This last week, we had tornado outbreaks that wiped out entire towns. My deepest sympathies to all those affected by these storms.
I live in Tornado Alley. I have most of my life, and the biggest mistake I see people making, is waiting til the last minute to get to safety.
Don't wait. If you are in an area where the sirens are going off, indicating that a tornado is on the ground, take shelter in that moment.
If you are in an area that the weather centers are predicting, that place will be in the direct path of that storm, don't wait til the storm is there. If they say it will be there at 3:30 pm, then you get in a safe spot, long before that time. Get to a shelter or wherever will be the most secure location to ride a storm out, long before the Estimated Time of Arrival {ETA}.
Sometimes people do not have adequate shelter and they wait, and then decide to get into their car to drive away. This is a big risk you are taking in a car. A moderately sized tornado can pick up a car and twist it around with you in said car and plant it on top of a power pole, a tree or a house.
When you get into your car to drive away, you are gambling. You are betting that you will not loose visibility due to a mixture of darkness, high winds blowing dirt, rain and debris, or hail busting your windshields out.
You are operating on the assumption that the roads are not going to lead you into the jaws of the storm at some point, or force you to intersect with it.
You are assuming that there will be no downed trees or power lines or house parts blocking entire roads in some areas, and that you will be able to utilize those roadways.
If you do not have a basement or a storm shelter, or safe room, then you should find out where there are public shelters while the weather is good. These can sometimes be located under public schools, or churches, or under some city buildings. Preparing for Tornadoes is like preparing for fires. You need a plan! You need to practice that plan with your children.
Make some phone calls and find out. Mark them down on a map. Are they within running distance or will you need to take a car? Either way, do not wait until the last minute. A child can be carried off by high winds, before the funnel even reaches your area.
Severe Thunderstorms are capable of generating winds in excess of 70 MPH without a tornado. So running even a few yards in that, is more like running in waste deep water against a current.
We have the technology now to give people warnings, the day before the increased risk for damaging severe weather. That is an amazing advancement made in my life time.
There was a time when we couldn't give people warnings like that. It used to be that weather prediction largely consisted of stepping outside and reading the clouds.
Now we know about Storm Tracks, we have advanced radar systems and satellite tracking.
But back to storm-tracks! Storms have a tendency to follow certain routes, making it possible to accurately forecast their route. So you can get a warning 2 hours ahead, predicting the arrival of a dangerous storm in your area. When I was a kid, if you won the lottery and the sun shined on a dog's ass--it was 10 minutes.
So really, there is no reason to wait til the last minute. There is no reason to loose people, because they didn't have time to take cover.
If you move to an area that is in Tornado Alley, make sure you get some kind of storm shelter if you can afford it. An old fashioned in-the-ground-Storm-Shelter will cost about 2500 to 3000 dollars. You can get more expensive models if you can afford them. They make some now that you can put under your garage, or you can have a safe room constructed above ground in your house.
You should get one if you can. Taking shelter in a bathtub from an EF3 or 4 is a desperate act. If you can afford a nice house in a nice neighborhood, then spring for the shelter. The piece of mind is worth it. It raises the value of your house, and it can save your life and that of your children.
And to neighbors out there who don't have shelters but use the one next door.
Don't wait til the last minute either.
If you make a family open a shelter door when the storm is bearing down on you, then you are a jackass and your macho-idiot jackassery will get other people hurt or killed.
When that door is opened, you will most likely be flapping in the wind, and people within the shelter can be sucked out into the storm because of you. Especially the Children.
If it really bothers you to get under ground early, then I suggest you buy your own storm shelter and stop being a mooch! Or swallow your pride and show some consideration for the people compassionate enough to share their survival tools with one such as yourself.
If you are at work, and the computer or radio alerts you to the oncoming storm, and your boss isn't sending people to safety, then perhaps it's time to take a break deeper inside the building somewhere away from glass windows.
More than a few cases of people surviving direct hits have happened because they were inside of walk-in freezers in convenience stores and gas stations. If you can get below ground, that is good. Or at least in a deep interior bathroom or closet. You want to be away from flying debris like glass and splinters, and the smaller rooms can offer some structural integrity that may be lacking in wider spaces.
There is lots of information out there on the net, and now is as good a time as any to get informed and think about what you would do.
