Top Five Tornado Myths

With winter winding down, temperatures are warming up and the likelihood for severe weather and tornadoes is also increasing.  We've already had an EF-4 tornado go through a heavily populated area (Hattiesburg) this month, so I'm taking the time now to debunk some myths about tornadoes and tornado safety.  The number of myths is surprisingly large, but we can't get too lengthy and since I like countdowns, I'm going to focus on the five myths that stand out to me as being the most flagrantly wrong.

5. You Can Rate a Tornado Just by Looking at it.

I blame the movie Twister for this one.  Throughout the movie, they constantly look at tornadoes and say, "That's a F-3," or "There's a F-5 heading our way!"  This is all wrong.  The width of a tornado gives a general idea of the intensity, but there are plenty of examples of relatively skinny tornadoes that had higher winds than other wider ones.  It is nearly impossible to measure the wind speed of a tornado as they are happening as the instruments would likely be destroyed.  The F or Fujita Scale was developed as a way to estimate the wind speed of tornadoes based on the damage they left behind.  To evaluate the damage, the tornado has to already have passed, which is why the official Fujita Scale rating of a tornado is usually not announced by the National Weather Service until a day after the storm.  So you might not know how strong a tornado is before it hits, but it doesn't matter.  Every tornado is dangerous and requires your immediate action.  Also, to be correct, it's not the F Scale anymore but the EF or Enhanced Fujita Scale.  The original scale was tweaked back in 2007 to make it more accurate.  The image below shows you how the scale breaks down:

4. It's Better to Stay Inside a Mobile Home Than Leave.

While it is almost always better to be indoors than outdoors during a tornado, there is an exception when it comes to mobile homes/trailers/manufactured homes.  Mobile homes are much more likely to be destroyed by a tornado than a permanent building.  Most mobile homes are only designed to sustain winds up to 70 mph; the strength of an EF-0 tornado.  Mobile homes also frequently flip over in tornadoes, because it is so easy for winds to get underneath the home and lift it.  If you are in a mobile home and a tornado warning is issued, get out!  If a permanent building is nearby, go there and seek shelter on the lowest floor.  If there is not one close by, you're still better off getting in your vehicle and driving to another location or seeking shelter in a low lying place outside the mobile home than remaining inside.

3. A Highway Overpass is a Safe Place to be.

It's no mystery that a car is not the safest place to be in a tornado.  They can be flipped over relatively easily and outrunning a tornado only works under ideal circumstances.  The idea that stopping your car under a highway overpass and taking shelter underneath it is a better option though is a misconception.  There are documented cases of people surviving a tornado under an overpass, but there are more cases of people not surviving.  Overpasses often act like a wind tunnel, enhancing the speed of the wind and providing a location for debris to gather.  If you find yourself in a car during a tornado warning, do not stop under an overpass, but continue driving to the closest permanent building.  If you see the tornado and have no direction to escape in, then you're still better off getting out of your vehicle and taking shelter in a ditch or other low lying area than taking shelter under an overpass.

2. Tornadoes Do Not Cross Rivers or Hills.

Some believe that if they can get to the opposite side of a river from a tornado they will automatically be safe.  This is just not true, as tornadoes have been documented crossing rivers and continuing on the other side.  A tornado is just as likely to occur over water as land; over water they're known as waterspouts instead of tornadoes.  The image below is of a waterspout that formed at sea.  Another common belief is that tornadoes only occur in flat areas and cannot cross over hills.  This too has been proven false.  While most tornadoes do form over flat terrain, they have also occurred in the mountains and have tracked for miles over hilly terrain.

1. Opening the Windows in a House Before a Tornado Hits Will Help Protect it.

This may be the biggest tornado safety myth that's still widely believed.  The idea is that opening all the windows in a house will help equalize the pressure between the inside and outside of the house and keep it from being crushed.  While tornadoes are associated with lower atmospheric pressure, research has shown that it is the winds and debris being carried by the tornado that destroy homes, not the pressure change.  Taking the time to open all the widows in your home only wastes valuable minutes when you could be taking shelter in the safest part of your home.  A strong tornado will break the windows anyway and should the tornado not pass over you, you will avoid having rain and debris blown into your house.

So there you have my top five tornado myths.  If you want more information on tornadoes and tornado safety this is a great website to check out: http://www.ready.gov/tornadoes

And as always if you have any other weather questions, be sure to comment below!