Wichita Kansas and tornados
Wife and I will being staying in Wichita Kansas in May. We are concerned about tornados. Are we overreacting ? Any advice would be appreciated.
Forum Discussion
Deb and Ed M wrote:
NEVER try to outrun a tornado - they are FAST (can move 50 mph)
"NEVER" is a bit too strong.
If you are already on the highway going 70, the math would say you have a 20 MPH advantage- as long as you are driving away from the tornado.
There's also the old advice to drive "sideways", away from the tornado's path.
This is one of those times where common sense comes into play. If you pull over and hit the ditch whenever there's a tornado warning, you're probably going to get swept away in a flash flood.
On the other hand, if you are sitting in the car, stuck in traffic, and the tornado is coming- THEN, it's time to hit the ditch and pray.
There are indeed cases of folks getting killed in cars trying to flee tornadoes- so "get in the car and run" isn't a good recommendation. But you really can't say that's the WRONG and the most dangerous thing to do.
I don't think there's any cases of tornado chasers getting caught FLEEING a tornado...certainly a few have been caught while CHASING/ATTEMPTING TO GET CLOSE TO a tornado.
I think the bigger risk is that tornados are not always the clear black funnel. They can be cloudless, hidden in rain, or hit you at night. In the case of Joplin, MO, I'm afraid that some folks were 'blindly' driving through a big rainstorm (not 'fleeing') and suddenly hell broke loose on them.
