Tornadoes in the Southeast

[pasusan]

We've been planning a leisurely trip down the Natchez Trace, to New Orleans, and back up through Alabama towards I-81. Got it all worked out for this spring - end of March into April.

It just came to mind that that is tornado season. :E

Looking at some sites that talk about average tornadoes by month Mississippi and Alabama look pretty bad for those months.

What do you think? Would it stop you?

[dennis1949]

Lived here for 67 years. Have never stopped us from doing what we wanted to do. Just lessen to the local weather

[johnhicks]

I lived in central Florida for 40-plus years without a hurricane until 2004 when we got three in a couple of months. Years without the incident certainly doesn't mean the incident won't happen.

Don't just focus on tornadoes; the chances of you getting nailed by a specific tornado are pretty slim. And serious outbreaks don't happen real often.

Remember that the storms that time of year are caused by cold fronts which sweep across the southeastern part of the continent with violent weather. In addition to tornadoes you can get strong straight-line winds from downdrafts and big hail, either of which will destroy an RV (or car, house etc).

Personally I'd be elsewhere until mid to late May. Not that I'd be terrified and quaking in my boots but I'd just prefer to avoid that concern.

But if you must: Weather Underground wunderground.com has some good radar pages; I like to use their Wundermap for a general overview and the Nexad radar quick radar scans. The Nexrad page can display hail and vortex signatures frequently early enough to make it to the shelter.

A weather radio that will alert on SAME will wake you up in the middle of the night; beware that you have to program it for the area you're in. You can find that info at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ Area listings are at the bottom of the page.

I've found an Android app called Radar Now to be useful while traveling. It's locator dot moves along with you while showing radars. Weather Underground's app is good but your location is stationary. These are on the Google Store.

[nevadanick]

We went to East Texas and Ok this spring to see freinds. I had the same worry. I was watching the news which was a La station and the weatherman that looked to be my age said he lived there his entire life and had never seen a tornado. This made me feel better. While on the road to Ok tornados hit 2 towns just minutes after we drove through and when we got to Lawton Ok one was trying to develop right where we were. It was interesting to watch and a bit scary at the same time. It never touched down and the weather afterwards was wonderful.

[pasusan]

Wow - thanks all for the reassuring replies! We happen to live in an area that doesn't much get natural disasters - except for our plentiful snow. 😉

We've been waiting for retirement (yee-hah!) and want to get on the road as soon as possible. That's why we want to head south to get an early spring.

As much as it would be great to have flexible travel plans as suggested - there are an awful lot of campgrounds that are already getting reserved up so we have to jump in now. So far we've got reservations for Nashville (Seven Points) and Gulf Shores. We do have short travel days planned, so we can adjust what time of the day to travel, and of course if there are tornado-y storms around we'll have to really adjust and lose some reservation money.

I have read a lot on here about what to do when tornadoes are around and we will certainly do the utmost to save ourselves, but we would be heartsick to lose our rig.

Thanks for the tips on weather radios and apps for the phone. Also for tips on what not to miss - we are *so* looking forward to this trip!

[Halmfamily]

I've lived in Alabama for 18 years and only had one close call with F1 tornado in 2012. It went over our house and touched down on the back of our property knocking down some trees.

Most campgrounds the restrooms are used as storm shelters. Make sure you have a good weather radio and good service on your smart phone and use a good weather app with radar.

Enjoy your travels down here.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Here are the real odds if you are worried about getting killed.

Around 30,000 people on average are killed a year driving on the roads of the US.

Around 60 people on average are killed a year in the US from tornado's.

You have a 500 times better odds of being killed just driving down the road in your RV then being killed in a tornado.

Enough said.

[CavemanCharlie]

It would not stop me. I do as the others have said, keep a NOAA radio around, a good radar app on your phone, and just be aware of things.

[MandKJohns]

I lived in Alabama for 23 years. That is probably the second best time of year to go. Second to October to first of December. Reason being humidity is low and temperatures are warm. I wouldn't let it stop me. Just be vigil and pay attention to if a storm is coming or not.

[dwayneb236]

I remember that storm in the Dallas area well. Felt so sorry for those people stuck on the road. They just had no where to go.

We were in Ok City one year at a campground just north of the city. This was about 2 weeks after the Moore tornado that did so much damage. It does have a storm shelter but no dogs are allowed. We travel with our dogs so that was a no go for us. Of course while we were there for the week a storm blows through with tornados.

