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Tornado myths are incorrect beliefs about
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es, which can be attributed to many factors, including stories and news reports told by people unfamiliar with tornadoes,
sensationalism
In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotion ...
by
news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...
, and the presentation of incorrect information in popular entertainment. Common myths cover various aspects of the tornado, and include ideas about tornado safety, the minimization of tornado damage, and false assumptions about the size, shape, power, and path of the tornado itself.
Some people incorrectly believe that opening windows ahead of a tornado will reduce the damage from the storm. Some people also believe that escaping in a vehicle is the safest method of avoiding a tornado, but this could increase the danger in some situations. Other myths are that tornadoes can skip houses, always travel in a predictable direction, always extend visibly from the ground to the cloud, and increase in intensity with increasing width. Finally, some people believe that tornadoes only occur in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, do not occur in winter, or that some areas are protected from tornadoes by rivers, mountains, valleys, tall buildings or other geographical or man-made features; the truth is that tornadoes can occur almost anywhere at any time if the conditions are right. Some geographic areas are simply more prone to these conditions than others.
Some tornado myths are remaining bits of folklore which are passed down by word of mouth. The idea that the southwest corner of a structure is the safest place in a tornado was first published in the 1800s and persisted until the 1990s despite being thoroughly debunked in the 1960s and 70s.
One notable instance of mass media spreading a tornado myth was after the
1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak
The 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak was a significant tornado outbreak that affected much of the Central and parts of the Eastern United States, with the highest record-breaking wind speeds of . During this week-long event, 154 tornadoes touched ...
, where
TIME magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...
ran a caption on a picture suggesting that highway overpasses were safer tornado shelters than houses. The spread of some myths can be attributed to popular tornado-themed movies such as ''
The Wizard of Oz'' and ''
Twister
Twister may refer to:
Weather
* Tornado
Aviation
* Pipistrel Twister, a Slovenian ultralight trike
* Silence Twister, a German homebuilt aircraft design
* Wings of Change Twister, an Austrian paraglider design
Entertainment
* ''Twister'' (198 ...
''.
Safety
Safest location in a building
In 1887, the first book on tornadoes was written by
John Park Finley
John Park Finley (April 11, 1854 – November 24, 1943) was an American meteorologist and Army Signal Service officer who was the first person to study tornadoes intensively. He also wrote the first known book on the subject as well as many oth ...
, a pioneer in the field of tornado research. While it was a revolutionary book containing many breakthrough ideas, it contained a few ideas which have since been proven false.
One of these was the idea that the northeast or east part of a structure was the least safe, and should be avoided when seeking shelter from a tornado.
This myth was derived from two misconceptions: First, that tornadoes always travel in a northeasterly direction, and second, that debris from a structure will be carried away in the direction of the tornado's propagation, leaving anyone taking shelter on the side of the structure facing the tornado's approach unharmed.
The seriousness of these misconceptions began to be revealed in the 1960s and 1970s, when surveys of major tornado damage in residential areas showed that the section of a house in the direction of the tornado's approach is actually the safe.
Additionally, many tornadoes have traveled in directions other than northeasterly, including the
Jarrell tornado (F5 on the
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determ ...
), which moved south-southwesterly.
Because determining a tornado's direction of approach can take time away from seeking shelter, official advice is to seek shelter in an interior room on the lowest floor of a building, under a staircase,
I-beam
An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish language, Polish, Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Spanish language, Spanish ...
, or sturdy piece of furniture if possible.
Opening windows to reduce tornado damage
One of the oldest pieces of tornado folklore is the idea that tornadoes do most of their damage due to the lower
atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, 7 ...
at the center of a tornado, which causes the house to explode outward. The supposition was that opening windows helps to equalize the pressure.
[ Cited link is not found. ]
The source of this myth is from the appearance of some destroyed structures after violent tornadoes. When one wall receives the extreme pressure of tornado winds, it will likely collapse . This then leads to a considerable pressure on the three remaining walls, which fall outwards as the roof falls down, creating the impression of a house which has exploded. Damage surveys of "exploded" houses usually show at least one wall which has blown inward.
Additionally, if the roof is lifted before any walls fall, the walls can fall in any direction. If they fall outward, this structure can also appear to have exploded.
In even the most violent tornadoes, there is only a pressure drop of about 10%, which is about .
