tornado leaves, communication is key - finding out where help is needed (literally only one side of a street might be damaged, or even one side of a house, or it might be an entire town), finding out who made it through and who didn't, making sure roads are cleared and people that need power have access to generators, etc.
There will be more storms this season, and unfortunately more tornadoes and more damage. We'll make it through as always, then in November I can tell you all about hurricanes...
Just saw an update - death toll is now at 250 people in six states.
Just read a FBook post from a high school friend who is waiting to hear from family in Alabama. They've been trying all day and haven't heard back, yet. Hoping for the best for them.
First, we are not so much nonchalant about these things as we are resigned to them happening. This is not unlike Californians and earthquakes and Hawaiians and volcanoes. In the Spring and Summer, we have thunderstorms. Large ones. Large like in Biblical terms on occasion. These sometimes, if conditions are correctly assimilated, produce tornadoes. You cannot predict them, you cannot forecast them, you cannot plan for them. You can prepare for the aftermath of them, but that's a different thing altogether. I have been in thunderstorms that screamed across states at 60+ miles per hour with wind gusts of 70+, and I have been directly under a super-cell type storm as it formed and was almost hit by lightning five or six times while driving. Seriously, it struck every pole as the car I was in drove past it (within 20 feet or so), then struck the transformer outside the office I was going into just for good measure.
The storms here are not any worse than the ones you see in "stormchaser videos" on Discovery channel or the web, it's just that usually those are out in the plains states where they harass the occasional farmhouse and field of corn. Sometimes they hit a town, and that's as bad a thing as can happen. (I was actually in Wichita the weekend Greensburg, KS was leveled, and the storm wasn't that harsh where I was so you see how unpredictable these things are) The big difference is that we are much more densely populated, so no matter where the twister touches down, it's generally removing somebody's home from the earth. Our tornadoes are hampered by the fact that we, unlike Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma, have hills and trees to slow them down. This just means that they touch down, destroy some stuff, slow down and dissipate, then reform right over the next hill. Repeat until the storm has moved on...
That being said, we do get the occasional tornado that ends up with a clear path and rolls along for a hundred miles or so. We had one a few years back that followed Interstate 85 like this. Did a huge amount of damage. Again, there is no planning or predicting, just dealing with it when it happens. (much like earthquakes, etc.)
If you haven't seen the pics and videos from the past couple of weekends, watch them. Even they can't convey what these things are capable of. I'm not talking about "drove a straw through a pine board" stuff, just the raw images of a subdivision literally scraped off the face of the earth and turned into confetti. Once you grasp that, you realize why we lose sleep this time of the year. Nothing stands in the face of a big one (F3 or bigger), absolutely nothing. Not brick, not stone, not metal. What it can't bring down, it twists and breaks until it is unusable and must be leveled by cleanup crews.
The most scary thing about these monsters is the lack of warning. You can see the thunderstorm cell, you can see some "possible rotation" but you cannot see a tornado on radar. (Unless it has already sucked up enough debris that the debris shows up on screen, as it did in the Tuscaloosa storm) Warnings mean that conditions are favorable - it's Spring/Summer and there is a thunderstorm happening at the moment. Watches mean that somebody saw one somewhere, or thinks they did, so get ready just in case. The weather folks are getting better and giving us more advanced warnings, but you still can't predict an actual tornado. Seriously, one can appear out of thin air in a matter of seconds right in front of you at any time. This is what makes them dangerous and scary. Many people wake up as they land in a tree, or find themselves flying through the night sky with no idea how they got there. Mix this with a big storm in the wee hours of the morning and it makes for bad, bad things happening to people as we've seen.
I guess to sum up, sometimes we (myself especially) seem pretty blase about them, but it's really because it doesn't do any good to fret and worry. I've lived here for forty years now, and I've never actually seen one in person. That doesn't mean that I won't end up in a tree next storm, but it does mean that I try to know how to deal with it when I do end up in the situation. We don't have storm cellars like in the midwest, but we know where to hide if we get a warning all the same.
I do appreciate people asking if I'm ok as it lets me know that people know things are happening and that assistance is on the way to the people that need it, and it's nice to know people care enough to ask. After the tornado leaves, communication is key - finding out where help is needed (literally only one side of a street might be damaged, or even one side of a house, or it might be an entire town), finding out who made it through and who didn't, making sure roads are cleared and people that need power have access to generators, etc.
There will be more storms this season, and unfortunately more tornadoes and more damage. We'll make it through as always, then in November I can tell you all about hurricanes...
Just saw an update - death toll is now at 250 people in six states.
Just read a FBook post from a high school friend who is waiting to hear from family in Alabama. They've been trying all day and haven't heard back, yet. Hoping for the best for them.