How do you survive a tornado?

Question

by the way the tornado is like 1 hour away):

Answer 1

Tornadoes can be deadly. With new warning systems, you can be alerted before the tornado is visible. This additional time makes tornado survival more likely. During bad weather, you must be alert and tune in for warnings. If a tornado should strike,well-made plans for emergency shelter can overcome this disaster and bring you, your family and your community through without personal injury.

What You Can Do Before the Storm:

    Develop an emergency storm plan for all family members whether at home, work, school or outdoors.

   Teach children their county and neighboring counties because storm alerts are given by counties. Keep highway maps in several convenient locations to follow storm movements given by weather bulletins.

   Conduct frequent storm drills.

   Have a NOAA Weather Radio with a battery back-up and warning alarm to receive warnings.

    Listen to TV or radio for weather updates.

   If your activity is outdoors, listen to the latest forecasts and take necessary precautions (possibly delaying activities until the danger is past) during threatening weather.

If a Tornado Warning is Issued or Threatening Weather Approaches:

Move to a previously designated safe area, preferably a basement.

    If an underground shelter is not available, move to an interior room or hallway on the lowest floor. Crouching under a sturdy desk or rugged furniture is advisable if they are located near a central wall. Place pillows or blankets over your head and upper body for extra protection.

   Stay away from doors and windows.

   Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car. Instead, leave it immediately. If caught outside or in a vehicle, get out and lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression.

   Do not take shelter under highway overpasses.

If a tornado strikes, watch out for fallen power lines. Stay out of damaged areas until power is disconnected to avoid accidental electrical shock.

Know the Difference Between a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning

  TORNADO WATCH. . . Tornadoes are possible in your area. Remain alert for approaching storms.

Listen to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial TV or radio for weather information.

  TORNADO WARNING. . . A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. If you may be in the path of the storm, move to a previously designated safe area.

  Tornado watches and warnings are issued as soon as the conditions are identified. Use the available time, once you note a warning, to prepare for one of nature’s most destructive storms. Stay informed about the approaching storm.

  Sometimes tornadoes develop so rapidly that advance warning is not possible. Remain alert for signs of an approaching tornado.

Doppler Radar

  Do you know that new Doppler radar units can detect tornadoes that are forming? Doppler radar measures wind speeds and the direction of air currents within storms. This capability really enhances identification because a tornado is simply a violently rotating column of air, pendant from a cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) cloud. Conventional radar gave only rainfall intensity and "storm conditions." Doppler radar capabilities improve the accuracy and timeliness of National Weather Service bulletins.

  Doppler radar units are located at National Weather Service offices in Little Rock and Fort Smith, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Jackson, Mississippi; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Springfield, Missouri.

Arkansas Statistics

Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world. However, three-fourths of the world’s tornadoes occur in the U.S. These violent storms occur most frequently in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains during the spring and summer months. Arkansas

is located in the lower Mississippi Valley where warm, moist air flowing northward from the Gulf of Mexico interacts with cool, dry air spreading southward and eastward from the Great Plains.

During the 50 years from 1950-1999, 1,073 tornadoes have struck Arkansas. Records show that they can occur any day of the year and any time of day. Tornado preparation requires constant vigilance.

While tornadoes in Arkansas normally occur during the spring and fall months, they can occur in any month. A total of 68 tornadoes occurred in January, 1999. This set a national record for the greatest number of tornadoes in the month of January.

During 1999, 107 tornadoes were sighted, setting a new record for Arkansas.

Tornadoes occur with greater frequency during late afternoon to late evening, according to the National Weather Service records. In Arkansas, five in the afternoon is the time of the maximum tornado incidence.

The greater tornado frequency during afternoons and evenings can largely be explained from patterns of increased instability in the atmosphere. This air instability results from a buildup of heat near the earth’s surface on warm afternoons. After sunset the

layer of heated air near the earth’s surface begins to cool. This usually restores more atmospheric stability and reduces the threat of tornadoes.

Any period of unseasonably warm and humid conditions should trigger caution about the possibility of a tornado. Monitor weather bulletins and watch the sky during approaching thunderstorms. Violently moving clouds indicate high air velocities which may develop into a tornado.

Tornadoes have killed a total of 1,503 Arkansans since 1880. A "killer" tornado is a tornado that causes the death of at least one person. The worst killer storms in the state’s history occurred March 21, 1952. That day three tornadoes killed 111

persons and injured an additional 772. In recent years, an average of five Arkansans have died from tornadoes each year.