Not only can this difference be equalized in most structures in approximately three seconds, but if a significant pressure differential manages to form, the windows will break first, equalizing the pressure.
Additionally, as the windows are the most fragile parts of a house, in a significant tornado flying debris will likely break enough windows to equalize any pressure difference fairly quickly. Regardless of any pressure drop, the direct effects of a tornado's winds are enough to cause damage to a house in all but the weakest tornadoes.
Current advice is that opening windows in advance of a tornado wastes time that could be spent seeking shelter. Also, being near windows is very dangerous during a severe weather event, possibly exposing people to flying glass.
Using highway overpasses as shelter
There are several documented cases of people surviving under highway overpasses, but scientists and meteorologists warn against using them for protection.
From scientific lessons learned, meteorologists insist that overpasses are insufficient shelter from tornado winds and debris, and may be to be during a violent tornado.
The embankment under an overpass is higher than the surrounding terrain, and the wind speed increases with height. Additionally, the overpass design may create a "
wind-tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
" effect under the span, further increasing the wind speed. Many overpasses are completely exposed underneath and most lack hanging girders or a crawlspace-like area to provide sufficient protection from debris, which can travel at high speeds even in weak tornadoes. ( a highway underpass is close at hand, and it has such deep crawlspaces behind sheltering girders, and no better shelter is available in the face of imminent danger from a tornado, then this could be the best and most survivable option. Otherwise, an underpass is no shelter at all.) People stopping underneath overpasses block the flow of traffic, putting others in danger.
Escaping a tornado in a vehicle
Often people try to avoid or outrun a tornado in a vehicle. Although cars can travel faster than the average tornado, the directive from the
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
is for house-dwellers in the path of a tornado to take shelter at home rather than risk an escape by vehicle.
This is a result of several factors and statistics. An interior room inside a well-built frame house (especially one with a
basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
) provides a reasonable degree of protection from all but the most violent tornadoes. Underground or above-ground
tornado shelter
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, althou ...
s, as well as extremely strong structures such as
bank vault
A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults a ...
s, offer almost complete protection. Cars, on the other hand, can be heavily damaged by even weak tornadoes, and in violent tornadoes they can be thrown large distances, even into buildings. High-profile vehicles such as
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es and
tractor trailer
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer ...
s are even more vulnerable to high winds.
There are many reasons to avoid cars when a tornado is imminent. Severe thunderstorms which produce tornadoes can produce flooding rains, hail, and strong winds far from the tornado-producing area, all of which can make driving difficult or even impossible. Any of these situations can leave drivers stranded in the path of the tornado far from substantial shelter.
When coupled with driver panic, they may also result in dangerous but preventable accidents.
This situation would be magnified greatly if all the residents of a warned area left in their vehicles, which would cause traffic jams and accidents as the tornado approached.
Numerous victims of the deadly
Wichita Falls, Texas tornado on April 10, 1979, died in their vehicles in such a situation.
If a person spots a nearby tornado while driving, the official National Weather Service directive has been for the individual to abandon the car and seek shelter in a ditch or culvert, or substantial shelter if nearby.
Far-away, highly visible tornadoes, however, can be successfully fled from at right angles (90-degrees) from its direction of apparent movement.
Despite dangers inherent with operating a vehicle during a tornado, given sufficient advance warning, mobile home residents have been instructed by the National Weather Service to drive to the nearest secure shelter during a warning.
Tornado behavior
Tornadoes skipping houses
Several different phenomena have lent credence to the idea that tornadoes "skip" houses, like a person jumping over hurdles.
Tornadoes vary in intensity along their path, sometimes drastically over a short period and distance. If a tornado was causing damage, then weakened to the point where it could cause no damage, followed by a re-intensification, it would appear as if it skipped a section. Occasionally with violent tornadoes, a smaller
subvortex within a tornado will completely destroy a structure next to another building which appears almost unscathed and thus apparently skipped over.
It is true that a house that is between two destroyed homes can be undamaged, but this is not the result of a tornado skipping, as some previously thought. After the
1974 Super Outbreak
The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. It was also the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded, with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes confirmed. From Apri ...
