Traveling in Tornado prone areas

[Cosmotaf]

Will be traveling to SD the last of May. We are traveling in a Ram 3500 Dually with a 5th wheel. My husband who is a firefighter/EMT will have a weather radio. He has been West several times with Wildfire crews. So if there is a Wildfire he will know what to do. However living on the East coast we have only camped as far west as Tennessee. We are a little nervous about driving through areas that are tornado and severe storm prone this time of year. Do rest areas have appropriate shelter? Any safety tips/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Nervous Wife.

[Bumpyroad]

nitrohorse wrote:


Tornado deaths in the US every year= Less than 70.

at this time 51 killed in Moore this week, including 20 children. and they aren't through counting.
bumpy

[nitrohorse]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
This has been talked about many time on here.

Here are the odds:

Auto deaths in the US every year= Over 300,000. :E

Tornado deaths in the US every year= Less than 70.

You are traveling on the road with an RV. Your chances of being killed while on the highway in your RV are way, way, way, way, way, way, higher than even seeing a tornado let alone being killed by one.

The storm chasers try their best to run into tornados and even they, with all the high tech equipment they have; have a REALLY hard time doing that.

Do the best you can; try to be careful and move on with life. Life is a fatal disease anyway. :E

I think your facts are a bit skewered. You are way low. And if you factor in
property damage, tornado are one of the most devastating natural phenomena.

2011 Tornado Fatalities

[scoutmaster]

This is the main tornado season in Oklahoma but we get them all year long.

[pnichols]

At least with tornadoes - they come along with massive weather fronts that are easy to learn about over radio/TV, easy to see visually, and easy to drive perpendicular to and get away from in an RV.

Try driving in earthquake country - no one knows when they're going to hit and when they do come they hit everywhere across broad areas all at once.

However due to the tornado "scare factor", we try not to RV in tornado areas during the tornado season.

[scoutmaster]

Just saw this post and thought I would chime in. I live just a couple of miles from the tornado that went through Moore, OK. Fortunately around here the weather stations let us know well ahead of time of the weather conditions. They call it "being weather aware". Unfortunately, this storm came up and was a full blown tornado in less than 30 minutes. Just check ahead of time in the areas you are traveling to be "weather aware"....

[go_wild]

Here in MN, it seems to me that the meanest t-storms blow through during the middle of the night. The evening looks ok, and then, BAM! the storms blow in with hail and straight-line wind at 2am. With a hybrid RV, I'm always watchful of falling trees. More than once my wife has pulled the kids off the bunk ends.

Smarphone weather apps have been helpful. Last year my phone actually woke me up with a screeching alarm and a red blinking tornado warning message. I guess my GPS was on so it knew where I was. Luckily no RV damage, but did lose my screentent.

[Hammerhead]

Keep that map with you if there is a forecast for severe weather. We had severe weather during the first camping trip my wife and I went on together (before we were married) when all we had was a tent. The radio station was broadcasting watches and warnings and I had to run from the tent to the car in torrential rain to get the map.

rockhillmanor wrote:
My advice? KNOW the county you are in when driving. Weather alerts are always given per County locations, which County a tornado is headed, which County's will be affected by severe storms, etc.

This was MY first scary revelation when a tornado alert came out. I had NO idea what County I was in while traveling down the road. So I couldn't tell if I was driving IN to it or away from it. :R

I now have a big color coded county map for each state. When I am putting together my trip routing for the day I also mark it on the county map.

Getting off the interstate is the FIRST thing you should do. I try to find a building wall to get up against with the MH. That and don't park near or under trees!

I've been thru 3 while driving down the road and survived all of them only to have a tornado touch down in the CG I was staying at.

[Padlin]

I didn't read all the posts but if not mentioned get a map that shows the names of the counties. Had tornado's a few nights outside Nashville a few years back, had no idea where they were as the weather radio reported by county only. Good thing the host drove around rounding up folks to head for the bathrooms when they were close by.

[aerbus32]

This year, tornado numbers are down. But you saw what happened yesterday in Oklahoma and Kansas. 49 years ago, as an 11 year old, I witnessed what an F5 can do in Wichita Falls. As a retired full-timer from So Cal, I'm not worried about earthquakes because I did my best to be prepared for the 'Big One'. But I am respectfully paranoid of tornadoes. I find people in tornado prone areas are just the opposite. Complacent about tornadoes, fearful of quakes. Having just traveled from Navarre, Florida, to Albuquerque, in the last couple of weeks, I did what most are suggesting, I carefully watched internet weather reports. Hail, heavy winds and heavy rain are more likely than tornadoes. I'm currently waiting for winds that are too strong for my comfort level to die down in Albuquerque before heading further west.

[tommyznr]

Generally speaking tornados are produced when hot humid air clashes with cool dry air. Understanding this should help ease your concerns.

That does not mean that if it is hot and humid today and forecast for cool and dry tomorrow that you should be in a panic. Cold fronts sweep into the upper mid west without producing much more than a nice cool breeze and some rain most of the time. There might even be a tornado “watch” issued for these conditions. Most watches come and go without a drop of rain or a cloud in the sky.

[wa8yxm]

First, not one square foot of this great conutry is exempt from disaster planing, Some places it's tornado, some it's heat, some it's snow, but not one square foot is exempt.

You said you have a weather/all-hazards alert radio.. #1 on the good idea list.

#2 is when you check into a campground, ask security/management where the storm shelter is. That way you know how to get there.

#3, and 4 if you care to do it.

Take two classes: One is a weather spotter class. These are taught by NOAA and are often hosted by a local Ham Radio club (www.arrl.org for more info on those) The other class is a ham radio license class (Same url same club) and become a trained certified weather spotter and licensed ham radio operator.

The weather spotter class is most important because in addition to how to spot it they tell you how to improve your chances of surviving it.

The ham radio class is optional. But well worth the fun.

[bsinmich]

My bride and her father would sit on the porch and watch the tornados off in the distance. Her mother would go to the basement and read the Bible. They never got hit by a tornado until a late season one the week prior to our wedding in October '59. That was in IL. Just east of Moline. ((Geneseo)

[mlts22]

I would be concerned about hail as mentioned above. Make sure your insurance covers that, as hail can easily total a RV.

[Bumpyroad]

rockhillmanor wrote:


I now have a big color coded county map for each state. When I am putting together my trip routing for the day I also mark it on the county map.
.

exactly right. those TV/radio announcements are worthless unless you are totally aware of the surrounding counties. the weather map shows Possum county and greely county showing the track of the tornado but you don't know if it is 2 miles ahead of you or 200 miles behind you.
bumpy

[JIMNLIN]

Just be aware of weather forecasts for severe weather with possible tornado such as going on right now in the southern plains and will be spreading farther eastward each day. Be aware of the difference in a tornado watch and a warning.

Pay attention to a low to the ground big greenish black cloud especially with lots of ground to cloud lightning across a broad front. Don't charge ahead and drive into it before first finding a local radio station that gives details as to the severity of that particular storm.

"Be aware of your location on a map in relation to each storm when possible".

Not only can a funnel form but 80 mph wind gusts and large hail IMO are more worrisome.

Same if your in a RV park. Be aware of its exact location on a map and watch a local TV or a local radio station that is following the storms path.

This time of the year one of the first things I do is find out if there is a campground shelter which is usually a concrete block rest room. Don't stay in the trailer if high winds are coming. Just follow common sense precautions.