Tornadoes

[carnation]

For sure, it's easier dealing with hurricanes. I grew up an hour from the Texas coast and even though the hurricanes were scary, we had days to prepare like you said, t*p. Although one year, a hurricane ripped through and spawned a tornado, which picked up our big ol' beach house and several others right along the coast and dropped them in the Gulf. Not even a nail was left and the owners could only locate their lots by the cisterns. This was all witnessed by this guy who actually rode out the storm nearby!

Several tornadoes have touched down in the section of Alabama just west of us since I've lived here and I really think that the big manmade lake between us and them tempers the weather a bit. Locals say that we've hardly had any snow since the lake was put in about 1960 but then again, the tornadoes seem to die at the state line so it's worth it.

Thanks, Benzgirl,it's been a violent 2 days weatherwise. The kids just came in and told me that a tornado did just now touch down south of here.

[KSig RC]

This has to be the largest city ever hit by a tornado, right?

For years, we thought that something about how cities affected the environment made them "tornado-proof" - that wind had trouble gathering in the city. I think Oklahoma City had a tornado in the suburbs, but there's never been one downtown in a major city, as far as i know. Watching the highlights from last night was pretty sick - that's insane, really.

Not only is it scary, but it's groundbreaking, in a bad way.

[ComradesTrue]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

This has to be the largest city ever hit by a tornado, right?

For years, we thought that something about how cities affected the environment made them "tornado-proof" - that wind had trouble gathering in the city. I think Oklahoma City had a tornado in the suburbs, but there's never been one downtown in a major city, as far as i know. Watching the highlights from last night was pretty sick - that's insane, really.

Not only is it scary, but it's groundbreaking, in a bad way.

I posted this in another thread, but both downtown Fort Worth and downtown Nashville have had pretty significant tornadoes in the past 10 or so years. There were many buildings completely damaged in the Fort Worth tornado, including one that was maybe 30 stories and was left inhabitable. The Fort Worth tornado hit around 7pm, so all the 9-5 folks had gone home. I can't remember what time of day the Nashville one hit.

[ComradesTrue]

There may be some enviromental causation- I have no idea- I know nothing of meterology... but I think most of the reason of rare downtown tornados is just chance.

Consider all the land in tornado alley, and then the very small comparable amount of downtown land. The downtown areas represent a fraction of 1% of the total land... so thus just by chance/math we don't see as many tornadoes in downtown areas.

[ZTAngel]

I'm about 1 mile outside of the Atlanta city limits and we had tornado sirens going off here about an hour ago. They're pretty scary sounding. So far, it's been pretty calm here today. Just some light rain and light winds but it's supposed to pick up around 3pm.

I was actually supposed to be at the GA Dome last night. I had tickets in my company's suite but the hubby felt sick so we just stayed at home. I'm glad we did! We probably would have taken MARTA (subway) over to the Dome and from what I heard MARTA was shut down until 5am this morning leaving a bunch of people stranded in the Downtown area. That must've really sucked!

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by Blondie93

I posted this in another thread, but both downtown Fort Worth and downtown Nashville have had pretty significant tornadoes in the past 10 or so years. There were many buildings completely damaged in the Fort Worth tornado, including one that was maybe 30 stories and was left inhabitable. The Fort Worth tornado hit around 7pm, so all the 9-5 folks had gone home. I can't remember what time of day the Nashville one hit.

http://www.dallassky.com/fwtornado.htm
The FW one was pretty bad. It actually hit closer to 6 pm

[ZTABullwinkle]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

http://www.dallassky.com/fwtornado.htm
The FW one was pretty bad. It actually hit closer to 6 pm

I remember watching the destruction from the Fort Worth tornado.

As for the hurricane or tornado debate, I would much much rather wait out a hurricane than a tornado. I have this phobia of tornados. Plus, even though everyone panics around here for hurricanes, it is usually nothing more than a big rainstorm. We have the Outer Banks to thank for that!

[TNPhiMu]

Originally Posted by Blondie93

I posted this in another thread, but both downtown Fort Worth and downtown Nashville have had pretty significant tornadoes in the past 10 or so years. There were many buildings completely damaged in the Fort Worth tornado, including one that was maybe 30 stories and was left inhabitable. The Fort Worth tornado hit around 7pm, so all the 9-5 folks had gone home. I can't remember what time of day the Nashville one hit.

The Nashville one in 1998 was mid-afternoon. I had just gotten out of school, but they kept us all there because of the storms. We watched the funnel cloud spin over the school before it dropped down a few blocks away by Vanderbilt and then on into downtown. My dad was working across the interstate from the Titans Stadium (LP field now) and it was being built. He watched out the window as all of the cranes and buildling equipment lifted up and slammed back down.

Besides that one, I just tend to be way too close to tornadoes, and not actually right up in them. I've started to think the damn things are following me around... Nashville, then 3 in Jackson, then Memphis... I just keep being thankful I haven't been caught in one yet.