Tornado Variability

Recognizing conditions that may develop into tornadic winds is the first major step in avoiding this cruel disaster. Weather broadcasts can help avert tragedy. Be prepared to find suitable protection. Flying debris from tornadoes cause most deaths and

injuries. Most tornado damage is probably caused by winds of 125 mph; however, maximum wind velocities may exceed 250 mph. The most damaging storm occurred in the Fort Smith-Van Buren areas on April 21, 1996, with associated costs around

$300 million.

Surface winds in connection with developing tornadoes are usually from the southwest. Sixty-four percent of the tornadoes in Arkansas move from the southwest to the northeast. But tornadoes can come from any direction. Some tornadoes have

stopped their forward movement, turned, and looped back across their path. Their average speed of advance is 30 mph, but a few move as fast as 70 mph.

The diversity of their approach patterns and speed demands alertness, especially after a tornado warning has been issued for your area. Refrain from driving to locate family or friends. Make phone calls to notify those who may have missed the tornado

warning broadcast, but keep an alert eye on the sky.

Tornado Identification

Violent storms associated with low barometric pressures can spawn a tornado. Strong winds in the lower few thousand feet of the atmosphere may be noted by cloud movements. The storm cells develop from 20,000 to 40,000 feet elevation. Rotation of

air (cloud movement) usually starts with a circulation near 20,000 feet and builds up and down.

Tornadoes often form near a thunderstorm’s updraft. Often surface winds of 25-35 miles per hour are noted near a developing tornado. Small clouds will rise quickly into the larger cloud layer. Near a tornado the barometric pressure drops rapidly. The

characteristic funnel may drop down, loop and appear to dissipate at times.

If a funnel is sighted, take shelter immediately. Tornadoes can reach you within a few minutes. Other funnels can spawn directly overhead.

Tornadoes may "mature" in a classic fashion. However, be aware that violent storm cells can cause two or more circulations. It is important to have a good view of the entire sky to avoid being surprised by another funnel that was obscured behind a ridge,

buildings or a row of trees.

Any time you are observing a storm, be alert to the potential of being struck by lightning. Standing near a tree or house that projects above the landscape during violent weather risks being in a deadly path of lightning discharge. Any vertical projections,

especially metal structures, can readily attract a fatal electrical current.

Tornadoes occur all over Arkansas. It is important to have a tornado plan and review it annually. If changes in a community warning system have occurred or a better shelter is now available nearby, take advantage of the new opportunities. Steps to

survive a tornado are simpler and more important than earthquake precautions.

Disaster Plans

Everyone should have a disaster plan to survive a tornado. Follow these basic steps to develop a family tornado disaster plan:

1. Find out if your community has tornado warning sirens. Learn your community’s warning signals and evacuation plans. Locate the safest areas in your home. To be better prepared for a tornado, contact your local National Weather Service office,

local Office of Emergency Management, American Red Cross Chapter or county Cooperative Extension office to determine what they can provide.

2. Meet with your family to create a plan. Discuss the tornado warning measures available to you. Point out the safest areas in your home to assure that everyone knows where to go for shelter.

3. Practice emergency drills and maintain your plan. Ask questions to make sure each family member remembers the meeting place. Assemble in the assigned tornado shelter. Remind each one to use the telephone only if there is no immediate danger and then only to notify other family members of the violent weather concern or t

Answer 2

Go in to your basement and wait.

Answer 3

go to the smallest room in the house

- no windows

- only one door

- get things like, a mattress to place up at the door

- if its the bathroom, get in the bath and cover your self with something heavy

- never go outside untill you think its over

Answer 4

drag a mattress ontop of you and sit in the bathtub, goto the basement. Thats all I can remember.

Answer 5

Put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye

Answer 6

Go to a shelter.  If there isnt one available go to the basement of a building. Stay away from windows, and cover yourself with a mattress, cushions, or sleeping bags. If possible, get under a heavy table, which can protect you from falling debris. Make note of where very heavy objects are on the floor above you, and avoid the area beneath these, as they could fall through a collapsing floor.

In a building with no basement, avoid windows and go to the lowest floor and seek shelter in a small room (a bathroom or closet, for example) that is located near the center of the house, under a stairwell, or in an interior hallway with no windows. Bathrooms can be particularly effective because they are fortified by pipes and you can lie in a bathtub. Regardless of where you are, crouch low to the ground or lie down, face down and cover your head with your hands and arms. Take cover under a strong table if possible, and cover yourself with a mattress, cushions, or blankets.

Answer 7

Twist with it.