Wichita Kansas and tornados

If anyone is really worried about tornadoes, they probably shouldn't be anywhere in the midwest from may to april (in other words, any month.) They happen, but somehow people still live in the midwest. Just saw the outcome of the tornado in Joplin MO. For those people in it's path, really bad. For the other 90 percent no destruction.
We have been within 10 or 20 miles of a few of tornadoes in our travels over 15 years. A year ago, we were within miles of tornadoes in Ala, Tenn, and KY. What is the choice, never travel, never go to the midwest?
A couple of years ago, one hit the north side of Minneapolis, and we were within one mile of it when it happened. There are no absolute save places.

Wichita is no different than any other city in Tornado Alley. Just listen/watch weather reports and be prepared to take cover if that's the instruction. So FAR this year storms have been quite sparce and even on a HEAVY year, your odds of being IN one are minimal. Conside the fact that there are THOUSANDS of 100 + year old homes, many very old trees etc in Wichita and surrounding area and they can neither take cover or even MOVE and still they stand. (Just to put a different prospective on the issue.)
Good luck / Skip

We live in part of tornado alley. Im 68 and I've seen 2 just out in the fields. I remember as a kid standing and looking out kitchen window with Mom and watched one go by. Mother also had been there all her life and it did not disturb her.

IIRC, May isn't a big tornado month in the midwest. During the 2 yrs I lived in Wichita, I ducked into a gas station once to avoid hail. I never ducked to avoid a tornado.

This question will show my lack of knowledge about tornados. The closest I've been to one is watching them on TV. If you were in an RV park, at your MH, wouldn't you have some hint from the weather that one was coming? If it looked like it was headed directly for you, couldn't you just raise your levelers, disconnect, and drive away from it? If you can see it commng directly for you and you know you're going to get hit, but it's still a couple miles away, couldn't you try to get out of the way? Isn't a tornado fairly slow moving? Has anyone tried to dodge a tornado from being parked in an RV park?

PS. no tornadoes, hurricanes, poisonous snakes, droughts, poisonous spiders, or other such things like income taxes in Alaska. We do have earth quakes and volcanoes – we have one going off again out on the Aleutian Chain.

Bill

Leeblev wrote:
Golly Gee!And so many are afraid to come to CA because we have earthquakes. Lets see......last one causing damage was??????? Oh! several years ago. Last tornado causing damage was????? Yesterday!
Since I am a California boy, tornado's scare me. I guess insurance in tornado country is similar to earthquake insurance here. So expensive you can't afford it.
Have I endured a tornado? No. However a couple of years ago, I hunkered down in a Sam's Club parking lot in Omaha and watched the local news warn of several in my area. Was I scared. You bet! This was the same day that a tornado took out an entire town in Iowa as we were driving west on I-80.
No thanks, I like my earthquakes.

Oddly home owners ins. was no more expensive than any place else.

Trackrig wrote:
This question will show my lack of knowledge about tornados. The closest I've been to one is watching them on TV. If you were in an RV park, at your MH, wouldn't you have some hint from the weather that one was coming? If it looked like it was headed directly for you, couldn't you just raise your levelers, disconnect, and drive away from it? If you can see it commng directly for you and you know you're going to get hit, but it's still a couple miles away, couldn't you try to get out of the way? Isn't a tornado fairly slow moving? Has anyone tried to dodge a tornado from being parked in an RV park?

Bill

Not really.

Your average tornado is short lived. It can quickly drop down, tear stuff up and dissipate just as quickly. The long-lasting ones that go 40 miles on TV are the exeption, not the norm. They also zig/zag veer/ do not go in perfectly straight lines.

A lot of victim interviews tell how they don't think it's bad, but suddenly it starts getting bad- they run for the basement, but hear the house coming apart while they are still going down the basement stairs.

Also, sometimes they hit at night and sometimes they are hidden in the rain. So it's a tough call.

The difference between an old fashioned rip-roaring thunderstorm that happens 99.9999% of the time and you sit and enjoy and a deadly tornado strike can be very quick and kind of subtle. Yeah, the wind gets gusty 40 MPH- strong but not a big deal, but then trees take flight and stuff starts to come apart at 60 to 80 MPH- the wind gust can hit in a matter of seconds.

Don't take this to mean that a person is helpless when a warning is issued or a funnel cloud is very close by- in some instances you can probably hit the car and drive away (or hit the concrete restroom).

