Probably a stupid question, but...

[EeyoresButterfly]

I have a question I was hoping you all could help me answer. I'm in one of the areas that might get tornadoes tomorrow and am at a loss for where to go. I live on the second floor of a two story apartment building. Although the staircase is enclosed, the door to the outside does not even latch and there's no way to hide under it, so that seems to be out. If one of my downstairs neighbors is home I might be able to shelter with her, but if she's not home...

There is a community laundry room, it is the only "underground" room in the complex. However, I am unsure if this is a good idea. There are windows at the top. To get there I have to run across the street, also not sure if that's a good idea when there is a tornado in the area. I was thinking my best bet if my neighbor isn't home is to go into my bathroom, the interior room in my apartment, put a pillow over myself, and pray. Thoughts?

[DisneyMom]

Please be safe, and maybe the internet or your local Police Dept can be of some assist.

[EeyoresButterfly]

I've tried the interent, everything says get to the lowest floor. Well, what if you can't? My bf thinks it would be safer to be outside, but that seems to only be true for mobile homes. With all the cars around here I'm thinking being outside would be bad.

[glendalais]

Oh...wow .

Are there community shelters in your area? Maybe you could go there.

But definately, try calling the city or the police department, they should be able to give you advice.

Stay safe :(

[Randy B]

I have a question I was hoping you all could help me answer. I'm in one of the areas that might get tornadoes tomorrow and am at a loss for where to go. I live on the second floor of a two story apartment building. Although the staircase is enclosed, the door to the outside does not even latch and there's no way to hide under it, so that seems to be out. If one of my downstairs neighbors is home I might be able to shelter with her, but if she's not home...

There is a community laundry room, it is the only "underground" room in the complex. However, I am unsure if this is a good idea. There are windows at the top. To get there I have to run across the street, also not sure if that's a good idea when there is a tornado in the area. I was thinking my best bet if my neighbor isn't home is to go into my bathroom, the interior room in my apartment, put a pillow over myself, and pray. Thoughts?

Lived all my life in Tornado Zone. Here's my take.

Where to go is partly a matter of how much warning you get.

Only moments, hunker down in your bathtub with a blanket and/or pillows over you.

If you have a little more warning and you have met the neighbor who's on the lowest level (pref the SW corner), and they are home, and you are able to make contact with them, their most protected space in their apartment.

If there is an inside hallway (even if it is open to the outside at each end) on the lowest level of the building, use that. If there are windows or it is open at each end, a thin mattress or even large seat/sofa cushions between you and the direction the wind is flowing from can be good.

If you have time to get across open ground without severe wind danger, the Laundry may be good, but since you mention windows, using laundry machines as shelter from potential flying glass, or even a few thick quilts or blankets to huddle under as far as possible from windows.

It would be very rare that there would be enough warning to travel more than the next building unless there are no solid buildings (such as a trailer park) and thus the closest solid shelter is best, or even lying in a depression in the ground so debris will tend to go over you at ground level.

The most important advice is don't panic! Even if a "BIG ONE" is in the area your odds are pretty good that it will miss you. Anything short of a direct hit will tend to damage windows, roof coverings, siding, etc, but most "decently built" buildings will not allow debris to penetrate more than a few feet into the interior (unless blown in through a window). A Watch may give lots of warning, but is more a potential that tornado conditions are possible, but not that a tornado WILL be generated. Be watchful and if out be mindful of what you would do if conditions degenerate. But don't get in a panic. Panic reduces your ability to think, and thinking can save your life more than a blind panic ever could.

As to fear of a destroyed building, concider this. The majority of tornados are so small that cataclismic failure of a building is unlikely unless the tornado directly hits. Count up how many streets there are in your town. IF a tornado actually entered your town, the odds are it would only devistate part of one side of one street. What are the odds that that one unlucky street would be yours? So be informed, take what preventative measures and precautions you can, and keep calm and think. You will be fine.

Randy

[EeyoresButterfly]

Thanks for the advice Randy! Unfortunately the way our apartment is set up is there are two apartments on each level on each side. There is no hallway, just the small stairwell that opens to the outside. I'm used to living in tornado alley, but I'm used to living somewhere with a basement. If I'd had a choice I would have chosen a ground floor apartment for this very reason, but my parents just signed the lease without consulting me. (They came to look at a house for me since I was in Orlando at the time. After discovering that it was grossly misrepresented they found this place and signed the lease. They specifically chose a second floor apartment because they figured it was more secure.) The town my school is in has yet to have a tornado in living memory, thankfully. The risk today is very slight, but it makes me nervous all the same. I was in a tornado during the outbreak in 06, thank God it never touched down but the funnel cloud was over my house and it was intense. At least then I had a basement. I hate storms, and it was one of the things I didn't miss about the midwest. I'll take a hurricane over a tornado anyday! Charlie wasn't nearly as scary as the tornadoes!

