If you are in a car and there are tornadoes around,

[Are_grits_groceries]

GET OUT and hit a ditch or any type of depression. Do not take shelter under overpasses.

If there are tornadoes around, the entire area could quickly develop them. They might drop right in front of you or worse.

I know people are loathe to leave their cars, but if these storms can toss 18 wheelers like toys, imagine what they can do to much smaller vehicles.

FYI!

[Journeyman]

1. Why not take shelter under an overpass? . . .

Does the tunnel-effect of the overpass heighten the power of the wind? Or is the danger that the underpass will collapse? Or is there some other danger I just don't realize?

Excuse my ignorance. Here in South California we rarely encounter tornadoes, and those that do develop here tend to be small and quickly dissipate.

[icymist]

4. It creates a wind tunnel effect...

Check out this link from NOAA: [link:http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ddc/?n=over|

[Journeyman]

6. Thanks for the response. . .

I thought that might be the problem.

[greyl]

2. I think I'd opt for the mobility, visibility, and protection of the car. nt

[Skittles]

3. yes

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Well, that mobility may suddenly

Last edited Wed Apr 4, 2012, 05:20 AM - Edit history (1)

come in the form of uncontrollable flying. Your visibilty would be nil. The car would be small protection for the landing you would make.
Don't assume you that the conditions for driving would remain stable for you to drive along.

If you are well away, drive at a right angle to the path of the tornado.

[Sherman A1]

7. Perhaps

However, I have also heard that ditches fill with rain quickly during these storms & can quickly become a dangerous area offering the potential for drowning.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. I know, but you have to pick your poison.

Don't get in a gully or extremely deep ditch. Even a smaller ditch could be dangerous in a stormburst, but be ready to get out in a hurry.

[HeiressofBickworth]

8. Damn

Sounds like you're screwed either way! Stay in the care, get crushed; get out, get crushed; in ditch, drown. Damn, just damn. Remind me not to visit the mid-west during tornado season. I'll stick with our infrequent earthquakes here in the PNW.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Forty years ago tomorrow

there was a killer tornado in Vancouver, Washington, took the lives of six people. I was there that day.

[Prometheus Bound]

10. My advice is to try reasoning with them.