They say don't get in your car and try to outrun a tornado. But, in a case like this, I've always wondered about it. Unless you have a basement, it seems even your bathroom/anywhere in your house wouldn't be safe from this thing.
Also, this is a bad ass up close video of the tornado.
That guy is a straight up idiot. One piece of lumber flying through the air and he's a dead man. Early on he's in the inflow of the tornado getting pounded with winds then he gets into the RFD getting pounded again. Not to mention being far too close to the actual circulation. Hell that thing could have easily picked up a car or building and dropped it right on him.
The thing with getting in your car is you are assuming you can either outrun it, get out of it's way, and all this while not getting stuck in traffic, possible storm damage, or anything else. Tornadoes can move upwards of 70mph and often do in the eastern part of the country. Imagine this tornado going right down a street with traffic on it. All those people would be dead. Now I agree in an EF5 situation the only place you can be sure you will survive is under ground but a car is not where I want to be especially since it only takes a 70mph wind with some upward motion to roll a car. So that's an EF0 tornado. This thing was probably an EF5 packing 200+ winds. I don't want to be in my car when that rolls by.
IMADreamer wrote:The thing with getting in your car is you are assuming you can either outrun it, get out of it's way, and all this while not getting stuck in traffic, possible storm damage, or anything else. Tornadoes can move upwards of 70mph and often do in the eastern part of the country. Imagine this tornado going right down a street with traffic on it. All those people would be dead. Now I agree in an EF5 situation the only place you can be sure you will survive is under ground but a car is not where I want to be especially since it only takes a 70mph wind with some upward motion to roll a car. So that's an EF0 tornado. This thing was probably an EF5 packing 200+ winds. I don't want to be in my car when that rolls by.
Oh, yeah, I'm in no way suggesting that you get this close. But, if I lived in tuscaloosa or birmingham or anywhere on this things path, and looked at the news and saw that they were filming it and it was headed right for me, I'd be mighty tempted to hop in my truck and drive as far north/south as I could before the thing got there. Hopefully get 20-30 miles away.
though your point is well taken that if other people have the same idea and the weather is [expletive] and the roads get clogged, you're pretty much [expletive].
You know in the case of Birmingham which is a rare one I might have to agree with you. They had a good half hour warning time on that one and everyone knew it was going to be bad. That might be the only situation I can think of where I'd considering driving away.
horrible, devastating destruction, but it's still a path and not the entire city. So, should the sirens have gone off for the people on the other side of the stadium? When these things are this unpredictable, they're going to warn as many people as could possibly be in danger. Latest report I read cited something like 450 people still missing in Tuscaloosa, but I'm not sure about the veracity of that report.
clevername wrote: We'd get the siren/warning when they were still a ways off and could conceivably hit us, but luckily the big one didn't. The other two went right over us according to the radar but weren't on the ground when they came through and we didn't really get much of anything except rain.
lukethedrifter wrote:
Anything near Huntsville, Joe S?
I am sitting in a parking lot in Decatur, Al. first time access since the storms. Huntsville city hasn't had power since Wednesday around 5PM. We aren't scheduled to have any until Tuesday and then it will be neighborhood by neighborhood.
Wed. was unbelievable. 16 hours of tornado warnings. They just kept coming and coming. The thing was they were tracking over the same areas - Cullman/Arab/Guntersville/Stevenson or Moulton/Decatur/Madison/Meridianville. We were getting tornados going through about every half hour. Thankfully they were north and south of us. Only one small twister in Huntsville proper. But there are neighborhoods that are pretty well gone. One small town, Phil Campbell is gone from what they are saying.
The good news for GRB is the Cardinals haven't lost since I've been incommunicado. So I guess I'll have to stop posting. Well, off to buy ice and then back to the stone age...
lukethedrifter wrote:
Anything near Huntsville, Joe S?
I am sitting in a parking lot in Decatur, Al. first time access since the storms. Huntsville city hasn't had power since Wednesday around 5PM. We aren't scheduled to have any until Tuesday and then it will be neighborhood by neighborhood.
Wed. was unbelievable. 16 hours of tornado warnings. They just kept coming and coming. The thing was they were tracking over the same areas - Cullman/Arab/Guntersville/Stevenson or Moulton/Decatur/Madison/Meridianville. We were getting tornados going through about every half hour. Thankfully they were north and south of us. Only one small twister in Huntsville proper. But there are neighborhoods that are pretty well gone. One small town, Phil Campbell is gone from what they are saying.
The good news for GRB is the Cardinals haven't lost since I've been incommunicado. So I guess I'll have to stop posting. Well, off to buy ice and then back to the stone age...
You should get some BBQ from Big Bob Gibson's if you have to be in Decatur Alabama.
So, this has already started. Been a little too long since blowing their siren, so they had to do it last night...despite there not being a tornado within - I don't know- 20 miles, if there was one at all. As a matter of fact, after checking the radar, I went out and ran. A couple miles into it, they started sounding the alarm as if there was another German air raid on the way. In fact, there was not and any dolt with an internet connection and/or tv could see the radar was clear for another hour...at which point rain was going fall.
AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:So, this has already started. Been a little too long since blowing their siren, so they had to do it last night...despite there not being a tornado within - I don't know- 20 miles, if there was one at all. As a matter of fact, after checking the radar, I went out and ran. A couple miles into it, they started sounding the alarm as if there was another German air raid on the way. In fact, there was not and any dolt with an internet connection and/or tv could see the radar was clear for another hour...at which point rain was going fall.
I know in Missouri, if they spot a tornado, the sound the sirens in the neighboring counties as well.
