Tornadoes

carnation · #1 03-15-2008, 11:32 AM

So last night, my teenage son and his girlfriend and her family were at the Georgia Dome when the tornado hit downtown Atlanta. The SEC basketball championships were being held--we were watching on TV-- and the announcers said, "Look at that catwalk moving back and forth!" and the camera pans it up near the ceiling. Then they start talking about this weird loud noise they can hear and all we could do was sit in horror and pray for everyone. Thank God no one was killed in Atlanta, although there's a lot of property damage downtown.

Has anyone else been in tornadoes? My only experience was in class in the ag building at Auburn when suddenly some professor pops in and said, "A tornado just went over this building and nobody called us!" And we had just thought it was a particularly loud storm.

Interesting comment on TV last night: someone pointed out that tornadoes are clear and it's the debris they pick up that colors them and makes them visible. Good thing.

ZTABullwinkle · #2 03-15-2008, 11:34 AM

We got home from the hockey game, and read about the game being suspended in the Georgia Dome. That is really scary that there was no warning for those people. Granted tornadoes in downtown Atlanta are not common, but they had to know that one may be possible with the storm going through.

Carnation, are your teenage son and girlfriend okay?

carnation · #3 03-15-2008, 11:37 AM

Yes, thank you. They got home late and he dropped into bed immediately and isn't awake yet so I have no details. I bet that Mr. Tough Athlete was trying to play off his fear in front of his girlfriend and her parents but inside he had to be freaking out. I can't wait to hear his story but I'm glad it's over!

Tom Earp · #4 03-15-2008, 12:21 PM

They as all can see are very destrutive.

One came very close to my house and just tore the heck out of things @ 1/2 mile North and West of me. Sounded like a commercial jet landing at KCI as I am on the flight pattern. Thought the pilot was a moron for trying land in the storm.

Only killed 1 person but sure tore the heck out of a lot of houses!

They are very bad and all you can do is find a big hole and climb into it!

Glad your son and gf is okay, that is a blessing.

carnation · #5 03-15-2008, 12:26 PM

Thanks, Tom!

So I've been off the computer because we were in the middle of a tornado warning

but it went south of here. It usually does--Tornado Alley funnels right into Atlanta. I dragged the sleeping son downstairs and he told us that last night, they never said anything to the people in the Dome about inclement weather (there probably would have been a giant stampede) but when they left, it looked like a war zone. He said there were huge hunks of metal and broken glass everywhere as well as overturned cars and benches in the road. They say that Olympic Centennial Park is a mess.

texas*princess · #6 03-15-2008, 12:40 PM

Wow that is crazy. I'm glad no one got hurt in Atlanta!

I've been through a bunch of tornados and even sat through a couple of hurricanes. Good times.

Last year was pretty crazy weather for north texans... I can't even count the number of tornadoes we got here. I live in an apartment, and the only room without windows is either my laundry room or my bathroom (which also has a very roomy walk-in closet.

I opted to stay in the bathroom, I just locked both doors (maybe if my windows got broken the lock would make it harder for the wind to open the door?) of the bathroom and camped out in my closet for most of them. Those were some scary times b/c the wind was crazy and we had hail as big as baseballs hitting the windows and stuff. My dog was hanging out with me and she was barking like crazy and really stressing me out!!!

But after 20-30 mins when I knew we were in the clear it was all good.

I grew up on the Texas coast so we'd get hurricanes about once a year. Those are scary b/c not only do you have the hurricane winds, but there is also a big possibility of the hurricane spinning off tornadoes. We were about 1.5 hrs from the coast, so usually the hurricanes were downgraded to 2's or 1's by the time they got to my hometown... but even then I was soooo scared!!! My dad would board up the windows and bring our dog in, and we'd just hang out and play board games w/ the family by candlelight since the electricity was usually out due to the storm.

All in all, I'd say hurricanes are probably better because you at least get a couple days' notice... tornados just pop out of nowhere sometimes.

Benzgirl · #7 03-15-2008, 12:50 PM

CNN had pictures of their building and of Centennial Park. Looks pretty bad. You are in my thoughts

carnation · #8 03-15-2008, 12:52 PM

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 · #9 03-15-2008, 01:00 PM

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 · #10 03-15-2008, 01:05 PM

Quote:

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 · #11 03-15-2008, 01:08 PM

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 · #12 03-15-2008, 01:44 PM

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!

BigRedBeta · #13 03-15-2008, 02:01 PM

I find this thread funny...

As someone who grew up in Kansas, tornado drills were probably more common than fire drills at school. For sure the tornado sirens get tested every month from March to October. In my KC suburb hometown (probably most of KC) it was the first wednesday of the month at 10:30am. Same time in Lincoln while I was in college. Omaha for some idiotic reason does it the first saturday of the month at either 10 or 11am...I think it's retarded to do it on a weekend in the first place and then at a time when people are out doing stuff.

As far as "unique" places I've been in when a tornado has been around, I think the Lied Rainforest at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha probably qualifies. They literally had to take 100's of us into back hallways and basements for our protection.

And hurricanes are way more scary than tornadoes...I'll take one or two hours in the basement (and then you're about your business) over days of preparing/waiting out the storm...

The best time the test sirens went off was on a perfect April day in Lincoln my junior year. It was about 65 degrees without a cloud in the sky, and my then girlfriend at the time (who was from florida and had just transferred from South Carolina) was walking with me when the sirens went off. Needless to say she had no idea what they were and freaked out when I told her they were the tornado sirens. She didn't know they tested them and figured that if they went off, we needed to get inside right away. I found her hysteria hilarious.

texas*princess · #14 03-15-2008, 02:30 PM

Quote:

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 · #15 03-15-2008, 02:46 PM

Quote:

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!