[dancinghomer]

I have to agree with what Randy said. As another person who spent a good deal of time living in Tornado Alley and dealing with a lot of severe weather (which was the reason why I studied meteorology in school), everything he said was spot on. I'll just add a few more points.

When the Storm Prediction Center, the people who are the big forecasters of severe weather and are the primary ones who inform the local National Weather Service offices about watches and stuff start informing the NWS offices about the chance of severe weather producing tornadoes when the probability of a tornado is 2%, with a "moderate" risk of tornadic weather only being issued when the probability is 10-15% of a tornado. So the true chance of a tornado striking your area, even with a big outbreak is slim.

Since you are nervous about the possibility of the weather getting really ugly, check with your neighbors downstairs and just see if they mind that you join them in case the weather gets dangerous. While the southwest corner neighbor is the best choice, that is just another one of those "guidelines" since most tornadoes do tend to come from the SW, so most damage would fall towards the NE, but tornadoes don't go in straight lines, so don't just try and get to the SW.

Just remember that because a tornado warning is issued does not mean that there is a true tornado. The most common thing that triggers a tornado warning is rotation visible on the radar monitored by the NWS. Radar is too unreliable to know for sure if there truly is a tornado, but thats just a flaw in how radars operate.

Just don't panic if the weather does get ugly. Even if you hear the tornado siren go off and/or you see a tornado warning was issued, just quickly, but safely get to a secure location. Remember, everything will be ok. Just don't be like me in these situations and go towards windows to watch (the crazy side of being a meteorologist).

Also, since you said you've dealt with some hurricanes before (at least thats how I read it), the lower levels (EF0 to EF2 which are the most common tornadoes) of the Enhanced Fujita scale in which tornadoes are measured are on the same level of upper tropical storm wind speed to typical Category 3 hurricanes.

Just relax, everything should be fine. Oh, and you can remember, I'm sitting here in Philly jealous of everyone that gets to experience all this "fun" weather.

[BRWombat]

Randy and DH give good advice. I've lived in tornado alley, in several different locations, most of my life as well, and I've been through many tornado warnings -- and seen two with my own eyes. In fact, I woke up this morning to find lots of places in the DFW metroplex dealing with wind damage and possible tornados from the storms that blew through last night.

I'm enough of a severe weather buff that I'd be a storm chaser if I had the time and $$$ to devote to it. I feel a kindred spirit with the OU students who took the "In Case of Tornado" sign pointing to the basement in their building and turned it so it pointed to the observation deck on the roof!

Anyone here old enough to remember how they used to tell you to open a window on the north side of your home in case of a tornado? The theory was that having the window open if a tornado struck would help equalize the air pressure and lessen the destructive impact.

I've since learned that they stopped telling people that because it didn't make any difference -- if the pressure needed equalizing, the tornado was quite capable of "opening" the window itself! :D:

Oh, and why did they tell us to open windows on the north side? For the simple reason that most (not all) severe weather in this region moves from southeast to northwest -- so rain would be less likely to blow into a north-facing open window!

[dancinghomer]

I'm enough of a severe weather buff that I'd be a storm chaser if I had the time and $$$ to devote to it. I feel a kindred spirit with the OU students who took the "In Case of Tornado" sign pointing to the basement in their building and turned it so it pointed to the observation deck on the roof!

Anyone here old enough to remember how they used to tell you to open a window on the north side of your home in case of a tornado? The theory was that having the window open if a tornado struck would help equalize the air pressure and lessen the destructive impact.

I've since learned that they stopped telling people that because it didn't make any difference -- if the pressure needed equalizing, the tornado was quite capable of "opening" the window itself! :D:

Oh, and why did they tell us to open windows on the north side? For the simple reason that most (not all) severe weather in this region moves from southeast to northwest -- so rain would be less likely to blow into a north-facing open window!

One day, I'll be one of those nuts chasing the tornadoes. Thats always a good way to get weird looks from people.

Don't you just love all those tornado myths. The window one is one of my favorites. Of course when they were telling people that, tornado warnings were rarely given when you had plenty of time to get to safety, let alone go near a window and open it first. My other favorite is the one where people swear to leave the house and drive to park under an overpass. That one stupid video from years ago (gotta be like 15 years now) of the people who got out of their car and huddled under the overpass and survived while filming it still causes issues today. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if the news stations would have still shown the video if some of the people ended up getting pulled out from under the overpass from the winds whipping through.

[dancinghomer]

Oh yeah, and asking a question about severe weather and/or your safety is never a stupid question.

Of course, there are plenty of stupid questions related to weather, like "whats the weather gonna be like in *insert month/week that isn't until months from now*?"