But to 'break camp and pull out'...too far over the elusive middle ground. I'm 53 years old and have experienced who knows how many tornado WARNINGS- even a few in the camper. I have yet to have needed to be in the basement or out of the camper...and what I just said- while true- is of no value to a bunch of folks in Joplin MO.

Also, there's the bad, but semi true joke. A camper/mobile home is a tornado magnet. The reality is that campers and mobile homes fare really crummy in most tornadoes, while a stick house will actually survive the majority of weaker tornadoes without collapsing/coming apart.

I'm kind of a weather nut and head to the window for tornado warnings. Most of the storms are mundane storms (sure lightning, thunder, black clouds, strong winds, hail), but some sudden, stronger, wind gusts have given me an appreciation for the folks going down the steps while the roof comes off.

I grew up near Wichita living there for the first 23 years of my life. I think I have seen 2 tornados. I saw more tornados in the 8 years I lived in Oklahoma City. May is a big month for tornadoes in both OK and KS. As a matter of fact, May 3rd and 5th are two days that stick out in my mind for large, long track tornadoes in OK with the May 3rd, 99 tornado missing our house by a couple blocks. KS and OK are very similar for tornado chances. I wouldn't sweat it, your chances of actually seeing one is slim to nearly none. I actually would like to be a storm chaser some day, it would be so energizing, but my wife would never allow it.

Trackrig wrote:
If you can see it commng directly for you and you know you're going to get hit, but it's still a couple miles away, couldn't you try to get out of the way? Isn't a tornado fairly slow moving?

NEVER try to outrun a tornado - they are FAST (can move 50 mph) and can change course in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, when you see the pictures of tornadoes on TV, they are always moving from the left to the right - the photographer is on the south side (dry side) of the funnel as it moves away. Quite often, the leading edge of a tornado is rain-wrapped, so you won't see the funnel until it's too late. Or...as in the case of my sis-in-law: the tornado can be unrecognizable as a tornado. She was standing in the dining room, watching the hail with her 2 yr-old son, and looking at a particularly black cloud. Finally, when the F-5 tornado was close enough to make her ears pop, she headed for the basement, and her house was destroyed before she hit the bottom step. (Plainfield, IL 1990)

I was recently reading a book about an outbreak of F-5 tornadoes that hit Michigan in 1956; and the majority of people who were injured or killed, had tried to outrun the funnels in their cars.

And lastly - if you try to dodge one tornado - you might drive into the path of another one, depending on what kind of storm system is creating them.

The good news: they usually come with ample warning, especially with the new Dual-Pol radar. Most are small and have narrow destruction paths. A stout building will survive most close passes by a funnel, so your best bet is to protect yourselves from flying debris - and in an RV park, there will be a LOT of that.

Deb and Ed M wrote:

Trackrig wrote:
If you can see it commng directly for you and you know you're going to get hit, but it's still a couple miles away, couldn't you try to get out of the way? Isn't a tornado fairly slow moving?

NEVER try to outrun a tornado - they are FAST (can move 50 mph) and can change course in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, when you see the pictures of tornadoes on TV, they are always moving from the left to the right - the photographer is on the south side (dry side) of the funnel as it moves away. Quite often, the leading edge of a tornado is rain-wrapped, so you won't see the funnel until it's too late. Or...as in the case of my sis-in-law: the tornado can be unrecognizable as a tornado. She was standing in the dining room, watching the hail with her 2 yr-old son, and looking at a particularly black cloud. Finally, when the F-5 tornado was close enough to make her ears pop, she headed for the basement, and her house was destroyed before she hit the bottom step. (Plainfield, IL 1990)

I was recently reading a book about an outbreak of F-5 tornadoes that hit Michigan in 1956; and the majority of people who were injured or killed, had tried to outrun the funnels in their cars.

And lastly - if you try to dodge one tornado - you might drive into the path of another one, depending on what kind of storm system is creating them.

The good news: they usually come with ample warning, especially with the new Dual-Pol radar. Most are small and have narrow destruction paths. A stout building will survive most close passes by a funnel, so your best bet is to protect yourselves from flying debris - and in an RV park, there will be a LOT of that.

It is not just the new generation RADAR but also the highly trained spotters (SkyWarn) that give better warnings.

I remember Plainfield rather well. It is the benchmark tornado for the spotters and disaster teams in this area.

I spent about two weeks in Plainfield providing communications for the Salvation Army Disaster team.