Our weather patterns are getting more extreme and unpredictable, so might as well get ready for it now.
The Tornado Safety Project:
http://www.tornadoproject.com/...
The Storm Prediction Center: Tornado FAQ
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/...
Tornado Ready: http://www.ready.gov/...
Many of these sites will tell you to keep an eye on the sky. That is always a good idea, but it only works if you know what to look for. They also give you tips on the big red flags that should tip you off, that big weather is afoot. You should learn them.
But really, your best bet is to keep your radio on a NOAA station. If you live in Oklahoma, there are radio stations that will broadcast the local Weathermen on the radio from the basic tv channels, 4, 5, and 9. These are usually good to listen to, they provide detailed information about where the storms are, the likelihood of damage, and where the storms are tracking to, along with ETAs for specific towns and communities.
Know the difference between a Watch and a Warning.
A Tornado Watch means all the elements are there in the weather, that could come together and form the kind of storm necessary to produce a tornado. It means your local atmosphere is very volatile and unstable and things could go south quickly. It means Yellow Light! Remain alert, watchful. Don't let your guard down. Take travel precautions that will keep you near areas that can provide shelter if you need them.
A Tornado Warning means that there is a confirmed tornado either on radar, or has been spotted by a credible reporter--and if you are in that county, it is time to take cover now.
How can a tornado show up on the radar but not be seen on the ground? Well it could be at night or the tornado could be hidden by curtains of rain {that is what they mean when they say rain-wrapped}. But there is also this. Supercell Thunderstorms produce a unique signature on the radar that indicate a tornado is likely. These are called hook echos. On the radar screen they take the shape of checkmarks, or Us, or Cs. And if you see those heading in your direction, then it is likely that the storm is producing a funnel and could produce a tornado at some point. Because those radar indications only happen when there is significant circulation in those storms.
So now you are looking up at the sky for a checkmarked shaped storm. Yea, that isn't going to work. Hook Echos are radar images only. http://en.wikipedia.org/...
And you can visit this blog: http://www.mikesmithenterprises.com/.... for more information as well.
This is a diagram of a supercell thunderstorm showing the elements that create the hook echo on a radar screen. Note the similarity in shape: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
You can look at pictures and diagrams of Tornadic Thunderstorms or Super Cell Thunderstorms: http://www.tornadochaser.net/...
When you look off into the distance and see a storm with that anvil on the top, that is a good indication that this is a strong storm. It isn't a guarantee of a tornado, but there could be hail and high winds along with significant rain and lightning.
What is an anvil? This is the area of the storm, at the top that is sheared off. If you were underneath it would look like the disc on the star ship enterprise. But a side view at a distance, it looks like a blacksmith's anvil [hence the name] you can compare to this image here: http://www.anvilfire.com/... [of a blacksmith's anvil]
to a storm diagram that shows an Anvil cloud formation: http://www.tornadochaser.net/...
Now then if you see a storm with a flat anvil that is one thing. But note the little bubble on the top of the diagram in the link above? That is a very bad sign. It means that the vertical wind speeds were powerful enough to "pop the top" and sustain circulation without succumbing to the horizontal wind shear at about 20,000 feet. {I am not going to get all technical, I will let the storm chasers do that. They will probably explain it better anyhow].
When you see the anvil, that will be a thunderstorm, and it could be a strong one. But if you see that snowball on top of the anvil, that is a severe storm and you do not want to drive into it. If a storm like that is coming towards you, you might want to consider finding a safe place indoors to take shelter.
If you are curious, you can read about cumulonimbus clouds and the part they play in storm formation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Now watching this from a distance, you can sometimes watch that little snowball on the top, pop up, and then dissolve, and then pop up again. Storms go through little cycles like that. When you are watching storm chasers on the television, they talk about the a tornado spinning up and then roping out, and then spinning up again--that is most likely what is happening underneath the storm when you see that cycle involving the snowball on the top of the anvil cloud.
The problem is, that when you are underneath them, you can't see what's going on, unless you are right underneath the action and unless you are a storm chaser, chances are, that is not where you or anyone else would want to be.
So inform yourself.
Start with the information provided here.
Do your own research.
Make a plan,
and for heaven's sake, Don't wait until the last minute.