May 26, 2008: Handbrake & J

[xoxoxoBruce]

If you can make it to an underpass, and have the time, get out of the vehicle and climb the embankment up into the support beams, for protection from debris blowing through.... and hang on.

If you don't have the time, place your head between your legs and... well, you know the rest.

[kerosene]

I know this is late, but last week a whole slew of tornadoes were loose in Northern Colorado. This one was about 1 mile wide. I knew of at least 7 different tornadoes that touched down that day. I have never seen anything like this so far West in this state. Several people I know had significant damage to their homes (roofs torn off, etc.) One person I know had her child in a daycare there, where all of the kids were shuffled into a vault at a bank. It was quite scary!

[Imigo Jones]

Originally Posted by Brian

Don't hide under an overpass...the winds can be stronger there than in the open.

Try to hide in a cellar (no pun intended) or something below the level of the ground. Underpasses don't cut it.

The company tells me to park my truck and go lay in a ditch if a tornado shelter isn't available.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

If you can make it to an underpass, and have the time, get out of the vehicle and climb the embankment up into the support beams, for protection from debris blowing through.... and hang on.

Once again tonight, as a couple nights last week, my radio baseball listening is being repeatedly interrupted by weather warnings from both the local station and the National Weather Service. The latter has an automated system, with a woman's computer voice that does not make perfect splices yet is a decided improvement over--to recall other recent posts--either the Jetsons' Rosie or the original Star Trek's usual computers.

The NWS message would give details as to place (what parts of what counties) and how long the warning or watch or alert was in effect. Each message would end with standard recorded advice, like where in the house to take shelter, to contact police or whomever if you see a tornado, and this:
“If driving, do not seek shelter under a highway overpass.”

Bruce, I never heard it recommended that we climb up into the overpass. Is that really safer than lying down in a roadside ditch? You might have a huge beam to block debris (from one direction, maybe), but like Brian's message suggests, aren't you susceptible to the wind dislodging you?

The best part of a ditch would be in a culvert, where you're below ground level, untouchable to the wind, and protected from debris. In the countryside around here, a culvert is usually just a corrugated steel (or concrete) pipe connecting a ditch interrupted by a paved or dirt road.



The main downside, besides getting wet, would be if you are sharing the culvert with an animal that has a prior, longstanding claim to it. In nonemergency explorations, I've seen skunks and raccoons living in them.

As I am almost done typing (looking for an illustration), the local tornado watch has just been upgraded to a tornado warning. It's a storm whose strong rotation, with other atmospheric conditions, is capable of producing a tornado. Wow--tornado sirens are now going off. . . . [Later, after finding image above.] But now the sirens have gone off. (First "are going off" meaning the opposite of "have gone off. ) See you in Oz!

[jinx]

“If driving, do not seek shelter under a highway overpass.”