Tornado Myths

“We should open all the windows during a tornado to equalize the pressure in the house”     Actually, the opposite is true. If time permits, close all windows and interior doors.

“Tornadoes cannot cross over rivers”  They most definitely can, and they have!

“Tornadoes always move southwest to northeast”  That is the most common direction of travel for tornadoes, but they don’t follow rules, and they can change direction at any time.

“The southwest corner of a building is the safest”  When taking shelter in a building, find the innermost room, one without windows. Put as many walls as possible between you and the storm.

“We can’t have a tornado today, it’s not tornado season!”   Tornadoes most often occur in our area in the months of March-May; and there’s a secondary season of likely tornadoes in the early fall, but tornadoes can and have occurred in every month of the year in Oklahoma.

“If you are out driving during a tornado, get under an overpass for safety”  

Bridges and underpasses are NEVER a good place to be in a storm. They offer zero protection, and the winds under an overpass may be even stronger.

Flying debris is what causes most of the injuries during tornadoes, and overpasses won’t protect you from that.

There isn’t really a good option for taking shelter if you’re out driving when a tornado strikes. The best plan is to be weather aware and NOT be on the road at that time.

“Look at the tornado, it must be at least an EF-4!”

Tornado ratings are assigned based on the damage they do, so no one can just look at a tornado and know what it’s rating will be. If you are seeing specific types of damage occur, then you may have a general idea, but the National Weather Service will still need to conduct an extensive damage survey to assign the final rating.

“The shape and size of a tornado determines its strength”  Again, the only way to determine the strength of a tornado is by damage assessment, unless you can take a direct wind measurement. The tornado is the wind, not the cloud, so the visible funnel isn’t the measurement of the strength of the storm.

“Tornadoes target mobile home parks”

Even though most tornado deaths occur in mobile homes, tornadoes can no more target a specific type of home than they can confine their damage to one particular county or city. Mobile homes, however, are not able to withstand the winds of even a weak tornado. Mobile homes are never safe places to be in a tornado. If you live in a mobile home, you need to have a storm shelter or evacuation plan.

“I have significant damage to my home. We must have had a tornado”  Not necessarily. Straight-line winds can do just as much damage as a tornado, as we learned on June 25, 2024 here in Midwest City. That’s when we had a mile of power poles blown down on Midwest Blvd., and some residents had no power for almost a week.

“Tornado Alley is shifting to the east”  If you mean shifting in the sense of it is leaving here and going there, sorry, that’s not the case. If there truly is a “Tornado Alley” it’s more accurate to say that area is expanding rather than shifting. Don’t worry, we’re still in the club!

Sources:

National Weather Service: Severe Weather Awareness - Common Tornado Myths

Know Tornadoes? Think Again: 10 Myths - Videos from The Weather Channel