,
Ted Fujita
was a Japanese-American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each. Although he is ...
studied many films of tornadoes from that day. Included in his review was damage and tornado film footage of F4 and F5 tornadoes. Fujita concluded that multiple vortices, highly volatile tornadic satellites transiting within a parent tornado at high speeds, are responsible for making tornadoes appear to skip houses. The phenomenon of
satellite tornado
A satellite tornado is a tornado that revolves around a larger, primary tornado and interacts with the same mesocyclone. Satellite tornadoes occur apart from the primary tornado and are not considered subvortices; the primary tornado and satellit ...
es, where a smaller tornado orbits a larger companion tornado, can also lead to gaps in damage between the two tornadoes.
Weaker tornadoes, and at times even stronger tornadoes, can occasionally lift, meaning their circulation ceases to affect the ground temporarily. The result is an erratic and discontinuous linear damage path, leading to the term
skipping tornado
A skipping tornado is a process tornado (or a series of tornadoes) which has a discontinuous damage path.
There are several possible causes for this phenomenon:
# The tornado actually lifting from the surface (which technically may make the two da ...
. These discontinuities tend to occur over areas larger than the small neighborhoods where the house-skipping effect is observed, except possibly at the time of the birth and organization of the tornado.
This situation is not commonly observed and the term is now rarely applied. Typically, when one tornado weakens and another forms, the process of successive parent
mesocyclone
A mesocyclone is a meso-gamma mesoscale (or storm scale) region of rotation (vortex), typically around in diameter, most often noticed on radar within thunderstorms. In the northern hemisphere it is usually located in the right rear flank (back ...
s forming and decaying is known as
cyclic tornadogenesis, thus leading to a series of tornadoes spawned by the same supercell. This series of tornadoes is known as a
tornado family
A tornado family is a series of tornadoes spawned by the same supercell thunderstorm. These families form a line of successive or parallel tornado paths and can cover a short span or a vast distance. Tornado families are sometimes mistaken as a sin ...
.
Association of size with intensity
Some people have been led to assume that small, skinny tornadoes are always weaker than large, wedge-shaped tornadoes.
There is an observed trend of wider tornadoes causing worse damage. It is unknown whether this is due to an actual tendency of tornado dynamics or an ability for the tornado to affect a larger area.
However, this is not a reliable indicator of an individual tornado's intensity. Some small, rope-like tornadoes, traditionally thought of as weak, have been among the strongest in history.
Since 1950, more than 100 violent tornadoes (
F4/
EF4
The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated as EF-Scale) rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage they cause. It is used in some countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Mongolia.
The Enhanced Fujita scale repla ...
or higher) had a maximum width of .
[Data from the ]Storm Prediction Center
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight a ...
archives, which are accessible throug
SeverePlot
, free software created and maintained by John Hart, lead forecaster for the SPC. Also, tornadoes typically change shape during the course of their lifespan, further complicating any attempt to classify how dangerous a tornado is as it is occurring.
Appearing to reach the ground
![Tornado sans condensation funnel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Tornado_sans_condensation_funnel.jpg)
It is commonly and mistakenly thought that if the
condensation funnel of a tornado does not reach the ground, then the tornado cannot cause substantial damage. Furthermore, a tornado is sometimes believed to be on the ground only when its condensation funnel descends to the surface, but this assumption is misleading and extremely dangerous. The
2013 El Reno tornado
During the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013, a very large and powerful tornado occurred over rural areas of Central Oklahoma. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded and was part of a larger weather ...
is one such example which disproves both beliefs, as it featured an expansive and
translucent
In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions a ...
outer circulation with an incomplete condensation funnel. The circular, violent surface winds (not the condensation funnel) are what both define the tornado and cause the tornado's damage. Spotters should keep sight of swirling debris directly under any visible funnel or rotating wall cloud, even if such structures appear to not descend entirely to the ground.
Additionally, tornadoes can be wrapped in
rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
and thus may not be visible at all.
Direction of travel
It has been thought in the past that tornadoes moved almost exclusively in a northeasterly direction.
This is false, and a potentially deadly myth which can lead to a false sense of security, especially for unaware spotters or chasers. Although the majority of tornadoes move northeast, this is normally due to the motion of the storm, and tornadoes can arrive from any direction. The expectation of northeasterly travel may be accurate in many cases, but is no more than a statistical observation about tornadoes in general that any particular tornado may defy at any time. A deadly F5 tornado that hit the city of
Jarrell, Texas
Jarrell is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. It was incorporated as a city in 2001. The total population is 1,753 according to the 2020 census.
