How do you handle storms

[CosmickGold]

Recently there was a post about a tornado that went through Texas and flipped an RV while it's owner took shelter in WalMart. As I storm chaser, I have seen what kind of damage a thunder storm can do. When you are out there and dangerous storm is approaching, what do you do? Do you hunker down and weather it out? Do you leave your rig and seek shelter while your rig takes the brunt of the storm? Do you plot an escape route and attempt to run from it to save your rig and yourself?

You were a "storm chaser"? That seems so totally cool! I think you'll like reading my story of experiencing storms up close and personal.

 

[wntrhwk]

OOPS. Couldn't get a keyboard on my cell phone, so now on my desktop to try again:

I assume you are right, wntrhwk, you'd know. The date of my experience described above was about 1972, with my bus parked on Yarmouth street. I see from Google Earth that Yarmouth is a really different place now. Sorry for the 100 mph mistake. Must have been 135 like you say. (I was wondering today why more houses didn't blow away.)

I worked for NOAA too! (Though very briefly.) I soldered together a board on contract, that rotated electronically through 60 data channels. It was used with a bunch of sensors in a glider (or drone?) that was flown through that little cloud that sometimes sits stationary above Green Mountain. It was radioing back data on how clouds form and dissipate, (since one end of that cloud is always forming, and the other side is always dissipating.

Ya, a rotor cloud, you do know Boulder. Fastinating work you did, sounds like you must have enjoyed it. I worked for the Data Center in Pod B, NGDC back then, NCEI now. My wife still works there, the only think keeping us here at the moment. Be safe, might se you out and about.

 

[WanderingRose]

This article in Mother Earth Newsletter today has some good information, particularly what to do/how to stay safe when encountering lightning in the open.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/sus...ojiNNNfqEyWiXHXC0TO-4j_FJAObVwCZB7G1DHx2qMZkg

 

[JDub]

Lord, that storm last night was enough for a while. Tornados, 80 mph wind gusts, trees down, power out, dog and cats living together... And that was just the forecast...

Seriously though, it was pretty wild there for a while. Had a huge lightning bolt hit the field just behind the house. Actually left a big burn mark. Vehicles are way safer when it comes to lightning.

Cheers!

 

[wanderlust]

Government (your taxes working for you) provides excellent info for free, if you learn how to interpret it. I learned to use radar site for aviation (planes are rather picky about the weather) https://radar.weather.gov/ where you can get whole USA , and even LIVE DATA from individual weather radars, and related weather alerts. IIRC they also provide the cones for tornado warnings. You need to invest some time poking around to learn how to get the info.

Another view is https://www.aviationweather.gov/radar

 

[TooFarGone]

Thanks for sharing the NWS radar info. Tornadoes and 100+ mph straight line winds aside (a big scary subject for sure), there are enough hazards from winds well below 100 mph to keep us alert. A few days ago I drove a few hundred miles in the TX panhandle and northern NM in winds stated as 25-35 mph with gusts of up to 50-60 mph. My minivan's in good condition and handles well in wind generally. But of course its box shape isn't aerodynamic. Winds coming from the side = need to watch the speed and stay vigilant to control the vehicle. I was doing that, and still there were a few hairy moments from gusts. Along the way on that drive I saw: (1) a semi hauling a flatbed that was off on the shoulder because the wind had blown the load off center, darn near off the trailer, and one of the huge tarps covering the load was ripped and flapping in the wind, (2) a semi (tractor and trailer) lying on its side in the median, and (3) a nice pickup truck sitting upright in the median, attached to a nice box trailer which was completely upside down and sorta smashed up. Just another couple of days on the road. [ETA: not sure if the trailer was still actually attached but the pickup and trailer were close enough that at first glance it looked like a jacknifed trailer situation until you saw the trailer was upside down.] Happy to have made it safely. IMO too many drivers don't pay attention to the dangers of driving in such windy conditions. Knowing how many eejits are out there on the roads makes those conditions more scary for me.

As to tornadoes, the NWS says if you're in your vehicle during a tornado: "If you are unable to make it to a safe shelter, either get down in your car and cover your head, or abandon your car and seek shelter in a low lying area such as a ditch or ravine." I've read some books about big tornado outbreaks, including two about the storms that hit Moore OK (and surrounding areas) in 1999 and 2013. One takeaway from that reading: do NOT shelter under a highway overpass during a tornado. It's a perfect wind tunnel and a horrible place to be if the tornado hits there. My overall takeaway is that if you're out in your vehicle during a tornado and can't get to shelter, you could be SOL if it's a bad one. IMO it's a choice between lying in a ditch and hoping you don't get hammered by debris or staying in your car and hoping the tornado doesn't pick it up and slam it around. Not sure which I'd take.

 

[WanderingRose]

With the plethora of early warning systems we have these days, they never come out of nowhere or without adequate notice to shelter.

Even storm systems which may produce tornadoes get plenty of warning.

Choosing to stay in one’s vehicle during a tornado is daring the devil, plain and simple.

I make it a practice to get off the road even in just high winds, regardless if I am at an ideal overnight location nor not.

Find a place to park, and sit it out, not just because of your own rigs performance in high winds but particularly because so many truckers tend to drive on when it would be safest to pull over.

And when they are blown over/jackknife/go off the road they take everything in their path with them.

 

[TooFarGone]

I make it a practice to get off the road even in just high winds, regardless if I am at an ideal overnight location nor not.

Find a place to park, and sit it out, not just because of your own rigs performance in high winds but particularly because so many truckers tend to drive on when it would be safest to pull over.

And when they are blown over/jackknife/go off the road they take everything in their path with them.

That's very wise. I wouldn't have been on the road then by preference - even in my trusty minivan, but needed to get somewhere for an appointment. If conditions had been even a bit worse I'd have rearranged the appointment, lol. I did keep an eye out for high top vans and for RVs during that windy drive. Saw darn few high top vans on the road - and the only RV looked like a B+ (don't know what to call it, it wasn't quite a Class C size but def bigger than a van), which was being driven carefully/slowly. I also slowed to let semis pass me by (all this was on a divided highway thank goodness) and kept my distance behind them.

 

[Ripper238]

I will hunker down and weather it out under most circumstances. I'm from the NE so tornadoes are rare and hurricanes are slow so ill just move out of its path.

Unlikely i would ever ditch my transportation that can get me out of dodge, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[flylo]

In Sept 2008 I bought a big hanger at the local airport 62'x96'x20'high with a nice workshop and the next April a tornado got inside & blew parts 3+ miles away. I had spent the winter getting things just like I wanted. An amatuer metrologist next to the airport clocked winds at 139 mph.