We had been watching the weather all day and I had already formed my plan. Just around the corner, about a mile away, is a big horse track and casino. The tornados got close so we took the dogs and hightailed it to the casino. Ran inside with our dogs and not one staff member said we couldn't bring them in. They were very kind to us. Hundreds of people had the same idea as us and we were all in the lobby.

Got notified by staff shortly after the tornado was coming right for us and everyone had to move to the basement area. It got a bit crowded down there but everyone was great and the dogs behaved. They are small dogs and were very popular. Very secure place to ride out a tornado too.

Tornado turned, missing us but hitting south of OK City and doing some damage. Scary, but always have a plan.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

Last Dec 26, we were at a COE park near our former home northeast of Dallas. Almost a dozen people lost their lives as the tornado came across the area - most of them were on the freeway when the tornado picked up their cars/ trucks and slammed the vehicles into the side walls of the freeway.

We were in a bathhouse at the COE park - I was watching a local TV station on my cell phone. I know the area - and could tell the tornado was headed very close to us. It passed about a mile to the east.

One of the people camped near us stayed in his Winnebago "Because its built strong, and a tornado can't damage it." I asked him how well it would stand up if the tornado had thrown it into the nearby lake?

Tornados do happen, but seldom do they come out of nowhere with no notice. Just be vigilant about the weather. When a front is predicted - keep an ear tuned to there radio. We knew rough weather was predicted and I purposely kept the TV on local TV stations rather than watch a movie on the Dish. Even so - our phones alerted us when the tornado warnings were issued.

Make it a habit to ask about where to shelter in the RV park if a tornado is nearby. Do NOT stay in your rig if there is a tornado warning for the area.

Know which counties you are in, which towns, which are the major highways so you can track how close a storm that might generate a tornado is coming to where you are located.

A much bigger danger and threat to your safety is the other drivers on the highway, any highway, than tornados.

Do keep your travel plans flexible. Some days you plan to travel might be really good days to stay put.

[coolmom42]

Isaac-1 wrote:
Like the others said I would not give it a second thought, but do plan to pull off if the weather looks bad. Thankfully there are stops every few miles going down the Natchez trace. As to the trace itself there are a few things you should be aware of, first off it is a narrow highway, second the speed limit is 50 mph and is strictly enforced by the park rangers, the traffic is sparse and almost all tourist (no commercial vehicles allowed on the trace). Also as a general rule the stops (points of interest,nature trails, historical spots and markers) along trace get more closely spaced and in my opinion more interesting the farther south you get, in fact I would say the last 5 or 10 toward the south end are all must see locations. Makes sure to take the 2-3 mile side trip for Emerald Mound about 10 miles noth of Natchez. Also if civil war history interests you take a site trip to Vicksburg and tour the battleground park, it is mostly drive through and takes an hour or two at 10-15 mph (use the available audio tour) , it is RV accessible but some of curves are sharp so if you have a TOAD you may want to use it.

Also, watch for bicycle riders. Lots of them on the Trace. Not so many motorcycles, guess they don't like the low speed limit.

[Isaac-1]

Like the others said I would not give it a second thought, but do plan to pull off if the weather looks bad. Thankfully there are stops every few miles going down the Natchez trace. As to the trace itself there are a few things you should be aware of, first off it is a narrow highway, second the speed limit is 50 mph and is strictly enforced by the park rangers, the traffic is sparse and almost all tourist (no commercial vehicles allowed on the trace). Also as a general rule the stops (points of interest,nature trails, historical spots and markers) along trace get more closely spaced and in my opinion more interesting the farther south you get, in fact I would say the last 5 or 10 toward the south end are all must see locations. Makes sure to take the 2-3 mile side trip for Emerald Mound about 10 miles noth of Natchez. Also if civil war history interests you take a site trip to Vicksburg and tour the battleground park, it is mostly drive through and takes an hour or two at 10-15 mph (use the available audio tour) , it is RV accessible but some of curves are sharp so if you have a TOAD you may want to use it.

[Johno02]

We had just gotten to Branson when the tornado hit that night. It missed us....

[wa8yxm]

I would not.. What I would do is the following:

Go to the APP store for your smart phone and type NOAA in the search box

Get a good Weather/all - hazards radio... Mine is a pocket model but desktop models usually have either better antennas or the ability to work with an external Scanner Antenna (VHF)

Learn how to program the radio (optional)

And enjoy the trip. When you check in ask the Camp Host which building is the designated shelter in case of storm.