History
Founded in 1909 by real estate developer O.D. Jarrell, along with E. C. Ha ...
in 1997 moved to the southwestdirectly opposite of commonly expected storm motion. Another notable example is the
1990 Plainfield tornado, a significant and deadly F5 tornado that traveled from northwest-to-southeast. Additionally, tornadoes can shift without notice due to storm motion changes or effects on the tornado itself from factors such as its
rear flank downdraft
The rear flank downdraft (RFD) is a region of dry air wrapping around the back of a mesocyclone in a supercell thunderstorm. These areas of descending air are thought to be essential in the production of many supercellular tornadoes. Large hail ...
.
This change of direction proved deadly in the
2013 El Reno tornado
During the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013, a very large and powerful tornado occurred over rural areas of Central Oklahoma. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded and was part of a larger weather ...
in which a 2.6 mile wide tornado shifted from an east direction to a northeast direction, killing four storm chasers.
In addition, a 2008 tornado in Colorado moved in a very rare direction; this tornado moved in a southeast-to-northwest direction.
Geographical and temporal influences
Geographical scope
![Globdisttornado](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Globdisttornado.jpg)
It is often thought that tornadoes only occur in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
The majority of recorded tornadoes do occur in the United States; however, tornadoes have been observed on every continent except
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
.
Besides North America,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, and eastern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
also experience tornadoes on a regular basis.
Near rivers, valleys, mountains, or other terrain features
There are many misconceptions involving the effect of terrain featuresbodies of water, mountains, valleys, and otherson tornado formation and behavior. While most modes of
tornadogenesis
Tornadogenesis is the process by which a tornado forms. There are many types of tornadoes and these vary in methods of formation. Despite ongoing scientific study and high-profile research projects such as VORTEX, tornadogenesis is a volatile pro ...
are poorly understood,
no terrain feature can prevent the occurrence of a tornado.
Small bodies of water such as lakes and rivers are insignificant obstacles to tornadoes. Violent tornadoes have formed over rivers and lakesincluding the
1878 Wallingford tornado and the
1899 New Richmond tornadoas well as crossing over them after forming elsewhere. More than a dozen tornadoes are reported to have crossed the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. Strong tornadoes have also been known to cross the
Detroit River
The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...
and
St. Clair River
The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...
separating southeast
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
and southwest
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
.
Regarding mountains, tornadoes have been observed on terrain as high as above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
, and have been known to pass up a ridge unaffected.
These myths have been debunked. The devastating
Tri-State Tornado
On March 18, 1925, one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in recorded history generated at least twelve significant tornadoes and spanned a large portion of the midwestern and southern United States. In all, at least 751 people were ki ...
crossed two major rivers along a record or longer path.
In 1944, a violent tornado cut a continuous path at least through heavily forested and mountainous territory in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
, killing at least 100 people. A hill known as Burnett's Mound on the southwest end of
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...
was purported to protect the city from tornadoes, according to an old legend. However, in 1966, an
F5 tornado passed directly over the hill through downtown, killing 18 people and causing $100 million (1966
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
) in damage. This myth continues to persist, and was further compounded by the fact that Burnett's Mound was rumored to be a burial ground of the Kansa Tribe, and that Topekans had committed sacrilege by attempting to build a water tower on the grounds immediately prior to the 1966 F5 tornado, despite strong opposition as a result of the myth. Downtown
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
was believed by residents to be protected from tornadoes and other severe weather by the
Chickasaw Bluff
The Chickasaw Bluff is the high ground rising about above the Mississippi River flood plain between Fulton in Lauderdale County, Tennessee and Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee.
This elevation, shaped as four bluffs, is named for the Chickas ...
along the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. During the
1974 Super Outbreak
The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. It was also the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded, with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes confirmed. From Apri ...
, violent tornadoes crossed dozens of rivers, including the
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
Detroit River
The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...
as well as crossing over mountains and ridges hundreds of feet high. Another example of tornadoes hitting mountainous regions of the United States is the
2011 Super Outbreak
The 2011 Super Outbreak was the largest, costliest, and one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks ever recorded, taking place in the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States from April 25–28, 2011, leaving catastrophic destruction ...
, which hit mountainous parts of
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...
, Northeast Alabama, Southwest Virginia and North Georgia, killing many people, including an entire family of four in
Ringgold, Georgia
Ringgold is a city in and the county seat of Catoosa County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 3,414 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Ringgold was founded in 184 ...
.
[Ringgold residents return to 'utter devastation' from tornadoes](_blank)
, WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north en ...
, April 29, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
Attraction to mobile homes and/or trailer parks
![Spencer County, Kentucky tornado damage 2008-02-06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Spencer_County%2C_Kentucky_tornado_damage_2008-02-06.JPG)
The idea that
manufactured housing
Manufactured housing (commonly known as mobile homes in the United States) is a type of prefabricated housing that is largely assembled in factories and then transported to sites of use. The definition of the term in the United States is regula ...
units, or
mobile home
A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
s, attract tornadoes has been around for decades. This may appear to be true at first from looking at tornado fatality statistics: from 2000 to 2008, 539 people were killed by tornadoes in the US, with more than half (282) of those deaths in mobile homes.
Only around 6.8% of homes in the US are "manufactured/mobile homes".
However, it is highly unlikely that single-story structures such as mobile homes can have a substantial effect on tornado development or evolution. More people are killed in
trailer park
A trailer park,caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and eas ...
s because mobile homes are less able to withstand high winds than permanent structures. Winds which can demolish or roll a mobile home may only cause roof damage to a typical one- or two-family permanent residence. Another likely contributing factor to the continued propagation of this myth is
confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...
: whenever a new instance of a tornado hitting a mobile home park occurs, media outlets report on it more extensively, ignoring damage to the surrounding area which may not have produced as many casualties.
Downtown areas
Some people believe that, for various reasons, large cities cannot be struck by tornadoes. More than 100 tornadoes have been reported to strike downtown areas of large cities. Many cities have been struck twice or more, and a fewincluding
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock ( )
is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...
;
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...
;
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
;
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...
; and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
have been struck by violent tornadoes (
F4 or stronger).
Tornadoes may seem rare in downtown areas because downtown areas cover such a small geographical area. Considering the size of a
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
is very small compared to the city limits, tornadoes will strike outside of the downtown area more often.
The misconception, like most, has a small basis in truth. Research has been done in a few metropolitan areas suggesting that the
urban heat island
An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparen ...
effect may discourage the formation of weak tornadoes in city centers, due to turbulent warm air disrupting their formation. This does not apply to significant tornadoes, however, and it is possible that the presence of tall buildings may actually storms which move into downtown areas.
During winter
Because they generally require warm weather to form, tornadoes are uncommon in winter in the mid-latitudes. However, they can form, and tornadoes have even been known to travel over snow-covered surfaces.
Deadly tornadoes are no exception: from 2000 to 2008, 135 of the 539 US tornado deaths occurred during
meteorological winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in Polar regions of Earth, polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring (season), spring. The tilt of Axial tilt#Earth, Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a Hemi ...
(December through February).
Tornadoes in winter may be more dangerous, since they tend to move faster than tornadoes at other times of the year.
See also
*
List of common misconceptions
Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated. These entries are concise summaries of the main subject articles, which can be consulted for more detail.
...
*
List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes
This is a list of tornadoes which have been officially or unofficially labeled as F5, EF5, T10-T11, IF5, or an equivalent rating, the highest possible ratings on the various tornado intensity scales. These scales – the Fujita scale, the Enhance ...
*
List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of tornadoes striking downtown areas
This article is a list of tornadoes that have impacted the central business district (downtown or city center) of a large city (that is, one having at least 50,000 people, not counting suburbs or outlying communities, at the time of the storm).
I ...
*
Tornado records
This article lists various tornado records. The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State Tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It is considered an F5 on the Fujita Scale, even ...
*
Shape of tornadoes
*
Size of tornadoes
*
Tornadoes of
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
*
List of tornadoes by calendar day
In the United States, tornadoes have occurred every single day of the year and strong or violent tornadoes (rated F2/EF2 or greater) have been recorded on multiple occasions each month.
While this is not an exhaustive list of significant torna ...
References
*
External links
Tornado Myths and Facts''
National Climatic Data Center
The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data. Starting as a tabulation unit in New Orl ...
''
Video comparing houses with open and closed doors in high winds- thoug
construction is also different
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tornado Myths
Tornado
Tornadoes
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...